This weekend we all went to Firenze with Dave (Firenze is Florence in italian). We took a train from Perugia straight to Firenze (it was my first time being on a train not the subway, which was pretty cool). The first day we got our special passes that let us skip the line and get us into all the museums and other fun places and we went to the Cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore (usually just called the Duomo), this church is the first of its kind to have a dome that big and built like it was, it's very impressive to see. We tried to get to the top of the Duomo in time for sunset but were unable to, but we did get up there in time to still see some lingering colors and all the lights turn on in the city which was amazing. After that we made our way to dinner and since it was Halloween we couldn't just go back to our hotel we had to stay up and see the night a bit. We played cards on the steps of the Duomo (how many people can say they've done that) and eventually I made it to the train station to pick up Rebekah.
Now Rebekah worked with me this summer at the ranch and we became very close so she decided to visit me while I am in Italy, she was supposed to meet me at the train station at 23:30, as 00:30 was approaching obviously something was not right. I tried everything to get ahold of her with no luck and just as I was certain she never left the states as I hadn't heard from her since before her plane left (it was 1:20 at this point) I was ready to go back to the hotel and worry some more. As I was leaving the station though she happens to be standing out there with three of my other classmates, apparently she had gotten off one stop too soon and there were no more trains going into Florence for the rest of the night but a cop (thank you dear cop) called her a cab and got her to the hotel where she found my classmates and then went to collect me at the train station. It was a very stressful night but I will never forget it.
Saturday we got up bright and early to meet Dave at the Uffizi Gallery so we could get in before the crowd. We saw some amazing paintings there some by Botticelli (which were amazing like I can't even describe the beauty of these) and paintings by Titian, Michelangelo, and Raphael. This museums is pretty massive but I think my favorite room was one I named "the room of defensive poses" because every statue in it was in the funniest pose trying to get away from some unseen evil, I was quite amused and may or may not have mimicked many of the poses. After that we got some kebabs (turkish food yes but they're everywhere in Italy and they are soo good) and went to the Galileo Museum. As I've said before museums can be very exhausting so after that we all took a nap before going out for sunset pictures. We climbed the tower next to the Duomo and got some amazing shots of the it all lit up by the setting sun. We got some more kebabs after that and then found the carousel to take pictures of.
Sunday Rebekah and I woke up early to take sunrise pictures on the bridge by the river (it's getting awfully chilly here in Italy, I'm not liking the sudden temperature change) and when we were done freezing our fingers off we went and met Dave at the Academia (this houses The David (notice the capital T) and we were really excited to see it before the crowds got there). We were the first five people in the museum so we got plenty of pictures of Michelangelo's David before people were ruining the scenery. This sculpture is amazing, the size and detail that went into it are just breathtaking. Other than The David this museum doesn't hold a lot of other famous things so we weren't in here long. Next we went to the not so modern Modern Art Museum (everything was about 100 years old in it but was still very cool to see). This museum is attached to 4 other museums so we went in some of them also. After that we looked for a lunch spot and on the way tried on a few leather jackets (after all Florence is known for their leather goods) but alas I did not buy one. And finally we were off to the train station again to return to the Villa.
But the story doesn't end there, we had the sons of Bruno Ceccobelli (a famous italian painter and sculptor whom we met with a few weeks earlier) had joined us for dinner and though they didn't understand much of what we said and vice versa (we haven't learned that much italian yet) they did know the word karaoke, so we set up the necessary machines (speaker, computer, microphones, and some real instruments, oh yeah and a few bottles of wine and scotch) and went at it for the remainder of the night.
And here is proof of my escapades. Be prepared for an overload of images. Sorry the images are out of order I don't know how that happened.
The David by Michelangelo, pretty awesome.
Dos hands doo. Da veins.
Sunrise at the jewelry bridge.
More sunrise.
This is Saint Bartholomew, you know this because he is tied up about to be flayed.
Butterfly lady statue silhouette.
This paint was caked on here, it must've taken years to dry.
Sunset from the top of the Bell Tower.
A nice long exposure of the carousel.
More sunrise of the bridge.
And more sunrise.
Sunset fro the bell tower o the Duomo.
About 300 year old violin. Pretty nifty.
And another sunrise.
Such concentration.
Even more concentration.
What a cutie, with Mike in the backgrounding creeping hard.
Ana and Bailey asleep on the train.
Mike doing the knowledge thing.
Jesus rays in the church, no way.
Church candles.
Ceiling of the Duomo, this is really cool and intricate, I wish I could've gotten better pictures of it.
Sunset taken of the bell tower from the Duomo.
Night time jewelry bridge.
Pretty sweet sculpture in the Uffizi.
Wish I could have a painting of myself on my horse with a awesome bird/bat over my head.
I don't know what this is but Galileo made it.
Ana being a lovely model. Stupid crane though.
The Duomo in all it's domeness.
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