Florence, Italy - Part I

I must first admit that I have never been to Europe.  Having admitted that, I must say that Florence was a wonderful introduction.


Myself and 3 other new Heads of Department (HoD's) were sent to Florence for MYP (Middle Years Program) training - November 18 to 20, 2011 .  Because of the flight connections from Kuwait to Florence we arrived the day before the training started.  It didn't take the four of us very long to change at the hotel, get our walking shoes on, and begin to explore Florence.  We were fortunate that LM had been to Florence before and thus was able to prepare an itinerary for us to follow. 

Looking down the street from our hotel.

One of the towers that we saw as we walked along the street from our hotel to the middle of Florence.

As we walked along, I couldn't get over the number of small motorbikes and mopeds that zoomed by us.  Here in Kuwait, the notion behind a vehicle is the bigger, the better.  You can definitely tell that gasoline prices are not high.  In Florence, however, it's just the opposite.  Mopeds and bikes are very prevalent with cars in Florence being quite compact. We even saw a fair number of Smart cars.  I don't think I have even seen one Smart car here in Kuwait.   

As you can tell by the picture above and below, seeing all these bikes parked along the sides of streets truly fascinated me. And the people riding them were young, old, business men and women, students, and everything else in between.

The first major building that we saw was, I believe, the Central National Library.  And of course, there were statues and carvings galore.  I was very impressed.

The street that we walked along was along side the River Arno.  Being from windy, southern Alberta, I was totally amazed at how smooth the river was - barely a ripple.  I didn't think that it was possible to live in a place where the water was that smooth. 

LK standing on the street beside the River Arno.  Notice the beautiful reflections in the water.

One of the many bridges across the River Arno

Above and below are the door knockers that were on one of the many doors that we passed that first day.  Although I saw many beautiful styles of door knockers, these were definitely the most unusual that I saw.

I found the streets to also be very interesting.  As we walked along enjoying the sites, I had a clearer vision of how much both Mexico and Cuba had been influence by European culture.  I, of course, realized that it was European countries that settled in both these areas, but until I was in Italy, I didn't realize just how much of an influence Europe had on these countries.  It just proves the point again that travel is the best education.

Notice how the streets curve.  And it wasn't just this street!!

My floor mate LK, who is half Italian, has said many times that most people eat to live, but that Italians live to eat.  I must admit that looking at many of the stores that contained food of various kinds, and of course sampling many of these foods, I must agree.  Eating, for Italians, is almost a religious experience, and one that I am glad that I got to partake in.

Above and below: DP and LK checking out the array of baked items in this little shop.

Every store had a selection of wine, cheeses and meats.  It was incredible.

Seeing prosciutto hams such as these, hanging in store windows and from the ceilings of restaurants, was not an uncommon site.  And these prosciutto hams tasted great!  The last couple of evenings, the 4 of us wandered around the main part of Florence.  When we got hungry, we would stop for a couple of plates of cheese, bread and meats and of course wine.  I felt very Italian.

Notice the Cow and Pig's heads above the door.  I didn't realize until I came home, but this is a well known and respected restaurant in Florence.

This is the restaurant where I ate my first meal in Florence and Europe. :) The pictures below show some  the selection of food and wine available.  I must admit that the wine that we had here was definitely very nice.

The pictures above and below are of the ceiling in this restaurant.  Very different than anything that I had ever seen. 

This was one of our lunches.  Everything was fresh made and tasted awesome.

 

As we continued down the street, after having left the restaurant after lunch, this relatively small truck drove passed us.  Please note that the back of the truck is filled with bottles of wine.

This is one of the entrances to the Palazzo della Signoria.  In this palazzo are many replicas of well known statues such as Michaelanglo's David, as seen below.  I don't know the names of any of the others, but I do remember having seen them before.  It was an interesting experience to see all those statues, albeit replicas, together in one place.  Notice the size of the replicas.  They are huge.

The Tour of the Grand Mosque

This is looking at the mosque from across the street.

Just a few facts before I share my pictures.  This description is taken from wikipedia.org.  

The Grand Mosque is the largest and the official mosque in the country of Kuwait. Its area spans 45,000 square metres (480,000 sq ft), out of which the building itself covers 20,000 square metres (220,000 sq ft). The main prayer hall is 72 metres (236 ft) wide on all sides, has 21 teakwood doors, and has lighting provided by 144 windows. The dome of the mosque is 26 metres (85 ft) in diameter and 43 metres (141 ft) high, and is decorated with the Asma al-hosna, the 99 names of God. The mosque can accommodate up to 10,000 men in the main prayer hall, and up to 950 women in the separate hall for women. The mosque also contains a 350 square metres (3,800 sq ft) library of Islamic reference books and documents. To accommodate the large number of vehicles belonging to worshippers, the mosque also contains a 5-level car park underneath the eastern courtyard which can hold up to 550 cars. Construction on the mosque started in 1979, and the mosque was completed in 1986. The Minaret of the grand mosque is located in Northern-West of the mosque, resembles the Anadalusian architeure.

The bottom line is that it is big!!!

The front of the mosque, where we entered the actual grounds of the mosque.

When DP and I first arrived, we were asked to cover ourselves in robes that are provided.  My biggest problem through the whole tour was that my head-covering would not stay up and the material was polyester and thus wouldn't breath...and you guessed it.  I was hot.

All ready for the tour

DP and some of the other ladies awaiting the start of the tour.

 

This particular mosque has only 1 Minaret. 

This is looking across the square to the side of the mosque.  The area that I am standing in can accommodate up 10000 people for prayer.  You may notice wires crossing the pictures.  These are lines that mist the people during the hot days/evenings of Kuwait.

One of the doors that lead into one of the smaller prayer rooms.

This is looking down the corridor along side the actual building.  The door from above, would be on the left hand side.

This is inside the smaller prayer room, looking down to the other end.

The arch in the far wall is the mihrab in the main prayer room at the mosque.  A mihrab is semicircular niche in the wall of a mosque that indicates the qibla; that is, the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca and hence the direction that Muslims should face when praying.  Since the main prayer is undergoing renovations, we were only allowed to look into the main prayer room.  It is huge!

This is looking to my left in the main prayer room.

This is one of the chandeliers in the main prayer room.  If memory serves me, there are 4 of them, each weighing one ton.  The are very beautiful.

This is just one panel in the ceiling of the main prayer room.

This is the top of the mihrab in the smaller prayer room.  I couldn't get over the ornateness of the walls, ceilings and just about everything else.

This is a smaller dome just outside the Sheik's diwaniya.  Again, the craftsmanship is spectacular.

This is one part of the ceiling in the Sheik's diwaniya.  The part that looks like it is hanging down,was a style that was created centuries ago to mimic stalactites and stalagmites.  The colour scheme in this room is meant to remind people of the sand and water of Kuwait.  The overall sense of the room is one or calmness. 

The chandelier in the room.

An exact duplicate of the original Koran.  In the front of the book are calligraphy tools.

One of the tiled walls.

This is looking up at the ceiling between the stalagmite/stalactite designs.

Above and below are taken from sections of the ceiling.  It was, I believe, all hand carved.

At the top of one of the tiled portions of the wall.

I can't remember exactly what this is, but I remember that it is written in such a way that the writing is symmetrical.

All in all it was a very enjoyable tour.  As I have mentioned before, the architecture and use of colour makes this a beautiful place of worship.  It is definitely a building that any country would be proud of.