Saturday:
We got an early start in Florence, and just like my experience in Barcelona, the town was completely serene and quiet at the early hour - all of the tourists had not yet emerged from their complimentary breakfast-nooks yet, so we felt like the city was ours to explore.
After a quick cappuccino and cornetto, we went to find the Uffizi museum. On the way, however, we came across an amazing piazza that had a statue gallery. At first, I thought that these were copies of originals housed in the museum, but all of a sudden Claudia points to one and says, "Isn't that the Rape of the Sabines that we talked about in class?"
Sure enough, it was the same piece of art we had seen a slide of just a day before, and it was so cool to see it in person! Basically, the scene was depicting a day when Romulus, king of Rome, decided that in order to repopulate the city (which was running low on women), they would invite a neighboring city over and then take all of their women. It is a horrible, horrible story, but also a beautifully depicted art piece - the S curve involved is so delicate and fitting, and the statue is different from whatever angle you look at it.
We also saw many other statues in the same courtyard, one of them being this version of Perseus, and since I enjoy Greek mythology, I appreciated the gory depiction of Medusa's head.
All of this art appreciation made me especially excited for the Uffizi, and when we finally got inside, it didn't disappoint. No pictures allowed, unfortunately, but we did get the opportunity to see some amazing pieces of art, such as the Birth of Venus. There was a room in the museum that had sculptures in it about Niobe, the Greek mythological character. Her story is that she boasted of being better than the gods because she had so many more children, and in their anger the gods killed all of her children. The room depicted famous artists takes on the children being struck down, which made for some interesting statues. The angles and hand positions of these sculptures were so unique - I really appreciated the change from the cliche statues of Rome (no matter how beautiful those may be).
The museum was great, and when we finished we grabbed some lunch (a sandwich from the famous Due Frateli - very good!)
Next, Laurie and I decided to climb to the top of the Duomo, Florence's most well-known icon.
Well, let's start with how many stairs are involved in climbing to the top of this thing. No elevators or escalators - just man power. The number? 463. The fact that we were laughing about how out of breath we were half-way through didn't help matters, either. But it was great fun, and the view was entirely worth it.
We also got a better view at the inside part of the duomo, which isn't visible from the ground floor (it's sectioned off). What we got to see was an amazingly vivid and morbid scene of the the Last Judgement. Even though we were being ushered along the pathway, I stood dumbfounded at how graphic the scenes were. In all honesty, I was absolutely amazed at how much creativity was put into thinking about the terrible things that will happen at the end of the world, but I made up my mind that if I was a peasant in the middle ages, I don't think I would have liked attending mass underneath that picture. (By the way, that face is what I looked like after climbing the first 250 steps.)
After pausing to see the art, we were rewarded with... more stairs. Yeah... But! we laughed (so out of breath) at the irony of this sign on the way. It was surrounded by graffiti. Nice try, Florence authorities.
Finally! The top! The view took what was left of my breath away. All around us was the city, but the hustle and bustle of the street seemed so far away and insignificant compared to the grandeur of being on top of the world.
As you might be able to tell, it was a little windy. Despite our best efforts to tame our hair before getting a picture snapped by a kind stranger, it went wild anyway. Something else to laugh about.
We also saw the lightening rod for the Duomo, and I just couldn't resist.
After getting our fill of the view and mentally preparing ourselves for the steep and perilous climb back down, we went back down the hatch. Between the time we had climbed up and looked around, the Duomo had gotten CROWDEDDDD. We had to squeeze past hundreds of tourists on narrow staircases, and there were times where it was so shadowy and dark that we couldn't see the steps in front of us. Don't worry though, I'm still alive to tell the tale.
And what a better way to reward such a physically exhausting experience but to eat more gelato? We tried our second gelato location: Carabe. The gelato was good and we all enjoyed talking to the vendor (who was very nice), but I think my favorite was still Vivoli.
The Uffizi, Duomo, and gelato in one day? What could possibly add to such an amazing day? Well maybe it won't surprise you when I say I'm just getting started. Next up, we went to the Galleria Academia to view David. It's technically a "museum", but the only reason anyone ever goes is to see David. Honestly, I didn't understand all of the hype. We walked through the first part of the museum, and then just as we rounded a corner...
...I saw him.
Wow.
I got goosebumps, because never in my life had I expected something so glorious. David was 15 feet tall, and every inch of him was just human perfection. No image or reproduction could ever do him justice, especially is face. His expression is one of melancholic contemplation, and looking into his eyes makes you want to be able to talk to him and ask him what he's thinking about.
I think that this basically means that Michelangelo is amazing - first my amazement at the Sistine Chapel, and now David. It's clear to see why he's one of the greats.
We sat down on the benches near David and just looked at him for half an hour or so - it felt like the time flew, too, because there was just so much to take in. I feel like it's moments like these where traveling cannot be replaced - there's no way I can properly describe the awe I felt at seeing this masterpiece, and I think it's a feeling everyone should have at some point. So go: buy a plane ticket to Florence, get in line for the Galleria Academia, and prepared to be blown away.
Unfortunately for us, after we had seen David, our weather luck was running thin. In started raining, and because Claudia didn't have an umbrella (and we were all tired), we decided to head back to the hotel and rest a little until dinner.
Dinner made up for any of the dismal weather, though, because we finally got to eat Bistecca!
We went to this adorable little tratoria called I' Cche' C'è C'è. It was run by a family, and the old lady who served us was really cordial and cute. Basically how it worked was that you could order a weight of meat, and a kilo cost 35 euro or so. Because there were three of us, we got the kilo as well as a pasta dish (just one, though!).
Best. Meal. Of. My. Life.
Not even kidding. We had heard that ordering the steak well-done is pretty much a crime in Italy, so we asked for medium. When we got it though, we were all a little uncomfortable because it still looked really red. We shrugged though, and said to ourselves "When in Italy!" and dug in. Our eyes widened and our mouths chewed slowly. The steak was tender on the inside, crunchy on the outside, and the most flavorful and perfect piece of meat I've ever encountered. Even a week later just thinking about it is making my mouth water.
Even though it was three girls eating what pretty much equates to half of a cow, we polished that T-Bone clean. It must have been pretty funny to see three dainty girls sawing away at a kilo steak, but we didn't care - we savored every bite!
Honestly, a part of me wants to go back to Florence just for more steak. Yummmmm.
