Travelsmartplanet

You get a great view of the majestic Renaissance Filippo Brunelleschi -designed domed Florence Cathedral, the Duomo if you ascend one of the hills around it. The Gothic-styled Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore was begun in 1296 along with it’s Baptistery and Giotti’s Bell tower (Campanile). Ghiberti’s original Baptistery doors are in the museum (the ones outside are copies).

Brunelleschi was commissioned in 1418. The dome is egg-shaped and was accomplished without scaffolding. A balcony by Baccio d’Agnolo was added in 1507. Notice that only 1 of the eight sides was finished by 1515, when someone asked Michelangelo (whose artistic opinion was by this time taken as cardinal law), his thoughts of it. The master reportedly scoffed, “It looks like a cricket cage.” Work was immediately stopped, and to this day the other 7 sides remain only rough brick.

This is one of the more famous copies of Michelangelo’s David statue. You don’t have to pay to go in to see it, it’s on top of a hill at Piazzale Michelangelo overlooking the town of Florence.

The Bridge of Sighs is named for the sighs of the prisoners who were interrogated and charged in the Doge’s Palace building and had to walk across the canal on this bridge to the New Prison. The white limestone decorated bridge is enclosed but has windows with stone bars; It passes over the Rio di Palazzo.

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The Doge’s Palace, Palazzo Ducale, was the residence of the Doge of Venice, the supreme authority of the former Venetian Republic. The Venetian Gothic construction started around 1340 and was modified many times over the centuries due to fires and governmental needs.

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On a bateau mouche ride on the Seine you get a duck’s eye view of the city going under all those famous bridges, like this one, the Pont St-Michel. FYI there are 37 of them.

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The beauty of taking a Bateau Mouche ride on the Seine is the joy of going under so many famous bridges – and learning the history effortlessly as you go. This one is the Pont Alexandre III built between 1896 and 1900, the most ornate one and a Paris historical site. Four gilt-bronze statues of Fames watch over the Beaux-Arts style bridge. The exuberant Art Nouveau lamps, cherubs, nymphs and winged horses celebrate the Franco-Russian alliance enacted in 1892 by Tsar Alexander III. His son Nicholas II laid the foundation stone in October 1896. In the same political spirit, the Trinity Bridge in Saint Petersburg was designed by Gustave Eiffel, and the first stone was laid in August 1897 by French president Félix Faure .

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When you visit the Tower of London, you learn the superstition about why there always are ravens guarding it. Look for the raven master near the line to go in to the Crown Jewels. He’s happy to chat with you.

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Here you can imagine dancing at a ball in a palace in Queen Victoria’s days. Her gown appears at the end of the video.
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Though foreigners flock to see the Mona Lisa, to the French, the most important painting in the Louvre – the unofficial national painting of France is this one, Liberty Leading the People by Delacroix. The bare-breasted female figure, who is called Marianne became a symbol of Liberty for the French Republic. Though Delacroix painted the July Revolution of 1830, the broken bodies beneath the flag depict the 40 years of civil war, political and social upheavals necessary to conquer the monarchy in order to win a representative government. The huge 8′ by 10′ scale adds to the dramatic patriotism.

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This Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel stands west of the Louvre (you can see it behind the arch) and was built between 1806-1808 (before the famous Arc de Triomphe) to commemorate Napoleon’s military victories of the previous year. The REAL Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile is down the Champs Élysées and though it was designed in the same year (and twice the size) it was not completed until 1836. The quadriga (horses and men) atop the arch is a copy of the so-called Horses of Saint Mark that adorn the top of the main door of the St Mark’s Basilica in Venice.