Florence is for lovers

My friend, Kit Lawson, reminded me of this shot with one of his Photo of the Day posts on Facebook. So, I grabbed a similar shot that I took back in 2006. Unfortunately, we were both in Florence on overcast days (Kit: were we there on the same day? :) but I just love that city, overcast or no. You have to find a way to Florence. Just an amazing city. History going back to the Renaissance and unbelievable shopping all in one place. I can't wait to get back there one day.

Now, another friend teased me about trying to slip in teaching points with my pictures. Horrors!!! By the way, the Ponte Vecchio bridge is the oldest of Florence's six bridges. It is one of the city's best known images. The bridge probably goes back to Roman times with its stone pillars and wooden planks; it was built in stone but then destroyed by a flood in 1333. It was built again twelve years later. Two other points I can't pass up: I heard that the Allies wanted to bomb this bridge but held off. What a gift to the future. Lastly, the bridge originally held butcher shops back in the 13th or 14th century. The ruling family, who lives right around where I was standing, kicked them all out because of the smell. Today it mostly has gold and jewelry shops.

Don't you love history?