Florence

On our second full day out of Lucca we took a full day trip to Florence. Monica is full of spunk and loves life itself. She dances and hums in the train stations and stops several people every twenty minutes to chat and double check we are on the right path to our next destination.

When we arrived in Florence, we were able to see how the marble buildings and the cathedral were colorful as opposed to all the other churches we had seen thus far. In the center of historic Florence we first visited the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore - which is the Duomo (cathedral/church) of Florence - it was gorgeous, and massive. The painting on the inside dome above the Altar was neat how it depicted the layers of Heaven and showed Hell/purgatory - this was one of Kristen’s favorite pieces of art in Italy. We were also impressed with the baptistry’s doors (the baptistry is right across from the cathedral itself) - they took over 20 years to create. We later learned the doors we saw on the baptistry were replicas, and the orginials were in a museum - but we couldn’t tell the difference. Whoever the people in Italy are whose job it is to make replicas of famous stuff, kudos to you. As we walked around the streets we saw some statues that were sculpted by Donetello (these were originals) - which was wild as they were just part of the streets and buildings (not in museums or anything). Street vendors, however, soon reminded us not everything in Florence is authentic as they lined the side streets with copies of famous pictures by Leonardo di Vinci and Michaelangelo - attempting to sell them to any and everyone.

Monica gave us a walking tour of Florence at first which included a central piazza (Piazza della Signoria) that held some impressive sculptures including a copy of the David and many more original Michaelangelo sculptures. We also saw Cellini’s sculpture of a man holding Medusa’s head from Greek mythology (Thank you, Mr. Graham). Later we walked down to the Arno River to take some photos that most postcards captured. Monica also gave us a local history lesson and we learned all about the Medici family - who ruled Florence/Tuscany for a long time and were basically behind the start of the renaissance.

Monica left us to venture out in this city on our own so the four of us looked for a small side street to find a little nook to eat in, since the small places make the best food! We found a tiny door that led us down into the cellar of a building where we sat and had a terrific lunch and drank amazing house wine. The house wine, btw, is better than most expensive wines you can order at restaurants back home. AND, wine here is way cheaper than ordering, let’s say... soda and about as expensive as a few waters! The cook made our first and second courses nearly ten feet from us and gave us a wave as we were leaving. Italians are so friendly!

Next, we stood in line for the Uffizi Gallery (one of the best art galleries in the world) and walked through the hallways with Phil and Scotch admiring the many paintings, mostly of Mary with her Bambino (baby). We saw a bust of just about every important person in ancient Rome as well. It was definitely a nice place to say that we have been but we are getting a little tired of studying art and sculpture already! We need to take a break so we can be ready for our ending location in Paris... which we’ve heard has a museum or two worth checking out.

Okay, one more sculpture... the best one actually! Of course it is not located in the Uffizi like most people think... it is in a more random museum across town, the Accademia Gallery. So, we paid our entrance fee and sat and admired Michaelangelo’s finest work: David. Even for a couple people who are by no means art aficionados we were stunned by the sculpted marble that is David. Nicely done MA (that’s our nickname for Michaelangelo - we feel like we know him now).

After another delightful cup of gelati, we took the train back to Lucca for a nice quiet night to end our loud and crazy day in Florence.