Florence Day II
well, i have been writing for more than half an hour about first real day in florence but apparently all of that seems to have been erased. instead of being terribly upset and swearing that i will never write another word of it again, instead i will calmly go over in much much briefer terms the events that occurred right before i stopped writing.
1. woke up-not at the time that i had hoped to
2. ate like a king, (or queen-if i were in Birmingham), or a pig, for that matter
3. missed the only-comes-around-twice-an-hour-bus by five minutes
4. thought i could get free internet at the national library but was gravely mistaken and expelled from premises.
5. attempted to take cash out of two atms-third time being the charm.
that leaves me to where i was, walking towards the science museum.
now, thanks to that incredible but rather expensive bookstore down my favorite street in rome, my goals for the day were to go to the science museum, as well as the museum specola and at some point end up at santa croce. my reasons were simple. at the science museum they had a whole room devoted to gismos and gadgets that galileo galilei himself had used, including the lens upon which he discovered the satellites of jupiter, the ruler that he used, recreations of models that he made in order to dispute the aristoleian theory of motion and distance, and, get this, his actual right middle finger. I wanted to go to the museum specola because this is where many florians studied the skys, and because they had an interesting assortment of taxidermied animals. the most important reason for wanting to go was because they had hundreds upon hundreds of wax models of humans, bones, structures, anatomy, and diseases. there were huge recreations of what people would have looked like had they had leprosy! these wax works were made hundreds of years ago, they were the things that students of science and medicine studied themselves, because they did not want to use live bodies. Santa croce had the tombs of michelangelo, machiavelli, and galileo, i think enough is said about that.
The science museum was much smaller than i expected it to be, yet at the same time, it was very detailed, fascinating, and took up most of my time. I had to go their first because they closed at 1:30, and i took up most of the time admiring all of the instruments used hundreds of years ago, instruments that gave of the precursors of most scientific discoveries, and paved the way to science, astronomy, chemistry, geography, and so forth. they had a very detailed guide, free of charge, and on top of that they had guidebooks, (once again free) that have a highly detailed explanation of the room, the things in it, the history behind these artifacts and standouts of the room. i took my time, admiring it all. so many of these things, globes, compasses, telescopes, scales, clocks, thermometers, and even down to the unheard of things, astatic galvanometers, thermoelectric pyrometers, and perspaltographs, they all had purpose, a function, and people who were living centuries ago used these instruments time and time again. making them was an art in itself. the people who designed and made these things were well known back then, and highly regarded. and they were pieces of art. art and science molded into one, as many of these seemingly plain things had beautiful etched pictures of all sorts of things ranging from landscapes to mermaids. my favorite room, other than galileos, for astronomical reasons, was the globe and map room. huge tapestries of maps that have been well preserved lined the walls, celestial and terrestrial and even lunar globes lined the room from all four walls, everything was made with much more detail back then, and in the middle of the room, in a medium of wood painted gold, stood a 2 meter, (at least as tall as an average ceiling) ptolemic model of the solar system, complete with an gargantuan earth buried deeply inside rings and rings and rings of wood that were supposed to represent other planets, moons, the sun, and even astrological signs. it was awe-inspiring, reading that it took two years to complete, and that a smaller version was made for royalty after this one was completed.
I left the place feeling very inspired and amazed at all the things that our race has managed to accomplish in the last five hundred years.
In between museums, i got to walk past ponte vecchio. ponte vecchio is the only surviving bridge after world war two. in fact, being in europe for such a long time, i have really seen the impact that this war had on EVERY COUNTRY, italy, the united kingdom, and of course, germany. so many things changed in those five years, there was so much destruction, it is permeated into everything in these cities. so much was lost due to that war, it a shame that no one will ever see any of these towns the way they were intended to be seen.
this bridge is extreme, the only shops on it are expensive jewelers, and i had no interest in it at all, although it was fun to see the people who were in the shops, as well as the ladies drooling over the jewelry.
I walked towards the science museum, only to find that i had completely passed it up, only to find it in the most conspicuous of places. it looked liked a hole in the wall, and it led to a parking lot. there wasn´t alot to see, and the museum was on the third floor of the building.
