The Events of March 24, 2011

                Florence is a beautiful white rose in a bush of thorns. But, then again, anything would be in comparison to the insanity and hustle and bustle of Rome and Naples. We slept in today in some of the most comfortable beds on the world. (I got a king sized bed all to myself). Then, the day started to slowly pick up speed as we got up, showered, and breakfasted. After family devotions and private quiet times, we set out to explore the Tuscany valley. Today’s focus was Florence.

                We walked to the bus stop surrounded by spacious houses, drooping trees heavy laden with leaves and flowers, and stone walls draped with ivy. The cool air was filled with birdsong and only the sound of our footsteps interrupted their joyous melody. Even as the bus pulled up, the rumble of the engines was softer than in other cities. We sat in the almost empty bus for a good ten minutes, watching the people slowly trickle in. When the bus finally did take off, there were barely any other vehicles and there were more elderly people on walks than cars zooming by. We got off at the Gran Caffé San Marco stop and walked to The Academia. The line stretched from the entrance door all the way down the street. Good thing we’re not going here today. Instead, Daddy made reservations for us to get a tour of the museum at 10:30 am on Saturday morning. With the rest of the day free for exploring, we pulled out our iPods and plugged in to the Renaissance tour of Florence by Rick Steves.

                The tour began at the Duomo or the main cathedral with its distinctive red dome. The square surrounding the Duomo was filled with tourists, admiring the colorful facade of red, white, green, and pink marble, the red dome with its white skeletal structure, the bell tower, and the Baptistery which was across the square from the Duomo. The dome of the cathedral was designed and constructed by the architect Brunelleschi in the mid-1400s. The dome almost looks octagonal instead of the smooth dome of St. Peter’s in Rome, but it does the job. We walked inside the Duomo where, like the Sistine Chapel, they paid guards to yell, “Silenzio, Silence, Shh,” over an intercom. The inside of the church was big and bare, but the dome was definitely worth seeing. The inside of the dome is another Renaissance painter’s version of the Last Judgment and the color of the painting contrasting with the dim lighting of the rest of the building forces you to look up, which the artist and architect intended as if to bring your attention to what church is really all about, God. Our audio walking tour led us out of the church into the blinding sunlight, across the square to the Baptistery doors. This smaller building, but still huge in its own right, was where children would get baptized into the church, but the doors are what most of the tourists come to see. The doors are widely known as the Gates of Paradise. The bronze, three dimensional panels on the tall doors sparkled in the morning sun. There were a total of eight panels on the door, all of them depicting Bible stories. They were really something.

                Via dei Calzaiuoli is a pedestrian only street and is lined with clothing shops displaying the latest fashions, gelato shops, restaurants and cafés with enticing smells, and specialty stores. In Renaissance times it connected the religious buildings with the political buildings. Gelato here in Italy is considered the best ice cream in the world and the best gelato in Italy is here in Florence. And as we walked along and started pulling off layers thanks to the warm spring sun, we practically drooled at the passing gelato cones, dripping sweet sticky drips onto the lucky holder’s sweaty hands. With our sunglasses on and sweatshirts off, we continued our tour to the Orsanmichele Church and surrounding Plaza. The church was built in a former granary. On the inside, you could see where the grain would come down through the columns through chutes. At the base of the marble column was a tiny door where you would pull the grain out. On the ceiling, hanging from the frescoes of saints and apostles, were rings that could be pulled down and used as pulleys to also transport grain. We thought it was kind of weird and cool at the same time.

                A few blocks away was another, smaller church with statues of saints on the outside. First, there were four Christian sculptors who refused to make sculptures of pagan gods and goddesses; they were burned in the square called Piazza Signoria. Next was St. George, on the lookout for dragons, his hand throbbing with energy. Then, we looked at statues of some of the apostles, one of these being St. Mark. At first, when I saw the statues, I said, “Big whoop, some more statues,” but these turned out to be the first realistic statues ever made in the Renaissance period. And I, being a major art lover, was awestruck. You could practically see the blue veins in St. Mark’s hand as he grips his book and cradles it close to his body. In our tour, I learned that Michelangelo stood in the same spot that I was standing and marveled at the same realism that impressed me. That statue of St. Mark was Michelangelo’s starting inspiration as a young artist growing up in Florence.

                Our tour took us next to the Piazza Signoria. Yeah, that’s right, the square where a monk named Savonarola made the people of Florence burn all of their “vanities” like makeup and fancy clothes, as well as paintings and works of art that were inappropriate according to Savonarola’s unappreciative artistic eye. The people eventually got so fed up with this guy that they threw him into the bonfire. There is actually a bronze circle on the square that commemorates the exact spot where the bonfire was lit. But, that huge burning was the end of the Florentine Renaissance. Here we paused our audio tour for a quick, but very interesting lunch.

                Along a nearby street was a small, but popular sandwich hut that sold Tuscany specialty sandwiches, specializing in tripe sandwiches. Abby ordered a warm Tuscany salami and mushroom sandwich, I got spicy hot salami and cheese, Ben had spit roasted pork on buns, Caitlin chose Tuscany salami and cheese, Mommy enjoyed her Tuscany salami and sundried tomatoes, and Daddy, his spicy cow’s stomach, which was surprisingly delicious. We finished our tour with the winding Arno River. Here the chains which separate the pedestrian walkway from the road are covered with locks. There are hundreds of locks, so many that it is almost impossible to see the chain beneath. We wondered why all these locks were here and later at the gelato place Daddy tried to ask the Italian server. However, he didn’t know the Italian word for locks. Later we found out that young lovers come to the river and attach a lock and throw the key into the river, signifying that they are forever “locked” together in love. Crossing the Arno is a picturesque bridge with shops built out over the water. These former butcher and tanning shops are now jewelry shops galore. We walked halfway across the bridge, checked out the jewelry shops and then headed to a nearby gelato for another Italian experience.

                At this gelato place, the portions were smaller and the price slightly higher, but Daddy got blueberry and coconut, Mom had chocolate and dark chocolate (go figure), Caitlin ordered chocolate mousse and vanilla mousse, Ben had an unusual combination raspberry and chocolate chip, I loved my lemon and raspberry, and Abby expanded her usually strict ice cream boundaries with a grand chocolate fondue and chocolate chip. We enjoyed these dripping cones as the last gelatos we will have in Italy. Sniff. We walked to a nearby internet café to respond to some emails and see if we could post some blogs. We had two computers for a half hour each and it was rather stressful, desperately trying to post blogs and answer emails as our time ticked away. Then, after Abby mailed off her letter from Italy to Uncle Scott at the Post Office, we walked to the bus stop and headed home. The bus was packed and we all had to stand, a crunch of humanity. At one of the stops along the way, I looked up to see Mom with an odd look on her face tightly clutching her belly pack. Someone had stolen her sunglasses. Thankfully he didn’t take her wallet. It’s all part of the adventure, right? A shaken Mom made us a delicious pasta dinner and for dessert we tried the chocolate truffles that our host left for us. We relaxed the evening away and then headed to bed after a long and eventful day.