Thanks for waiting. Don't be alarmed, but this post is everything I forgot to mention in Day 15 (June 6, 2012). Originally posted on September 19.
If you finished reading my super long post about Day 15: Florence, Part 1 you'll remember that I never finished talking about Florence! That first day was so, so SO jam-packed-non-stop-sightseeing-and-blow-your-mind-excitement that I couldn't fit all the excitement and pictures into one post, even for that one day alone. I did write lots of notes in my travel journal (courtesy of Amanda) while I was riding on the train back to Verona, but I didn't have it with me when I wrote Part 1. So sit back and get ready for the extended scenes of Florence!
After re-reading my last post, I realized that my classmates and I were "on our way to our hotel" when my post went off on a tangent and never came back. My hotel was called the "Maxim" and wound deep throughout the third and fourth floors of a narrow, but deep Italian building. There was another hotel on the second floor as well. From the ground entrance, I had a great view down the cobblestone street to the Duomo and the Baptistry! The elevator was so tiny, it could only hold three people, with barely any room for luggage! It was slightly larger than my tiny shower back in Verona. So most of the time everyone took the 3-4 flights of stairs to the Maxim Hotel. I shared a room on the fourth floor with Jessica, and Razz and we had a great time despite it not being the most glamourous place. When we first dropped our suitcases off before our tour, we thought there was poop in the bathtub (it turned out to be rusty patches where the white tub had flaked off) and the towels had stains on them. Yuck.
On our tour of Florence our tour guide, Marcello, took us down a back alley to the only shop in the world where you can still purchase pigment, or powdered colors, without a bonding element. Powdered pigment was/is used to make frescos by mixing it with wet plaster like Giotto did in the Arena Chapel. And I may have remembered this wrong, but I believe that Marcello said that that particular art supply shop was in operation way back then....
After our really awesome tour and history lesson that took us all over the city (The Duomo, Baptistry, Medici Palace, Duomo Museum, Dante's House & Church, The Uffizi Museum and sculptures, the courtyard with a copy of Michelangelo's David), we were told to branch off and find our own food before regrouping outside of the Florence Academia (a museum) for our reserved time slot (at 1:45). After buying a spek, ensalada and mozarella panini and eating on the move (which was disgusting but I ate it because I was starving), Jessica and I and a few other students approached the museum. You could tell it was big deal because the line to get in was probably the longest line I've ever seen. It went down the road for blocks, and wrapped around the building! At that moment I realized how important it was to have reservations!
Around all the popular tourist sites in Florence there are illegal salesmen trying to sell copies of famous paintings. There was an especially high concentration around the Academia because it was an art institution. These sneaky salespeople have crafty ways of picking up their merchandise before the police come. And they also have crafty ways of telling each other that the authorities are nearby. They can run down the row of pictures on the ground and scoop them all up in one motion. It's illegal to buy from vendors who don't have a license, and I was warned never to buy from anyone who didn't set up a stall because even the buyers can get in big trouble with the law.
Inside the Academia was, well....AMAZING. But first there was SUPER intense security. They even had a guard dedicated to collecting/disposing of water bottles and drinks. Then a metal detector and a bag scanner. Take everything out of your pockets. Some people even had to take their shoes off! It was just like airport security, seriously. But once we were past that, the museum was amazing. I'm so glad that I had Jessica to stay with me and appreciate the artwork because everyone else in the class blew through the museum to get to the shopping and other attractions. We got to see an original silk screen print of the Last Supper by Andy Warhol (who I'm not a fan of, but it's cool to say I saw one), and "Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time" which is kind of a disturbing piece, but one that I learned about in the spring semester and I knew we were going to learn about in the following weeks (if you ever want to know about it, I'm as good as a Wikipedia entry). The museum was full of Renaissance artwork, as Italy was at the heart of the movement. There was also a sculpture gallery that mostly had plaster models (before they were made in stone) and a large collection of Byzantine artwork like that by Giotto and Ducio (although I don't remember seeing any by those two artists).
Finally, Jessica and I stumbled upon the David. Standing at a funky intersection of hallways under a dome, he looked truly formiddable, even though he doesn't look aggressive. He is, however, HUGE. Earlier in the day when I saw the copy of the statue in it's original location outside, it didn't look quite so large and scary. It obviously wasn't meant to be contained inside a building. And his hands....his hands are the scariest of all. The masterfully carved veins which writhe with potential energy look as he could simply toss his little stone down and kill you where you stand. But they are also so disproportionately large and contain so much power, I was scared they could snap my neck with two fingers.
David in his natural habitat.
David with a ceiling. Notice the apparent difference in size. Photo credit goes to a random person online.
