Our first week so far

We have been in Florence since last Thursday and have settled into our spacious one bedroom apartment with a great room that encompasses a living room area and a well appointed kitchen. The building purportedly is over 1000 years old but has been modernized. At one time the building was one large home but now has been separated into apartments. The ceilings are wooden beamed and approximately 20 feet tall. We would not want the heating bill.
As mentioned earlier, we are right next to the Duomo ( as close as you can get without being in it). It is lovely to go to sleep at night to the sound of the church bells ringing and waking up to the same ringing of the bells. It is a great way to start and end the day. As such there is a lot of activity outside. Talented musicians play either singularly or in small groups of two or three , hoping to generate donations from passing tourists. There always seems to be something going on in the piazza below us well into the night. Women with arm loads of colorful scarves, men with poster size pictures laid out on the ground, gypsy beggars shaking their coin cups by day. At night out come the sellers of lighted parachute toys and extension rods for use with cell phones for selfies. There are a plethora of law enforcement folks all over (cabinieri, state and municipal police, along with several private security agencies).