Our first destination was the Galleria Della Academmia, where we had an 11am reservation for 15€ (each) tickets. The line for tickets the standard way was already over a block long, so I was happy to spend a few extra euros to get in and out more quickly.
At this museum, we experimented with our first audio tour. It's important for me to note that Annie and I both abhor tour groups and paying for audio guides, so in this case we had downloaded a free app for our iPad with a walking tour by Rick Steves. With an earphone splitter, we were both able to hear Rick walk us through the Galleria and explain the history behind the big piece of marble that became Michelangelo's David.
This statue was absolutely spectacular to behold; it was considerably better than the copies in the Loggia and atop the Piazzale Michelangelo. I have a completely untrained eye for art, but even I could recognize how truly great this was.
I don't know how many of y'all know this back home, but the David is 16 feet tall and carved from a single block of marble. I can't whittle a piece of wood into a sharp point without screwing up, but Michelangelo crafted this masterpiece at 26 years young. When I was 26, I was trying to teach high schoolers the difference between "your" and "you're."
Annie thought David was commanding. We both agreed with a recent theory that David is portrayed at the moment before facing Goliath. Many scholars had assumed the depiction was from the moment after David slew the giant, but he is clearly holding a rock in his right hand and his face looks like that of every teammate and competitor I've ever raced before the starter's gun.
ABOVE: Eye of the tiger.
This museum was (once again) also off limits to photographs, so all the images we have are from the Internet.
After departing the Galleria, we walked southeast to the church of Santa Croce, no longer an active church but still home to the tombs or Florence's most famous: Galileo, Michelangelo, and Niccolo Machiavelli (author of The Prince).
Many tourists are easily duped into believing that Dante Alighieri is entombed here as well, but his "tomb" is an ornate monument (complete with empty crypt) to the "altissima poeta" that Florence exiled and threatened during his lifetime, only to regret it after he published Italy's finest work of literature to date. Dante is actually buried in Ravenna.
ABOVE: Disrespected in life, honored in death.
We saw Donatello works, the Medici Chapel, then entered the central courtyard into a couple cloisters, one of which housed the Museum of Santa Croce with works that barely escaped the giant flood of 1966.
Above: What 6 meters of water looks like.
The church offered an interesting experience overall. You couldn't help but marvel at how so many well-known figures lived as contemporaries in the same city. What does America have for comparison...Soho? San Francisco?
After Santa Croce, we walked back home with one brief stop at a place recommended by my college roommate Andrew Leventhal: the Casa di Tessuti.
This was a family-owned fabric store for several generations, and Andrew had told me that the owners maintained the place partly for retail, and partly for historical purposes. Indeed, their website almost makes their store seem like a museum for the Florentine fabric industry.
Sadly, the place was closed when we found it. I kicked myself for waiting until a Sunday for a visit, but there was nothing more we could do, so we had to return home for our baggage.
This is where the day gets interesting. While back at Siggnoria Rondinelli, we made use of their wi-fi to try booking a place in Venice. Only a couple places had returned my inquiry messages, so in a haste I jotted down their contact info and we booked our train tickets to leave in thirty minutes.
We saddled up our gear and waddled the handful of blocks back to the train station, and we boarded the 5:30 train with the hope that we would find a place to stay once we arrived.
We pulled into Venice Santa Lucia station two hours later, seated ourselves outside the train station, and got down to brass tacks. I called a place that had mentioned availability over email, but the person speaking had little grasp of English and insisted that "you email Internet," then hung up on me.
By the second or third call, I got in touch with a woman hosting a B&B called C'Alexander, who gave me water taxi instructions to their stop in a heavy Italian accent.
After figuring out how to purchase water taxi tickets (one time, 6.50€ each), we boarded vaporetto 51 to Giardini Biennale, cruising through the famous Grand Canal for the first time.
Traveling so far from the terminal had its perks; we got to see most of Venice by water, and nearly at sunset.
Upon disembarking at our stop (half soaked from the wind spray off the water), I had to call again for walking directions to the owner's parents' house. Finding it, we were checked in (paying our 110€/night in cash up front), then escorted to our apartment. It was much more space than we needed, but it was quaint, private, and off the tourist route, so we were satisfied. Plus, we had our own coffeemaker and a container of grounds, so we felt like we'd found the golden fleece.
Having unpacked quickly, we went exploring at sunset. We walked up Via Giardini to the waterfront promenade that became Riva degli Schiavoni, and continued until we reached Piazza San Marco.
ABOVE: One of the many aquatic avenues that gondolas could navigate.
This is THE place to visit as a tourist, and it didn't disappoint despite the gypsies, souvenir kiosks, and tourists everywhere. The restaurants and cafés that lined the square each had covered platforms with 4- or 5-piece bands playing tunes across the Piazza.
Above: Band at the famous Café Florian
I particularly enjoyed glimpsing the Café Florian, which is arguably the oldest coffee house in continuous operation (established in 1720). It has been frequented by such well-known personalities as Goethe, Casanova, Lord Byron, Marcel Proust, Charles Dickens, and Hemingway, among others.
If we were cheesier, this would've been a very romantic setting for an evening dance in the square. Instead, we gazed for a few moments, snapped some pictures, and went looking for a restaurant in a better price range.
We stumbled through the winding streets to the famous Rialto Bridge, then crossed to find a dinner spot waterside. It was cozy to watch the gondolas and vaporettos passing under the bridge as we dined on overpriced pasta. Aside from being treated like homeless vagabonds because we didn't order a second course or wine, it was a lovely dining experience.
ABOVE: View from the Rialto
After dinner, we traced our way back to the Castello area where our apartment awaited, and we paused occasionally to watch the gondolas navigate the quiet, narrow canals with their lovestruck passengers.
Florence/Venice July 3 Album:
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| Florence to Venice: July 3, 2011 |
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Florence to Venice, Italy
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