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Published: November 28th 2007
We are back in Florence after our morning in San Gimignano. I continue to have trouble calculating the Military time clock. I shorted us some valuable hours in San Gimi by not calculating the time correctly. I was so worried about making the bus on time, so it was okay. We had only a small window of time to catch buses to be back in Florence in time for our reservation at the Accademia. We also had to meet up with our B&B host somehow to pay and figure how to store our luggage while we waited for our 10pm train to Munich.
We arrive back in Florence around 2pm and it is an extra hot day in the city. We needed to figure out how to check out of our room. I was getting worried since we had not seen our B&B host since we checked in. We also needed to kill time until our 5:30 reservation for the Accademia Gallery where the famous David statue is sculpted my Michelangelo. While waiting for our reservation time, we finally got a hold of and met up with our B&B host to check out. He was so nice and said we
can go ahead and stay in the room and store our luggage until we needed to catch our train. This was a godsend as our train did not leave until 10pm and we had heavy backpacks to worry about. Since we had the room for the rest of day, we took advantage of taking a nap and a shower.
After a really great nap, we headed back out into the city to the Accademia Gallery. (You want to make reservation days in advance to avoid long line. It’s a valuable and highly recommended time saver). We rolled up past the long line at the Accademia Gallery and got in a line of about 6 people or so. We were in just like that although, they did not even question us about our reservation. ???
So here we are in the Accademia and there it is, in all its glory - “The David”. I was expecting a little statue. If you have not seen it, it is HUGE! It's absolutely amazing to think that someone with just basic hand tools carved this statue out of marble. There are NO photos allowed in the Gallery, however, that did not stop
anyone. You see flashes and hear snapshots noises left and right and nobody seems to be stopping anyone. I could not help myself. There I am hiding behind pillars in the exhibit to get a shot of that amazing statue. I could not get the nerve to go in the open like many others to get my shot. I was nervous not to get caught, so my shots are a little blurry - but they are mine!
The rest of the gallery is mostly 13th century religious paintings. There is also an extensive sculpture and bust exhibit. The bust really intrigued us because these were made to look like the real people they were made for and you are looking into the actual faces of history.
The best part besides the David was a fantastically cool exhibit of instruments. Man I really wanted to photograph some of these! Words can not describe the detail and that people put into these instruments. While in the dark and little room, we here some yelling. A very short, round woman working for the museum is kicking some people out of the gallery. We wonder if they were trying to get their
photos of the David ??
Mostly because we paid so much to get in, we needed to feel like we got our moneys worth. I am pretty sure we looked at every single piece of art in the gallery, which after awhile all started to look the same(with exception of the instruments).
After the gallery, we closed our evening by strolling in an open market. We bought a bottle of beer, a bag of chips (and Bill a cigar) and sat on a bench in one of the town's little squares. We were so thrilled to find someone selling chips! We took our time to enjoy our snacks and such as we people watched and witnessed the sun slowly starting to go down.
Oh, this is kind of funny; Bill needed to get some hair gel. We found a little shop that had some cultural items let’s just say. He gets his gel, after purchase I am looking at it and read the label - “Dark & Lovely” was the name of this hair gel. When I think of Bill, Dark is not what comes to mind. None the less it was hair product; Bill was happy
and provided us a nice little chuckle.
We ate our last meal at a little hole in the wall restaurant. The food was okay, but the atmosphere was entertaining. The place was packed and that was all due to the waiter who woo'd all the customers in.
We had a little time after dinner to get some gelato. We picked the best stand as husband & wife team was working. The banter between them and their fun spirit towards us was very enjoying. It puts a smile on my face as I relive that memory just now.
Well, it is time to collect the bags, pack the “Dark & Lovely” and catch our first overnight train to Munich, Germany. We are sad to say goodbye to Italy, but excited for the change and adventure.
This is our first overnight train experience. We had our own private sleeper compartment. It had 2 bunks and a sink. You can comfortably sit up under the top bunk, but not comfortably share a bunk. Our backpacks took up any open floor space there was. So small, yet cozy. We roshambowed for our bunk and said “Goodnight Bobo” (a quote from
This is the life!
People watching, beer and cigar.
I have the bag of chips! (by JK)the movie Beerfest) as we departed Florence for a 9-10 hour trip to Munich.
Oktoberfest awaits our arrival. Yah!
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