Another day filled with food and fun! I woke up early to go to church at 8 am (right outside our hotel!) with Christian, Natali, Ana, Adam, and the Donno's. The mass was in Italian, but I followed along in a small pamphlet. The mass was only about forty minutes due to the lack of music and short homily. I wore my striped skirt which I thought was very conservative, until I was almost not allowed into the church because it was above my knees. The church worker supplied me with a lovely ankle length hospital gown-looking skirt, I was looking fabulous! The church was beautiful, with one wall lined with artwork depicting stories from the old testament, while the other displayed the new testament. The back wall was painted with a picture of a saint with tons of arrows in him, symbolizing when he was sentenced to death but did not die. Perhaps the most memorable part of the church was the tall dome by the entrance, with one side embodying visions of heaven, opposed by visions of hell on the other side. The tortures, monsters, and demons really made us never want to go there! Saint Fiora, a saint from San Gimignano, was buried in the church. When she died, apparently the town bells rang without anybody touching them. We walked back to the hotel to grab breakfast before checkout, and a man came up to me asking, "what the heck were you wearing in church?"... Whoops!
Walking back outside the city limits, we hopped on the bus en route to Florence! Taking a quick nap on the way, the view was nothing special, as we passed through some urban slums with plenty of graffiti. To be honest, the weather in Florence was pretty miserable when we got there. We dropped off our luggage at the hotel (obviously people were complaining about not getting to put their luggage in their rooms!), and embarked on a walk to a local restaurant, about twenty minutes away (obviously people were complaining about the long walk in the cold rain!). The restaurant, as usual, was fabulous! Although they eliminated the appetizer of meats and cheeses because we were a little late, it was still a two hour million course meal! Following bread with olive oil and balsamic, the first course was a delicious rigatoni pasta with a spicy beef that tasted like sausage and peppers, one of my favorite meals here! Next, they brought out a thick, stringy pasta coated in olive oil, garlic, and Parmesan. A delicious steak came out next, very rare and thinly shaved, topped with Parmesan cheese squares. Although we almost had to miss it because we needed to make it to the museum, we managed to scarf down a yummy fresh strawberry dessert cake with whipped cream. Everybody was very tired from our eventful trip, and the food made people even sleepier! Todd and Nick were practically sleeping at our table, but Alyssa, Shannen, Stephanie, Michelle, and I managed to stay awake, enjoying some red and white wine as well.
Most people went back to the hotel to nap, but I joined to theater class to go to the Uffizi Museum, the second most popular art museum in Italy. Professor Stampino is an expert in art history, and gave us the tour of the highlights of the museum herself. Explaining the structure of the building which used to house offices, she told us that the windows portrayed who stayed in an area. Big windows were for the best people, and small windows were fir the servants. You were considered more important if head of house met you at bottom of stairs, rather than sending a servant down to meet you. Grotesque frescoes lined the hallways, along with portraits of important people who came to visit. They were sketched after they came to visit. Each room in the museum displayed different ages of art, and some of the pieces were really cool. The Piero Della Francesco is very famous, portraying a man and einan in two separate frames. His nose (having a strong resemblance to the Mignano nose!) was cut off because he lost an eye in battle and couldn't see past it. Other paintings included pictures of Venus, Gabriel, and Helen of Troy.
Separate rooms displayed different decorations, including a ceiling made of pearl and another made entirely of gold. Pictures were not allowed, but we managed to sneak a few by using the selfie side of the iPhone! Outside the museum, tall walkways masterminded by da Vinci connected this museum to places so that people could directly travel to their place of worship or their residence without having to associate with peasants. The hallways of the museum had beautiful paintings on the roof, even depicting some members of the family at times. A painting that interested me was Michelangelo Buonarroti's depiction of Mary, Joseph, and Jesus, with John the Baptist in the background. Mary had man arms, so it is fabled that the artist had a man pose to be Mary. Perhaps the greatest part of this tour was Luca's sarcastic comments about the pictures. A painting of a midget with a butterfly covering his package elicited the phrase, "Ugh poor butterfly!!" After this museum, we met with the entire group to see Michelangelo's statue of David. The weather was still pretty gross, and when Nicky got his shoes wet while waiting outside he claimed they were ruined! Once we got inside (still no photos allowed), the statue was absolutely beautiful! To think that it was carved out of a slab of marble is enthralling. Everything from the hands to the veins to the hair was done with such great detail. It was a blonde moment when I realized that the slingshot carried by David meant that he was from the bible story David and Goliath...whoops! Next, Eric, Shannon, and I ventured to get gelato at Grom. Although we have this place in Milan, the original location is in Venice, and they are spreading throughout the world. New York just opened one! I read that you can tell locally made, real gelato from tourist-attracting gelato from the tins that hold the gelato. If the gelato is "real," it is usually held in small metal tins without much color. The tourist-attracting gelato is placed in big white plastic vats, colorfully built up very high. Grom was real gelato! Everybody was pretty tired from the long day, but we ventured out around 10:30 to the Hard Rock Cafe "Firenze" since so many people were craving American food! Todd, Nick, Tommy, David, Karina, Alyssa, Olivia, and I ran into Stampsies and Luca having dinner there as well! Tommy's comments were definitely a source of entertainment. The weather made the day pretty dreary, but we still got to see the artsy side of Florence. Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit better!