Hey - I'm Not Done After All!

I doubt if any of you will be as thrilled as I am at what I have to report.  I found my "lost Wednesday" pictures!  And, I'm so glad I did.  I don't remember what all I said about losing them on that Wednesday's post - I probably explained that they were all the statues of Orsanmichele that I had taken specifically so my son could see them, and that I had also visited the Museo Dell'Opera and the Museo Bargello that day and was thrilled with them because they both had a number of items I specifically wanted to see - mostly involving my dear friend, Brunelleschi.  I could and did retake the Orsanmichele statues (and that's good cause the second set is better than that first set), but I couldn't bring myself to spend the money and the time to "redo" the two museums.

So, to find these pictures after I got back to the States was a real nice conclusion to a real nice trip and I decided I would do another post just to share them with you all.  My son keeps telling me I need to do a "now I'm home and here's my summing up" and, actually, I had a few things that I thought of while traveling  back that I thought might be nice for a closing post, but right now I can't really remember what they were, so this will be just the pictures.

This is the truly gorgeous altar inside Orsanmichelle where we were not allowed to take photos, so I had to sneak one.  That's one reason why it's so dark and then so light.  I sat in a pew, put the camera down in my lap, and pointed it up at the altar and got this picture which for me is better than nothing.

This is the courtyard of the Museo Bargello.  This is the museum that started out as a prison.

and I had a really hard time figuring out what this was but my son and I looked it up on the Gioogle satellite map and it is the Badia Fiorentina (badia translates to abbey) and is pretty much right across the street from the Bargello (which is the arch showing in the foreground of the picture)

And you all can probably guess who this is - Filippo Brunelleschi himself!

and this is out of order because it is at the Museo dell'Opera, but it's the death mask of Brun and makes me think the sculptor of the bust above captured a pretty good likeness.

One thing I really wanted to see at the Bargello were the two baptistery door panels submitted as entries in the competition by Ghiberti (the winner) and Brunelleschi (the loser).  The panel had to illustrate the story of God instructing Abraham to sacrifice his son.  This is Brunelleschi's entry.

And this is Ghiberti's entry.  And much as it hurt me to do it, I had to admit that at least in my very humble, non-artistic opinion, Gilberti's was the better of the two.  Probably though, that was better than coming away thinking Brun had been robbed. :)

There were other things at the Bargello besides Brunelleschi "stuff".  This is Donatello's statue of David (all these sculptors seemed to find David an irrestible subject).  The hat seems a little saucy to me...

And this is Verrocchio's statue of David which I preferred over Donatello's and actually over the huge one by

 Michaelangelo.

This was a large Della Robia nativity.  I don't remember for sure what my guide book said about it, but I would think it might have been an altar piece.

Speaking of guide books, the one I just mentioned wasn't actually mine - it was one Antonio gave me to use while I was there.  It was a Rick Steves guide to Florence and Tuscany and at first I really didn't care for it because of the way he had it set up.  But my own guide book wasn't working too well, so I tried a little harder with the RS one and ended up really glad I had.  In his book, for each major museum, cathedral, whatever, he takes you on a tour of the most important pieces in that building and for someone like myself who knows nothing about art and what it all means (I'm one of those "I don't know about art but I know what I like" people), this was really helpful.  I got a lot more out of the frescoes, especially, because frescoes are usually telling a story and, on my own, I would usually have been unable to tell what the story was.  So if you're ever planning a trip that will involve wandering through museums, I'd recommend that you look at his books when you look at guide books.

The next pictures are from my visit to the Museo Dell'Opera...

This piece really flabbergasted me when I came across it because to me it looks so extremely modernistic. This is a statue of Mary Magdelene by Donatello which means it was created in the 15th century and it was difficult for me to get a good picture because it is dark to begin with and then so textured that there is a lot of shadow.

This is a close up and unfortunately her face is still quite shadowed...

This is Brun's model (I mean he actually made it!) of the cupola without the lantern on top. He shows two of the three tribunes that the cupola rests on.

And this is Brun's model of the lantern...It was so thrilling to see these and realize they were made so long ago and today thousands of visitors still flock to Florence to see the finished product.

This fairly unclear picture and the next one are pictures of some of the actual tools used to build the cupola and also the hoist that Brun invented to get supplies up to the higher and higher levels as work progressed.