Michelangelo made David's hand's abnormally large on purpose, to draw attention to his own skill and ability. It was a statement that emphasized Michelangelo's ability to bestow such life-like qualities onto a block of marble (Fun fact, "David" was created out of a block of marble that another artist had started and never finished. It was made out of a piece of scrap). This is different from how Raphael emphasized his wit in the Vatican's "Raphael Rooms" by placing his own image among the world's greatest thinkers. Michelangelo used his sculpture to send a message saying: "I am awesome. Look what my hands were able to create out of nothing."
Sorry, that was some heavy art material there. Still with me? Good.
There was also a crazy modern installation with a mirrored floor. A few unfortunate people in my party who were wearing skirts walked into the room before noticing. It was really embarrasing. I had a skirt, but I was fine because mine had built-in-shorts. Take THAT modern art. Julie-1, Artsy Installation-0.
After finally emerging from the Academia raaaaaving about everything inside, Jessica and I and Stacey started off towards the famous Leather Market. I couldn't believe how huge it was!!! Merchant tents lined both sides of street after street after cobblestone street. We were told to haggle for prices, which we did, and I think we did pretty well. The highlight of my evening involved a cream colored leather jacket that I really adored; The man saw me looking at it and had me try on different ones til we got the right size. It looked like a million bucks, and cost nearly that much too. The price tag said 620 euros!!! With the exchange rate, that was easily close to $900 US. The man gave me discount after discount to make a sale. "Oh, we never sell it for that much money! It's 20% off! . . . "We give an extra discount to nice people! . . . You have a great smile. Discount! . . . Student Discount! . . ." it went on and on! (The ever-popular "nice people discount" is always 30%). Finally, I got him down to 180 euro and I was very happy, but I still had to walk away. I just couldn't justify spending that much money on a jacket, even if it would last for years.
View of the market from above. I took this picture (but not on the same day). All of the streets in the area were lined with merchants' tents like this!
Not everyone in the market was nice. I learned quickly not to acknowledge the vendors at all because they yell things and compliment you just to grab your attention, and then they make you deals that seem so good that you can't walk away, and when you do walk away, they yell after you and pretentd to hurt themselves so that you turn around with genuine concern, but it's all a trick. They will do ANYTHING. "Everything's discounted!" They'll tell you that theirs is the best and everyone else's is cheap quality. It's best just to keep your mouth shut and don't acknowledge them.
I knew I really wanted a leather purse, so I went around to all the purse tents and asked questions and told them all I'd come back later. I came really close to buying one, but when I said I'd come back tomorrow (intending to get it then), he said he wouldn't be here. I said "what?" and argued with him because he was clearly lying. He had a market stall! Obviously he was a regular. Then his buddy yelled at me saying "Why would you ask him to see it if you not going to buy it?! NO! Don't come back!" and so I didn't. Stupid man. He just lost my big purchase. And I almost went back and yelled at him the next day because obviously he was still there, but I thought better of it. Some people are so rude.
I did buy lots of other things though! Mostly presents to bring back home to people.
Jess, Stacey and I went back to the hotel room to drop off our packages before dinner, but I fell asleep on the bed. I hadn't slept in SO LONG. Afterwards, we wandered around looking for a place to eat. We stumbled upon the Hard Rock Cafe-Florence, and although they both reeeally wanted to go, we decided to choose a cheaper, local place. All the restaraunts have waiters out front trying to pull you in; they're almost as bad as the leather market vendors! But anyway, that decidion lead to a great meal and I'm so bummed I didn't take a picture! At an outdoor restaraunt underneath the archway, I had gnocchi and pears in cheese sauce! It was delicious. I found a recepie for it here, so I'm going to have to try it!
Also in the courtyard under the archway was a carasuel, and it lit up as the sun went down over the city. It was breathtaking. Street vendors change to night-mode by selling light-up helecopter toys that twirl through the sky. You have to always be looking up in case one falls on you-it would hurt.
As Jess, Stacey and I wandered the streets we came across lots of other FSU students out and about. It amazed me that some people had even brought clubbing clothes to party after dark :\ We joined three of the non-partiers to get drinks and dessert at the Hard Rock. It was much less heavily decorated than the other ones I've visited, but it was equally expensive. My food was also dissapointing, as my simple apple crisp was quite literally burnt.
The other three were silly drunk by the time dessert was gone, and Jess and Stacey and I didn't care to hang around with them, so we went back to the hotel. While we waited for Razz to come back to the room, we showered in our less-than-glamorous-looks-like-poop-stained-tub and talked about any and everything. I'm glad I've found a good friend in Jessica :)
P.S. I'm sorry I'm not sorry for writing a novel. It's more for me to remember things at this point than it is for your entertainment (although that is a large part of why I keep writing).
