Jase, thanks for the comment, and in response... "Way!" :-) The Hilton was pretty nice, except that their washing facilities consisted of one washing machine and one dryer. I guess they expect that people will send their washing out. Others were commenting that the rooms were a little hazardous... The bed edges, the shelves above the kettle... by the sound of it there were a number of people thinking they were tempting fate with each movement within their room. I didn't have a problem with it though. I wish my apartment back home was as modern.
On to Florence... Florence has been referred to as an "open air museum", "a city of intrigue". This is the home town of Leonardo and Michaelangelo, two of the greatest mutant ninja turtles. This is the home of the renaissance. It was a town of influence, in regard to art and language, it used to influence all of Europe. We were told of Medichi's art and of Dante and his well known book The Divine Comedy, in which he placed people in either heaven, purgatory or hell depending on their actions at the time. If I recall correctly, Florence was placed in Hell because of its over indulgence.
[Edit: Alison looked at me funny when she heard this last sentence... I guess they were put somewhere else. Let me just point out that you must take everything I tell you with a grain of salt, I've likely not listened enough and screwed up the facts. I suggest looking it up yourself if you wanna know for sure.]
Anyway, when we got off the bus we were taken to see Michaelangelo's famous sculpture "David". The hall leading to David was most interesting too since it contained a likeness of Michaelangelo in sculpture and also contained some of his unfinished works, referred to these days as The Prisoners. It was amazing how even though these were unfinished they still contained so much detail. They weren't as smooth as a finished sculpture, they looked like he had created them by gouging out their form using a small curved plaster chisel, the kind we used to use in art back in High School. The amazing thing is that they looked like they were attempting to climb out of their marble prison, he'd given them enough life that they looked to be struggling to break free. He even captured the movement and expression. Amazing.
Then of course we have David himself. He is much larger than I ever imagined. He's five metres in height. He was moved from the square he once occupied to the indoors because he was being damaged by the elements. He has since been restored and the damage repaired. The detail in the form is amazing from the veins on his neck, arms and hands to his muscles. When you also consider that he was only made from only one piece of marble, it adds awe. Unlike other David & Goliath sculptures, Michaelangelo captures the moment before David strikes rather than depicting him after, with Goliath's head under foot. This is a very impressive piece of work. He is very fit and lean. Now that I have a bit of a belly (ok, it's not much, but still), I wish I had his body! ;-p
Michaelangelo was able to achieve such detail in the form because he was "permitted" to study cadavers. At the time, it was forbidden by the church but what he was doing was seen as beneficial by a particular cardinal so he was able to do it in secret after his request was denied.
When we were leaving, I was torn between buying the book about the restoration of David or the book celebrating the 500th anniversary of the statue in 2004... As a result, I was running late... I decided on the later. It's a cool book and since you can't take pictures, I wanted some record of seeing the real statue. Taking photos of the fake just doesn't seem right or give Michaelangelo the credit he deserves.
Next we walked with our guide down the streets to the Cathedral and to the Gates of Paradise.
We were taken to Signoria Square, an open air gallery of renaissance sculpture. There were some famous statues here, one of the guy who killed Medusa and the rape of some girl and this one of Neptune. Yes, I forget the names, whatever. They were good sculptures though.
We were shown the house where Michaelangelo used to live before we met up with Alison at Santa Crotcha square and went to see the gold demonstration. I am so impressed with what they were doing with gold. The had woven very fine threads together and were able to make a scarf out of it. It was quite heavy to hold. They also had these bracelets which used gold springs between the links so that there were no clasps, it was just slipped on. The other impressive thing was that the shine and sparkle on these pieces were achieved through small angled cuts in the gold. When they use this technique with the white and rose gold too, they can achieve some impressive effects without the requirement of additional gems, meaning also that they become everyday jewelry.
Next we were shown some leather products. First we were shown some gold leaf being added to some leather. To be honest, it looked kinda easy. I'm guessing it mustn't be though. They said it took a long time to get the technique right, I'll believe them I suppose. Next, he was showing some high heals which had a shine, that's a sign of a fake apparently. The shoe in question was pretty much made of paper and cardboard. He ripped a piece off to demonstrate. He was saying how their leather is the best because the tanning process goes all the way through. Thus, in the crease of a wallet or something, it will never wear cos the oils will come out from within.
I guess the issue for a foreigner is that you don't want to buy cheap stuff but because everything is so foreign, it is almost impossible tell the good shops from the bad without someone telling you. Anyway...
After a little wandering around I decided to have a sit down meal. I had spaghetti carbonara, filled up a bit too much on this, then meatloaf with peas and a side of potato wedges, oh and some Chianti Classico too. It was the nicest Carbonara, you wouldn't believe. I had to have an ice cream after that... my standard three flavours but in a cup. It's true that you can eat your way through Italy.
Let me just say that the weather had started to heat up. I sat in the shade of a statue to eat my ice cream. Apparently it was 36 degrees.
I decided to visit the church with the famous people's tombs inside. I got the audio guide to help me and set off through this active church. It was full of famous artwork and was the burial place of historical figures, including Michaelangelo, and also was the first church we've seen with numerous tombs of people in the floor itself. It also had some really old books on show. The organ pipes in the church are worth mentioning. The age of such things is what strikes you the most. But to stand at the tomb of Michaelangelo was quite sad... he was an impressive, quite busy man. For him to have achieved what he did, including things like building roads up mountains and stuff, I'm not sure he ever had a rest. Having only a few hours sleep per night would help with getting stuff done I guess but from what it sounds like, he was still quite active in his old age too, let alone him living as long as he did.
Back on the bus and time for some washing at he hotel... one washing machine and dryer... funny!
Anyway, that night we went to the Certosa Monastery for our Tuscan Feast. This was one of the best nights. The food was brilliant and the "Monks" were a lot of fun. There was a lady who sang in classic style and the monks has a violinist and they sung too. There was an older guy playing piano accordion. What was funny, maybe not to Abby, was their obsession with Abby whilst they were singing. I think we were all a little embarrassed for her. They were brilliant performers and kept everyone entertained. They, like everyone over here, had a CD you could buy. The evening ended with Grappa, a necessary digestive for any meal. Brandy was said in a high pitched tone but Imperial Drops (90%) was described as Viagra. :-) They were funny Monks, particularly when the main guy was wearing his big nose and getting others to squeeze it. It was one of the best evenings. We all had a choice of digestive, I chose imperial drops... very potent stuff... just a drop and your head feels like it might just implode. I decided to buy some to show people back home.
Before we left, I had a brief chat to one of the waiters who recognised my Billabong clothes as Australian when we arrived and said "how ya goin mate?" rather than a traditional Italian greeting. Apparently he travels to Australia quite often to go to the beach surf.
It's worth noting at this point that Roberto, our driver, is pretty impressive, he could squeeze that bus into places you wouldn't think possible. One of those places being the track up to the Monastery. My hat goes off to him.
Back to the Hotel and get my washing out of the dryer. I tried the Internet at the hotel... After much fiddling around, I got it to work. It was an Italian keyboard... This is one of the most frustrating things for someone who can touch type. The left-hand shift key is too short and has the less-than key next to it, the special characters are all over the place... If I only had a Euro for every time I started a sentence with '<' rather than a capital letter!
Well that was that day... Keep well all.
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