I am very sorry That I am so far behind. It has Been really hard to want to or be Able to get to a computer.   I have wanted to spend every minute of every waking hour out walking around this wonderful city.   It's so full of life and never boring. 

Monday morning started out at the Santa Maria Novella church.   It is home to several distinct, large cloisters with Hundreds of Thousands of people buried between the 1400s to the 1800s.   many chapels It Also Has That are unique in Their own right.   Most notable of These is the Spanish Chapel, named for the entourage That Followed Eleonora de 'Medici, who was from Spain and married into the famous family.   Her husband, Cosimo the Elder, the gave her the beautiful apartments seen on Sunday in the Palazzo Vecchio.   Along with this came the Spanish chapel where her itinerary would worship. 

There are giant frescos on most of the walls, featuring many religious figures and biblical stories as well as leaders in the Florentine community of the day.   Pictures of the chapel are included below.

The cloisters are beautiful and have very descriptive names That can be used to delineated between the individual locations.   These include the Green Cloisters (many trees and grass) and the Great Cloister (very austere and the largest number of graves). 

The church proper Has too many features to discuss in this one post.   In it are many chapel dedicated to the aristocratic families of Florence in the Renaissance.   For me, the most special was a very small and unadorned tombstone dedicated to Jacopo Peri, who was the creator of the work.   There is a picture of it below.   In all of the pomp and beauty of the church and the fresh and the gilded carved choir seats sat this small graven stone remembering the life of the man who changed the musical world.   The pictures of the rest of the sanctuary are included, but all of them pale (to me) Compared to this Particular features.

That afternoon, after eating in the Central Market and a very good meal, we spent the afternoon in the outlying village of Fiesole.   It is home to beautiful Roman ruins including an amphitheater and some extant structures.   The acoustics of the theater were wonderful and obviously expertly made ​​for the performance process.   After perusing a large collection of pottery and relics, we Climbed up a very large and steep hill to a great view of Florence proper. 

It's only the second day here, but I am willing to say That I will be coming back here when i can move at my own peace and appreciate things in the way That I need to.

Wednesday's post (for Tuesday's activities) will cover the gigantic Uffizi art museum.  There was not another location-based trip today, but the museum will truly take a lot of space to post.   Sadly, no pictures were allowed except in the first couple entrance rooms.