Worm's eye view of Florence

What happens when you decide not to push your recovering knee too far? You see some of Florence's greatest hits from the street instead of the top floor.

Not wanting to push my luck climbing 414 steps to the top of Giotto's Tower or 463 steps to Brunelleschi's dome we got in line to view the cathedral from the ground floor. The third largest nave in the world (after St. Peter's in Rome and St. Paul's in London) it is huge inside but not nearly as elaborate as the Duomo in Sienna. Apparently most of the statues that were inside are now in the nearby museum.

John leaves tomorrow but I'm going to get tickets for the museum and baptistery and save all the stair climbing for another trip. I also thought I'd do an overnight trip to Venice from here but I may opt to lay low in Florence until the weekend when I have to get to Naples to start my tour.

Back to the Duomo. The Piazza del Duomo was packed full of people. Packed! I was living under the naive delusion that we as a society were just starting to venture out and travel again and it wouldn't be very crowded. Apparently "we" have been traveling for awhile and I am just now catching up.

After spending some time inside the cathedral, we headed to the Central Market for lunch. Downstairs it's much like big markets in other parts of the world. Vendors roughly divided by section: fruits and vegetables, meats, fish, bread, wine, etc. We had panini on the ground floor before heading upstairs to the more touristy food court section where everything looked delicious and overpriced.

John's off to get his covid test in preparation to return home and I'm writing this update. Daytime highs have been 85 so Italian siesta has been part of our daily routine before venturing out again in the evening. I could get used to this.

Waiting to get in to the Duomo.

Horse carriages and crowds outside the baptistery.

I was about a third of the way in when I snapped this photo.

Brunelleschi's dome.

Clock with Roman numerals I to XXIIII

Opera del Duomo

San Lorenzo's church.

Central market.

Yes that's some kind of ray in the middle.

Mini bottles of Chianti to decorate your Christmas tree.

A peek at the meat counter on the way to the second floor.