For some typical sounds of Florence, this audio clip has church bells at noon, a horse-drawn carriage on cobblestones, and dinner music on one of the piazzas.
And there's always the sounds of people in the foreground, background or both.
This picture of the Arno was taken from the Ponte Vecchio on our first night there. Click it for a 9+ minute Photo Story of selected Florence sights. It's the best Photo Story I've made so far. It highlights...
- the river Arno near and on the Ponte Vecchio. The only businesses allowed on the bridge itself are goldsmiths, a tradition going back about 500 years... no MacDonalds or Starbucks
- a gellato stop... another tradition (Italian ice-cream)
- the animated segment of the boats on the river was made from a series of snapshots from my video tape... stories don't support the use of video clips
- shopping
- the ambiance of the old town area free of traffic but packed with tourists
- churches.... outside, inside, and on top of.... the pictures include the tombs of Michaelangelo and Danti
- art galleries
- the 10 minute bus ride from the center of the city to the Hotel Ungherese, the B&B we stayed at
The link at the left is to a video postcard of the same scene as the big picture, showing the moving clouds as the sun was setting... sped up by 32x so you won't get bored (this video is being moved to a different server).
We stayed 4 nights at the Hotel Ungherese, a more than charming B&B in a quiet area 10 minutes by bus from the heart of downtown Florence. We had many chats with Sabina and Leonardo, the wonderful owners/hosts who started their hotel management careers in the spring of 2006. Click on the video link for a 4 minute one of the hotel.