Sunday, June 28: Our hotel is centrally located in the center of Florence so getting around was quite easy today…a lot of walking but still easy to get around.
We met Alessandro at the Accademia to see Michelangelo’s David primarily as well as some of his other sculptures and sculptures of other artists. I am amazed every time I view sculptures; how can you get such intricacy with a chisel and a hammer? The museum was not crowded at all this morning so we were able to truly see all of the details of “the giant”…the veins on the hands, the muscles flexing, the grip of the slingshot, the tension in the neck…17 feet of pure genius in marble! I loved the way Alessandro gave us the history of David…much I knew but several things were new to me…the vandalism he has suffered, breaking of his arm, the crushing of his toe. Why do people have to be so destructive?
A stroll in the morning humidity led us to the Duomo, Santa Maria del Fiore…St Mary of the Flowers. This is by far my favorite Cathedral, again I was able to learn from Alessandro things I was not aware of before…the cathedral only has a thin layer of marble (pink, white and green) on it. Makes since; marble is very expensive. We were not allowed to visit the inside of the Duomo due to Sunday Mass. Some went inside later in the afternoon but Melissa and I had an appointment at the Uffizi Museum. Thank you, thank you, thank you Matteo for arranging that for us; so much easier than standing in line and wasting valuable sightseeing time.
A dream came true for me today; seeing the Birth of Venus and the other Botticelli’s has been a dream of mine for quite some time. How magnificent it was. Of course, my first response was that the painting was smaller than I had thought…still quite large but my mind had enlarged it. I wish that we could have taken pictures so I could get the perspective across to the students better…oh well.
Our next stop was Santa Croce, Holy Cross; this is where Galileo and Michelangelo are buried. We were able to visit their tombs. Much of the Basilica was under restoration so we couldn’t get the whole view of all of the beautiful frescoes. Matteo pulled Melissa and I aside to show us the Giotto frescoes. He had heard me quiz her about art earlier and added these to our list. Poor Melissa, she gets as least a couple of quizzes a day. She is doing quite well.
A hot walk back across town to the hotel to gather our things and say arriverderchi (sp) Frienze (Florence) and bojourno Roma! Four hours later, with sporadic napping, we arrive in Rome. The countryside is so beautiful, sunflowers, vineyards, quaint little hilltop villages, olive groves…a picture postcard every mile. The sun was on my side of the bus so many of the pictures did not come out very well; too much of a reflection of me to see the scenery.
A traditional Italian dinner of pasta, pork and spinach for dinner and then a subway trip to the Trevi Fountain to toss a coin so we will return to Rome and then over to the Spanish Steps. A full day of sensory overload…sights, smells, sounds. It is difficult to process it all.
Time for bed and dreams of the wonderful day we had today.
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