Florence II: Attack of the Museums

So last we left off, we had triumphantly arrived back in Florence, after a truly magnificent day of biking in perfect weather.  Still, it was nice to get back to Florence, since it's a big city with lots of stuff to see, and thus far we had just scratched the surface.

We checked into our accommodation, which I had whimsically booked back in March, mainly due to its outstanding location- a corner room with both huge windows looking out at the Duomo, and perched on the 3rd story overlooking the bustling piazza over which the vast cathedral looms.  Fancy, right?   Well... anyone who knows me knows I can be a frugal man at times, and this hotel, for it's unbelievable locations was in fact a 1-star accommodation.  This meant no AC (other than a fan), Internet down the hall in the common room, a very strange bathroom arrangement where you got a key to a tiny closet with a shower and toilet in it down the hall, place mats in lieu of towels (not very absorbent!), and a long hike up many many stairs to get to the room.  All this being said, the place oozed old world charm, with 15-foot ceilings, creaky inlaid floors that were probably pretty sumptuous 150 years ago, and the tolls of ancient bells of St. Mary's drifting in the windows day and night.  Overall, we loved it.     

A little less welcome of a surprise was the difference in tourist crowds over the week we had been away.  Obviously, Italy doesn't have the same holidays we do, but I think school gets out around the same time, and the difference between the pre-Memorial day and post Memorial day was intense.  The areas around the Uffuzi and the the Duomo were pretty much chock-a-block with thousands of tourists, and the restaurants we easily sidled up to in our last visit were packed with sweaty sightseers from all over the globe.   We also discovered that Florence had quite a nightlife downtown, and the windows we were compelled to keep open let in a constant loud crowd noise well into the wee hours.  Most baffling to me were the numerous bachelor parties we saw careening down the narrow cobblestone streets.  I mean, Florence for your bachelor party?  Though often the revelers were not speaking in English, I imagined their shouted, slurred conversations going something like:

"Brah!   What a sick day we had admiring Renaissance frescoes!"

"You're telling me, broski!  And did you check out those 1st century Roman busts!"

"Insane, buddy!  And I had no idea how much Medieval religious art there was in the Uffizi!  Just out of control!"

"Whoa, there, man, you better slow down with those Aparol Spritzes!"

"No way, dude!  In fact, I believe we should move on to sample the wide variety of very affordable Chiantis available here in Tuscany!  To say nothing of the superb aged beef for which this region is famous!"  

...And so on.  Maybe American bachelor parties are just less sophisticated.   Speaking of, if we had been remiss in plunging into the vast array of museums in the Uffizi complex, Saturday went a long way to rectifying that omission.   It turned out it was Republic Day, which is kinda like Italian Fourth of July, except that it celebrates the day in 1946 Italy had decided, under some very strong encouragement from the Allied powers, to adopt a Republic instead of, well, a fascist totalitarian state.   To us, this happily meant that all the museums were free that day.  I worried that this would mean they would be particularly crowded, but we have found that if you show up around the time they open, you have the best shot to avoid a long line (or just getting denied altogether.   The first one we chose was the Accademia Museum, which is famous for being where Michelangelo's David is displayed.  Unlike the Vatican Museum, you don't have to be marched through the entire museum before you see the big star, but of course, there is plenty of amazing statuary, paintings, and religious art to take in besides just the enormous statue.  And it is very large- 4 meters in fact, and interesting because of the very large head and hands- an intentional modification, because the original idea was to mount the statue up high, so when seen from below, the head would seem proportional.  

We then decided to see if our luck would hold out with the Uffizi gallery, which is up there with the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Prado, as far as super-famous and very large art museums in the world.  And it is quite enormous, and yes, you do see A LOT of very famous pieces (perhaps the most recognizable is Botticelli's "Birth of Venus"), along with hundreds of ancient statures and religious art.  Even the building is a work of art, with the ceilings and walls richly adorned with gilded filigree and many, many paintings.   

It's all very overwhelming, and if I may, I have a few notes note to send back in time to Renaissance painters; 

•  I think we pretty much have the Annunciation covered.  Also John the Baptist on a play date with the baby Jesus.  Lots of those.  Also St. Sebastian looking serene as he is pierced very gorily with lots and lots of arrows, ditto the Rape of the Sabines.  Just saying, there are lots of Bible stories and Greek/Roman mythology that would make great gigantic oil paintings that are further off the beaten track.  Like pretty much the whole Old Testament?  
• Also, it's kind of weird when you put the patron who commissioned the painting actually in the painting with say, Jesus and various disciples.  Just kinda tacky.
• What is up with the extreme violence in these frescoes?  I realize you are depicting some pretty intense battle scenes, but do we really need dudes getting disemboweled, or getting stabbed in the mouth, or getting their heads smashed under a charger's hooves?  I mean, there are KIDS in these buildings.  
• Why is Mary always stomping on someone or something?  It's often the Devil, so I get that, but just as often, it's some politician your patron doesn't like.  Doesn't seem very Mary-like.  

We also visited the very interesting Galileo Museum (lots of cool old telescopes and science machines), and by that point Jen had had enough, but I snuck in the Plazzo Vecchio to end the day.  If I was lacking in frescoes for the day, I certainly got my fill there.  The palace was the seat of government in Florence for centuries, mostly through the times the Medicci dominated the economic and political life in the Renaissance.   (Think the Iron Bank in Game of Thrones).   Many of the Medicci family lived in the Palazzo, including a couple Popes the family had gotten installed.   Anyway, you might image the palace was quite elaborately adorned with lots of gold and filigree and lots of historically questionable frescoes of the Medicci family members doing awesome stuff.  Personally, it seems a little over the top to me to paint all the ceilings and walls of my gigantic bedroom with epic scenes of me and my family leading a kingdom to greatness, but I guess I am not a Medicci.  

The next day, we mailed back a box of extra clothes we didn't need (turns out Italy is quite summery in May and early June) at perhaps the most elaborately decorated post office I had ever experienced (a whole lot more marble columns and stained glass than at home!)  and we were whisked away on another high-speed train to Bologna.