And so that was my "lost Wednesday" and I'm certainly happy I found it.

Monday - All Good Things Must Come to an End

And it sure has been a good thing, and yet, I'm all right with it ending.  It's a long time to be gone from all things familiar!

I woke up to quite a gray morning today and figured that was all right cause I didn't have much planned anyway.  But by the time I got myself dressed and going, by darn, there was that beautiful blue sky again!   Apparently, out of consideration for its visitors, Florence only allows rain at night, which is really considerate, I think.

So I went and had my little breakfast which was, as usual, quite tasty – and I love my pot of tea in the morning.  I told the girl there that I was leaving tomorrow morning and she managed to understand what I was saying and was quite smiley and nice, so that left me feeling good.  Then I went back to the hotel cause I was supposed to be meeting Antonio to pay him, for one thing, but also to have him order me a taxi for tomorrow and to set up a thing that will call my telephone to wake me up.  Which is kind of silly, cause I'll be awake, I'm sure, but if the alarm wasn't there, then that might be when I would decide to sleep like the dead.  I worked on Sunday's post while I waited and got it finished up.  He finally arrived and we got everything taken care of and then ended up having a real nice chat – about the economy, about what switching to the Euro did to the Italians, about his couple of visits to the states, about what we did and didn't like about Florence – just real interesting.  I don't know how other people feel, but when I meet someone and have a little chance to talk  with them, I just always wish I could say "tell me your life story".  But I didn't...

Instead I took off for my first stop today which was to see the Brancacci Chapel at the Chiesa di Santa Maria del Carmine.  It was/is(?) a convent founded by the Carmelite order many centuries ago.  Don't know if my sister will remember that Carmelite monastery they built in our little tiny hometown back when we were kids.  We, or at least I, thought it was quite exotic – had no idea what it was all about.  The Chapel is absoutely glorious – it's a side chapel in the church and the church itself is beautiful too.  Everything but the Chapel was roped off, but I took some photos of the church areas from behind the ropes which at least will remind me of what it was like.  I just continue to be amazed at how many churches there are and how, no matter what they look outside, they are always eye-opening inside.

a pieta before you enter the chapel

 

This is part of a large frescoe - I keep meaning to comment every time I post photos of these frescoes that until I came here and actually read about them and what they're saying and portraying, etc., in my Rick Steves guide book (which is one reason why I've really liked it), I didn't realize that very often the painter put various and sundry people in the pictures.  In this instance, the three men in the corner doorway are Donatello, Brunelleschi, and the artist himself (he's the one looking toward you).  And always, if someone had hired the artist to paint a specific scene, the donor and his wife were usually among the spectators kneeling reverently in the front of the scene.

You can see the frescoes cover the entire walls and when you know the stories they're telling, they're much more interesting than they may look.  And look how brilliant the colors are!  And these are from mostly from the 15th century, I believe.

 

This is the entire frescoe of the one with the three artists in the corner.

the altar surrounded by frescoes

and next are the pictures I took of various parts of the church - mostly the ceilings - got a stiff neck from gawking at them so long!

 

 

 

 

going outside you enter the cloisters, the area in all these convents/monasteries that always make me think it might have been a nice life.  The birds were singing up a storm in this one.

After that very pleasant interlude, I took off across the river  to look for a hotel that my son is thinking he might be staying in next year if he decides to do a photography tour.  I told him, after I saw the hotel that I thought it was kind of cruel and unusual punishment to send me off to find such a nice place when I have to then come back to my room.  And the thing is, it turns out he pretty much knew all about it already, of course, from reading all the tour information!  I'm not going to show you the pics - he'll have to do his own blog.

Started back and got across the river to my side and decided I had to get off the very busy street I was on and ended up in all sorts of little backstreet areas I hadn't been.  Although every now and then, there would be a block or so that was familiar.  I have a number of photos from that too because I saw a courtyard and it was open, so I wandered in and it seemed to open into other courtyards and finally ended up in a beautiful small garden.  And once I got into it, I realized it was sort of in the backyard of the Chiesa di Santo Spirito.

the courtyard in the courtyard

 

and into the garden - it was circular with buildings all the way around

 

a statue of Pan

 

an ancient looking grotto

 

more...

