Carnevale!!
This will be quick as I don't have much time, but I promise, more details later. We made it back to Italy, found our way to Florence, then to Bologna (which is not all it's cracked up to be), and now are in Venice. We love it so much, we have decided to stay for 5 nights and experience Carnivale the way it was meant to be. So excited!!
So Florence... We got a great deal on a hotel and decided to stay for three nights. There are such amazing sights in Florence. We saw the infamous Duomo, with beautiful detailed ornate marble work on the outside, and completely simple and plain on the inside. Very strange. We also saw the Battistero, where Dante was baptised.
The Accademia was amazing. Such great works of art, and Michaelangelo's David. His sculptures leading up to David were amazing as well. They were meant for a pope's tomb, but were never finished. They are intended to represent the soul imprisoned in a human body, and having these unfinished bodies struggling there way out of stone is very appropriate. As there are four of them, I like to think that was his intention all along. If they had been finished, the struggle would not have been as great.
The next day, we went to the Uffizi. And it's official, we now have seen all of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We saw a ton of Rafaels back in Madrid, Donatello created a beautiful Annunciation stained glass in the Duomo, obviously, lots of Michaelangelo, and finally Leonardo in the Uffizi. It was also an Annunciation piece, but unimaginable detail. There was also an unfinished piece (huge!) that really reminded me of his sketches. Also in the Uffizi is Botticelli's Birth of Venus. Again, so much detail. His style is quite different from much of the art we have seen. (And we have seen A LOT of art).
We made it to Bologna after that, thinking that we might celebrate my birthday in the birthplace of tortillini and lasagna, but we couldn't find any restaurants, only pizza cafes. What a silly thing for the birthplace of such great pasta. BUT - there was a circus by our bungalow, and we decided to check that out instead. Unfortunately, Bolognaians suck, because they don't like to go see the circus on a Monday night. Both at 5 and at 9, there were not enough people to continue the show. It was such a tease too! They sold us a ticket, we got cotton candy, and sat down waiting for the show. Then about 10 minutes later, the music stopped and they said there were not enough people to watch the show. We were heartbroken....
Shoot - time is running out. I will blog about my SWEET birthday in Venice later.
Love ya all
Ems
So Florence... We got a great deal on a hotel and decided to stay for three nights. There are such amazing sights in Florence. We saw the infamous Duomo, with beautiful detailed ornate marble work on the outside, and completely simple and plain on the inside. Very strange. We also saw the Battistero, where Dante was baptised.
The Accademia was amazing. Such great works of art, and Michaelangelo's David. His sculptures leading up to David were amazing as well. They were meant for a pope's tomb, but were never finished. They are intended to represent the soul imprisoned in a human body, and having these unfinished bodies struggling there way out of stone is very appropriate. As there are four of them, I like to think that was his intention all along. If they had been finished, the struggle would not have been as great.
The next day, we went to the Uffizi. And it's official, we now have seen all of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. We saw a ton of Rafaels back in Madrid, Donatello created a beautiful Annunciation stained glass in the Duomo, obviously, lots of Michaelangelo, and finally Leonardo in the Uffizi. It was also an Annunciation piece, but unimaginable detail. There was also an unfinished piece (huge!) that really reminded me of his sketches. Also in the Uffizi is Botticelli's Birth of Venus. Again, so much detail. His style is quite different from much of the art we have seen. (And we have seen A LOT of art).
We made it to Bologna after that, thinking that we might celebrate my birthday in the birthplace of tortillini and lasagna, but we couldn't find any restaurants, only pizza cafes. What a silly thing for the birthplace of such great pasta. BUT - there was a circus by our bungalow, and we decided to check that out instead. Unfortunately, Bolognaians suck, because they don't like to go see the circus on a Monday night. Both at 5 and at 9, there were not enough people to continue the show. It was such a tease too! They sold us a ticket, we got cotton candy, and sat down waiting for the show. Then about 10 minutes later, the music stopped and they said there were not enough people to watch the show. We were heartbroken....
Shoot - time is running out. I will blog about my SWEET birthday in Venice later.
Love ya all
Ems