When in Florence...Day 6 in Italy

So, on Wednesday morning, we woke up in time to get breakfast, pack up, and get to the Termini for our train ride to Florence.  It is about an hour and a half to get there and we had a great time looking out the huge windows as we sped through the Tuscan countryside.  We were sitting next to a couple from DC (but originally Panama and Morocco) who had also been married two and a half years.  A lovely ride all in all.

We got to Florence and took about a 15 minute walk to our hotel, the Strozzi Palace.  It was INCREDIBLE.  I had a feeling Florence was going to be even better than Rome in some ways.

Because Florence is so much smaller than Rome, we walked everywhere.  And it was lovely.  The only thing we had planned for the rest of the day was to see the David at the Accademia.  So, we got some lunch at Pugi Pizza in the Piazza di San Marco, where I spent a lovely half hour listening to "The Light in the Piazza" before our reservation to see the David.  True happiness :)

Piazza di San Marco

Now, we couldn't take pictures of Michaelangelo's David, but I don't even know if they would've done it justice.  There are some amazing, unfinished works by Michaelangelo leading up to the masterpiece, and just seeing the different stages of completion boggles the mind.  The smoothness, the veins, the emotion in David's face--all truly inspiring.

Up close you can see the chisel marks--Michaelangleo said that God put the image in the stone, and it was just his job to chip away the excess.  He didn't use gridding either--all free form.  Incredible.

Excuse the nudity, but look at the difference between the prisoners and the David.  Astonishing.

Originally, the David stood outside the Palazzo Vecchio (where a copy stands today which I'll show you later), but it was moved indoors for its protection in the 19th century.  The Accademia, still a functioning art school, also houses a musical instrument collection, a plaster model of Giambologna's Rape of the Sabines, and the final exam projects of the current students (pretty impressive stuff).

Rape of the Sabines--the original (shown here) was under renovation, so we saw the model in the Accademia.

Afterwards, we decided to take Rick Steves' Renaissance Walk through Florence.  It is such a small place that we could do it in about an hour.  The walk starts at the famous Duomo, which was the first Renaissance dome and the model for all other domes to follow.  

The tall, skinny part is the Bell Tower.

The facade is done in pink, green, and white Tuscan marble.

Brunelleschi's Dome with a shadow of the bell tower.

check the tiny people at the top.

Across from the Duomo is the baptistry, which had some pretty beautiful bronze doors with some artistic importance.  The reliefs represent huge strides in perspective to create the illusion of distance on a flat surface.

The doors of the Baptistry

Continuing our walk, we used the pedestrian-only Via Calzaiuoli.  Its a wide street that goes down the heart of downtown Florence.  

The Piazza della Republicca--our hotel was just on the other side of the arch--if you've seen "The Light in the Piazza," this is where Fabrizio's tie shop is located ;)

In the Piazza della Signoria. This is the piazza where Clara and Fabrizio meet (fictionally, of course).  Isn't my husband exactly who you'd want to meet on a piazza in Italy?? :)

I don't think I could be much happier right now.  Maybe if I had more gelato...

The Palazzo Vecchio--now a museum has a beautiful, free courtyard, and a copy of the David stands in front of it, where the real one originally did.

Benvenuto Cellini's bronze Perseus slaying Medusa.  Grody.  

 We walked through the Uffizi's courtyard (more on that in an upcoming post) to get to the northern edge of the Arno River, and my favorite place in Florence, the Ponte Vecchio.  Its Florence's most famous bridge that originally held butcher shops (easy access to the river as a disposal system), but now it is lined with gold and silver shops.  Its incredibly romantic, with beautiful views.  This is also the only bridge on the Arno that the Nazis didn't destroy in WWII.  The commander was instructed to, but he felt that such an important piece of history shouldn't be destroyed, so they just guarded it heavily.  I'm glad :)

In the courtyard of the Uffizi

sigh :)

Happy place.

I am so happy with our timing during this trip....sunset at all the right moments!!

 For dinner, we hit up Trattoria Marione.  DELICIOUS and a great atmosphere.

 Yummy.  What a wonderful welcome to Firenze!!!

When in Rome- Day 5!

Day 5- Vatican City


So, we made sure to set about a million fail-safes to make sure we were at the Vatican Museum by our reservation at 9 am.  Whew.

Wake up!!  How perfect is this Italian morning?

The courtyard outside our hotel

The Vatican Museum

That's St. Peter's Basilica in the Background

The Vatican Gardens

The Egyptian wing

Imhotep!! Seriously!

And...that's a mummy.

These pots are from 3000 BC.  

Check this awesome bath!!!

Jordan took this for my brother Ryan.  Ry- this is how he envisions the rest of your life....

The Apollo Belvedere- imagine a big bow in his outstretched hand

This was in a giant hall of old beautiful maps.  

One of the muses.

The exit staircase designed by Michaelangelo.

So, the jewel of the museum is the Sistine Chapel, which is the only thing you can't take pictures of naturally.  But, just in case you can't remember what that is, here it is thanks to google images:

It was truly incredible to sit in the chapel and imagine Michaelangelo taking four years to complete the ceiling.  It was painstaking and he could only do a little piece at a time because of the type of plaster they were using.  The vision he must have had to only do a part of a foot one day and then continue it over months and have it become a full scale body in perfect scale is incredible.  It was beautiful.

We left the museum and took a stop at the best lunch spot we had all trip, the Duecento Gradi (Fresh €5 sandwiches-- DELICIOUS) and the Gelateria Old Bridge.

We kept walking around the Vatican wall to get to St. Peter's Square (actually an oval) and the Basilica.  None of these pictures can truly show the scope of how huge everything is, but we did our best.

The Basilica

The Swiss Guard

They were setting up for a Papal Address the next morning

Try to see the people all the way at the end.  Giant.  It eats other smaller churches for breakfast.

This is Bernini's 7 story bronze canopy to draw attention to the main altar underneath it.

The Dome, Michaelangelo's last work,  is taller than a football field is long.

Underneath the altar, where St. Peter's tomb is.

Statue of St. Peter

Bernini designed this starburst with a dove, symbolizing God, at the center.

Just look at how small the people are on the ground and then the mini-people on the lip of the dome, walking around.

Choir!!

Pietà- Michaelangelo

 This statue of Mary holding Christ's body actually brought the Spirit to me stronger than anything else I saw.  The Basilica is without a doubt impressive, but this sculpture brought me to tears.  Beautiful, and it reminded me of the sacrifice Christ made for our sins.

Peter, holding the keys to the church.  Hmmm, interesting.

Paul, the Defender.

This obelisk has been in that spot for thousands of years.

The Papal Apartments.  I think the Pope's bedroom is top floor all the way on the left.

We kept walking to the nearby Castel Sant'Angelo-- which was built as a tomb for the emperor and now its a museum.  We were museum-ed out, but took some pictures of the fortress and the Ponte Sant'Angelo--this also happens to be a big plot point in Angels and Demons.

The Tiber River

On this, our last day in Rome before we went to Florence, we decided to walk along the Tiber River up to the Piazza del Popolo and back to the hotel for a nap before dinner.

A beautiful, architecturally different church we saw on our walk, called Sacro Cuore del Suffragio.

Piazza del Popolo- a lot of Egyptian symbols here

Back at the hotel...

To say goodbye to Rome properly, Jordan took me back to the Piazza Navona for a romantic dinner on the piazza at La Dolce Vita.

Cheese! Don't worry, Jordan didn't touch those walnuts :)

After dinner, we took a final walk through the streets of Rome :)  Of course, there was more gelato to be had.

Arrivederci Roma! On to Florence!