 

and the back of Santo Spirito from the garden

Next I found a new sandwich place back in that warren of streets and bought what is probably the best one I've had.  I bought some potato chips too and took my lunch to Piazza Santo Spirito to eat it.  I call the piazza my Italian Pullman Square.

one end...

 

and the other

 

Is this a picture, or what?  I came across them as I was leaving the piazza and that woman is going to have a very hot face tonight!

I did visit the Chiesa di Santo Spirito again later this afternoon and I must have been in a daze the first time.  It is huge inside and I had a memory of it being a little dark cavern, sort of.  And the altar is gorgeous - has marble columns and a metal, lacy canopy over it.  No pictures allowed, so I can't show you any of it.  But I'm glad I went back.  Oh, and my guidebook said there was a painted wooden crucifix that Michealangelo made and gave to the church as a donation for allowing him to use their morgue (why did they have a morgue?!) to study anatomy.  If it is his, he created it when he was in his late teens or early twenties and it's very different from his later very muscular and big figures.  Makes Christ look like a young boy himself...

And that is pretty much it, folks.  I'm really going to miss doing this - it's been so nice to be able to share it all while it's happening.  I appreciate your taking the time to keep up with it and to send me little comments as the mood struck

Arrivederci from Florence!

Sunday - Which Didn't Go Exactly as Planned, but That's Okay

Today, as I said in my group e-mail when I posted Saturday's "issue", I had decided to visit the Jewish temple.  I had found a new map here at the hotel and was looking at it to see what I might have missed that would be interesting and there was the Temple Israelitico which hadn't been on any of the other maps I had been using.  I looked it up on the Internet and discovered that the only day it was closed was Saturday (the Jewish sabbath) and also discovered that it has the big blue dome I had seen when I went up to the top of the dome at the duomo.  So that seemed like a good project for today.  And there was a very nice park shown on the map also.

So after my little breakfast, I started off (kind of late) on yet another incredibly beautiful morning.  I just stay amazed at how fortunate I've been.  And this turned into one of those mornings (and days) when I just sort of took pictures of everything.  I think it's cause I know I'm not going to be here to look at it all much longer.  So this post is probably going to have a whole lot of pictures, although I haven't edited them yet so am not sure how many there are or how many I'll feel compelled to share.  So I'm just going start getting them on here...

This was the first of my "walking pictures".  I've been showing narrow streets ever since I got here.  They have even narrower alleys of which this is one.

 

That little white bit up there by the tower is San Miniato that I climbed up to one evening and about died.  But it was beautiful once there.

 

This turns out to be a statue to the fallen of Mentana.  And there were two American men there, one doing the picture taking, who I ended up talking to for quite a while.  I think they were as eager to talk as I always seem to be.  They told me that this was a battle that took place during Italy's fight for independence in the late 1800's or early 1900's.  I told them that when I very first saw it, even though I knew it couldn't be, I thought "my gosh, it's the wild west!" cause it just sort of has that look.  The had just arrived in Florence 3 days ago and but had been here 17 years ago for 4 days.  This time they're staying for 2 weeks and, wisely, have an apartment.  Sure wish I had nailed one.  So, finally, I said I'd better move on.

 

Don't know if I've mentioned the grafitti in Florence, but it is everywhere.  Every reachable surface seems to be slathered with scrawls, scribbles, messes, etc.  But this one just sort of delighted me.  You probably can't tell that the little bit sitting beside the man is a pigeon, but it is.  This was painted over a seat-high ledge running along the side of a building (there are a lot of these which is nice for when you're tired), and so that made it even more appropriate cause there they are sitting on a ledge.  As best as I've been able to transcribe it, it seems to say "normality is the prison of all psychiatric assassins" which doesn't end  up meaning much to me, but I still like it.

This was a neat triangular building with a restaurant at street level and I decided to remember it and come back this way and stop for lunch.

 

And this is the restaurant closer up.

 

This is a street named for Giuseppe Verdi (did you notice that?)  I had asked the two men this morning why I was seeing streets and theaters named for him, but hadn't found like his house or anything.  They explained that he didn't live in Florence, but that he was a national hero because during Italy's battle for independence, he continued to write his opera scores but in such a way that the people knew they were revolutionary, but apparently the censors didn't.  And people would scrawl "viva verdi" on the walls because of something to do with his initials that wasn't real clear to me, but they enjoyed telling me about it.

