David - The perfect specimen

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David - The perfect specimen
We both awoke for no reason at all at 2am with the lightening still going on from the thunderstorm of last night.The flashes weren’t local but coming from over the distant hills and it illuminated the walls of our bedroom.Perhaps it was the relatively early night we had had going to bed after the movie finished before 10pm.
We both did get back to sleep and in fact again slept for longer than we have been awaking not long before 8am perhaps making up for the disturbed night.
The breakfasts we have been preparing for ourselves here have been hearty,lacking only in bacon to go with the eggs and this morning Gretchen decided it was time for poached variety again.
The fresh fruit we have been having has been delicious and have been of varieties of apples and pears that we don’t get at home.The kiwifruit while branded NZ,but without the Zespri label,Gretchen reckons is local as they have been an odd shape.
The weather for today was supposed to have been wet with an 80% chance of rain but from the view out the window there is plenty of blue sky and so we shall head for Florence to do some sightseeing and visit the gallery where Michaelangelo’s David is on display.
Although we tried to avoid the motorway north to Florence and take the #2 road instead we still ended up on the highway.While it got us there faster it travelled through uninteresting bushland and of course avoids the small towns and villages.
Initially it looked like finding car parking in Florence was going to be a challenge but we opted for space about 15 minutes walk from the centre of the city alongside the Arno River which runs through the centre of Florence.
It was the Arno that held up the 5thUS Army in its strike north during the autumn of 1944 driving back the Germans.The Americans became bogged down by the approaching winter and the advance had to wait until the spring of 1945 by which time the Germans were already in full retreat in Northern Europe.
We had read the Florence can be packed with tourists during the summer,most coming to see the numerous museums in this city of artists and sculpturers.And we had hoped it would be a bit quieter now that autumn was well advanced.Not so.The place was heaving with tourists,many of them on walking tours and in large groups which makes it difficult sometimes to negotiate where you want to go to look at something in particular.
We walked along the side of the Arno which is an unimpressive river and then crossed towards the town itself passing first the Uffizi Gallery where there were long queues waiting for tickets to enter.This gallery had been on our list of places to see but we shall consider it on the way out if its not as busy.We just hope that the gallery where ‘David’ is on show is not as busy!!
Just beyond the gallery was a piazza which was packed with tourists all wanting to a get a photo of the ‘David’ copy on display on one side,either on its own or with them in front of it with a friend or another tourist conned to take it for them.This therefore made it also impossible to get a photo ourselves without having some random stranger in the shot.
Next we came upon the 80 odd metre high Campanile built in 1334.We declined the €6 pp for the walk up the 414 steps for a view over the city.We shall save that for the view from a piazza at the top of the hill on our way home and it will be free and save our legs!!
Next to the Campanile was the Gothic style Duomo,one of the world’s largest cathedrals and when it is seen from a little way back with the Campanile and the cupola of The Duomo all in vision it makes an expansive sight,so large is the complex that we could not fit it all in to photograph.
The Duomo was started in 1294 but was not consecrated until 1436 when it was fully finished.It was certainly cavern like inside the cathedral and only about a quarter of it is used for services so large is the floor area.The front facade of the cathedral is very busy with statues and paintings and again is so vast that it cannot all be captured in one photograph.
The Battistero,in which Dante was baptised did not open for another half hour and we decided that we should keep going to the gallery where ‘David’ is on show in case the queues are long to get in.
There seemed to be more American accents we were picking up as we walked along than any place we have visited on this adventure and we guess that Florence must feature high on their list of places to visit in Italy on their package tour.
At the street where we turned to the ‘David” gallery was McD’s and although it was only just after midday we hadn’t come across a WC anywhere and Mc’D’s is always ‘a good port in storm’(so to speak).So we will give pizza or Panini on the go a miss today and revert to a good old cheeseburger,fries and a drink all off the €1 menu.....and use their WC!!!
Refreshed and ready for the afternoon we walked down to the Galleria Dell’Accademia where David has been since 1863 when he was moved from an open piazza in the city.
