Today we are going to Uffizi and Academia. We woke up at 08:00, and quickly finish with our breakfast (no fresh fruits though). We started out to visit our car around 09:30. On the way there, we drank coffee and ate watermelon (€6.40). We crossed the river through the picturesque Ponte Vecchio. We even found another house were Galileo apparently lived or was experimenting with gravitation on Costa San Giorgio. Kids! Do not experiment with gravitation at home. You might end up as Galileo did.
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| We were searching a short cut on other side of Arno river, and all of a sudden we found another Galileo house and museum – Costa di S. Giorgio, 19 | Scrambling down along Via di Belvedere – very narrow and will bring you back to Giardino Delle Rose |
Car was OK. We did not find the earphones for iPhone (to listen Rick Steves audio guide in museum), but we double checked the parking signs, picked a bottle of water and started back.
On the way back from the car back down to the city, we finished entire 1.75 liter bottle of water , took many pictures of Florence from above, and eat lunch at one of the sprawling KEBAB places (€8 -12:15). Lira had a falafel and I had a kebab. Wonderful!
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| Firenze – most famous Ponte Vecchio across Arno river | |
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| Car parking is free on Piazzale Michelangelo all day round. We did it. For about 48 hours. Trucks and vans are not allowed. | Loggia Dei Lanzi – a prototype used to construct Odeonsplatz in Munich |
We picked our reserved Uffizi tickets at 13:24 (€30 cash) and went right in. At first Uffizi seems not very large. You start on the second floor, and quickly move into the more and more refined techniques of capturing space on the surface of the painting. Then you reach Botticelli room and his “Birth of Venus” you think you are done. But this is not like in Vatican. This is actually just a beginning. At the end of second floor you reach an open balcony and the cafeteria – once again, you think you are done. But they just try to reinforce you. Now you descend to the first floor, and exposition continues. You see Rafael rooms, and now you are more prepared to judge the art and enjoy the art, comparing previously seen techniques and styles. If your party is free of nagging kids and weak fatties, you might need solid 3 hours here to absorb and digest.
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| Entance to the library – Biblioteca del Centro di Documentazione della Sezione Didattica degli Uffizi | Piazza della Repubblica- view from Via degli Speziali. Caption says: “Ancient center of the city. Restored from misery to a new life”. |
We got out at around 18:00. We missed our Academia reservation, however naked David’s copies spread fairly evenly throughout the city, and you can see the life size copy of David on a main Piazza della Signoria. Instead, we quickly found Casa di Dante (Dante was banished from the city, and is buried in Ravenna). We also found one of the gelato places on Lira’s list – Perchè No (Why Not), where they sell a soy ice-cream (18:36 – €2). Florence is very advanced this way.
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| Piazza della Signoria – place of execution of Savonarola marked with a stone in a pavement. True conservative. He was trying to slow down all the new, and stick with familiar. | Uffizi – you can’t touch objects of art. You can’t take pictures. But this guide for blind people allows to translate image through sense of touch. What if our perception of reality is similarly convoluted? |
For dinner we tried to find something new. We even called several places using Internet and Skype. But everything was closed either because of Sunday, or because of holidays (Chiuso per ferie). So we went back to Dolce Vegan and had a great time. A/C was a little weak this time, TV was playing the same documentary on insects, but everything else was great. Prices are good, food is great, and we even had desert and coffee (€28.50 – 21:32).
We went directly to the room, and now I am finishing these lines with a hot tea in my hand
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- Italy 2012 August - Roma, Firenze, Napoli and between (2023/11/24)
- Aug 10-11 FRI-SAT - A two-day flight to Rome (2023/11/28)
- Aug 12 SUN - First steps in Rome - Pantheon (2023/12/04)
- Aug 13 MON - Vatican (2023/12/08)
- Aug 14 TUE - Colosseum (2023/12/12)
- Aug 15 WED - Getting the car - Starting North - Viterbo (2023/12/16)
- Aug 16 THU - Bagnoregio in Lazio, Orvieto in Umbria (2023/12/20)
- Aug 17 FRI - Orvieto - Montepulciano - Siena (2023/12/24)
- Aug 18 SAT - Siena - Villa Galileo - Firenze - Day 1 (2023/12/28)
- Aug 19 SUN - Firenze - Day 2 - Uffizi Gallery (2024/01/04)
- Aug 20 MON - Firenze (Day 3) - Collodi (2024/01/08)
- Aug 21 TUE - From Pescia to Lucca (2024/01/12)
- Aug 22 WED - Lucca (Toscana) - La Spezia (Liguria) (2024/01/16)
- Aug 23 THU - Cinque Terra [... in progress ...] (2024/01/20)
- Aug 24 FRI - Torre del Lago Puccini - Pisa and Agriturismo (2024/01/24)
- Aug 25 SAT - Agriturismo in Pitigliano [... in progress ...] (2024/01/28)
- Aug 26 SUN - Road to Napoli [... in progress ...] (2024/02/04)
- Aug 27 MON - Napoli - Day 2 [... in progress ...] (2024/02/08)
- Aug 28 TUE - From focused Napoli to heavenly Sorrento (2024/02/12)
- Aug 29 WED - Capri - Day 1 [... in progress ...] (2024/02/16)
- Aug 30 THU - Capri - Day 2 [... in progress ...] (2024/02/20)
- Aug 31 FRI - La Dolce Far Niente [... in progress ...] (2024/02/24)
- Sep 1 SAT - Mount Vesuvius [... in progress ...] (2024/02/28)
- Sep 2 SUN - Last day in Rome [... in progress ...] (2024/03/04)
- Sep 3 MON - From Rome back to Boston (2024/03/08)
- Italy 2012 - Final Summary - Rules to Adopt and Follow <br> (2024/03/12)
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