My my my how time does fly!
It has now been a full week since last I have written and I am sorry. I have found that this blog is the same thing with my journals, when something exciting is happening I am too busy do enjoying all the activities and when nothing is happening what is there to write about?
Well, let me start with Florence. I enjoyed my stay there so much! The city is so vibrant. We were staying in a hotel on the back side of the train station. From there we could access pretty much anything by walking. We were there for only a few days but we went leather shopping. In the leather district in Florence they have a school where you can go and watch people make crafts out of leather. And not just little trinkets but more like the products that people pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars buying. Florence was pretty much our shopping splurge. We also took a tour of the Uffizi gallery. It was stunning! The Medici family (pardon my spelling) was one of the most powerful families for thousands of years in Florence and the UffIzi, the Piti Palace, and the Plazzo Vecchio were their home. They started with one but eventually over time they built and connected all of the buildings to create the largest home you can possible imagine. The Vasari corridor that connects the three buildings was built above the main street so that the Medici Family wouldn’t have to mingle with the common people. Also they often chose not to walk the corridor instead they would have servants carry them. Now in these buildings they have many priceless paintings and sculptures. Some include; the Birth of Venice, the Holy Family, Ognissanti Madonna, The Venus of Urbino, the Duke and Duchass of Urbino, and my personal favorites Modonna and Child with Angels by Fra Filippo Lippi and Primavera by Adbri Botticelli. I learned so much over that tour! Did you know that Leonardo what actually in Florence when he painted the Monalisa? Or that the Duchess was actually dead when the artist finished his portrait of her? Or that the Primavera and the Birth of Venice correlate and they are placed right next to each other because they were meant to be viewed together? Over the years there have been so many wonderful artists that I have no knowledge of whatsoever. It feels like an absolute shame to not know them all and to admire every stroke of every painting. If only time would allow it.
Aside from this tour we also saw THE David! And let me say it is utterly breathtaking. It is immaculate! Every detail is so perfect. You can see the veins in his arms and the slight wrinkle of his brow. It is absolutely mesmerizing. Did you know that Michael Angelo made David’s head and hands larger and his arms longer because of the angle the statue was to be displayed? It is truly amazing that after all of these years The David would still be in such good shape! The only damage I was able to spot was a few nicks on his toes, but that was done a few years ago by a hammer wilding art anarchist (if you can believe that).
One of my favorite places that I went in Florence was the food market. We were going to just look since we had no way to cook anything, however, we ended up buying mushrooms, carrots, berries, loaves of bread and more. Everything thing there was so unbelievably fresh and reasonably priced! I bought a bag full of mushrooms with the dirt still on it for less and 2 euros! I just wanted to load up on everything and cook a five course meal! I think I know why the food here tastes better. The products they are given to work with have been made by someone who has worked hard in the right way. They are given fresh produce and let me just say, you can tasted the difference.
We had wanted to stay in Florence for the next five days but our hotel was full. The world famous bike race was about to start. It was absolutely killing mom to see so many cyclists and not be able to join them. So I got us a hotel in a nice sea side town. We both had realized that we had hit a wall and needed a few days to recharge. We took the commuter train and ended up standing the majority of the train ride to a little sea side town.