Luckily the let´s go guidebook that rose gave me has the hours to most places, as well as prices, this is something that the other two books do not share. but because this is a little-known place, it wasn´t even listed. I walked up the flight of stairs to discover that the place had closed at 12:30!!! they are only open everyday from 9 to 12:30, and they are closed on wednesdays, so i couldn´t even see it the following day. disappointed, i made my way back downstairs, but not before exploring my surroundings. It turns out that the building that the museum lies on also happens to be a college. there was a huge common room, a couple of offices, and a courtyard that led into a garden, where many youth sat having (what seemed like) heated discussions and eating their lunches. Taking delight from the place, and enjoying the fact that there wasn´t a tourist to bump into in sight, i sat on the steps that led into the boboli gardens, and ate my lunch, while reading. I sat there for what seemed like forever, most of the students had wandered away without me realizing it, but the time spent was very relaxing and enjoyable, not taking into consideration the heat of course.
I began planning out the rest of my day and saw that i could make it to st. croce, not before walking past the piazza della signoria, and afterward walking back to the ponte vecchio and seeing santa felicita, following up with a bus ride to piazzale galileo and piazzale michelangelo, (with a visit to san miniato al monte between) taking in the view as the sun went down from the high hilltop on the southern part of florence.
retracing my steps, i made it to piazza della signora, florences town square, sight to countless town rallies, political speeches, riots and murders of the sort. this piazza is by far the most beautiful because it has statues galore. beautiful pieces dating back to the fourteenth century. Michelangelos david was there, as well as pieces by donetello. my absolute favorite was this one called perseus by cellini. it is a statue of perseus, having just beheaded medusa and holding her head up high as he stands over her body. I didn´t know what it was about it, anyone would make a logical guess that it was the gore factor, but that wasn;t it, it wasn´t until i saw it from profile that i realized why i liked it so much. the faces. they were perfect. and they were unbelievably enchanting. i honestly couln´t stop staring at the beauty in these pieces of bronze. i finally forced myself to stop, took pictures of the other works, and continued on my way, but not before talking a step inside the palazo vecchio, the medieval town hall.
a couple of minutes later, i was at st. croce. it was very beautiful, very white on the outside, and the hot mid-afternoon sun did nothing to help in that regard. I paid my four euros to enter, and was completely disappointed that just about half of the entire church was being remodeled. this includes one whole side of wall along with the altar. i was very upset my one chance to see this place and discovering the lovely art work of the scaffolding. they were logical enough to leave the really important tombs alone, but because galileos tomb was on the side of the remodeling, everyone had to keep their distance.
the place was just art everywhere. so many of these italian churches and places of worship just have art painted on the stone and brick of the church. called frescoes, they are epic depictions of scenes from the bible, and the centuries of existence for these frescos have made them crumble and fade away. so little is left behind, and one is only left with a rough outline of what this place magnificently looked like at its original state.
Paying my respects to galileo, mechelangelo, and machiavelli, i made my way to the sacristy, which was painted wall to wall to ceiling. i fought my temptation of not taking pictures with flash (unlike every other deaf and blind tourist) and settled for badly unfocused versions to develop instead.
next was the cappella de pazzi, a smaller domed chapel, it was hard to to naturally walked in, given the siren calls of a beautiful harmonic chorus singing church songs in latin. i walked in, expecting at least a hundred people but found a small group of 10 or so students with an older goateed man standing directly underneath the dome, allowing the natural acoustics resonate the sound so much fiercer and more powerful than normal. I sat, took everything in, and thought.
I while later, i walked by some courtyards, before visiting their small but amazing museum, and then finally leaving.
I quickly walked over the bridge and made my way for st. felicita, arriving with about half an hour left before they closed. Not having entered any church through their front doors, i was dumbfounded when the front doors of this particular church wouldn´t open. waiting for fifteen minutes, and watching people i finally realized that the side doors opened, not the front doors, just like any other old church in europe.
I shamefully walked in, and marveled at the painting that was right up near the entrance on the right side.
the painting was called the deposition by jacopo da pontormo. it was unlike anything i had ever seen before. it was so intact, so fresh, and used bright pastel colors something i had NEVER seen in any religious art in my life. it was different, but done in a way that made everything work.
nearly getting kicked out (closing time) i walked over to the train station and waited for bus number 12 to come and take me to the piazzale michelangelo. I had to wait about half an hour, and then it was another forty minutes before i got up, but it was ok, because by the time i got there the sun was just beginning to join the horizon. I retraced the buses steps, and walked up to the church.