The queue didn’t look too long but it still took us 45 minutes to get in.A tip for those who don’t like queuing is buy a ticket online and then you get to wait in a much shorter queue to pick up your ticket inside for an extra€4.
Queuing can be interesting though and we struck up a conversation with 3 American women who were in Florence in a group of 20 and touring Italy and Switzerland.The time soon passed as we traded stories about ours and their travels.
On entering the building we had to go through a metal detector.This was the first time this has happened for us since the Jewish Holocaust museum all those weeks ago in Berlin.We had become to think that Europe doesn’t really think there is much of a terrorist problem still out there,but then again David is probably the most famous sculpture in the world.!!
We passed through a room with some very old paintings dating back to the 1300 and 1400’s to then turn a corner into the next room and there he is...................................the world’s most perfect specimen,David by Michaelangelo!!
It really does strike you at 5 metres high and you need to stand well back to take it all in.David was sculptured from a disused single piece of marble and was finished in 1504.His form is very life like with veins in his arms,for example in fine detail.
Michaelangelo carved David in the pose after he had just slain Goliath looking pretty pleased with what he had done.
From all angles it is a very impressive sculpture and on one of the information boards there is a comment “that once you have seen this sculpture there is no point in searching to see any others as they cannot compare to this perfect form”.
The rest of the gallery is made up of other sculptures and paintings from Florence although nothing compared to “David” which on his own was worth the €10 entry fee.Sadly though we cannot put his picture on our blog as photographs were not allowed in the gallery so we shall see if we can find a reference point on the web to bring up an official photo for you readers to see what we mean by the “perfect specimen”.
Before we left the gallery I gave Gretchen one more chance to go back and take a last look at “David” ,the perfect specimen but she said she didn’t need to as she me to look at anytime,wasn’t that sweet of her!!
Time had passed by with our visit to the gallery and we started to head back towards the river and RR but on the way stopped in at the Basilica Di San Lorenzo,the Medici family church built in the 15th century for the then richest family in Florence.And what a sizeable Basilica it is too with again only about 25% of the floor space given over to services today.Sadly here too no photography was allowed of the artwork and fresco’s.
We had had our four hours in the city and seen the highlights on our list so it was time to head back to RR and drive up the hill for the view out over the city.
Here too there is a copy of “David” although out in the open it didn’t have the dramatic look you get as you round the corner into the room it is housed in the gallery.The view over the city was good though and put into perspective the size of the buildings we had stopped by during our stroll around the streets.
As we left the city limits we noticed a sign indicating the way to the American Servicemen’s Memorial and so we followed it to take in another of the resting places of US soldiers killed during WW2.As with the memorial at the D-Day beach in France this site containing the graves of nearly 5000 Americans killed during WW2 is beautifully laid out and maintained.
We got ourselves home for a beer before we drove out again and up the road a few kilometres to a local restaurant in the countryside.It was however only 7pm and they didn’t open for meals until 7.30pm and we were ready for a feed.So we drove back into Poggibonsi looking for one of the restaurants recommended by the owner of the apartment where we are staying.
Trying to find a park in this town on a Saturday night was almost impossible but eventually we did come across someone to park RR while we walked back to the centro to a pizza restaurant called Angelos,very original!!
We both ordered a fish dish,mine with spaghetti and Gretchen’s with pasta and potato.Neither were original Tuscany dishes they were both very tasty.We also think we might have had some preferential treatment to get a table as others followed in after us only to be turned away when there were tables vacant.Perhaps me wearing one of my NZ shirts did the trick.
No movies tonight as we are moving on tomorrow so after arriving back at home after 9pm we had a coffee,reviewed the day in Florence and the perfect specimen.....David,and shuffled off to a good nights sleep.

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Comments

[Helen Fenwick]

Ahhhh David
He really does have to be seen to fully appreciate him - perfect. Brian has a bbq apron with him on which causes alot of comment - not quite the same as the original. Of course Gretchen does have GMB all the time - how sweet !! take care and enjoy the food - yum, love Helen xx

[Leebee]

Ah, dont worry about those "no photograph" signs....pretend you dont understand English or Italian and you will be fine. Just make sure your flash is turned off and you move fast after taking the photo!