There must be a balance. The Force has a balance. The ying has the yang. Up has down. Left has right.
So how much is too much? Tonight I collapsed into the chair in our room, body aching and just veg'ed for an hour and a half before falling into a coma in bed at 9:30. I was dead tired. What brought about this state of exhaustion? Simply put, trying to see everything of interest in Florence before our time here runs out.
Today we started at the Academy to see Michelangelo's David. We were there at 8:00 for the 8:15 am opening. Due to our Firenze cards, we allowed in before the general masses, and pretty much had David to ourselves for the first 10 minutes before the throngs of people arrived. It is so emotional for me to see him. His look of anticipation and confidence, his body language that says, "I can take this guy", as he sizes up Goliath. Spectacular. And his double life size magnifies the effect. Nothing else like it in the world.
From David we went to the San Marco church. This is the abbey where Fra Lippo worked, creating some of the first renaissance frescos. A monk in the abbey, he painted in the church, on the walls of the monk's rooms . . . Everywhere. Also of interest, Savanarola, the radical conservative preacher that ground the renaissance to a halt in the late 1400 lived here. His room and some of his personal belongings are open to the public. This bozo preached fire and brimstone to the people of Florence and reversed the progress being made through the enlightenment. Luckily, the Florentines finally saw through him, drug him out of his room in San Marco, tortured him and then burned him to death in the piazza outside the Signoria. Finally the threw his ashes in the Arno. I can think of a current leader that deserves the same fate. Will we wake up as the Florentines did?
After Saint Marco, we went to the Medici Palace and saw the home of this family that ruled Florence behind the elected democracy. In Lorenzo Medici's private study are frescos of amazing content and quality. After reading about the Medici and their influence and hold on Florence it was amazing to see their place.
From the Palace we walked the the church kitty corner to the palace, the Church of San Lorenzo. Designed by Brunelleschi with alters by Donatello, it was amazing to see. Cosimo the Elder is buried right in front of the alter.
We then went to Lorenzo's Library, an amazing building of unbelievable grandeur. Below the library, in the basement is the tomb of Donatello and Cosimo the Elder, below the church.
Sally had found a restaurant she wanted to try for lunch, located on the south side of the Arno, about 3/4 of a mile away. We walked to it and split a 3 course meal. The waiter/owner was not happy about the two of us only buying one meal, but he served us, although with a petulant attitude.
Lunch over, we headed back across town our B&B for a nap, then off to the Medici Chapel, located on the back side of the San Lorenzo church. This chapel was totally designed and implemented by Michelangelo. Lots of sculptures and four Medici family members buried there.
The chapel closed while we were inside, so the attendant let us out.
Off to the Palazzo Vecchio, the old Senoria (the senate building) to tour the museum there. The in the mid 1500's the Medici family, under Cosimo I moved into the building and formed a dynasty, ruling the city from this former democratic building. We toured the living quarters and the incredible, spacious main meeting room with its massive murals on the walls depicting the victories of Florence over Pisa and Milan. The Medici lived in unbelievable wealth, reminiscent of Versailles.
We finished our tour of the building, stopped outside to fill our water bottles with frizzante water (carbonated water) from the free water dispensers outside the building, then walked (more like staggered for me) back to our B&B. Here my vegetative state began.
We had salad again for dinner, finishing up all the ingredients from the night before. I wanted to write in the blog, but was too tired to muster up energy to compose anything. At 9:30 pm I crawled into bed and passed out. Another great day. So much learned. So much we saw. Florence is an amazing place. Wish I had a bit more energy to explore it more.
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