Getting Oriented, Part 1

 One morning, I decided to leave for the orientation session about an hour early. The first day or two, I just took in the city, and didn't snap too many pictures. Although we had walked all over the area, I had not yet seen the front facade of S.Maria Novella. This is a panorama of the piazza.

 And there it is!

 I proceeded on my morning walk south to the Fiume Arno (River Arno)

 The river and its shores are quite beautiful.

 That bridge with the buildings on it is called the Ponte Vecchio.

 The south side of the Arno felt even tighter, and older than the north side I had been on.

 In a city with very minimal green-space, this really stood out.

 I crossed back to the north side of the river by way of the Ponte Vecchio.

I stopped and took a couple pictures from the middle.

 Despite how authentically old the exterior of the Ponte Vecchio looks, this is PRIME retail location, and the interior of these shops are super fancy.

 I would be going thattaway! The mountainous backdrop of the city is quite nice.

 This was along the river, this series of arches. The effect was quite cool. You can look forward and feel like you're in a hallway. Look to the right, and it opens to the river.

 Stumbled on this on the walk. Piazzale degli Uffizi, I believe is what Google maps calls it. I'm fairly certain I learned about it at one point in architecture history.

 Yep, this looks familiar from somewhere. Ahead, was Piazza della Signoria, which is where studio will be near. But I had to go to a different KSU building for orientation. And I began to run short on time..........

 ......... Fast forward to later. I walk past here a few times a day. It is enormous.

 A side door.

 Seeing the size and detail will probably never get old.

 Little piece of 'Murica I found. Eat fresh.

 Really cool structure near a flea market on the west side of town.

 Cool buildings, views, and scenes are in no short supply in this city.

 (The next day.) Kent State has one floor of a building off of Piazza S. Croce. That is where all our orientation sessions met. But I think all of my classes will be in Kent's main location at the Palazzo Cerchi.

 There are numerous signs like this around this Piazza. It is clear they are fed up with noise at night.

 Jewish Synagogue in town.

 Next to that was one of the few examples of a new building I was able to find in the historic center.

 So many streets offer glances at the Duomo like this.

 Our orientation group went to the city's library.

 A view from the roof of the library. I swear there is public access. I was not pretending to be Ezio Auditore.

 DOME

 Mountains in another direction.

 Yet another beautiful framed view.

Comic Sans MS being used at a nice restaurant. Believe it or not, but on Caturday night, we went to english mass at the Duomo, and they also used comic sans in their bulletin.