A Room With A View in Firenze (Rome, IT)

Just in case you are wondering, the photo was not the view from my room in Florence.  However, I guess you can say that any room in Florence has a view of the incredible city of Firenze.  The group of us stayed at a very modest retreat house on the "other side" of the Arno River.  I took the photo, which is above, on our first full day in Florence as we were crossing a bridge to get into the center of Florence to begin one of our many tours.

We gathered on Monday morning in the courtyard of the retreat house to begin our first tour.

Church of Santa Maria del Carmine

The first stop on our morning tour was the Church of Santa Maria Novella whose star attraction is a crucifix created by the painter, Giotto.  The church was founded by the Dominicans in the 13th century.

Cloister of the Church

A hotel on the Piazza Santa Maria Novella

From the Church of Santa Maria Novella, we quickly passed the great cathedral of Florence, the Duomo, Santa Maria del Fiore, on our way to tour the Church of San Lorenzo.  On our journey through the streets we passed many vendors with sidewalk stalls.

The Battistero, the Baptistry of St. John the Baptist, in front of the Duomo.

Fr. Frank Velazquez of Sacramento, CA searches for a new belt.

I will now conclude this posting with a photo of the Church of San Lorenzo and will pick up at this point on our tour in my next posting.  I am leaving tomorrow morning for a weekend in London and need to finish my packing.  Stayed tuned for more of Florence...and London!