Florence = Firenze
Perhaps surprisingly, we arrived in Florence with both our children. It is, I grant you, difficult to get lost on a train, but if there was a way, Drew would find it. He didn't.
I have been looking forward to this part of the trip. After travelling in 1987 (ouch) Florence was my favourite city by far although, other than David, I couldn't really remember why,
After a day I remember now. It was and (so far), it still is.
He had a funny moustache (every day he would get up and style it differently)
As we got off the train we saw this sign. Zozo was ecstatic as they had been doing Dali in class last term.
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| Cool moustakka! |
The kids showed me their new High 5 technique
Then Zoe got impatient so I had to get her to the museum NOW.
As per usual, a few other folk had also come to Florence
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| Nice background |
There was strictly no photography at the Dali exhibition (conveniently located 1 minute down the street from our hotel in an old Medici Castle (the home of the lesser known Richie Medici....OK so it was Riccardo Medici).
Nobody paid the no photography signs any notice. This was not the case at the Academia the next day.
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| Huh? |
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| Bet you can't say "Irish Wristwatch" quickly |
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| The 12 sketches behind the watch were also cool. He was a renowned (by those who renow) illustrator as well as painter, scultptor and incomprehensible writer |
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| Adam and Eve plus serpent(s) |
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| Notes about the cutlery below |
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| Alice in wonderland |
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| Alice and Zoe in wonderland |
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| Flying snail with angel on tis back? Wha? |
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| What 8 year olds do at museums |
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| Inspired by Mae West (really) |
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| The favourite of Zoe and Ree. the surrealist meets the cubist |
Get some perspective man!
Walking from the exhibition, we strolled the markets in deep need of a handbag (Ree), a notebook (Drew), anything (Zoe) and anything but the markets (me). Some are winners, others are me.
Just missing entrance to the Church of Saint Lorenzo we strolled down a street and turned a corner to see....the Duomo.
I have been a big Brunelleschi fan after becoming obsessed with the Medici (I remember giving Paul Sprague a 2 hour lecture on a train ride from Sydney to Newcastle - no wonder he retired soon after). There are some superb PBS documentaries on The Medici and Brunelleschi as well as quite a bit on The day the Universe changed - a great series that everyone should watch (picks 7 "events" at different times that changed the world and tells their story - my favourite episode was the printing press - find them on youtube).
Found these on YouTube. I have the DVDs at home and on the iPads to torment the kids. Ignore them unless you have a good 4 hours.
Medici series on PBS got broken into 4 episodes
The Duomo
Actually, Duomo means cathedral church so there are lots of Duomos. The one I am talking about was called for a while "the church in its pajamas" because, it is said, of its Art Deco like green and white facade. At the time of Italian unification, Florence was the capitol for a few years before Rome won the guernsey and a lot of Italians were jealous so resorted to nasty name calling.
To me, this building is moving in a way that Saint Peter's was not. It is majestic, unique, stunning beyond any pictures attempt to display and defines Florence as the power it was, and the Renaissance as an acceptance of seeing the world in a new way (ironically by building on the ideas of antiquity).
Brunelesci and the genius of the dome
Of the Dome itself, not much to add to the first Medici episode. Brunelleschi built a dome that couldn't be built and changed the world. He invented practical perspective and reinvented, the works of the ancient Romans and Greeks.
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| Pondering the Duomo |
What do you do when you come to one of the greatest architectural monuments of human kind? You climb it or as I like to call it, mea culpa, you-a culpa
It was getting late with tourist rush hour long gone. There was zero line! So we forked out our dosh and started climbing the darkish, mustyish, spiraling, steep but oh so much better than St Peters basilica steps to the culpa.
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| Starting the climb |
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| Who graffitis a Church? |
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| Still climbing. Antechamber |
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| Still climbing |
There is a platform at the level the dome begins to allow viewing of the fresco'd ceiling. It was painted by.......and whilst no Cistene Chapel, had some pretty gruesome imagery.
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| You want to put that fire stick where? |
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| Do you see the light |
At the top you get out to some of the best views of Florence.
Then you leave.
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| Back into "The Box" |
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| Commandments on the door |
Enough
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