Our last day in Florence was a busy one. In the morning we had planned to see Santa Croce church, but the San Lorenzo market sucked us in. I purchased a scarf (I had been eyeing them in Venice) and Jason bought himself a great leather (at least we HOPE its leather) bag that he can use to haul his stuff to and from work. He tried to haggle with the vendor, but the two of them ended up joking around and we both got the feeling as we left that the vendor probably came out on top.
Our reservation at the Accademia was for 11:30. We waited a bit and then went inside. We viewed Michelangelo's unfinished Prisoners that were originally intended for the tomb of an egomaniacal pope in Rome. And then there before us, in all of his nude glory, was David. We hadn't been sure of what to expect with this statue, and quite frankly we were stunned. It is much larger than I expected, and really quite amazing. From there we viewed some beautiful religious altar pieces and icons and then headed out for lunch.
We ate at the little restaurant at the end of our block. I had a salad with mozzarella and tomatoes and it was delicious. When I say it came with mozzarella, I mean this baseball size ball of it sits in the middle and you eat pieces of it. Beth told me how great these cheese balls are, and I can now say I AGREE! I wish we had them back home.
It was sprinkling at this point (and no hot sun to bake us!) so we whipped out the umbrella again. We quickly viewed the inside of the Duomo (but opted to not climb the dome due to lines) and then headed to Santa Croce, home of the third longest nave in Christendom and the tombs of many important historical figures. The church seemed massive, and we saw where Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli are laid to rest. We also saw Donatellos beautiful Annunciation.
Our next stop was the Uffizi Gallery. We saw room after room after room of Renaissance art. Botticelli's Birth of Venus, da Vinci's The Annunciation, and all of the Raphael's, Michelangelo's and Titian's were amazing. After the museum we hunted down Florence's best known gelateria, Vivoli's. It was a nice break from the damp weather, and a great flavor infusion for our tastebuds.
The remainder of the evening was spent finding dinner, packing and relaxing in our room. In the morning we were on our way to Rome.
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2 comments:
It won't be the same, delicious, wonderful mozzarella that you found in your insalate caprese...but if you need to taste something similar, you can look for the fresh mozzarella at WinCo in the deli section with the other "fancy" cheeses! They are worth the temptation every once in a while...so good! (I always went through mine so fast in Italy!)
I loved your description of Venice! It made me excited to go. I've also been reading a lot of Rick's book on Rome and am planning where Steph and Angie and I will go during our leisure time. You two better climb to the top of St. Peter's!
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