 

I arrived, finally, at the Jewish synagogue only to find, surprise, surprise, that it was closed because of today being a festival day.  Just in the short while I was there, there were a number of people who came to go in, only to find that they couldn't.  I talked for a little bit to an elderly couple who were I think Dutch or Belgian and we agreed that it would have been nice to be able to go in and see something besides annunciations and crucifixions.  But here are a couple of pics of the outside and it is a beautiful building.  It was completed in 1882 following the granting of citizenship to Tuscan Jewish people in 1861.

There's a lot of clutter in this one although the lighting is better than the next one which I poked my camera through the fence to take.

 

And another Florentine cat, hanging out at the synagogue

So, I was kind of at a loss as to what to do next and started back towards that restaurant.  It was too early to eat lunch yet, so I sat at Santa Croce for a while, taking some pictures and feeling smug cause it was closed today for a Festival of St. Francis and people were being turned away, while I had already been there.

It's not enough that the entire piazza is nothing but vendor stalls, this guy was up at the front door with his "art" laid out on the pavement.  Wouldn't you think maybe someone would tell him to move on?  The giant pretzel wasn't on display in the vendor stalls though, so maybe it's not allowed on Sundays (or maybe someone poked a hole in it!)

 

Apparently, there was some special event in connection with the St. Francis celebration and there was a whole lot of "schmoozing" going on.  Reminded me of where I used to work when they would have some of their fund-raising functions.

Did a little people watching but didn't see too many really intriguing ones.  There were these though...

 

Two American ladies -- maybe West Virginia?

 

these guys opted for red jackets rather than red pants

I really wish I could have managed a better picture of this guy.  His jacket was a black satin type of fabric and was ornately embroidered on the back.  Here he was getting ready to help someone out of the back of the cab who turned out to be a quite old woman, but smartly turned out all in black with silver chains and such.  They never did turn to face me but as they started walking around the cab, I noticed that he either had an orange eyepatch or was wearing small orange glasses.

 

Not people, but a steeple visible from Santa Croce and I can't seem to figure out what one it would be.  I think I even remember going to one on a visit that I said was the first church I had seen with a steeple.  I'll have to read my own posts...oh, noooooo!

 

And again, not people, but just the very top of my dome.

still at Santa Croce and I bet the people on this balcony wish their view was as nice as the one at the botanical gardens

So, having wasted enough time that I could eat lunch by the time I got to the restaurant, I made my way there.  And boy, did I make a mistake on that choice.  I had been wanting ravioli and they had it on the menu which most places haven't.  I was pretty sure the words meant that it was stuffed with potato (oddly enough) and served with a meat tomato sauce.  I checked with the waitress and I was right!  So, odd or not I ordered that with just a little house type salad, insalata misti they call it here and it's always just a nice little salad.  When I first sat down, the sewer smell was pretty bad (did I mention you pretty much smell sewer off and on all over Florence?  But then you do in Huntington, too...) but that seemed to die down.  Then a couple came and sat down beside me and there was this really strong smell of manure - I finally decided that the man must have stepped in one of the many piles of dog droppings that  are also everywhere in Florence.  Once he got all settled and got his feet under the table that seemed to die down too.  Meanwhile here came my salad and a bottle of oil and a bottle of balsamic.  The balsamic was like no balsamic I've tasted and I think was basically vinegar and the lettuce had that old lettuce flavor that I really don't like.  So I kind of picked around at that and then came my plate of ravioli.  About 6 of them probably in a little bit of sauce, which if they had been good, that would have been nice to not have more food than I could finish.  I've never had Chef Boyardee, but I decided this is what it would taste like.  It was really pretty bad.  So, I asked for my bill (which was depressingly high) and left.  I've not been thrilled with the food here the whole time, but anything I've had has mostly been tasty, fresh, nicely presented, etc.  I am always amazed at the cost though and I'm eating at the low-end restaurants that aren't in the guide books.  But even at those, a plate of pasta usually starts at 8E which is around $11.00 and that's only pasta - you order everything separately.  So if you add a little salad and a little wine, you're up to I guess around $22.00!!  It really doesn't pay to think about it.  Oops, I was on  the soapbox again, wasn't I?  :)

But I survived and moved on, thinking that I would walk by the Ufizzi on the way back across the river to take a look at the line and see if maybe I should go there.  Here's a picture of the line - they had just let  in a batch of people right before I took the picture which made it a little better...

