Firenze

I am a "slow traveler," meaning that I prefer to visit one place for longer instead of fluttering from place to place so I can "see everything." However, after overcoming my philosophical distaste for whirlwind travel, I decided to take a day trip to Florence. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing a bit of the city. I paused to take pictures at Il Duomo, which some have called a cathedral dressed in green-and-white striped pajamas:

I then spent some time at the Piazza della Signoria, which may have been my favorite part of the trip. Giambologna's Rape of the Sabines is absolutely amazing. Nothing else I saw floored me in the same way, and it's sitting in an outdoor piazza for pigeons to poop on. Grrrr.

My apologies for the monotony of the camera angles, but I have gotten pretty darn good at this shot. After La Piazza, I spent about five hours at Gli Uffizi and saw about 5,000 Madonna and Childs, about 1,000 Annunciations, and about 750 Pietas. It occurred to me that Renaissance art almost completely missed the entire point of Christ's life--you know, the stuff he did between birth and death? Then wondered if perhaps the art that chronicled his actual life and teachings might have been in less mobile forms, like murals, so it is less well-represented in museums. Leave it to a social scientist to start thinking about biased samples at the Uffizi! Anyway, I had lunch at the cafe. The overpriced ham sandwich and bottled water were worth the view on the terrace. It was a beautiful day. Again, more of the same shot. Sorry.

Then I went to L'Accademia. In addition to seeing Michelangelo's enormous David (I didn't realize it was that big), I went to an exhibit on musical instruments. There is something oddly soothing about looking at a 400 year old cello that looks essentially the same as today's cello--a sense of continuity and the unifying power of music. At sunset, I wandered over to Ponte Vecchio and watched all of the couples enjoying themselves. On my way back to the train station, I passed a number of street performers, including this sidewalk artist. It was actually quite amazing.

It was a great experience, and I hope to be able to go back again someday for longer.