San Miniato al Monte was a spectacular church that was up high on the hill. walking up the mammoth steps, i felt like i was going to see citizen kane in his mansion, or an evil queen from some hans christian anderson fairy-tale. when i reach the last set of steps, i stop and stare in all. the church is made out of green and white marble. I had never seen anything like it before. all other parts of it looked like a castle, and there were beautiful tombs everywhere. walking inside was even more of a rush then the outside. the walls were lined with huge frescos, dotting every span of room. the floor matched the ceiling, and the word works that made up the ceiling looked like art themselves, each one painted in a series of reds, greens and blues, with animals positioned whenever possible. walking up to the backwall, the most gorgeous mosaic of jesus towers above, i couldn´t take my hands off of it. I walked into a smaller room, and this is when i was blown away. in this room were the most detailed and colorful paintings just like in st croce, on the walls reaching up the the ceiling. a blue stained glass window of angel faces stood on the left, letting little light in. Because i had restrained myself all day and because i didn´t see one sign saying we couldnt take pictures without flash i succumbed to the deed and quickly shot two pics. i couldn´t leave, but eventually i forced myself to.
walking to the piazzale michelangello, i noticed that it was just a huge parking lot with a bronze statue of david in the middle and tourists shacks, vendors and people galore. it wasn´t what i expected it to be, and my disillusionment allowed me to say there briefly before walking down the hill to find dinner.
dinner was a disaster, it wasn´t what i expected it to be at all, and i had to walk all the way back to the other side of town to catch the WRONG side of the bus that would take me to the tiny town where my hostel was located. I was on this bus for a whole hour before i realized that i was passing the street where i got on it. I there for had to wait another half an hour for it to get to the train station, 15 minutes to wait the the right bus, and another hour to get to the stop, finally to end it with the half hour walking up the steep hill to get to the hostel. This is how i spent the first hours of my twenty first birthday.
Walking in the hot summer night, i noticed the stars for the first time i have been in all of europe. being mostly in cities. i had forgotten about them i suppose. I stared up along the whole walk back.
Luckily, the bearded man who wouldnt let me check in the day before miraculously pulled up to the hostel at the exact moment that i arrived. he let me in after telling me something that i am sure was harsh in italian. I dont understand why reception isn´t open, especially if it is so far away. there strict times are insane. I walked in to dark silence. no one was awake, and there wasn`t an employee in sight, had i not showed up at exactly that time, i would have stayed out, sweating profusely and tired all night long.
1. woke up-not at the time that i had hoped to
2. ate like a king, (or queen-if i were in Birmingham), or a pig, for that matter
3. missed the only-comes-around-twice-an-hour-bus by five minutes
4. thought i could get free internet at the national library but was gravely mistaken and expelled from premises.
5. attempted to take cash out of two atms-third time being the charm.
that leaves me to where i was, walking towards the science museum.
now, thanks to that incredible but rather expensive bookstore down my favorite street in rome, my goals for the day were to go to the science museum, as well as the museum specola and at some point end up at santa croce. my reasons were simple. at the science museum they had a whole room devoted to gismos and gadgets that galileo galilei himself had used, including the lens upon which he discovered the satellites of jupiter, the ruler that he used, recreations of models that he made in order to dispute the aristoleian theory of motion and distance, and, get this, his actual right middle finger. I wanted to go to the museum specola because this is where many florians studied the skys, and because they had an interesting assortment of taxidermied animals. the most important reason for wanting to go was because they had hundreds upon hundreds of wax models of humans, bones, structures, anatomy, and diseases. there were huge recreations of what people would have looked like had they had leprosy! these wax works were made hundreds of years ago, they were the things that students of science and medicine studied themselves, because they did not want to use live bodies. Santa croce had the tombs of michelangelo, machiavelli, and galileo, i think enough is said about that.
