Week 1: Settling In

Well, it's been a quiet week here in Lake Wobegon.  Not so much.

Since arriving in Florence last Monday, we have spent the last week settling in.  We have divided our time between learning our new neighborhood, getting some essentials for our apartment, learning a bit of Italian, overcoming jet lag, applying for our permit to stay and sightseeing.  After a week, we feel a little settled.  Before long, we will be fully settled. 

We won't bore our readers with the details of settling in.  Instead, let's focus on some of the great sights that Florence offers.

Here are some photos from our first week in Florence.  Enjoy!

Florence is home to a large Roman Catholic cathedral, known commonly as Il Duomo (house of God, not the dome) and formally as Cathederal of Saint Mary of the Flowers (in Italiano, Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore).  Construction of the cathedral began more than 600 years ago and took a few years to complete.  It is the 13th largest Christian church building in the world (measured by area).

We toured the expansive interior for some beautiful sights:

The main altar directly under the dome.

Clock on the western wall.  What time is it? 

Stained glass window on the western wall.

The interior of the dome.  (The dome is the largest brick and mortar dome in the world.)

In Piazza Santa Croce, we found a statue of Dante Alighieri, author of The Inferno and other pulp fiction.  Just kidding.  The Tom Hanks film, Inferno, based on the Dan Brown novel, is set primarily in Florence and features Dante and his most famous book.  We saw the film here in Italian and enjoyed seeing all the scenes of Florence and elsewhere in Italy.   

During an evening stroll, we saw a full moon rising over Piazza della Signoria.  It was a good moon rising, not a bad one.

One evening, we attended a performance of chamber music and opera arias.  The event was hosted in Santo Stefano church, now used primarily as a performance venue.  If you like classical music and opera, you too would have enjoyed the event. 

The interior of the church is lined with huge screens, with alternating projections of famous Italian masterpieces.

The tenor and the soprano were a pleasure to listen to.

Photo of the soprano and the lively conductor.  (When the soprano finished her last aria, it was over.  Thank you, former NBA coach Dick Motta.)