Ma Vie a Strasbourg: Florence

Tuesday March 3^rd 2009:

For our second full day in Florence, we decided to hit the museums. We rose early, ate breakfast from the groceries we had purchased, and headed out into the somewhat rainy, but beautiful city of Florence. We first went to the Duomo, at entered just as it opened. The outside is made up of beautiful black, white and pink marble. I had never seen a cathedral that was so ornate from the outside. Right near the cathedral were the famous golden doors, which Michelangelo carved.

We wandered through the next museum slowly, taking in the mostly medieval paintings and sculptures. It was interesting how similar they all were, the figures weren’t really “life-like”, and one can see how rigid the religious society must have been. My impression of medieval art is that it lacked much emotion and inspiration that perhaps spawned from later “artistic enlightenment” periods. However, much of Florence’s secular art was burned in a great fire, so I guess it’s not fair to judge too harshly.

In contrast, the gallery, which houses Michelangelo’s famous “David” was much more inspiring. The sculptures all seemed to be more emotional, and even human. However they were all overshadowed by David. This incredibly tall, and very life-like sculpture made me understand why he is so famous. His figure was just so life-like, the muscles, face, (and he even had eyes!) and his stance, made me feel as if he would just hop off of his pedestal and start-fighting goliath. It was incredibly, and we literally sat and stared at it in awe for about 20 minutes. It was difficult to fathom. Michelangelo carved “David” out of a block of marble that was rendered “useless”. The hands are slightly large, but that was because it was carved to be on a 9-foot block.

After the Gallery, we decided to climb the Duomo. Our place in line was just behind a school group tour. We waited nervously, hoping the rain wouldn't start before we got a chance to climb. On the ascent, Kevin was rather impatiently commenting on how slow the group of teenagers were as they climbed the endless amount of stairs to the top. We did however, eventually reach the top and the view was breathtaking. We could see all of Florence and it hadn't started to rain yet! On the way down, we walked a bit more leasurly and enjoyed the lovely painted cieling.

We then wandered the streets a bit more and walked to the old part of the city. We walked through the famous “bridge”, which is the oldest one in Florence, and the only one not destroyed by WWII. It consists of mostly gold and jewelry venders, thanks to the Medici family who threw out all the others. After some pictures on the bridge, we wandered into a little restaurant for a glass of wine and appetizers. The wine was fantastic and we ordered a vegetable soup, just the perfect hot substance after a somewhat rainy day. We were seated in one of the “Frank Sinatra” seats, right next to the window over looking the river and the old bridge. We deemed it the most romantic spot in Florence. After appetizers we headed back to our hotel to change, and decided to try and visit our “friend with bread”. However, after a long (and somewhat painful) walk across town, it was closed. I guess even “friends with bread” need a day off. Slightly disappointed we tried to think of a plan “B”. We walked back to the restaurant which we enjoyed appetizers, remembering how accommodating they were and that they had gluten free pasta on hand.