Sunday, July 8, 2012

Off to Florence




We took a 2-hour train ride over to Florence to go to the Galleria Academia. The big reason to go there is to see Michael Angelo's "David." It was worth the trip! He is magnificent. I have seen many photos and drawings of this sculpture, but nothing does it justice. No...not even the one in Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. The fact the artist could get such detail with the tools of that time is amazing. The veins and muscles in the statue are so lifelike. I kept waiting for David to turn his head and look at everyone.

The Galleria also had some other great works both paintings and sculptures. They were all wonderful, but David really is the showcase piece. The one thing that was really tacky was this replica in the courtyard. The same size as the original, but pink skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. It was disturbing to say the least.

After the Galleria, we set out to wander a little. Of course, we found a nice little Irish pub to stop and rehydrate. I even had some beer! It was hotter than hot in Florence and a Shanty (lager and lemonade) sounded a lot more refreshing than just water. We also grabbed some crisps and peanuts to carry us through the rest of our time in Florence.



We started heading to the famous bridge with all the gold vendors. For some reason the name escapes me right now, but it is pretty cool. Way too many people for all of us. After being in Gimmelwald and Cinque Terre, a city is just over the top. We had better get used to it. We're heading to Barcelona in a couple of days.










No comments: