The Old Gray Mare She Ain't What She Used to Be...Day 7 in Florence...

This day was rainy and cooler than the others. Those of us with injuries were feeling that change in barometric pressure. In these older cities, the coaches cannot get into the downtown streets. Our hotel was as close as it could be to the original part of Florence. It would still be quite a walk to get to this area. Alan took Claude, me, and Mindy aside the night before and assured us there would be a taxi to get us to this original part of Florence. Alan would ride with us. You see, Alan is set for knee replacement in the coming months. He definitely understood our pain as well as our desire to see whatever we could. Mindy, Claude and I agreed we wanted to make it through the morning to see The David. Then we would assess if we could walk more or if we wanted to get a taxi back to the hotel. That was the plan. We were off in the taxi with Alan to get to the center of Florence. I need to mention that Florence is in Tuscany. 

Our first destination was the Uffizi Gallery. The Uffizi Gallery is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence. It is famous worldwide for its outstanding collections of ancient sculptures and paintings (from the Middle Ages to the Modern period). The “Venus” and the “Allegory of Spring” by Florentine artist Sandro Botticelli are the most famous of all the artworks in the Uffizi Gallery.

Artwork outside Uffizi Gallery.

The Ponte Vecchio is a medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arch bridge over the Arno, in Florence, Italy. The only bridge in Florence spared from destruction during World War II, it is noted for the shops built along it; building shops on such bridges was once a common practice. Ponte is bridge in Italian. 

We were told Rome is like lasagna, it is built in layers. It would appear a lot of Italy is lasagna or built in layers. 

Inside the Uffizi Gallery.

These slots were common throughout the museum. They are constructed so that these large pieces of artwork can be moved around. 

This particular piece is made with lots and lots of gold leaf. 

Sandro Botticelli’s ‘The Birth of Venus’.

Walk to the Accademia Gallary.

The Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze, or "Gallery of the Academy of Florence", is an art museum in Florence, Italy. It is best known as the home of Michelangelo's sculpture David. 

Our goal was to see David. David is at the end of a long gallery room. 

Along either side of the long gallery are partially finished sculptures by Michaelangelo. Michaelangleo stated that the marble contains the figure and it is the artists job to draw that figure out. These partially finished sculptures show the work of an artist drawing out the figure from the marble. I really appreciated these pieces of partially finished art.

At the end you find the David sculpture we had all been anticipating. 

Okay, don't think ill of me. I walked all around and took pictures from different angles of this important work of art. David is holding a sling in his left hand and a rock in his right hand. The sling goes across his back. Even my untrained eye with regard to these things, could see the perfection in this particular work of art. 

The room near here was also fascinating. Since this was a school for artists, this room is filled with works by master artists to be used by students as inspiration to learn their craft. You will not black dots on these works of art. These were for the students to make measurements to aid in their work.

For Mindy, Claude and me, this was the end of this day's touring. Luigi helped us to get a taxi and we returned to the hotel. We sat together and enjoyed a lovely lunch and conversation. Then we went to our rooms for a much-needed rest and recuperation. This was the best way to spend this afternoon in rainy Florence. Alan agreed we did the right thing.