After another bug-bitten night we woke up very early to be on time for our reservation at the Uffizi Gallery. There were some fantastic pieces of art here. My favorite was “The Birth of Venus”. This painting really was amazing in person. The colors were so bright! There were also some amazing statues and sculptures. It always amazes me how life like statues can be! And even the detail put into their hair and the clothing that they are wearing (even though it’s the LACK of clothing). But when they are wearing clothes it looks like real fabric! It was interesting to see the progression of art and its forms. The Uffizi is arranged more or less chronologically. This really makes the transitions in art so clear! They start with medieval pieces and progress through the major movements.
After the Uffizi we ate some lunch (yummy pesto!) then headed over to the Academia to see Michelangelo’s “David”. We were so lucky to get reservations to both of these museums. Supposedly you should call weeks in advance to make sure you get a spot…we only gave ourselves 2 days! But nonetheless we were able to get into both major museums! So we arrived at the Academia and were surprised at the building. I had gotten so used to museums being a palace or villa of some kind that when it was just a plan building I just stared at it all confused.
We finally made our way into the building an the first thing we see is the statue “The rape of the Sabines”. It was phenomenal! The detail put into it was amazing! I can’t even imagine having enough patience to make something of that magnitude, something that detailed, or something that massive! Then we went around the corner and smack dab in front of us was “The David”. It was incredible! Michelangelo was only 29 years old when he created this world-renowned masterpiece! The museum is basically built around this statue (and after seeing it I understand why!). As the lady yelled “NO PHOTO!” at a group standing next to us Whitney, Lucy and I devised a plan to take some pictures. We huddled together and appeared to be talking about the statue when in reality we had our cameras hidden down low angled up at that the statue. I got my pictures and everything was going great, but when Whitney took her picture she forgot to turn off the flash…oops! The mean museum lady yelled “NO PHOTO!” but we still managed to get a couple more. After admiring David for about 30 minutes we went to see some of the other galleries. One that was really interesting was an exhibit displaying old musical instruments. There was even a Stradivarius violin!
After our amazingly art filled day we walked through the market some more. Lucy found this great gadget that was a turtle neck, scarf, hat and gloves all in one…cute, huh?! Lol
For our last night in Florence we decided to go to what we had heard was the best gelato in Florence (and since Florence is the best in Italy for gelato I think it’s safe to say the best gelato in ITALY). It’s the place called Grom. And oh my word…did it live up to its reputation!! Crema di Grom…if you ever go. GET THAT FLAVOR!
Over all…I have loved Florence and am sad to be going. It was never dull, it was just busy enough that we always had something going on, but not running around like chickens with our heads cut off! Just the right combination to not get sick of it! Two thumbs up to Florence! I will definitely try to come back here!
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