Florence - May 2015

Summer holidays back when I was a kid often meant packing a lot of suitcases and bags in our car one Friday evening and going to bed full of excitement just to be woken up very, very early the next morning, getting into the car and driving south - to Italy. This is why I got to know many of the cultural treasures Italy has to offer at a very young age, and while it took me a few years of visiting churches until I learned to appreciate their beauty and architectural awesomeness (my sister had to be "convinced" with promises of shopping tours and such to come visiting with us...), I loved the italian way of life from the beginning - and I still do today. Travelling to Italy always feels a bit like coming home to me, reviving memories of late evenings sitting on stones still warm from the day's sun, eating gelati by the lake... and I've also met my first holiday sweetheart in Italy!

Ponte Vecchio

While I have seen many other great places in Italy, we never visited Florence. We have spent more than one summer in the Toscana region, but I can't say why my parents decided not to go there. Last year, I finally got the chance to see Florence though: on a trip with my choir. The weather was okay most of the time but not when we went for a guided tour of the city, so I don't have a lot of pictures of the city itself to show. We gave two concerts, one of them at the wonderful Teatro del Sale. Imagine a big theatre - for the first part of the evening, there are tables where the guests can sit in groups and have a great dinner. You can see the kitchen through a window and some of the dishes you'll have to pick up directly at this window, the cooks come there and advertise their new accomplishments so the guests know about the next delicacies. After dinner, you'll take your seat and everyone gets closer to the stage to wait for the evening's show. We felt very honoured to have the chance for a concert in this great place, and it was a fantastic evening!

Santa Maria del Fiore

Palazzo Vecchio

 

What I really loved in Florence were the different works of street art I found. There are many beautiful, creative and witty drawings/pictures, and I want to show you some of the photos I took.

Clet Abraham transforms Florence's street signs into fantastic artwork. You can find him on Facebook or Instagram (@cletabraham) - or watch a short film about his work here (in German).

 Another artist calls himself/herself "Blub" and the artwork she/he creates is called "L'arte sa nuotare", meaning "art knows how to swim". I would like to recommend his/her Instagram account (@lartesanuotare) - I just love the idea behind these pictures.

One of the pictures I took shows a work by "Exit/Enter" - last but not least I'd like to recommend an interesting blog post with more information about street art in Florence and the artists behind it.