We spent yesterday morning finishing up our tour of Florence. Last on our list was the Gallerie dell'Accademia- the location of Michaelangelo's David and other assorted sculptures. Sadly, we weren't allowed to take pictures yesterday, so I have nothing to show you.
The Gallerie was built to house David after the original sculture was moved from outside the Palazzo Vecchio. There is a fake version out in the piazza now while the original is safely tucked into a climate controlled rotunda. You have to meander your way through the museum to get there. We lucked out and managed to come on a day when there were no lines. That has been the great thing about coming in January/February. The lines have been negligent. Apparently in spring and summer it takes hours to get in to see these places. I strongly recommend that you come in the winter and just pack a coat.
The David is cool. For starters it is huge. It is at least twice a normal man's height, if not more. It is stunningly beautiful, of course. The marble just glows almost. The most interesting part though is the level of detail. Michaelangelo clearly understood anatomy, right down to the veins. You can see muscles and tendons and veins all carved into the marble. It is pretty amazing.
The hall on the way is filled with his unfinished works. I have to admit that they were a LOT more interesting than the David when it comes right down to it. You can see how Michaelangelo started with this big hunk of rock and then the form emerged from it. You can see chisel marks and everything. Pretty cool. I really wanted to reach out and touch everything, but obviously they frown on such things. Oh well. It was still pretty coll just getting to see it all.
We finished out the tour with a quick run through the Basilica of San Lorenzo next to the Medici palace. It was my favorite of the churches we looked at. Sadly, no pictures were allowed there either.
We snagged a quick lunch of lasagna and bread and then wandered back to this really nice waffle making lady we had met the day before. They have waffle makers set up in front of the gelato store. You can smell the cooking waffles for blocks. The smell is devine! We both ordered what we thought was a small one and went back to wait. When the lady brought them to us they were huge! She had made two waffles with a layer of chocolate in between. This was topped with a scoop of gelato and a layer of whipped cream. The whole thing was then drizzled with more chocolate. It was a sugar overdose! I think we managed to eat about a third of it before we gave up. I'm not sure how anyone ever manages to eat the whole thing. While we were letting it settle, a little brown, feather-footed pigeon snuck into the back of the shop where we were and started scarfing up crumbs. It was bold and cocky and became our fast friend after we tossed it bits of waffle. As we left he got a good running start and flew over everyone's heads out the door. There are no squirrels, but a million pigeons in all the piazza's.
It was about a two hour train ride to Rome, but we got here and to the hotel with no trouble. Today we are off to the Roman ruins. Hopefully I can post more pictures tonight. Stay tuned!
No comments:
Post a Comment