The science museum was much smaller than i expected it to be, yet at the same time, it was very detailed, fascinating, and took up most of my time. I had to go their first because they closed at 1:30, and i took up most of the time admiring all of the instruments used hundreds of years ago, instruments that gave of the precursors of most scientific discoveries, and paved the way to science, astronomy, chemistry, geography, and so forth. they had a very detailed guide, free of charge, and on top of that they had guidebooks, (once again free) that have a highly detailed explanation of the room, the things in it, the history behind these artifacts and standouts of the room. i took my time, admiring it all. so many of these things, globes, compasses, telescopes, scales, clocks, thermometers, and even down to the unheard of things, astatic galvanometers, thermoelectric pyrometers, and perspaltographs, they all had purpose, a function, and people who were living centuries ago used these instruments time and time again. making them was an art in itself. the people who designed and made these things were well known back then, and highly regarded. and they were pieces of art. art and science molded into one, as many of these seemingly plain things had beautiful etched pictures of all sorts of things ranging from landscapes to mermaids. my favorite room, other than galileos, for astronomical reasons, was the globe and map room. huge tapestries of maps that have been well preserved lined the walls, celestial and terrestrial and even lunar globes lined the room from all four walls, everything was made with much more detail back then, and in the middle of the room, in a medium of wood painted gold, stood a 2 meter, (at least as tall as an average ceiling) ptolemic model of the solar system, complete with an gargantuan earth buried deeply inside rings and rings and rings of wood that were supposed to represent other planets, moons, the sun, and even astrological signs. it was awe-inspiring, reading that it took two years to complete, and that a smaller version was made for royalty after this one was completed.
I left the place feeling very inspired and amazed at all the things that our race has managed to accomplish in the last five hundred years.
In between museums, i got to walk past ponte vecchio. ponte vecchio is the only surviving bridge after world war two. in fact, being in europe for such a long time, i have really seen the impact that this war had on EVERY COUNTRY, italy, the united kingdom, and of course, germany. so many things changed in those five years, there was so much destruction, it is permeated into everything in these cities. so much was lost due to that war, it a shame that no one will ever see any of these towns the way they were intended to be seen.
this bridge is extreme, the only shops on it are expensive jewelers, and i had no interest in it at all, although it was fun to see the people who were in the shops, as well as the ladies drooling over the jewelry.
I walked towards the science museum, only to find that i had completely passed it up, only to find it in the most conspicuous of places. it looked liked a hole in the wall, and it led to a parking lot. there wasn´t alot to see, and the museum was on the third floor of the building.
Luckily the let´s go guidebook that rose gave me has the hours to most places, as well as prices, this is something that the other two books do not share. but because this is a little-known place, it wasn´t even listed. I walked up the flight of stairs to discover that the place had closed at 12:30!!! they are only open everyday from 9 to 12:30, and they are closed on wednesdays, so i couldn´t even see it the following day. disappointed, i made my way back downstairs, but not before exploring my surroundings. It turns out that the building that the museum lies on also happens to be a college. there was a huge common room, a couple of offices, and a courtyard that led into a garden, where many youth sat having (what seemed like) heated discussions and eating their lunches. Taking delight from the place, and enjoying the fact that there wasn´t a tourist to bump into in sight, i sat on the steps that led into the boboli gardens, and ate my lunch, while reading. I sat there for what seemed like forever, most of the students had wandered away without me realizing it, but the time spent was very relaxing and enjoyable, not taking into consideration the heat of course.
I began planning out the rest of my day and saw that i could make it to st. croce, not before walking past the piazza della signoria, and afterward walking back to the ponte vecchio and seeing santa felicita, following up with a bus ride to piazzale galileo and piazzale michelangelo, (with a visit to san miniato al monte between) taking in the view as the sun went down from the high hilltop on the southern part of florence.
retracing my steps, i made it to piazza della signora, florences town square, sight to countless town rallies, political speeches, riots and murders of the sort. this piazza is by far the most beautiful because it has statues galore. beautiful pieces dating back to the fourteenth century. Michelangelos david was there, as well as pieces by donetello. my absolute favorite was this one called perseus by cellini. it is a statue of perseus, having just beheaded medusa and holding her head up high as he stands over her body. I didn´t know what it was about it, anyone would make a logical guess that it was the gore factor, but that wasn;t it, it wasn´t until i saw it from profile that i realized why i liked it so much. the faces. they were perfect. and they were unbelievably enchanting. i honestly couln´t stop staring at the beauty in these pieces of bronze. i finally forced myself to stop, took pictures of the other works, and continued on my way, but not before talking a step inside the palazo vecchio, the medieval town hall.
a couple of minutes later, i was at st. croce. it was very beautiful, very white on the outside, and the hot mid-afternoon sun did nothing to help in that regard. I paid my four euros to enter, and was completely disappointed that just about half of the entire church was being remodeled. this includes one whole side of wall along with the altar. i was very upset my one chance to see this place and discovering the lovely art work of the scaffolding. they were logical enough to leave the really important tombs alone, but because galileos tomb was on the side of the remodeling, everyone had to keep their distance.
the place was just art everywhere. so many of these italian churches and places of worship just have art painted on the stone and brick of the church. called frescoes, they are epic depictions of scenes from the bible, and the centuries of existence for these frescos have made them crumble and fade away. so little is left behind, and one is only left with a rough outline of what this place magnificently looked like at its original state.
