On the Move - Italy (4 of 23) - Race to the Uffizi
We had reservations to enter the Uffizi Gallery at 10:00am, so we were up and out of the house by 8:00am and had just made the 8:30am train, when I realized we hadn't brought the copy of the confirmation email with the number on it, so we jumped off and attempted to race back to the villa, only to be thwarted by stoplights, slow-moving trucks and construction. We got back to the villa, by which time I realized that I did have the number on a different piece of paper in my purse, so we turned around and instead of trying to make the next train, drove directly into Florence, parked near the train station and took a bus to the Uffizi. It was almost 11am by that point, but they did let us in. Whew! It was certainly better than waiting in the miles-long line for tickets.
We spent about four hours in the Uffizi. Most of the collection is on the third floor, and that's what was open to the public this day. The prints and drawings are downstairs and closed at the moment. Moving along the corridors lined with paintings of historical figures and marble statues of Roman emperors and other folk, we started in the 14th century with Giotto and his contemporaries and moved forward from there to the early 19th century, when the Medici died out and stopped collecting. My favorite room was the one filled with works by Sandro Botticelli, including "Primavera" and the famous Venus-on-the-halfshell. We really enjoyed his depictions of angels. There was also the Doni Tondo by Michelangelo that stood out for me.
We were getting ready to leave when it began to thunder and to pour down rain. I noticed a special exhibit on Science at the Medici Court, which is installed in the rooms on the first floor that housed the Florentine Archives until 1998. They are getting them ready to house more of the collection and in the meantime, have put together an exhibit about the work of the Accademia del Cimento (Accademy of Experimentation), founded by the Medici around the time of Gallileo's discovery of the moons of Saturn. While the introductory texts in each room were translated into English, everything else was in Italian only, so we mostly drifted through, looking at some of the bizarre instruments, like early baroque thermometers.
By the time we were done there, the rain had let up. We found a late lunch of mediocre pizza along the Calimala, treating ourselves to gelato for dessert. We walked slowly back to the train station, pausing at the Central Market to look at bags and hats, picked up our car and drove back to the villa. I took a nap while Jason downloaded our email and then I made dinner, tackling the kitchen here for the first time. There is a trick to lighting the stove...the knobs have to be pushed in to release gas and held for about ten seconds after lighting the burner with a match. Despite all the challenges of a strange kitchen, I managed to make reasonably tasty pasta with a mushroom-tomato sauce, served with a salad which we dressed with some of Il Doccio's own olive oil, and washed down with the complimentary bottle of their red wine they'd given us upon arrival. After dinner I stepped out on the terrace and noticed lightning over the hill. Jason came out and we watched the storm gather all around us, with flashes on all sides of the valley and rising wind, but no rain for about an hour. Finally the fat drops came and drove us inside.
Next, an outing to Arezzo...
We spent about four hours in the Uffizi. Most of the collection is on the third floor, and that's what was open to the public this day. The prints and drawings are downstairs and closed at the moment. Moving along the corridors lined with paintings of historical figures and marble statues of Roman emperors and other folk, we started in the 14th century with Giotto and his contemporaries and moved forward from there to the early 19th century, when the Medici died out and stopped collecting. My favorite room was the one filled with works by Sandro Botticelli, including "Primavera" and the famous Venus-on-the-halfshell. We really enjoyed his depictions of angels. There was also the Doni Tondo by Michelangelo that stood out for me.
We were getting ready to leave when it began to thunder and to pour down rain. I noticed a special exhibit on Science at the Medici Court, which is installed in the rooms on the first floor that housed the Florentine Archives until 1998. They are getting them ready to house more of the collection and in the meantime, have put together an exhibit about the work of the Accademia del Cimento (Accademy of Experimentation), founded by the Medici around the time of Gallileo's discovery of the moons of Saturn. While the introductory texts in each room were translated into English, everything else was in Italian only, so we mostly drifted through, looking at some of the bizarre instruments, like early baroque thermometers.
By the time we were done there, the rain had let up. We found a late lunch of mediocre pizza along the Calimala, treating ourselves to gelato for dessert. We walked slowly back to the train station, pausing at the Central Market to look at bags and hats, picked up our car and drove back to the villa. I took a nap while Jason downloaded our email and then I made dinner, tackling the kitchen here for the first time. There is a trick to lighting the stove...the knobs have to be pushed in to release gas and held for about ten seconds after lighting the burner with a match. Despite all the challenges of a strange kitchen, I managed to make reasonably tasty pasta with a mushroom-tomato sauce, served with a salad which we dressed with some of Il Doccio's own olive oil, and washed down with the complimentary bottle of their red wine they'd given us upon arrival. After dinner I stepped out on the terrace and noticed lightning over the hill. Jason came out and we watched the storm gather all around us, with flashes on all sides of the valley and rising wind, but no rain for about an hour. Finally the fat drops came and drove us inside.
Next, an outing to Arezzo...