Florence Day 2

I had booked us a guide for our morning in Florence. I knew we would need timed tickets for the two museums we wanted to see, and I thought it would add to the experience to have a guide help us get from one to the other and also tell us a bit about the paintings when we were there. She also got us a family picture with David.

We got up nice and early, and Jeff caught a picture of the sunrise from our window.

Breakfast was included, so we went down to check out our options. It was a good spread, and the girls were especially taken with the mini-Nutella containers.

They had an egg station with eggs Benedict Florentine. What else could I eat for breakfast in Florence?

It was chilly and still a bit overcast, so most of us got our coats and waited to meet our guide in the lobby after breakfast.

After having such a great guide in Rome, we had high expectations. Unfortunately, our Florence guide was more focused on making sure we knew how smart and qualified she was then on whether or not we were actually enjoying ourselves or getting our questions answered. Still, it was good to have someone who knew where they were going, and she marched us over to the Uffizi Gallery, our first stop for the day. 

Like every other attraction we had been to in Italy, it was PACKED. There were several large groups with head phones on in order to hear their guides, which meant that they were extra oblivious to anyone around them. It was challenging.

Add to that the fact that our guide was mostly talking to hear herself talk, and we had to find out own way to appreciate the art. Jeff went into photo mode and focused on getting as many pictures as possible.

I had the girls stick close to me and gave a bit of a side tour so that they could actually learn somethings about the paintings. I'm not an art history expert by any means, but I know enough to talk about famous Renaissance paintings and the evolution of more three dimensional and realistic depictions of the human figure. 

Elena was mostly horrified that so many of the painted figures were naked and would occasionally shield or avert her eyes. We've come to the conclusion that she most likely won't be entering the art history or medical fields.

Jeff got some Medici pictures.

And we admired many pictures of Mary in various styles and by various famous artists.

Elena was curious about the heads sticking out of this circular painting by Michelangelo, and she asked the tour guide why they were there. The tour guide ignored her and kept talking about how significant it was that this was painted on wood. Finally, Jeff said, yes, but what about the heads, and she looked miffed and finally explained that it hung over the patron's bed to watch over him, which we all found to be super creepy. She looked at us like we were ignorant rubes. It was not a great fit of tour guide and tour group.

One of the paintings I found the most interesting was this unfinished one by Da Vinci. It was different from all the other ones we had been looking at. The rest of my family disagreed with me, but I still think it's cool.

The Uffizi is home to Botticelli's Birth of Venus, which was fun to see in person. 

But Vivian fell in love with his Primavera instead.

We got her her own copy for Christmas, and it is now proudly hanging in her room.

Jeff really liked the art they made with different colored rocks, carved to represent scenes and fit together.

There were also many impressive statues. Elena averted her eyes for most of them.

After the Uffizi, we walked to the Piazza della Signora. There are statues in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, but they are replicas of the originals, and we had an appointment to see original David later that morning, so our guide recommending having a quick coffee or hot chocolate in the piazza.

She took us to Rivoire and told us they are famous for their hot chocolate.

We opted to sit outside, but Jeff had to go inside and take pictures of the paintings on the walls as well.

The girls and I admired the shop windows.

When the hot chocolate came, it was, as promised, something special.

After our drinks, we stopped by a shop where they make paper with beautiful designs on it. I remember as a child having special cards with this technique lining the sides. I couldn't resist getting some notebooks for the girls.

We went by the Duomo again, and our guide kindly took a picture with all of us in it.

Then, we went to a place where they make art out of the different colored rocks. It was really cool that they had out samples of the different rocks that you were allowed to touch.

The finished works were lovely, but a bit heavy to carry home.

Finally, it was time to go see David.

Jeff took about 30 pictures of this statue, but I'm not going to include them all.  Suffice it to say, it's an impressive statue.  The museum itself though is quite small. Leading up to David are a series of statues by Michelangelo that are intentionally "incomplete". He said that he could see the form in the marble, and, as an artist, his job was simply to free it from the marble. These ones he left still breaking free, so that others could see the marble the way he did. We thought they were really cool, but the patrons who commissioned them were apparently not impressed and wanted to know why they hadn't been finished.

He also had a powerful pieta statue in the collection.

The building is called The Academy, and it houses an art school, so there is a room just full of busts and parts of sculptures for study. It was a cool way to display that many items.

We said goodbye to our guide, and I think we were all relieved. I appreciated her getting us around, but everything was so overcrowded that her lack of friendliness and flexibility really didn't help.

The hotel had made lunch reservations for us at a restaurant near where we would finish our tour. It was very pretty from the outside. They even had a giant stuffed bear.

The inside was lovely as well.

But it was full of people and loud, just like the museums we had spent the morning in, and I could see Jeff twitching. We had a quick family conference and decided we'd rather go back to the restaurant we'd had lunch at the day before, so we thanked the waiter and left.

On our route back, I saw we were going to be passing by the famous boar statue. The legend is that if you rub its nose, you'll come back to Florence, so Elena stepped up.

Then, we walked away from the crowds and towards the river. Leaving the other restaurant had been the right call. It was good to be in an open, less crowded space again, but we were disappointed to find that Dabarba was closed for lunch that day. Luckily, there was another restaurant with outdoor seating just down the road, so we ate there.

We had another lovely lunch, which was a great way to end our time in Florence. After lunch, we went back to the hotel, picked up our car, and drove back towards Rome and Lack Bracciano. It was a quick trip, but well worth it.