22-05-2021, 04:03 PM
Good morning valuebuddies,
Waking up to another cool morning with birds chirping happily in the woods.
What a fantastic feeling.
I am very grateful for all the help valuebuddies given to me all these years.
I feel that my knowledge and investment growth multiplies as I read all the posts by various valuebuddies.
Gratitude!
As we are all still grounded, I couldn't help recalling those fond memories of places that we had visited.
Florence or Firenze in Itialian.
The first thing that pop up in my mind, is the Renaissance buildings.
After coming out of the train station (Santa Maria Novella), I dragged my luggage towards the famous Arno river. I walk passed a large 15 century Dominican Church (Basillica of Santa Maria Novella), unfortunately it was under renovation and I did not take a closer looks. Besides, I'm eager to check into my hotel which is more like a B&B pension.
.
As I walked along the Arno river (with my luggage), I couldn't fail to noticed the dog Sh** along the walk way.
Yes, exactly the same as Paris (along the pavements too).
I have to navigate carefully but luckily I reached my pension soon.
Settled down, I quickly chiong out to site seeing... again, walking along Arno river.
After walking for a few minutes, saw a money changer and changed some euro.
Then a left turn brings me up to the famous Statue of David (replica).
He stand on top of a column.
As seen many times in picture, this David looks amazingly real life.
The muscle, the body... incredible.
There are a small queue in front and we join in the queue ... into Palazzo Vecchio.
Based on Rick Steve's guidebook, there should be a canteen some where.
We walked around and couldn't find one (because we were in the wrong building).
Inside, the four walls were covered by huge wall paintings of (ancient) wars.
Magnificent.
The 2nd floor was interesting.
The 2nd floor actually connects a few buildings together.
You do not need to go out of the building to go to another building.
The 2nd floor has door and passages connecting these buildings together.
On one of the passage, I saw a ceremonial going on.
Italian wearing their traditional costume, mostly seated and some standing.
Not exactly sure what is the occasion but stood there and observed for a while.
Later, we ignored the guidebook and decided to roam around freely.
We found a small cafeteria at a small and quiet lane just a short distance from the Duomo.
We took a tray.
Under the glass counter are various foods... salads, spaghetti, pizza, cheese, meatball... lots of variety.
We just point, point and point and take away.
The seating inside the cafeteria is limited and we always prefer to take away to give us more time for sight seeing.
Duomo was an amazing structure.
If you look closer and carefully at the pillar out side.
Not only they are colorful, but they are twisted too.
Yes, twisted marble column.
Look again!
Another picture that pop up in my mind was the real David Statue in Accademia.
https://www.accademia.org/explore-museum...los-david/
Comparing to the replica outside Palazzo Vecchio, this one has a fairer color. The contrast is clearer and yes, I swear that Michelangelos really crafted Davids head larger than usual, so that when we look up at the status as a whole, the head does not look larger but exactly the same size as we look at him at the same level.
Incredible realistic and these are marbles - I reminded myself.
When I came out of Accademia, there were some un-finished human sculpture
... with a quote which touches my heart:
"I saw the angel in the marble and I carved until I set him free."
Gratitude!
Today is a special day to me.
49...
Waking up to another cool morning with birds chirping happily in the woods.
What a fantastic feeling.
I am very grateful for all the help valuebuddies given to me all these years.
I feel that my knowledge and investment growth multiplies as I read all the posts by various valuebuddies.
Gratitude!
As we are all still grounded, I couldn't help recalling those fond memories of places that we had visited.
Florence or Firenze in Itialian.
The first thing that pop up in my mind, is the Renaissance buildings.
After coming out of the train station (Santa Maria Novella), I dragged my luggage towards the famous Arno river. I walk passed a large 15 century Dominican Church (Basillica of Santa Maria Novella), unfortunately it was under renovation and I did not take a closer looks. Besides, I'm eager to check into my hotel which is more like a B&B pension.
.
As I walked along the Arno river (with my luggage), I couldn't fail to noticed the dog Sh** along the walk way.
Yes, exactly the same as Paris (along the pavements too).
I have to navigate carefully but luckily I reached my pension soon.
Settled down, I quickly chiong out to site seeing... again, walking along Arno river.
After walking for a few minutes, saw a money changer and changed some euro.
Then a left turn brings me up to the famous Statue of David (replica).
He stand on top of a column.
As seen many times in picture, this David looks amazingly real life.
The muscle, the body... incredible.
There are a small queue in front and we join in the queue ... into Palazzo Vecchio.
Based on Rick Steve's guidebook, there should be a canteen some where.
We walked around and couldn't find one (because we were in the wrong building).
Inside, the four walls were covered by huge wall paintings of (ancient) wars.
Magnificent.
The 2nd floor was interesting.
The 2nd floor actually connects a few buildings together.
You do not need to go out of the building to go to another building.
The 2nd floor has door and passages connecting these buildings together.
On one of the passage, I saw a ceremonial going on.
Italian wearing their traditional costume, mostly seated and some standing.
Not exactly sure what is the occasion but stood there and observed for a while.
Later, we ignored the guidebook and decided to roam around freely.
We found a small cafeteria at a small and quiet lane just a short distance from the Duomo.
We took a tray.
Under the glass counter are various foods... salads, spaghetti, pizza, cheese, meatball... lots of variety.
We just point, point and point and take away.
The seating inside the cafeteria is limited and we always prefer to take away to give us more time for sight seeing.
Duomo was an amazing structure.
If you look closer and carefully at the pillar out side.
Not only they are colorful, but they are twisted too.
Yes, twisted marble column.
Look again!
Another picture that pop up in my mind was the real David Statue in Accademia.
https://www.accademia.org/explore-museum...los-david/
Comparing to the replica outside Palazzo Vecchio, this one has a fairer color. The contrast is clearer and yes, I swear that Michelangelos really crafted Davids head larger than usual, so that when we look up at the status as a whole, the head does not look larger but exactly the same size as we look at him at the same level.
Incredible realistic and these are marbles - I reminded myself.
When I came out of Accademia, there were some un-finished human sculpture
... with a quote which touches my heart:
"I saw the angel in the marble and I carved until I set him free."
Gratitude!
Today is a special day to me.
49...