7.7.09 Florence

Our second day in Florence started off by us meeting back up with tour guide Tanya (sounds like a Barbie name) to head off to the Uffizi museum and also the Accademia museum. The Uffizi was originally the estate of the very well off political family, the Medici's. Now it houses some of the Renaissance most priceless works of art including "Birth of Venus", "Primavera" Leonardo Da Vinci sketches and endless hall ways of sculptures. It constantly amazes me how many incredible works of art were done in that time period and that we now have today! The lines into the Uffize were huge, but once again, thank you USU and the expensive study abroad price tag. You came in handy today as we got to waltz past everyone and head on in. We snagged some post cards on the way out, I downed a packet of Nutella as a pick me up and we headed to the Accademia, home of Michelangelo's "David" and many of his unfinished sculptures. The amazing thing about his David was that he began with a quarried 40 ton block of marble, which he chiseled down to a 7 ton sculpture. Most sculptures at the time would begin with a sketch, which develops into a small clay model, then finally into a life-size terracotta mold; and then would be delegated out to apprentices to chisel away excess stone for the master to finish the details. However, Michelangelo used to say that the figure was already in the marble and he just needed to go find it, that the marble spoke to him. Horse whisperer, ghost whisperer, now we can add marble whisperer-neat. But it is remarkable to think that we would begin with a sketch then go straight into sculpting without a test run or anything. I have always seen pictures of David and known what it was going to look like, but like the Sistine Chapel, nothing prepares you. Its so much more then just a big nude man. Standing around 14 feet tall, its a GIANT nude man. After a few days on this trip, the thought came to me, "Why is everyone naked? Did they not feel clothing was necessary for paintings and sculptures?" But, upon further inquiring, doing this showed the skill of the artist, as to his knowledge of the human form. Michelangelo as a boy once got caught buying a corpse from the mortitian so he could disect it and study how it worked: the ligaments, mucles and bones. He became a master of how the human body worked, moved and flowed. David is said to be anotomically perfect, aside from the scaled up head and hands for stability. But every detail is incredible, from the ligaments in the legs to the veins in the arms, hands and feet. Its truely remarkable that such a grand figure was erected from stone and that we got to see it in person. After our tour a few of us hit up a local supermarket for a more economically friendly lunch. The result was fresh peaches, plums, a bagatte and a jar of Nutella, my new best friend. I will have drums of Nutella in my food storage. Its has become a staple item for me here in Europe.

One of the best lunches we have had so far!

We went to some steps accross from the Duomo and enjoyed the views, food and breeze. Again, a surreal moment for us. We followed up with some more gelato from Grom's then met back up with the group at the Baptistry. Yesterday we didnt go in that or the Duomo, but today we did. The baptistry has an incredible domed, octagonal ceiling thats covered in amazing gold leafed mosaics. Unreal!! Who did these things?! It was mind blowing.

The amazing ceiling in the baptistery

The weird thing was there wasnt even a baptismal font. Not sure why. From there we explored the inside of the Duomo which also had an amazing frescoed ceiling.

This was the punishment for the immodest church goers.
They made you wear one of these blue babies.

Then as a group we headed to the river to sketch the Ponte Vicchio bridge, which is a really cool bridge with houses and shops all accross it. We had only 20 mintutes to do a perspective drawing.
From there we went to another vantage point and had to do a 5 minute sketch of the city skyline. After that the group grabbed some gelato (why not?) and broke into 2 groups for a sketching workshop. I taught one of them which was fun and it took me back to EFY days and the youth. We discussed different sketching methods and tactics, which hopefully helped some in the group that arent to thrilled with the opportunity. Yet that is. From there the group headed up the mountain side scaling a MASSIVE set of stairs. Massive. So long. After about a minute of it, I was not going to draw out that process and opted to run up them.

Part one of the climb, but this was on the way down.

Part two. It was a doozy.

But when we got to the top, holy cow...the view. This was the view I had been waiting for of the Italian country side; red tiled roofs, rolling distant hills with vineyards and Italian villas...it was so cool.

Some peeps up at the top

We snagged some pics then headed down for dinner; which ended up being the best pizza I have had so far on the trip. Afterwards, what else?! Gelato again at Groms.

Gelato numero 5

I swear its gets better every time I go. And now, back with all the other study abroaders on the internet. Great day. Long day. Looking forward to free day tomorrow. Ciao!