Globus tour, June 12 - - On the road again

Luggage call at 7 am, hearty breakfast, on the bus by 8 am.  Joe has developed a dislike for a certain woman.  She is loud, always doing her own thing, is usually late, and sort of sucks the oxygen out of a room.   She travels with her husband (who has bad knees and a sweet attitude) and her grandson (just about college age, and not always very patient with gran).

Nicolas took advantage of the three-hour ride to Florence to explain optional excursions; we signed up for so many that I lost track.  Probably about 8.  Nicolas is very persuasive, good-natured, compassionate, but forceful.  I figure it will cost $900 to $1000 for the extras.

Liborio loads the bus.

David - - in the parking lot

Our  Globus driver is Liborio.  He drove so fast toward Florence that we arrived about half hour early, so we drove up a hill called Piazalle Michangelino.  It gives a good view over the city, dominated by the "Duomo" - - the cathedral, named Santa Maria del Fiore but always referred to as simply "the Duomo".  At the same time, up on that hill, a stage was being erected for "Total Recall Live" and hundreds of young teens, mostly girls, were waiting.  There were also tourist souvenir stands and a very big parking lot that surrounded - get this - a large bronze reproduction of Michelangelo's "David".

Then into the city to a little park called Piazza San Marco, very near the Academia.  But first:  lunch.  I lost Joe but found a good lunch of bruschetta with tomato and mozarella.  Outside the Academia in a goodly long line down a narrow street next to a fellow selling prints.  He lay them down on the street; if anyone dared step on a print, he whipped out his big eraser and cleaned off the marks.  Once again we had the Whisper audioguides, but the sound here was never very good.  We thought turning down the volune would help but it did not.  Likely it was the pitch of the guide's voice that was wrong, or so one of us surmised.  Inside the building the static was so bad, I took off the earpiece.

We wait with our Whisper audio guides.

There were several sculptures in the room that preceded Michaelangelo's David:  his unfinished Prisoners - five or six marble pieces originally intended for the tomb of Pope Julian II.  Why were they unfinished?  Why were they not at his tomb?  Finally, at the end of a short hall, big old David with his finely muscled naked body, his great huge hands, curly hair, big veins in his right hand - the one that holds the stone.  The Academia has a lot of religious art by painters unknown to me;  It also has a really lovely exhibit of Renaissance musucal instruments, like harpsichord, ivory recorder, and stradifarius violin, carved or painted string instruments (violas, lutes, a 10-string guitar - 5 double strings).  No photos allowed, though.

When we left the building it was obvious someone was missing, but the guide didn't want to make a fuss.  It was the vague Aussie man and his wife.  The local guide phoned Nicolas, who showed up to take the situation in hand and to locate the missing persons.  And so we continued walking toward the Duomo.

White and green and pink marble . . .

Big big surprise to me:  The Duomo is not a black and white building.  It is green and pink and white stone!!  Really lovely up close.  I walked round to see as much as I could, which is difficult because the place around it is not wide open and the Baptistry stands right in front.  Lots of folks took photos in front of the "fake" Ghiberti doors. 

Walking past many lovely shops selling many lovely things; tour guide talking all the while; not understanding a word.  We reached the Piazza del Signoria, the "town hall" here being called Palazzo Vecchio.  The piazza is a huge place where Savanarola burned the books, and where he later was himself burned at the stake.  There's a circular marker in the pavement in front of the Palazzo "commemorating" the event. 

Palazzo Vecchio

Lorenzo di Medici

A large-than-life equestrian statue of Lorenzo di Medici stands near one corner of the Palazzo.

Next door is the famous Uffizzi Gallery.  I never got inside because one must have a reservation, apparently months in advance of one's visit.  I had to be content with walking along the famous and graceful loggia to the river bank.  The Arno River's "lungo" is lined with street vendors selling toys, scarves, bracelets, etc, and with cars that whiz along the narrow roadway.  And Joe and I escaped - - stay tuned..