“All Aboard!” I have visions of boarding a train where the conductor welcomes me on and I lean out of the train as my loved one runs alongside, jumping in at the last minute unwilling to let me go without him. Perhaps one day… but not this day. This day, we threw our stuff on the train and contained while trying to entertain our children. We were bound for Firenze, otherwise known as Florence. After only an hour on the train, which was a very pleasant ride, we unloaded in the very busy train station smack dab in the middle of Florence. With Juliette on my back and Brady on Greg’s shoulders, I was very thankful we packed light. I can’t imagine the stress and energy of lugging large suitcases and small children around! Armed with a map to the hotel, we began walking. I am so thankful that our family has a built in map reader, tour guide, navigator extraordinaire. I am certainly not talking about myself, as my map reading, tour guiding, navigating abilities are non-existent. Have you heard about the time I tried to find Red Lobster and ended up at a military base? So, we make it to the hotel and it is fantastic! In the middle of everything, very nice, and they even let us choose our room. Now we have a decision to make. Do we take the kids on some mandatory fun to the Uffizi Gallery, a collection of art from artists such as Leonardo, Raphael, Botticellis, and Michelangelo… or not. We choose… OR NOT! I go first then have a chance to eat some AMAZING chocolate gelato while Greg takes his turn. Sorry, we weren’t allowed to take pictures in the Uffizi museum, but it was an honor to view paintings from some of the greatest artists.
Our second day began with a tour of the Accademia. The main attraction is David by Michelangelo. Again, we were not allowed to take pictures, but David was there, all 17 ft. of him. Another interesting exhibit was the Prisoners. Michelangelo believed that it was his job, as a sculptor, to be in tune with God’s will and reveal figures that God put in the marble. Working freehand, he would chip away at the marble in a frenzy, setting the figures free, yet, he left them all unfinished.
Leaving the Accademia, we embarked on a walking tour of the city. We had a hard time getting Brady on board with this part of the trip. He’s not the fastest walker and generally prefers to ride on Greg’s shoulders. There was a great deal of crying and whining associated with our walking tour. Good thing we didn’t pay for it and Greg was our tour guide!
Our fearless guide!
Thanks to Rick Steves and his guide Florence and Tuscany 2009, we had a wealth of knowledge to read as we walked along. The cathedral’s dome was built by Filippo Brunelleschi and it is self- supporting. He first built the white ribs and then filled them with interlocking bricks. Remarkable!
The second stop was the Baptistery. Inside is a work called The Last Judgement. A scene of Christ with his right hand thumbs up and his left hand thumbs down. Under his right hand is a scene of heaven perceived by the medieval worldview and under his left is a scene of hell. Steves writes “this hellish scene looks like something right out of the Inferno by Dante… who was dipped into the baptismal waters right here.” Outside of the Baptistery are bronze doors created from only a couple inches of bronze.
Thumbs Up!
Thumbs down. Yikes!
As night fell, we went to the Piazzale Michelangelo. There was a fantastic view of Florence and a young couple making out. Steves warned us about this in his book. He told us the view would be worth the trip and there would be “local school kids licking ice cream and each other.”
There were more museums and churches to see, but with kids we felt we were lucky to see the “highlights.” There were tourists everywhere and everyone we came into contact with spoke English (even the market vendors), so Florence was very user friendly for us!
