Traveling to Florence

We flew to Rome with a stop in Atlanta, and from there took the train to Florence.

Hartsfield-Jackson Airport is the world’s busiest airport.

One really neat feature is the design of the taxi-way which allows the airplane to land and taxi all the way to the gate without ever stopping.

In this picture here I am doing everything I can to prevent the spread of Zika Virus.

Piazza della Repubblica was once the location of a Roman Forum, and the ruins of a Roman Bath have been found here.

In the 16th Century Cosimo I de’ Medici established a Jewish Ghetto here. For context, this is the same Cosimo I de’ Medici who built the Uffizi (office building which is now Florence’s Premier Art Gallery), finished building Pitti Palace and Boboli Gardens behind it (whereas previously the Medici lived in Palazzo Medici just North of the Cathedral), and was both Duke of Florence and Grand Duke of Tuscany.

Florence Cathedral, Baptistery (to the left), and Bell Tower (to the right), are each three separate structures. Additionally, many original art works from the Cathedral and Baptistry are now housed in Museo dell’Opera del Duomo for preservation purposes, with recreations standing in their place.

You can climb to the top of both the Dome and Bell Tower.

For whatever reason, this particular view reminds me of the story in which Cosimo de’ Medici arranged to have Plague Victims sheltered inside the Cathedral (in the 15th Century, I believe).