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Published: August 27th 2007
Leaving Florence shortly. I know its at the top of everyone's Italian destination list, so I was expecting big things. I was pretty unimpressed at first. Kind of gritty. Dark colors. Lacked the vibrancy of the Cinque Terre villages. But, after climbing to the top of Il Dumo and seeing the town and the countryside from there, I can understand why people fall in love with the region, or fall in love with people they meet while vacationing here.
And sunset over Florence from the steps leading up to the Michaelangelo House was amazing. A bunch of people were sitting on the steps, being quiet and just taking in the views with some guy was playing Clapton on his guitar. Very chill. So, this Turkish guy I met in the hostel and I were taking in the views as well, and he knocks over my beer, causing all the people on the steps below us to have to get up and move as the beer poured down step after step. Oops. Sorry. Total buzzkill.
Did the Ufuzzi gallery today. All the artwork is very old, very nice and very well preserved, (not unlike I some of the well-heeled Italian women here) but I guess I just donìt appreciate it as much as I should. Maybe I just don't know about art history. I mean, I guess I can understand how a painting suggesting that the Virgin Mary has breasts under her robe can be scandalous in the Thirteenth Century, but in an era where Ozzy Ozbourne bites the head off a live bat on stage, I need a little more. Call my tastes mainstream, but I liked the impressionist collections in Musee d'Orsay and l'Orangerie (Van Gogh, Cezanne, Seurat, Renoir, etc.) and the Musee du Rodin (sculptuor - Thinker, The Kiss) the best so far on this trip. The Louvre was the Louvre - ridiculously large, and I got numb after about two hours. Saw their money shot - The Mona Lisa, took some pictures of it, and moved in. Kinda felt like the Mona Lisa was a lot like Paris Hilton - famous for being famous.
Off to Rome ...
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Libby
non-member comment
florence
Funny, I had sort of the same first impression of Florence, and we also went there straight from the Cinque Terre. One of my favorite restaurants IN THE WORLD is in Florence, though - wish I would have thought to tell you about it before you left!!! I'm a rare person who actually loved Rome more than Florence - hope you have fun there! And watch out for the crazy mopeds!