F, F, and P continued 2

Besides the beautiful churches, Florence has gardens, statues, towers, piazzas, and archways that are packed with tourists this time of year. There was street entertainment and beggars everywhere. There are shopping stalls set up on the streets full of leather and paper goods, plus stylish shoes, clothing and accessories. There was also plenty of real junk to be had too. We did some shopping both here and at the Blues Fest at Pistoia, and so did many other Americans. We could not believe how much English we heard!
One of our bus tours involved going up into the hills over Florence into Fiesole. What a gorgeous place, and what views! As there is plenty of ice and bad weather in this part of Italy, I did wonder how people got around in winter, a throwback from my years in the Adirondack Mountains. Most of the pictures of the hillside are from there and the others of the Arno River are also from the tour bus. Tomorrow I will write a bit about our time in the beautiful ancient city of Pistoia.