Statues and Stories..first day in Florence

First Day in Florence:

Ciao!

What an awful start to a brilliant day!

With all of my travelling/ sleep deprivation, I accidentally slept through two alarms, and found myself rolling over around…11:30!! NOT the way I like to start off my trips ANYWHERE when I know there are things to be seen and done, and time was already a-tickin’! I grumbled, jumped up, and saw from my huge window that it was…indeed snowing in Florence, Italy.

After collecting my thoughts and resuming my delayed itinerary, I threw myself into the city centre, only to accidentally go shopping. I couldn’t help it! It’s just where I happened to stumble first! It was NOT on the itinerary, at all!

Really resuming my itinerary (and one luxurious bag later), I hit the San Lorenzo, not really knowing what to expect. In my first stop, I found some gorgeous statues of the Medici’s by the master himself,Michaelangelo. Not a bad way to start the day, to mingle with MA and the Medici’s was a great introduction. But this glorious find was only the beginning of discovering magnificent treasures that I have been waiting years to see.

As you may have guessed, it was still raining/sleeting…but this time, it was mixed with ferocious snow! Because I was running behind schedule, I immediately darted to my most important and anticipated stop, The Uffizi Gallery. On the way, I stopped by the glorious Duomo and tried to take in the Piazza della Signora with the faux statue of David, but my camera lens kept getting wet and snowflakes covered my eyes and my lens. With a slightly heavy heart, I received my “you’ll have to wait” ticket for the Uffizi, and wandered into a café to see exactly what I wanted to hit, because for some reason, I thought I’d also be able to go to the Academia before it closed. Happily, I can say that the Uffizi held so many precious landmarks and heart swells that I enjoyed my time there too much to count minutes til closing.

Just so you know, the Uffizi Gallery has got to be the greatest treasure trove…EVER. There are masterpieces from Italian artists for CENTURIES, including Giotto, Veronese, Fra Angelico, Michaelangelo, Raphael, Botticelli, Carravaggio, Titan… the greatest of the greats! Just to give you a small idea of what I was like during this experience…I can tell you that I had a party in every room I went into, even when I thought I wouldn’t know much in this room or that because it didn’t have a Titan. LITERALLY, my whole freshman year of art history was now in the flesh, and I amextraordinarily fortunate to say that Venus of Urbino and I have finally linked eyes. Other HUGE highlights included Michelangelo’s Baptism of St. John, Botticelli’s La Primivera & Birth of Venus, Fillipino Lippi’s Madonna and Child and so many more. This was probably my biggest “art-gasm” since my first real art experience in the Lourve in October of 2008. This may even have been bigger, more intense, and full of wonderful, irreplaceable and heart-happy feelings.

After THAT, I ran across the Ponte Vecchio to the Pitti Palace before it closed in 45 minutes time. Of course, there were crowds and a steep hill to conquer, but I made it, and found that the surprises just kept coming! Round two included:

- The Four Philosophers by Peter Paul Ruebens

- Raphael’s Madonna Della Segna

- Titan’s Mary Magdelene

After that, it was nearly dark, so I sat in a café and planned out my final day in Florence before I head over to Padova to see Miss CHRISTINE (!!) for my third leg of the Grand Tour toward Venice.

Thank you for a VERY rewarding day, Firenze. Despite the snow, you warmed me to the core.

Happy travels,

(Buen Viaggio!)

xx

Ciao.