Florence, Italy
43° 45' N 11° 15' E
Feb 09, 2005 12:38
Distance 73km

earlier Entry 10 of 21 later
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Florence...back for the first time

Text written in: English

Well we went to Florence again today. I'm not complaining, Florence is one of the most beautiful cities in Italy, if not in the world. The weather today was especially great, which made the trip even better. We started off with some group tours to San Marcos, which, if you are familiar with art history, houses the frescoes of Fra Angelico. It's very strange to see the paintings in person that you've seen in art books. After San Marcos, we headed over to a museum of the Duomo, the large, famous church of Florence. After that, we were on our own. My roommates and I went to the smallest restaurant ever conceived by man. If there is one thing to know about Italians, it's this: they have no concept of personal space. To them, its not uncomfortable to be pressed up against each other, but to Americans, its strange! If you don't have enough people to fill your table, it's quite acceptable to put on some other random tourists. It was good food though. After that, I went off on my own to the Museum of the History of Science. I couldnt take pictures there, but they had some cool stuff, such as the first mechanical calculator, from the 1700s, Galileo's lens he used to see Jupiter, even Galileos embalmed finger...thats just weird. We have two more trips to Florence before the end of the semester (it's only an hour away), so expect to see more!

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Photos / videos of "Florence...back for the first time":

The inner courtyard at the Church of San Marcos Our tour guide, Chiara (Italian for Claire) One of the many frescoes at San Marcos Another fresco at San Marcos One of the many marble Pietas by Michaelangelo...pieta means Pity, and depicts the scene of Mary holding the dead Jesus. Michaelangelo designed this one to be placed on his tomb, but it wasnt Donatello's Mary Magdelene, very unique, carved out of a single piece of wood, showing Mary after she sheds all her earthly possessions, just her and her hair Thats me standing behind one of the most expensive pieces of art ever commissioned...its basically priceless. I was going to put more pictures of the detail, but its something you really have to see in person...its SO detailed and ornate. Its really beaut Looking down on my classmates as they look at Ghiberti's panels he designed to decorate the baptistry doors, which were labelled by Michaelangelo as the This is where I spent a good part of my afternoon Florence, just sitting on the bridge, looking at the beautiful scenery and watching the Italian people Another pretty view! This is the market of Florence, one of them anyways I see where I'm taking Chris when he gets here!
earlier Entry 10 of 21 later
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