Florence, Part 3

Are you sick of Florence yet?  Not me!  I could stay here forever.  Even today, which did NOT go according to plan, turned out to be a great day. 

Strikes are common in Italy.  You have to just go with the flow when they happen, and they can mess with even your  best laid plans, like the tickets we'd reserved months ago for the Uffizi and the Accademia today.  The Uffizi was closed when we got there this morning, because of a guard strike.  We rushed to the Accademia only to find that it too was closing, but they honored our afternoon ticket and let us in to see David.  I think Judy may have gotten a little weepy.  It's an amazing statue, definitely.  You have to see it to understand the scale, the power of it.  But more fascinating to me are the unfinished statues leading up to David, the amazing figures emerging from marble that are sort of haunting.  I'd post pictures, but they don't allow photography.  But seriously, the nonfiniti are an amazing glimpse into the process of art, and the title "Prisoners" really gets at the captivity of the figure in stone that Michelangelo wrote of. 

And now I rant for a bit.  There was a student tour group at the Academia and the kids just looked so BORED.  Which, I get, when I was 16, a museum was not how I wanted to spend my summer.  But if you're lucky enough to be in the presence of possibly the greatest statue ever carved?  Turn off your iPod, stop drinking soda (seriously, why do you even have soda in a museum, are you a moron?) and at least look.  Pretend to be interested or something, because someday you'll be 30 and saying "Oh, I saw that, but I don't really remember it" because you were too busy listening to Katy Perry and chipping the polish off of your nails.

della Robbia's rondells

Brunelleschi's columns

Rant over.  After the Academia my travel companions completely indulged my Renaissance geekiness.  We went to the Hospital de Innocent, the first classical building since ancient times, the one that put Brunelleschi on the map.  Of course, since we were supposed to be in museums all day, I didn't have my camera, so you get cell phone pics withh this entry.  It was pretty cool, and definitely an out-of-the-way site.  Also, the rondels by della Robbia were gorgeous on the building.  They have some of those at the MFA. 

Check out the fence!

Next it was a short walk to the San Marco monastery, where the majority of Fra Angelico's works were housed.  Again, no photos, but that's ok.  The most famous of his works was the Annunciation at the top of the stairs, and it's such a strange place for a painting, but beautiful. I'll keep that design idea in mind for when I have a house, because I love how it just seems to rise as you climb up to the second floor.  What fascinated me about this painting was the fence in the background.  Yes, perspective, yes, classical, yes, realism, but look at that fence.  I had that SAME FENCE in my backyard growing up.  How is it that in 500 years people are still building the same fence?  Am I the only one who thinks that's some sort of amazing piece of human history?  It's the SAME FENCE!

At the leather markets

Ok, the rest of the monastery had scenes in the monk's cells, including Savaronola, who is one of my favorite crazy people in history.  Crazy monk, preached a lot, ruined Boticelli, for which I sort of hate him, and got killed about 9 different ways, just to make sure he was well and truly dead. 

After lunch we split up and did some shopping in the leather markets.  I went into San Lorenzo with Anne, which has more Michelangelos, but I wasn't as impressed here.  The tombs of the Medici were definitely the highlight, but overall I think I was getting statued-out.  So, more shopping, without much purchase this day, but still a fantastic love of the city.