Sep 17, 2019
When we were in Florence (also known as Firenze in Italian) we had lots of great new experiences. Such as visiting the home of the famous statue created by Michelangelo Buonarroti, the David. In 1501 Michelangelo started his work on David at age 26. He is nearly 17 feet and weighs 5,660 kg. David stood outside in Piazza della Signorina for over 400 years, he then had too be restored in 2003 before being put in the Academia gallery . If you look closely you can see weather stains on his back. He was not strong enough to defeat the giant with his own two hands, so he had to use his wisdom. In the statue he is holding a sling in his left hand and a rock in his right hand. To defeat the giant he slingshot a rock in between the giants eyes. The story of David is in the bible. We also visited the Uffizi gallery, looking at the famous Leonardo da Vinci paintings and more of Michelangelo paintings and sculptures. We also went swimming in a really nice outdoor pool. Now we are in Bologna and we will be watching the Europe and Africa baseball Olympic qualifiers. And hopefully taking a pasta making class.
Sep 17, 2019
The joys of Florence!
A busy few days — and very slow wifi — have kept us all from blogging. On Saturday morning, we left Rome and caught a 11:45am high-speed train to Florence, the landscapes of central Italy zipping past at us at 250 km/h, to arrive in the city’s main train terminal an hour and a half later.
We had to drag our small suitcases across the cobbled streets and sidewalks and over a bridge to our next AirBnB, where we were met by Giulia, a hospitable local woman who had renovated the apartment for rent with her family. It was down a side street, a few minutes from the main tourist areas, and a delightful mix of funky (exposed brick, wooden ceilings set off by splashes of colour throughout) and functional (making good use of a submarine-like space that might have otherwise felt claustrophobic).
We were mere steps from anything we needed — and many things we didn’t know we required… like the first evening, when music and revelry drifted through our open window, so Briar and I went out to discover a jazz festival concert in the neighbouring square.
The next morning, we got up early (for us!) to make use of the 9am reservation at the Uffizi Gallery. AJ wasn’t feeling well — perhaps undone by the air pollution in Rome and a sleepless night in the new bunkbed — so he stayed back to sleep in.
Briar, Jenny and I wandered with a few thousand other tourists the art-packed rooms of Italy’s most famous art gallery. The highlights were the Botticellis, including his mega-famous Primavera, although we had more space to admire the rows and rows of ancient statues collected there. The gallery included the only complete oil-on-canvas work by Michelangelo as well as a fascinating illustrative progression from the flat, heavily symbolic, and deeply religious medieval works to the humane, complexly perspectived and vividly alive Renaissance paintings that defined the Florentine style. Briar soon ran out of energy, so we finished up in just under two hours and wandered back over the bridge to check in on AJ.
Primavera
He was revived enough to join us for an afternoon visit to the Accademia — a gallery more or less devoted to one work: Michelangelo’s David. And worth every minute there (even with the crowds). The “aura” of David, as you enter the hall and see him/it from a distance for the first time, can’t be diminished by the endless images and reproductions we’ve all seen over the years, the cartoons and cameos. The sense of awe grows even more as you approach and look up at his confident gaze and casual, yet ready pose. Selfies were being taken furiously around him, but he took no notice. He had a more important task at hand. (Full disclosure: I made sure to get a pic with my namesake.)
After leaving the gallery, we walked through the throngs of tourists in downtown Florence. Past the Duomo, through the Gucci shop (Briar’s request), over the Ponte Vecchio Bridge, past the Pitti Palace (where we would traipse through the Boboli Gardens the next morning), past more churches than we could count and enough gelaterias to set our appetites alight… and back to the quiet sanctuary of our mini-apartment in the delightful Oltrarno neighbourhood.
Our final day, we slept in till 11am. No galleries booked, to the kids delight. We let AJ and Briar choose our destinations. Briar led us to the Boboli Gardens… although was disappointed to learn it was the site of a maze… past tense. Then we walked along the Arno to a park with an outdoor pool, bought our tickets and our mandatory swimming caps, and enjoyed a cool dip and some lengths in the 30C afternoon heat. Finally, we capped it off with a meal — ordered entirely in Italian! — at the La Casalinga trattoria, famous for years among locals for its traditional fare.
And, yes, the pasta is on a whole different plane of pleasure here in Italy! And so is the gelato…
Sep 17, 2019
In the last two days a was in Florence. In Florence I visited l’acadamia del arte, it is home to the most famous statue in the world Michelangelo’s “David”. The statue depicts David from the bible. Many people argue if the statue depicts David before or after he defeated Goliath but I think it depicts him before because in the statue he is holding his sling and a rock but in many paintings of him after he killed Goliath he is holding the head of Goliath.
Sep 14, 2019
One of my favourite things about travelling is having things be different, mostly good, sometimes not so good–like having to drag a heavy suitcase along cobblestone streets in 30+ degree heat. We had some experiences earlier in 2019 as a family that were stressful different–so it is a tonic to have experiences together that widen our views rather than just jangle our nerves and drain our energy.
The other thing I love is all the unexpected experiences that turn out to be interesting and moving. My eyes filled with tears seeing a woman, who seemed to have travelled a long way, fall to her knees to pray in St. Peters Basilica. I am far from Catholic, but I was moved by her devotion. A ritual was taking place while we were there on Friday evening, with incense burned and chanting and the priests marching together to a chapel. The experience also made me realize how little I know, despite the fact that the children keep asking me questions. I was also delighted to see the changing of the Swiss guards in their crazy Harlequin-esque outfits designed by Michelango. I had never heard about this tradition.
Hopefully I am here to learn, to observe, to learn some Italian and to also eat gelato. Having been in Italy twice before as a teenager, I remembered how good it is. Giolitti’s gelato in Rome may well be the best I’ve ever had, but I will keep trying to make it scientific.
Sep 14, 2019
Yesterday we went to the Saint Peters Basilica and the Vatican museums. Saint Peters Basilica is the biggest church in the world, it is beautiful and has lots of pretty fountains and statues outside. Each letter in the Basilica are 7 feet tall, and some of the statues are 20 feet. We went to the Spanish steps and looked at all the designer shops through the window. Today we took a high speed train that was going 250 miles in hour to Florence. We are staying in Florence for three nights. We are staying in a cute and colourful air bnb. We walked the streets of Florence for two hours, and had some tasty focaccia. Tomorrow we have have a super busy day so I might not have enough time to do a post, but I will try to save some time to do one. Hope you enjoyed!
Sep 14, 2019
Yesterday I went to the Vatican City. I learnt that the Vatican City is actually a country. Inside the Vatican City I went to the saint peters basilica, it is the biggest church in the world. The saint peters basilica is home to Michael Angelo’s famous sculpture the Pieta, many of the later parts of the game basilica where designed by Michael Angelo.