But my feet and I decided we wouldn't get in line and instead I had fun taking more pictures.  I had been in this courtyard one other time and took pictures of the building itself and maybe  a statue or two, but I decided to do it right today.  These first pics are of the "living statues" that are there.  They vary as to how many and who they're representing.  I think they're pretty neat, some more than others.  One day I saw one sitting down eating lunch and visiting with a buddy which sort of caused a second look.

don't who this one was supposed to be and I think maybe it was a girl doing it...

 

this one was Leonardo DaVinci and really quite good

Along the whole length of both sides of the Ufizzi, there are statues in niches of various Florentine notables and I decided to take pictures of all the ones whose names I recognized.  And I can't believe I didn't find one of Brunelleschi, since he seems to have designed and built half of Florence.  A little bit of one side was behind scaffolding so I tried to tell myself his statue was probably there.

 So this is Leonardo DaVinci - that living statue did a fairly good imitation I think.

This, as the statue says, is Donatello

Niccola Pisano - only learned that name on this trip and can't remember now why, although I think it was something to do with the Duomo

The Medici patriarch, I believe - the first Cosimo.  Not sure how many there were.

 

And this is one of the Lorenzo Medicis.  I know that there were at least two of them.  This one, as you can see was "Il Magnifico"

 

And this is Michaelangelo - you'd think maybe they'd show him with a palette or a sculptor's tools or something

Macchiavelli and he's got a slightly shifty look

  

Dante

 

Galileo

 

Boccaccio

 

and, last but not least, Amerigo Vespucci

Phew!  With that task accomplished (and just be glad I didn't recognize any more of the names), I decided as long as I was right there, I'd take a look at the Palazzo Vecchio which I thought I remembered hearing was a free, self-guided tour.  But when I went in, it wasn't free and there was quite a line waiting to get in so I took some pictures of its courtyard and went back outside.  My guidebook says this was a fortified palace and the town hall built by the Medicis (who else?)

It's a beautiful courtyard, mostly because of the columns

 

which as you can see are pretty incredible!

 

then, there's the ceiling, which ain't bad either.

Then back out to the Piazza della Signoria (which, thanks to my son, I just discovered isn't the Piazza Vecchio) and a couple more pictures.  I took one of a statue of whoever it was that killed Medusa holding her snake-haired head high for all to see and discovered when I edited my photos that I had it all but her head - the best part!  Maybe that's how I'll use up some time Monday - go back and do it right...anyway, here's what I did get.

The Rape of the Sabines

 

Marking the spot where Savonarola was hanged and burned

 

One of the buildings surrounding the piazza - I liked all its shutters closed up tight.

Leaving the piazza and on the street along the Arno, this is the start of the covered walkway the Medicis built which runs from inside the Ufizzi over the top of the shops on the Ponte Vecchio Bridge and into the Pitti Palace.  That way, they didn't have to get wet after a hard day at the office.  They knew how to live, that's for sure and I'm glad they did - they made a beautiful city.

I finished my walk back to the hotel, taking just a few more pictures...

 

So it does get cloudy in Florence!  I was beginning to wonder.

How many pictures have I taken from the bridges?  But it's just so lovely...

 

This is the dome of Chiesa di Santo Spirito.  I went inside it either the Saturday I arrived and was exhausted or the next day when I was grievously injured so either way I wasn't in my best tourist mode and, plus which, I didn't know I was going to love all things Brunelleschi and he designed this church also.  That's why the dome is a mini duomo dome even to the lantern and golden globe on top.  I'm going to go back in tomorrow and show it the proper respect.

So that was my day.  Back at the hotel, I finished Saturday's post and started wading through all these Sunday pictures.  With the look of the sky, I figured it was going to be cool and maybe even raining so I decided dinner would be another bowl of ribollita soup.  And it did rain, and it was cool and I did have another bowl of soup and it was, again, delicioso (I have no idea if that's a word in Italian, but that's what it was).  I've got to learn how to make it that good at home - it's more like a casserole than a soup.

I will say buona sera and check in again tomorrow evening.