After a pretty unrefreshing night’s sleep, we woke and got ready for our light speed tour of the various pieces of art in Florence. We found it difficult to sleep because of the frigid temperature in the room, and the ever-present sound of motor scooters zipping down the street. The motion and life in the city truly never stopped.
We grabbed some breakfast and headed back to the Duomo to show Bob. We then took a quick tour through the Baptistery located next to the church. It was the oldest building in Florence and was quite impressive inside. The dome ceiling was completely covered with mosaic that illustrated the story of Jesus. The artwork was amazing. The gold tile that was used was incredibly sparkly and shone brilliantly.
From there we headed back to the Academy. With our reservations, we bypassed an enormous line and jumped right inside. In there, we saw some paintings, musical instruments, statues, and, of course, Michelangelo’s David. Unfortunately, we do not have any pictorial documentation of the trip because photography was not allowed in the building…however, Bob snapped a stealthy picture of David. Nothing in the museum came close to David. He sits at the end of a long hallway, and he stands over 13 feet tall. We spent a good amount of time looking at the piece from various angles. We could not believe the accuracy with which he carved the human form. In fact, you could almost imagine the statue coming to life. We also found out that two other artists rejected the particular piece of marble that David was carved out of because they thought the cracks in it would make it unusable.
After leaving the Academy, we grabbed a quick bite to eat, and we strolled throw the city to the river. We crossed a famous bridge that garners its fame from being the only bridge in Florence spared by the Nazis in World War 2. As 3 o’clock approached, we walked to the Uffuzi Museum. There we saw paintings from Michelangelo, da Vinci, Rafael, Rembrandt, and many others. Statues of Roman emperors and Medici family portraits lined the hallways. The ceilings were all painted with strange and mystifying scenes. With over 45 exhibit rooms and the art in the hallways, it was way too much to look at in one trip. Nearly all the paintings were religious in nature. We literally saw hundreds of depictions of Christ’s birth and crucifixion. It actually got a bit overwhelming because we had a difficult time separating all the pieces. They all kind of just ran together. Overall though, it was unbelievable to be able to see first hand all the artworks we only see in textbooks. As we were walking through, we could not believe how vibrant the colors were is these pieces that were well over 500 years old.
After leaving the Uffuzi, we headed back to the hotel, grabbed our bags, and went to the train station. We are now on a train heading to Rome. Since we are in Rome for 3 nights, we plan to take things a bit more leisurely. Tonight, we plan to find a spot to watch the Italy-Spain soccer match. I can not wait to see the passion of fans in the capital city. I think it promises to be a great time…especially if Italy wins. Tomorrow, we have more sightseeing…and I think we will be visiting the ancient ruins including the forum and Coliseum.
Until then.
Buena sera.
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