Wednesday,
September 12 (3.1
miles total on the pedometer)
After breakfast
we left at 8:15 for our short walk to the Uffizi Gallery. The museum was huge
and you could spend an entire day just looking at the art in any one room.
Luckily, our amazing local tour guide, Antonia, an older British woman who
looked like “Mrs. Doubtfire,” knew just which pieces to highlight. Room by
room, we worked our way through history, from early Roman art through the
Renaissance. She made a point of teaching us how to read the ancient paintings
like a newspaper. Every element of the picture, including the setting, each
person’s hand gestures, facial expressions, and the color of their clothes,
meant something. I always thought that artists picked their subjects and
settings because they were pretty. The highlights of our three-hour tour were
paintings by Caravaggio, Raphael, and Botticelli, including “The Birth of
Venus,” standing in a giant clamshell.
We found a nice
sandwich shop nearby for lunch. I had a chicken sandwich with Brie and a cup of
fruit. 
Recharged, we walked to Santa Croce, the Basilica of the Holy Cross,
which is best known for its tombs of famous Italians, including Michelangelo,
Galileo and Machiavelli. 
 |
| Bust of Michelangelo |
 |
| Galileo's Tomb |
 |
| Tomb Detail |
Tombs on the floor.
 |
| A pretty chapel |
Pat was
determined to walk up the stairs to the top of the Duomo; Lou, Greg and I were
not. So off he went. Here are some photos of his adventure.
These were replicas. The originals were in a museum nearby.
My favorite part were
the benches inside, where we could sit, rest and enjoy the mosaic-domed
ceiling. 
 |
| A sweet little candle holder. |
We had been told
that the mosaic told a very clear story to the mostly illiterate members of the
church. The center section depicted the Last Judgment, with a large image of Christ
with angels on either side. He was giving a
“thumbs up” to the panels on his left filled with all the faithful followers
being escorted joyfully to heaven by angels. He was giving a “thumbs down” to
the panels on the right, showing scenes of the evildoers being roasted on
spits, crushed by stones and gnawed on by hideous beasts. It really got the
message across.
As Pat continued
to climb above the dome, we wandered around inside the church beneath it. It
was huge, with lots of beautifully patterned, inlayed floors, artfully shaped
candle-holders, and an intricately painted dome. 
The tour was to meet at 5pm at
the Duomo, so to kill time waiting for Pat, we sat with some of our other tour
members in a café, where I had my second fountain soda of the trip.
Our next stop
was the Accademia di Belle Arti, which houses Michelangelo’s David. The 17-foot
statue stands in the middle of a domed section of the gallery. Viewers can see
him from every angle. Donato told us a funny story. It seems that at some point
the museum had wanted to install some benches for the viewers, but couldn’t
decide at what angle they should face. So they conducted a poll, asking women
which part of the statue they looked at first? His hands? His face? Some other
part? 
The most popular answer was his rear end, so they placed the benches
behind him. 
There was an
interesting room off to the side that was filled with shelves of what looked
like small marble statues. Upon closer inspection they were actually plaster
casts that artists would make from a clay model. 
The artists used the casts as
a measurement tool to make their final much larger versions. |
| Found on the Internet. |
My favorite part
of the museum was a temporary modern art exhibit, which was mixed in with the
classical art. Different artists had been commissioned to create pieces that
complimented a much older piece, showing the relationship between the past and
the present. For example, sitting next to one of Michelangelo’s unfinished
sculptures from “The Prisoners”
series was an “inverted” sculpture by Antony Gormley. It looked like a smooth
block of stone, which had been carved out from the inside. The entire
“sculpture” was hidden, except for holes, where you could see the bottom of its
feet. Many people walked right by without noticing it.
 |
| Found on the Internet. |
My other favorite piece
was in the garden as we were leaving. It was a copy of the David, painted pink
with bright yellow hair. It was a welcome break from the historical pieces we
had been seeing.
For
dinner that night, we planned to joined two other couples--John, Judy, Ken and
Debbie--at Baldovino, a restaurant that Donato had recommended. While Greg went
with our new friends to get a table, Pat and Lou decided to first stop by
Massimo’s to see about getting some souvenirs. I tagged along. 
On the way we
stumbled on a McDonald’s. Throughout the trip I kept seeing signs that said a
McDonald’s was only “5 minutes away”, but now I had actually found one. Even
though we were on our way to dinner, I had to get some fries and a “fountain
soda.” It was just like home. Pat bought a really nice jacket and Lou found a
cute purse.
We
then walked to the restaurant, and joined the others at a lovely outdoor table,
under an awning. Donato had told us to get “La vera Bistecca alla Fiorentina,”
essentially a Tuscan Porterhouse, seasoned with salt and pepper, cooked on an
outdoor grill. It was priced on the menu at 40 Euro per kilogram. Five people
in our party split three servings each weighing 1 ½ -2kg (3-4.5 lbs.) Two huge
platters of beef were delivered and devoured.
Some of our group also tried
Ribollita, a thick Tuscan soup made with leftover beans and vegetables that are
reheated with toasted bread mixed in. Ribollita literally means “reboiled.” I
opted for a caper and anchovy pizza. We all had a lovely time.
I did have a
surreal moment, when returning from the restroom, I went out the wrong door and
saw an empty table that looked just like ours and couldn’t figure out where
everyone had gone.
We
walked back to the hotel and packed for Rome.
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