Today was incredibly busy in the best of ways. We got an early start when my alarm didn't go off and I woke up at 7:15 am to realize that my darling friend Martha had arrived in Florence exactly an hour ago. I pulled on a pair of pants and a coat and ran across the street to the train station, wandered around to no avail, returned to the hotel, then ran back to the station and finally found her. Luckily, I had a hotel bed I could give her for a couple of hours while I ate breakfast and felt guilty and then continued to have an amazing day.
If you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll remember that Martha was a German exchange student during my senior year of high school. She's only here in Florence for a day and a half but we certainly fit the optimum amount of Italy in the first day. After we woke Martha back up (overnight trains are never restful) we climbed to the top of the Duomo and saw an amazing view of the city.
It was absolutely incredible and the day was perfect. From there, we headed to the Boboli Gardens where we wandered and had some fun.
Then we saw the Galleria dell'Costume in the Palazzo Pitti, wandered through the Gallera dell'Academia and debated the facial expression of the David. I have been convinced that Michelangelo's statue depicts David before he has slain Goliath because of his determined and slightly scared facial expression. We talked about the history of the statue and I was excited to pass on my recently learned art history knowledge. Then I got to give my final presentation again when we saw the Chapel of the Magi in the Palazzo de' Medici--Benozzo Gozzoli's frescoes are just as powerful as ever for me.
We checked Martha into a hostel, then headed (exhausted) to apertifo at a local bar. Apertifo is a great invention--you pay for a cocktail or a glass of wine and then get an all-you-can-eat buffet of gourmet Italian food. It was delicious. We lost track of time talking, catching up and having a great time. Tomorrow, we will show Martha the Uffizi and then...well...who knows what tomorrow may bring? My last day in Italy...we've come full circle, eh? Buone sera.
No comments:
Post a Comment