We left at 7:30 Friday (7/4) for the depot in Perugia to catch our train to Florence; and arrived in Florence around noon. We were staying in four different places due to availability of rooms, so Jason walked us around and dropped people off at their accommodations. The second stop was where three of us were staying; it was a convent! I got my own room and the two other girls shared a room. The only down side (for some) was that the doors get locked at 11:30 for the night. That’s not a problem for me, but one of the girls would have liked to have stayed out later.
It was noon when we arrived and our rooms would not be ready until 1:00, so the three of us went out for lunch to kill time until we could check in. After we checked in, my room was nice; it was simply furnished with a single bed, desk and wardrobe to hang my clothes. After we got settled, we met everyone at the Uffizi Gallery at 2:30. On our way there, we stopped to take pictures on a bridge called the Ponteveccio. Florence is famous for its jewelry and the Ponteveccio is the diamond district of the city. Here’s a picture of me in front of one of the jewelry stores.
At the Uffizi Gallery, there was a lot of sculpture and medieval art. The highlights of this museum for me were Botticelli’s Venus that we studied in art history, and several paintings by Caravaggio. We could not take photos in the Uffizi of the art; however, I did take a photo out of the upper story window of the river, the Ponteveccio (the first bridge) and a series of bridges down the river.
After our visit at the museum, we were on our own until 8:00. Jason organized dinner at Za-Za’s restaurant for dinner. As the afternoon waned, I was just too tired and hungry to wait until 8:00 for dinner, so I decided to head out on my own for some peace and quiet away from the group. I headed back to my room and stopped to eat at a small sidewalk café. It was still early when I got back to my room so I decided to do some drawing in the garden.
Here’s a view of the garden from the window in my room. I went down and walked around the garden. I met a nice kitty and found a spot under an arbor covered with wisteria to sit and draw. But, after I sat down, I was swarmed with mosquitoes! Needless to say, that ended my “drawing” in the garden. I went back up to my room, closed the window shutters to keep those flying pests out then took a shower.
The bathroom was large and it had the most unusual towels I’ve every used; they were pressed and folded like table clothes; no terry towels here. And, they worked surprisingly well. The sheets on my bed were a nice weight of cotton, also starched and pressed but soft and cosy to the touch. Unfortunately for me, the mosquitoes followed me back to my room and tortured me the first half of the night. I got some very itchy bites in Florence. Thank goodness for Benadryl!
The next morning we met at the Academia. This museum had a nice section of musical instruments including a couple Stradivarius violins; there were more medieval paintings. But the main attraction here was Michelangelo’s sculptures, especially David. I shot one photo before I was told I couldn’t take photos. Since I couldn’t take any more photos, I decided that the best way to get to know “David” was to draw him in my sketch book. Jason had us keep a sketch book for his class, so this was a good opportunity to use it. I sat down in a chair nearby and began drawing. It was a lot of fun. Several others in our group stopped and did the same. Then people stopped to look and admire our work. It was a lot of fun and the highlight of the trip for me.
Later, a number of us met for lunch at Mario’s Tattoria. They had the best “beef stew” I’ve ever tasted. It was nothing like our beef stew. It was melt-in-your-mouth tender and had a hearty tomato-type sauce. It was fabulous! This was my favorite meal of the trip.
The eating area was into a crowed small space where strangers sat together in order to get a seat. Communal eating at it’s Italian best. Here’s a picture of some of our group outside the restaurant after lunch. In the front left are Ben (Jason’s son) and Jeffrey; behind and between them is Aprile looking over her “Jesus” fan that she bought to help keep her cool. She kept making cute comments about her Jesus fan keeping her cool.
After lunch a few of us took the bus with Jason to a hill top where there was a great view of Florence and bonze replica of the David. Here’s a photo of David with a pigeon on his head. I also took a picture of Jason with the view behind him. Afterwards we walked up to the cemetery and its adjoining church.
Then we took the bus back. I got off close to convent where they were holding my luggage for the day. I stuck around for a little while and I did a drawing of a doorway in the lobby before heading to the train station for our trip home.
We got home around 10:00 that evening and were greeted with a 4th of July party. They had been partying since 2:00 in the afternoon and waited for us to come home to do the fireworks. They can do “real” fireworks here in Italy. They had cherry bombs, fire crackers, and shooting stars, with and without noises.
