Buon giorno and happy Friday the 13th
We enjoyed the day in Florence. We visited some cathedrals and museums, all centered around the birth of the Renaissance. Florence has a long and rich history dating back to the dark ages. I felt like our day was spent with Michelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo, and Raphael except I'm not talking about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
We started our day visiting the Basilica of San Lorenzo. This was a chapel by the Medici family. It is also the place where Donatello's tomb is. We were able to tour the place where they keep the relics. I never fully understand the concept of a relic in the Catholic religion, but they are body parts of saints. So, we saw a finger, femur, and elbow bones, locks of hair, etc of past saints. It was weird to me.
Before we left home, Alan and I downloaded the Rick Steves app. It has audio tours of all the major sites. Instead of paying the 5 or 10 euros for the audio guides as each site, we get it for free. It is a strong recommendation for anyone, especially if you are wanting to be frugal like us. We then made our way to the Duomo. The outside is more ornate than the inside. The outside is decorated with italian marble; white, black, pink, and green. It is most notable for its dome. When they started building it, they didn't know how to build the dome. Since it was the Renaissance, they had faith that by the time they got to that point God would give them the answer. The architect went to Rome and saw the dome of the Pantheon and modeled the dome after it. We did not climb to the top.
We made our way to the Accademia, which is home to Michelangelo's "David". It was stunning and very large. It is over 14 feet tall. It was intended to sit at the peak of the Duomo, but sat in a square until it was moved to the museum. There were other works by Michelangelo and other Renaissance artists.
We then walked over to the Piazza Della Signoria which has Neptune's fountain and a statue garden. We stopped for lunch in the piazza where I enjoyed homemade gnocchi and Alan enjoyed spaghetti. Italian food is my favorite and it is just as good, if not better in Italy. I have been told repeatedly that I probably will not like the food here because I'm used to americanized italian food. Well, that is not true in this case.
We then toured the Uffizi museum, which has the world's premier collection of Renaissance art. Rick Steves helped us hit the highlights of this massive museum. It was not as large as the Louvre, but just as enjoyable. Renaissance art is usually either faith driven/inspired or Greek gods inspired. I saw so many "Madonna and Child" titles with each artist having their own take on it.
We walked up the river bank to the Ponte Vecchio. It is a bridge that has shops built into the facade. It reminds me of what London Bridge was before it fell. There were some high end jewelry shops on the bridge. Another window shopping experience. We continued window shopping through the shopping district. We collected our bags from the hotel and boarded a train to Rome. Overall, I really enjoyed Florence and Tuscany!
We checked into our hotel in Rome. It is a little B and B in a residential neighborhood. It looks like someone turned their house into a bed and breakfast to help pay the rent. First impressions of Rome is that it is not as clean as the other cities have been. They do enjoy their graffiti. We had enough time to get checked in a go to bed. It's been a long day!
Arrivederci
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