Friday, July 31st
We got up just in time to have the ‘free’ buffet breakfast J It was good – we all agreed that our other hotel in Rome had a better breakfast…but it got us going for the morning – well, some of us. Blakely woke up not feeling so great but we all encouraged her that she needed to get out and walk. The heat – lack of water – walking finally got to her and she turned GREEN! We immediately started to head back to our hotel to get her to the bathroom – and – well – she DID NOT MAKE IT! I will not gross you out with all the details but we were on a side street of Florence and don’t think that we drew any attention. We also had a bottle of water to wash away any evidence! (By the way – the streets are not pristine clean streets – they are pretty nasty and the other night I saw the biggest RAT running into its hole – just had to give you that side note!) UGH – THE LICE – ANOTHER BUG – we were under attack! We got back to the hotel and sat in the lobby while Blakely rested. We had lined up a tour guide for 1:30 to walk the streets of Florence and I was going to let Clark and the other kids go because there was no way I could reach her to cancel (it was 12:45) We waited – I PRAYED – and Blakely came back to life!
Barbara arrived promptly at 1:30 and we decided that we could all go on the tour. She was charming and amazing with a wealth of knowledge. She sat us all down in the cool lobby and gave us a brief history lesson of Florence, how small it once was, the Medici Family, that it was the center of the Renaissance. She told us about the artists Giotto, Masaccio, Ghiberti, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Michelangelo. Whew – a ton of information.
Then we set out on the streets of Florence for the tour. Our first stop - the church Santa Maria Novella – Gothic style built in the 1200’s. In the chapel of this church was a fresco done by Ghirlandaio and Michelangelo was his assistant at the age of 13. She pointed out two figures in the fresco that Ghirlandaio let Michelangelo paint – his first paintings. Fascinating. From there we went to the famous Duomo (the amazing dome that no one knows how it was supported while it was being constructed) – the famous Door (each panel took 25 years for a total of 50 years of his life) and the famous David that took your breath away. The sad thing we learned about Michelangelo was that he hated his mother because she died when he was six years old…he never married…no kids…a frustrated person who spent all his time with a hammer and a chisel (except when he took a little time off and painted some ceiling in Rome!). He was 26 when he started the David and it took him 3 years. It truly was an amazing sight in person.
After three hours with Barbara – our brains were full of history, art and architecture (she really made it exciting and knew how to keep everyone’s attention) and our feet were tired!
We spent the rest of the afternoon strolling the streets of Florence and looking for a craftsman who could build a special frame for my art – a mission…I want to come back with a good Italian frame!
We arrived back to our hotel to rinse off and head to dinner. We found a great spot near the hotel – MASO Pizzeria - and had another yummy dinner! Time for bed!
We went to bed not knowing where we were going on the next day of our journey! The adventure continues with the Neilson’s.
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