Florence - Day 2 (6/30/10)

We woke up bright (and early) and headed downstairs to this adorable little yellow room for breakfast.  (We needed nourishment for the big day ahead of us...)  After our fare share of croissants, cheese, and tea, we gathered our stuff and headed out the door.  The Accademia was our first stop of the day.  This was where the real "David" by Michelangelo was kept.  He was the center piece of the whole building and appropriately so.  He was at the end of a long hallway and stood over 18 feet high.  You had to pass these other unfinished statues done by Michelangelo that were called "The Captive Slaves."  Each one was a rough outline of a person coming out of a block of stone.  Even though they were unfinished, there was this awe-inspired mystery in each block of stone and each statue looked like a person trying to escape from the captivity of the stones.  (Hence the name....)  But then, as you reach the end of the long hall, there stands the David.  It truly is amazing the contrast between the strong, muscular and confident David depicted by Michelangelo and the small weak David described in the Bible.  You can only just stand back and stare wide-eyed at the magnificence of the sculpture... it was not surprisingly Michelangelo's finest work.  After seeing the David though, the rest of the museum was just average, but still beautiful.  After the Accedemia, we headed over to a church called the Santa Croce.  It had a similar design to the Duomo, but definitely not as breathtaking.  Most of the entrance was blocked off by a large stage that had been set up for a concert that was to take place that evening, so we did not get that many great pictures.  The inside was completely different than the Duomo, but that did not make it any less gorgeous.  Inside were the graves of many famous artists including Michelangelo,  Galileo, and Bartolini.  (Graves of famous people = plus for my dad)  Each person had their own monument and space and each was different and equally just as big.  :)  After taking many pictures in front of the graves, we headed over to a small cafe and ate a lightish lunch.  (If a meal can be called "light" in Italy :))  From there we split up and Sarah, dad, and I went back to the Arno river to take some more pictures from different bridges while Uncle John walked around for a bit.  We then got a little lost (hey, it's a big city) and had to walk quite briskly to get to the Uffizi in time for our reservations.  Then we headed inside to spend the rest of the afternoon in the art museum.  (It was definitely a place you could get lost in..)  There were hundreds of rooms filled with Renaissance Era paintings and sculptures.  So many different artists and so many different ideas...it was hard to take it all in.  Not only were the rooms packed full of art, but every space on the ceilings of the halls were painted as well.  (I think that was my favorite part..)  We worked from the 2nd  floor down and on the 1st floor they had an exhibit of the artist Caravaggio.  It was set in a dimly lit room and all the paintings were fascinatingly morbid...let's just say were weren't too sad to leave that floor.  :)  From the afternoon at the Uffizi, we headed to the Piazzo Signoria to rest our weary feet for a bit (it ended up being a common place for us to rest).  We got to watch all the different people going to their different places and even some street performers (there was a really good mime who we got to watch for a while).  The culture in this city is so diverse and so laid back...everyone was just out to have a good time.  After that we headed to get some gelatos and then to this fabric shop for Sarah.  (It had been in business for the past 81 years..)  We went in thinking we would just look around a bit, but came out about 2 hours later with some more historical knowledge of Florence, some italian fabric for Sarah, and some souvenirs from the old man who owned the shop.  (He was such a chatty kathy and was the cutest old man ever...)  :D  Dinner was next on the list of things to do and we decided on this place called the Trattorie Nerone.  Sarah and I both got some incredible Fettucine Alfredo and both decided we would be going back there in the future.. :)  We then walked around (got more gelatos :)) the city watching it come alive with night life.  It was a week night, but the streets were still packed with musicians, families, and characters of all sorts.  We just moved from place to place and would sit and watch people for a while.  It was definitely a wonderful way to finish off the last night in Florence... where else can you sit on the steps of the Duomo and people-watch in the moonlight?  :) I'm going to miss this city so much.

Some pictures from Day 2 -

^ Our little breakfast room... so cute  o_o

^ The ceiling of the Accademia

^ The hall before the David....and then I found out you couldn't take pictures... :) 

^ Just a random building square while walking around.. gorgeous!

^ One of the many teeny weeny streets.. 

^ So many motorbikes...

^ The Santa Croce

^ Inside the Santa Croce

^ One of the ceilings in the Santa Croce

^ Santa Croce again...

^ One of the many pics of us in front of the graves...here is my dad in front of Machiavelli

^ Outside the Santa Croce

^ The halls of the Uffizi

^ The view from the Uffizi

^ The ceiling of the Uffizi

^ Sarah in her fabric heaven :)

^ Our hotel

^ Some of the many musicians at night

^ This was about 11:30pm and the steps of the Duomo were still packed with people.  And it wasn't just the Dumo that was packed with people - everywhere there were people walking around that late at night...