16.04 entry
The next morning, I woke up fairly early to make sure I had time to shower and check out on time. My roommates, who had been asleep when i got back last night, were packing up right as I was leaving, so I talked to them for a while. They were WOOFers (worldwide organic farmers) from Easton, CT and Baltimore - one has a brother that goes to Cornell! Small world!
Instead of shelling out €3 for breakfast in the restaurant, I elected to brave the market next door. This resulted in me buying a big block of pecorino cheese for about €2 and eating that throughout the day. Mmmm.
The weather started out sunny and warm for the day, with a high in the mid-60s. My first stop of the day was the Galleria dell'Accademia.
I had been hearing that even though there are replicas everywhere and that everyone has seen images, Michelangelo's "David" is definitely worth seeing. And it totally was. An added bonus was that admission to the Galleria dell'Accademia was free - apparently it was Cultural Education Week or something in Florence, so admission to all the national museums and monuments was free! Win!
After waiting in line for a relatively short period of time (especially when compared to the next day's escapade to the Uffizi Gallery), I spent a good portion of my visit in the Gallery of Ancient Musical Instruments. It was mostly string and keyboard instruments, but there was in display case that had a basset horn, five clarinets in Eb, and five clarinets in D. Yay!
So David was pretty sweet. Enormously tall, unblemished, exquisite detail, and pretty much just perfect in every way.
The rest of the museum was very similar to the other art galleries I'd been to in Paris, with Renaissance and medieval works with heavy religious influence. There was a painting that was a depiction of the Christian observance of Candlemas, and the quote on the accompanying card had written on it an old Tuscan saying about Candlemas. It read, "At Candlemas, whether there be snow or rains, sun or just a bit of sun, we are still mid winter and it is just the winter sun." Inspiring for sure.... Or not.
After my visit to David, I saw Il Duomo, a huge cathedral that is one of the main landmarks of Florence. I thought it was honestly far more impressive from the outside than in; the inside was a little dark and spooky.
I walked up to the Piazzale Michelangelo next, where I was hit on by not one but two Italian men of varied ages and tactics. Good times. The Piazzale Michelangelo offers a spectacular view of all of Florence, but it was also very touristy. There was a church just up the hill where I had read that you can come hear the monks chanting at 5:30, so I made it a point to go for that. In the meantime, I had about two hours to kill, so I had a cappuccino on the steps near the church. It was wonderful.
I checked into my next hostel early in the evening and met my two new roommates, Hadley and Carrie, who were from Hamilton College and Vassar, respectively. Yay New York state! We went to a pizzeria for dinner, and I had a giant pizza that I ate in its entirety. And I don't feel bad about eating all of it. We also split a litre of chianti that was only €10, which was a good decision.
In the morning: breakfast with my other roommate, Kati, and then to the Uffizi!
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