Florence

*I know that I am a bit behind with the blog. This is mainly because Jen was here with me for two weeks, and I wanted to make the most of my time with her. In addition, it can be difficult to get an Internet connection that is good enough to let me upload photo albums and edit blog posts. I am going to do my best to make up the gap in the next few days.

After a full-night's rest and a great breakfast at our hotel in Bologna, Jen and I walked to the train station to catch our train to Florence. This was a very short ride, and we were able to drop off our bags and start on the tourist track by about 10:30 am.

Florence lies in northern Tuscany, and it is a very important city in the world of art history. Its museums, galleries, and palaces hold some of the most valuable masterpieces in the world. Our first stop was the Accademia Galleria, the home of Michelangelo's David, which is held by many to be the greatest sculptural work in the world. We waited in line for about an hour before entering the museum, and after admission, we went straight to see David. Often, pieces of art like this do not capture my attention as I feel they should, but David really impressed me. Everything about the sculpture is perfect, and it is quite large--about 2.5 times scale. It was also interesting to learn that the sculpture was worked from a giant piece of marble that the Catholic church decided it did not need in building the large Duomo nearby. Good thing they could afford to donate that giant marble block to the arts! Furthermore, an amazing thing about Michelangelo is that no plaster mock-ups (used for practice, visualization, and scale) of his works have been found for his works, meaning he may have had such remarkable skill that he could create his works without plaster trial runs and reference points. In addition to David, the gallery also holds a few marble blocks that contain half-finished works by Michelangelo.

After the gallery, we went to get lunch. I had read about Fratellini, a sandwich shop in Venice, so we went to get little sandwiches with roast pork and a variety of cheeses. Delicious.

We spent the afternoon walking by the river, eating gelato, visiting Florence's famous Duomo, peeking into a Pinocchio store (the author of the original tale was born in Florence), and embracing the custom of siesta (i.e., napping). Florence did have more museums to see, particularly the Uffizi Gallery, but we opted not to visit more for two reasons. First, after seeing so many museums in Spain, I was experiencing a bit of "museum fatigue." Second, Florence was an absolute zoo of tourists. There were massive lines and crowds for every site. Exacerbating the problem was every European traveler's favorite social phenomenon--cruise ship groups!

Cruise ship groups are quite amazing. Scholars are not quite sure when this custom first appeared in Western society, but if you are trying to spot a cruise ship group in a major European city in our modern era, simply look for someone walking backwards while carrying a small microphone and something ridiculous like a flag, an umbrella (on a sunny day), a folding fan, a giant fake flower, etc. This person will be trailed scores of other human beings, and they will be wearing fanny packs, large hats, and walking shoes. One thing Jen and I learned about these incredible miracles of tourism is that they tend to be about as large and unwieldy as a cruise ship itself. And these groups always like to stop in the most ideal places, as in, "Hey, this sidewalk is exceptionally wide, so let's take up the entire thing," or, "Hey, this hallway or gallery in the museum is quite large, so, again, let's occupy the entire thing so that no one can get around us." But be careful. Only get close to the pack if you are prepared to hear middle-aged Americans complain about walking, the heat, or the culture in the country they decided to cross an ocean to visit. But you may learn something interesting by overhearing the guide . . . or you might cringe by hearing one of your fellow countrymen asking an exceptionally ignorant question.

But I digress. Less important than the phenomenon itself was our suspicion that on that day, every cruise ship in the Mediterranean had come into port on the coast of Tuscany and sent every single occupant on coach buses to the historic area of Florence, to the celebration of €6 gelato places everywhere (it should be about €2-3). We opted to end our day with a walk by the river at sunset, delicious wood-fired pizza, and some Rosso di Montalcino. Then, with Siena awaiting us, it was time for bed. Florence is a pretty city (it's the one I chose for my blog's banner), and its art museums are very notable, but I would recommend visiting in the off-season if you can. It really did feel a bit like having the same number of tourists you see in Rome or London, only spread over fewer sites in a much smaller city center. You can view the pictures here, and I'll post Siena right away.

- R