Paying my respects to galileo, mechelangelo, and machiavelli, i made my way to the sacristy, which was painted wall to wall to ceiling. i fought my temptation of not taking pictures with flash (unlike every other deaf and blind tourist) and settled for badly unfocused versions to develop instead.
next was the cappella de pazzi, a smaller domed chapel, it was hard to to naturally walked in, given the siren calls of a beautiful harmonic chorus singing church songs in latin. i walked in, expecting at least a hundred people but found a small group of 10 or so students with an older goateed man standing directly underneath the dome, allowing the natural acoustics resonate the sound so much fiercer and more powerful than normal. I sat, took everything in, and thought.
I while later, i walked by some courtyards, before visiting their small but amazing museum, and then finally leaving.
I quickly walked over the bridge and made my way for st. felicita, arriving with about half an hour left before they closed. Not having entered any church through their front doors, i was dumbfounded when the front doors of this particular church wouldn´t open. waiting for fifteen minutes, and watching people i finally realized that the side doors opened, not the front doors, just like any other old church in europe.
I shamefully walked in, and marveled at the painting that was right up near the entrance on the right side.
the painting was called the deposition by jacopo da pontormo. it was unlike anything i had ever seen before. it was so intact, so fresh, and used bright pastel colors something i had NEVER seen in any religious art in my life. it was different, but done in a way that made everything work.
nearly getting kicked out (closing time) i walked over to the train station and waited for bus number 12 to come and take me to the piazzale michelangelo. I had to wait about half an hour, and then it was another forty minutes before i got up, but it was ok, because by the time i got there the sun was just beginning to join the horizon. I retraced the buses steps, and walked up to the church.
San Miniato al Monte was a spectacular church that was up high on the hill. walking up the mammoth steps, i felt like i was going to see citizen kane in his mansion, or an evil queen from some hans christian anderson fairy-tale. when i reach the last set of steps, i stop and stare in all. the church is made out of green and white marble. I had never seen anything like it before. all other parts of it looked like a castle, and there were beautiful tombs everywhere. walking inside was even more of a rush then the outside. the walls were lined with huge frescos, dotting every span of room. the floor matched the ceiling, and the word works that made up the ceiling looked like art themselves, each one painted in a series of reds, greens and blues, with animals positioned whenever possible. walking up to the backwall, the most gorgeous mosaic of jesus towers above, i couldn´t take my hands off of it. I walked into a smaller room, and this is when i was blown away. in this room were the most detailed and colorful paintings just like in st croce, on the walls reaching up the the ceiling. a blue stained glass window of angel faces stood on the left, letting little light in. Because i had restrained myself all day and because i didn´t see one sign saying we couldnt take pictures without flash i succumbed to the deed and quickly shot two pics. i couldn´t leave, but eventually i forced myself to.
walking to the piazzale michelangello, i noticed that it was just a huge parking lot with a bronze statue of david in the middle and tourists shacks, vendors and people galore. it wasn´t what i expected it to be, and my disillusionment allowed me to say there briefly before walking down the hill to find dinner.
dinner was a disaster, it wasn´t what i expected it to be at all, and i had to walk all the way back to the other side of town to catch the WRONG side of the bus that would take me to the tiny town where my hostel was located. I was on this bus for a whole hour before i realized that i was passing the street where i got on it. I there for had to wait another half an hour for it to get to the train station, 15 minutes to wait the the right bus, and another hour to get to the stop, finally to end it with the half hour walking up the steep hill to get to the hostel. This is how i spent the first hours of my twenty first birthday.
Walking in the hot summer night, i noticed the stars for the first time i have been in all of europe. being mostly in cities. i had forgotten about them i suppose. I stared up along the whole walk back.
Luckily, the bearded man who wouldnt let me check in the day before miraculously pulled up to the hostel at the exact moment that i arrived. he let me in after telling me something that i am sure was harsh in italian. I dont understand why reception isn´t open, especially if it is so far away. there strict times are insane. I walked in to dark silence. no one was awake, and there wasn`t an employee in sight, had i not showed up at exactly that time, i would have stayed out, sweating profusely and tired all night long.