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We left for Florence by 9:00. Tim decided that we should drive in instead of using the train. We entered the coordinates of a parking garage into our GPS and made our way into the thick of Florence. Tim drove slowly as we worked our way through narrow streets filled with people. Some streets looked like pedestrian only areas, but as we entered them crowds would move to the side letting us through. The first parking garage was full so we tried the next one on our list called Michelangelo. Thankfully there was room for us. We were not far from the Duomo, in fact we could partially see it through the crooked street.
As we walked we heard the clicking sound of horse hoofs on the stones. A horse and carriage was taking people on a sightseeing tour, we saw a number of them as we walked on. Large steel rings were attached to the stone walls and I overheard a tour guide explain that they are original from when people used them to tie their horses while they went into shops. Florence has a charm all of its own.
We had a booking time at the Ufitzi for 12:30 and were early but wanted to make sure we could easily find our gate. We walked past the Academia where the replica of the statue of David stands outside (the original inside). We took pictures and looked around at other stone sculptures wondering how the artists could turn a stone into something so detailed.
Our gate was easy to find. Many artists were painting in the square. We walked around the area admiring the river Arno and the Ponte Vecchio, the only bridge in Florence that dates back to the medieval period, the others were destroyed in WW2.
The kids found a shop filled with reproductions of medieval stationary. Feather pens, letter sealing wax and stamps. Letter openers, paper and cards. Darius especially liked the 50 year calendars and replicas of old compasses. He chose to buy the 50 year calendar, we teased him saying he chose it because he is so cheap and wouldn't have to buy another calendar for 50 years. He grinned knowing that he is very particular with his money. The girls bought feather pens with ink.
We sat on steps, in the shade of the walkway, along the Arno river having our lunch and then walked to the Ufitzi.
The Ufitzi is one of the oldest and most important museums in the western world. It was a palace built for the Medici family. Construction was from 1560- 1581. In the palace were the offices of the Florentine magistrates. Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo enjoyed working and relaxing in the palace because it was so beautiful, now many of their masterpieces are on display there.
Mariah and Brennin were enthusiastic about a number of things at the Ufitzi because art they recently studied in school was on display. Brennin explained why so much gold color was used in the paintings, and how the paint colors were made. Mariah's class just finished a unit on renaissance art. She told us about the painting "Spring", by Botticelli - we sat on a bench looking at the endless details. We admired many Madonnas and a multitude of chubby cherubs.
Our next stop was at the Leonardo da Vinci museum. It is a small hands on museum with replicas of da Vinci's inventions. The museum encourages trying out many of the devises. We knew that he invented contraptions but we had no idea how many ideas, and inventions he pioneered. War machines, flying machines, a glass grinder to make lenses, milling machines, ball bearings, a crane, water screw etc...
Most of his ideas were not understood or feasible during his lifetime.
We talked about going into the impressive Duomo, but the heat was holding us back. Between the lineup and number of steps up we decided to leave it for another time. The mosaics and colors on the outside were beautiful.
We walked to our car and drove
back to the campground. The kids cooled down in the swimming pool and we made supper and enjoyed sitting on the deck.
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