Europe Day 12: Florence!

A relaxing and fun day
Our day in Florence was a nice easy one like Venice was – not too much that we needed to see, so it let us wander around freely.

Santa Croce
We began really early and started our day at the Piazza Santa Croce. There we saw the church where Michelangelo and Galileo are buried. Leona told us of a sport that they play in the middle of the piazza, where they cover the entire area in sand. I can’t remember what sport it is, but I think I remember it’s supposed to be pretty “violent” and was even halted for a few years because of how hurt people were getting.

Leather demonstration
From the piazza, Leona then took us to a leather demonstration where we were taught how to tell real leather from fake leather and what to look for whenever we were approached by leather sales-people or trying to pick up a leather good. They also showed us how they make the traditional Florentine boxes, the first one originally made for a princess. It’s an odd-covered shaped box, but made fully out of leather with no nails, hinges or appendages – simply fully formed leather. That was pretty much the only thing that interested me in the demonstration – the “buying” we were led into afterwards was… well… you know.

Piazza della Signoria
From the demonstration, we then walked further into the city to Piazza della Signoria where the Medici Palace is and all the statues that they commissioned during their “reign” in the city. From here we were left with a little free time to explore for ourselves before our guided tour began. H-Rabbit and I made our way to the post office to send off our postcards. We also walked a little way to a small market square with a lot of local artisans.

Luck, return, and a little something-something
It was in this market that we also had our first sighting of the Bronze Boar. We listened in on another group’s tour and we learned that if you place a coin in the Boar’s mouth, then you’ll have good luck, a second coin will ensure that you will one day return to Firenze (Florence) and a rub on his noggin’ would ensure yourself a… good sex life!

Guided Tour of Florence
After doing what we willed with the Boar (haha!) we wandered around in the area until we met our guided walking tour guide at the statue of the Medici family leader on a horse in the middle of the Piazza della Signoria. From there, our tour guide talked to us about the statues in the piazza – the David replica, the Palace, the Neptune statue, the Rape of the Sabine Women, etc. The collection is actually quite spectacular and the care given to the restoration and upkeep of the area is marvelous.


Palazzo degli Uffizi
From the Piazza della Signoria, we then walked towards the right side of the Medici Palace towards the Palazzo degli Uffizi where the Uffizi Gallery is located. The gallery is one of the most famous in the world and holds works by Botticelli, Caravaggio, Michelangelo, Raphael and Rembrandt, as well as some of Leonardo da Vinci’s works. In the enclosed but open walkway beside the Uffizi, we can see the vast collection of statues that were made of all the Renaissance masters, many of whom all lived in Florence for a time. We couldn’t actually go into the Uffizi, as apparently tours are booked over 3-months in advance, and it would take three to four hours to get in without a reservation. I was more excited about seeing David, that if I was going to wait anywhere – I wanted to wait there instead.

Ponte Vecchio
When walking out of the Uffizi area, you find yourself immediately on the Arno River, where we then walked to the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge) – beautiful bridge from the medieval period. For me, this was another site that I consider one of the most intriguing, as its make-up and development is extremely fascinating. Originally the bridge was just the site of a mass market of all sorts of things, but appeared smelly, and dirty, etc.

At some point, the Medici family built a second Palace across the river from their original one, and to join the two built a second level walkway along the bridge over the assortment of small stalls and mini-buildings that the market sellers had erected directly on the bridge. However, walking along this pathway – the Medici family was disgusted by the awful view of the dirty market, and then directed that the only vendors that may occupy the bridge were the jewelers of the city, so that as the family passed, they would see all the “beauty” that the city had to offer, and only have to look at beautiful things.

Walking in Florence
From the bridge we walked a bit more through the city and the guide pointed out older buildings and squares that were the last remnants of the original city structures. We then ended our walk at the Duomo (church) – Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore – where we were shown the church, dome and tower. These buildings are all covered, faced and made with green, pink and white marble. From afar, it actually looks like the building is painted, but it isn’t – the vibrant colours are actually the natural colours of the stone.

Lunch!
After our guided tour ended, our little group went for lunch. We ended up having huge plates of bruchettas (each!), huge pizzas (each!) and left the restaurant totally stuffed!

