I suggested to David that since we were walking the old road from Rome to Florence this morning we could pretend that we were Roman Soldiers sent on a mission to the city of Florence. He replied – if we were crazy we could. Ah well, I tried but he wasn’t up to carrying all that armor clinking and clanking down the narrow echoing street. So we left as two starry-eyed Canadian tourists with two water bottles, a camera and sufficient funds to ward off starvation.
It truly is only a 30 minute into town but by the time we did our circle route and return trip four hours had passed. What did we find you might ask? Here are our five spoils from a first photography pillage of Florence Italy.
Papier – I surely cannot have been the only camera person who sat on the edge of the sidewalk listening for fading foot steps to get a clear shot of this store and side street?
Then there is the Ponte Vecchio – which even from here you can see is it is brick-to-brick bodies.
A stretch of the city wall is a must! But which one? Did you know there are six different city walls that were constructed over the history of the city? Judging from where I was standing this is a piece of the sixth wall.
From the Piazzale Michelangiolo there is of course a great view of the city and particularly of the Piazza del Duomo.
Yet, the most arresting view is possibly that of a replica of David against a Florence blue sky…
Even a copy is a charming sight to behold. But it is getting near the hottest part of the day and we must slip out the back way with our bounty and then trudge up the last part of the hill out of the city.
We will be back – so what image of Florence do you wish we might have taken instead?
© 2014 Terrill Welch, All rights reserved.
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Creative Potager – Visit with painter and photographer Terrill Welch
From Mayne Island, British Columbia, Canada
For gallery and purchase information about Terrill’s photographs and paintings go to http://terrillwelchartist.com
Creative Potager 
What an awesome capture of the Papier Store. Great composition. I also like your photo of the wall. We didn’t see this one our our trip… but we did see the most awesome wall in the old part of Dubrovnik. To build a wall like that not only takes years… but often centuries. It makes the rock walls I have built seem like nothing.
Sherwin, Papier store was composed by the owner with a photograph in mind – I am almost positive of it. The composition was just too easy. I can see where you would have an intimate appreciation of the stone walls! They fascinate me but mostly just for their purposeful beauty.
The view from Piazza Michelangelo is wonderful Terrill. I can only imagine what it must feel like to walk on the same streets where the likes of Michelangelo, Botticelli and Leonardo have walked. Regarding your question, we haven’t had the pleasure of visiting Florence. I wouldn’t know where to begin! But would be very tempted to end with gelato 🙂
Colleen right at the south end of that crazy busy foot bridge was a gelato place like none other I had ever seen. They had these big mounds of gelato all decorated with pieces of fruit and such t match the kind of gelato it was. Amazingly artistic. But no one was eating it so I am not sure if it was too early, too beautiful or maybe very expensive. There is very much a sense of walking the pages of history here even if you are like me and don’t know it very well. One of the artists I discovered through my host is Fattori from an Italian school of painting that is plein air and a pre-impressionist style. These kinds of exchanges bring history alive.
Wonderful photographs! So much fun to be able to tag along with you for bits of your journey.
Glad you enjoyed the journey and you are welcome to blog-travel with us any time Deborah!
You got great photos… love the paper store. Marvellous town for a photographer. The history in that town is very grand and you do get the feeling you are walking with the ancients!
This feeling Shirley is particularly so way out south of town when we are walking on the old road to Rome.But with the rain the past few days we decided to purchase some bus tickets for our next trip into downtown Florence. It has been a west coast kind of day for the past two. Pleasant enough just wet. We are going to curl up with our books tonight and call it all good.
“A stretch of the city wall is a must! But which one? Did you know there are six different city walls…”
Sounds like the beginning of a sketch series! Even expand it to include portions of city walls from other city walls and call it: “Six city walls in Italia (or Europe)”
(I just noticed that my eyes did a freudian slip: you wrote ‘stretch’ and I read ‘sketch.’ Still, it inspired an artistic thought of sorts, right?)
peace
I think that Freudian slip had some creative juice in it Laura! 😉 I sometimes think about the theme photographs one could take while traveling. One time we had almost decided to do a trip just to photograph garage sales. City walls seem like a lot more fun.
Glad to share some of my Freudian creative juice…HA!
Absolutely breathtaking!!! I wish I were there too, but I am in spirit. Heck I am Italian-American (one-half Bruzzese (Abruzzi), one quarter Napolitan (Naples) and one quarter Baraise (Bari) so I realize it would be sinful not to visit there once in my life. Your photogenic eye here is simply enthralling. I’ll never forget how Maggie Smith pronounced Ponte Vecchio in THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE, lingering over the syllables. Some of the greatest sites in the world here, and I know you guys are rightfully on Cloud Nine.
Yes you really should make a trip here sometime Sam. A place like we are staying would be a perfect way to experience the area. We are enjoying ourselves but it is all very relaxed with lots of downtime too.