It was quite amazing compared to the little sparkler nothings we get in the States.
That was a nice patriotic ending to a very exhausting week.
It was noon when we arrived and our rooms would not be ready until 1:00, so the three of us went out for lunch to kill time until we could check in. After we checked in, my room was nice; it was simply furnished with a single bed, desk and wardrobe to hang my clothes. After we got settled, we met everyone at the Uffizi Gallery at 2:30. On our way there, we stopped to take pictures on a bridge called the Ponteveccio. Florence is famous for its jewelry and the Ponteveccio is the diamond district of the city. Here’s a picture of me in front of one of the jewelry stores.
At the Uffizi Gallery, there was a lot of sculpture and medieval art. The highlights of this museum for me were Botticelli’s Venus that we studied in art history, and several paintings by Caravaggio. We could not take photos in the Uffizi of the art; however, I did take a photo out of the upper story window of the river, the Ponteveccio (the first bridge) and a series of bridges down the river.After our visit at the museum, we were on our own until 8:00. Jason organized dinner at Za-Za’s restaurant for dinner. As the afternoon waned, I was just too tired and hungry to wait until 8:00 for dinner, so I decided to head out on my own for some peace and quiet away from the group. I headed back to my room and stopped to eat at a small sidewalk café. It was still early when I got back to my room so I decided to do some drawing in the garden.
Here’s a view of the garden from the window in my room. I went down and walked around the garden. I met a nice kitty and found a spot under an arbor covered with wisteria to sit and draw. But, after I sat down, I was swarmed with mosquitoes! Needless to say, that ended my “drawing” in the garden. I went back up to my room, closed the window shutters to keep those flying pests out then took a shower.The bathroom was large and it had the most unusual towels I’ve every used; they were pressed and folded like table clothes; no terry towels here. And, they worked surprisingly well. The sheets on my bed were a nice weight of cotton, also starched and pressed but soft and cosy to the touch. Unfortunately for me, the mosquitoes followed me back to my room and tortured me the first half of the night. I got some very itchy bites in Florence. Thank goodness for Benadryl!
The next morning we met at the Academia. This museum had a nice section of musical instruments including a couple Stradivarius violins; there were more medieval paintings. But the main attraction here was Michelangelo’s sculptures, especially David. I shot one photo before I was told I couldn’t take photos. Since I couldn’t take any more photos, I decided that the best way to get to know “David” was to draw him in my sketch book. Jason had us keep a sketch book for his class, so this was a good opportunity to use it. I sat down in a chair nearby and began drawing. It was a lot of fun. Several others in our group stopped and did the same. Then people stopped to look and admire our work. It was a lot of fun and the highlight of the trip for me.Later, a number of us met for lunch at Mario’s Tattoria. They had the best “beef stew” I’ve ever tasted. It was nothing like our beef stew. It was melt-in-your-mouth tender and had a hearty tomato-type sauce. It was fabulous! This was my favorite meal of the trip.
The eating area was into a crowed small space where strangers sat together in order to get a seat. Communal eating at it’s Italian best. Here’s a picture of some of our group outside the restaurant after lunch. In the front left are Ben (Jason’s son) and Jeffrey; behind and between them is Aprile looking over her “Jesus” fan that she bought to help keep her cool. She kept making cute comments about her Jesus fan keeping her cool.After lunch a few of us took the bus with Jason to a hill top where there was a great view of Florence and bonze replica of the David. Here’s a photo of David with a pigeon on his head. I also took a picture of Jason with the view behind him. Afterwards we walked up to the cemetery and its adjoining church.
Then we took the bus back. I got off close to convent where they were holding my luggage for the day. I stuck around for a little while and I did a drawing of a doorway in the lobby before heading to the train station for our trip home.We got home around 10:00 that evening and were greeted with a 4th of July party. They had been partying since 2:00 in the afternoon and waited for us to come home to do the fireworks. They can do “real” fireworks here in Italy. They had cherry bombs, fire crackers, and shooting stars, with and without noises.
It was quite amazing compared to the little sparkler nothings we get in the States.That was a nice patriotic ending to a very exhausting week.
No comments:
Post a Comment