We Arrive In Florence

On Monday after espresso and a croissant we packed the car and departed Rome for Florence. The scenery on the way was very beautiful. We arrived in Florence shortly before noon. After crossing Ponte Vecchio, which was lined with stores selling gold jewelry, we walked to the Florence's Duomo (cathedral) Santa Maria de'Cerci with its Baptistry. We saw the famous east doors of the Baptistery with its gold plates with ten relief panels showing scriptural subjects (actually they are copies - the originals are in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo on the other side of the Duomo. We were joined by a friend of Alberto's who was quite knowledgeable about the local art and architecture and served as our guide. We stopped at a cafe where we had ham, salami , pasta, wine and espresso. In the nearby Palazzo Vecchio we saw sculptures done by Michelangelo, Giambologna, Cellin and others. We then recrossed the Ponte Vecchio and then drove to the Piazzale Michelangelo which offered us a great panorama view of the city. In the middle of the plaza there was another copy of Michelangelo's David. This plaza was where Steve had first met Alberto the year before when he was taking part in a WWII re-enactment. Alberto was driving the "Rover Joe" jeep at the time and so began the friendship that lead to discovering that P. D. Bennett from Port Arthur, Texas was probably the only surviving "Rover Joe" and our invitation to visit Italy.

We next went to our hotel in a nearby town. It was quite nice, but still no Internet access. Our evening meal was at a local pizzeria where we had an assortment of pizzas followed by a choice of pastries and ending with coffee. As usual we were introduced to several of the local wines. At dinner we were joined by our guide for day and we met our guide for the next day, a local gentleman whose passion was exploring the battle sites in the nearby hills. Each year he and his friends find the two or three bodies of German soldiers in foxholes and get them relocated to the nearby German War Cemetery.

Around midnight we returned to our hotel. The next day we would tour the battle fields in the hills above Florence.