The Academia
From lunch we then went to the Academia to see David! When we approached the building, we were encountered with the line-up, which was pretty huge. Chris and Liz decided to leave, as the wait was going to be a minimum of 1.5 hours (with rumours of it actually being 3), however David was my last main goal in Florence so I definitely wanted to stay. While in line we met some nice people from the States – a mother and daughter – who were just as excited to see David as we were.

Gelato!
While it seemed like a much longer time, in the end it really did only take 1.5 hours. To abate the wait, we managed to grab some awesome gelato while waiting in line from Carape Café. It was a welcome “cooler” from the heat beating down on us in line.

Around the Corner
The Academia is actually a fairly small gallery, and unlike the Louvre where you go walking for miles to get to the “good stuff”, the David is literally “around the corner” from the first door and hallway near the entrance of the gallery.

David!
Seeing David was everything that I thought it would be. The statue is absolutely astounding. The detail in the veins, muscle ripples, carved out eyes and more just floors you when you think of what it required for such a feat to lay before you. I sat for a really long time and just looked at it for a while. I think you could spend the whole day wondering over it and still have new things to discover about it. At our first glimpse – we stuck to the rules and didn’t take any direct photos (though Tatiana and I snuck in what we could) – however – when I went off to see some of the other sculptured busts – H-Rabbit and Tatiana caught a lucky break.

They had somehow met one of the gallery’s guides/cleaners and he had begun to show them HIS pictures of the David. Basically in the shots he’s right beside David’s head and kissing it and wiping it off and making some hilarious poses. The girls were laughing because they didn’t understand a word he was saying, and some other guides came over and were laughing hysterically too. Obviously – neither side really understood each other with them not speaking English and Tatiana and H-Rabbit not speaking Italian, however with hand motions and laughter we realized that they were giving us permission to take pictures (even though it was against the rules) since obviously in the after hours they had been taking some crazy funny photos of their own! Ours obviously weren’t going to be anywhere near as embarrassing or disrespectful, so why not take a few.

So – H-Rabbit and Tatiana took pictures of the real David – our own pictures!! It’s really cool and we have to remember to send originals to each other. This is definitely a story to remember from our trip. We left the gallery elated, happy to see the one thing we had been looking forward to all day – and it made up largely for missing the Gondola ride in Venice.

Checking the Replica and Souvenir hunting
After the gallery, our first stop was to head back to the Piazza della Signoria because our guide had told us the statue in the piazza was an exact replica – size and detail and everything – but it just seemed so much smaller. We had to re-check! Seeing it again – it is believable that they are the same – but with the original being so white and housed inside a domed room amongst lower ceiling rooms and hallways – it certainly seems to be much larger.

From the piazza we then wandered back to the market with the bronze boar – tipped back our coins and picked up a few souvenirs. After that – we had just enough time to walk back to Santa Croce to meet with the group on the stairs of the church to head back to the hotel.

All of Florence at our feet
Dinner tonight was going to be at an old monastery. Before heading there, our driver took us first to the Piazza de Michelangelo, which overlooks the entire city of Florence. Here we all got out to take our group Contiki photo. We then got on the bus again – however we got a little “lost”.

Tuscan Dinner
Finally – after a few rounds of Florence in the dark (which was actually quite a beautiful ride) we arrived at the monastery. We started the night with an aperitif in the patio area and then were led into the formal dining room. Dinner was amazing, with three huge courses and dessert. During dinner, music was played and we were treated with a few songs by a local opera singer. Some of our group ended their night with the drop of Grappa (Not me however – blech – 80% proof alcohol = burning tasteless water that I don’t particularly need to taste).


Space Nightclub
From dinner we were then taken to Space Nightclub in the city – well – at least they TRIED to drive us there. Roads were blocked all over the place so in the end we had to get out along the Arno and then walk in for about 15-20 minutes in our very dressy gear. Thankfully – no heels broke along the cobblestone walkways. In the end – the night was pretty good – but not thoroughly amazing. The club is really nicely laid out and has a lot of different areas but was a basic club overall. Between seeing much better places back home and now being 30 – I believe that the “club” scene as envisioned by Space isn’t my scene anymore. It was fun for a while – but after a few hours it was time to go home. (Besides – our little Karaoke stint was ruined by one of the other Contiki reps so we weren’t so revving to be there anymore near the end). We headed out at about 1:30am and have hit the sack for another driving day tomorrow.