I will be honest--we are NOT art people.
Yes, we know the basics, the most famous paintings and some sculptures, and most of them I have learned about here in Europe. I read a lot about Florence and its magnificent art collections and although I wasn't really excited about seeing the most famous pieces of art in the world, I knew that it would simply be a crime not to. And so I read and read and decided that in order for our non-artsy family to enjoy this gallery-filled day in Florence, we had to pick and choose what we see and focus on a few collections.
We pre-booked our timed entry tickets to both Academia and Uffizi Gallery--and those were the two places we were going to conquer. Academia is where Michelangelo's David stands. Uffizi--is one of the greatest art galleries in the world.
Bright and early, fueled by croissants from the shop on the street we walked fifteen minutes to the Academia, pass the Duomo (we'll see it later again).
So glad we pre-booked our tickets as the line was already getting long to get in without a reserved time. The Academia is rather small compared to other galleries. Almost immediately, you can find yourself in a wide hall with Michelangelo's statues, one of which is David, of course.
This is what happens when you ask someone to take a family picture for you. Good thing I checked.
Another try--much better.
In all honesty, our non-artsy family (sorry Erin F.) was very impressed. It was way better than I had anticipated and when we even tried to imagine how someone could create a majestic statue like this out of stone, it boggled our minds.
These were amazing--the unfinished statues of prisoners (slaves) by Michelangelo again. "The Awakening Slave", "The Young Slave", "The Bearded Slave", and the Atlas. From the Academia's website we read,
"As we see them, in various stages of completion, they evoke the enormous strength of the creative concept as they try to free themselves from the bonds and physical weight of the marble. It is now claimed that the artist deliberately left them incomplete to represent this eternal struggle of human beings to free themselves from their material trappings.The Slaves are standing with most of their weight on one foot so that their shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs. This precise pose gives the Prisoners a more dynamic and powerful appearance, transmitting motion and emotion.
This one is The Young Slave.
And this is the Atlas.
Here is The Awakening Slave.
Don't know what happened to the picture of the Bearded Slave.
The kids also liked this sculpture of Michelangelo himself.
I was also amazed at how well the kids did at the Academia. Maybe because it was quite small, or maybe we had Rick Steve's guide book for them to read, or maybe because I told them so much about how famous David's sculpture is, but all three seemed to be very interested in exploring the gallery.
All done! And it's only 11 am. In the background you can see the line to get into the Academia.
We walked towards the more central part of town.
Here is the Duomo, the beautiful Santa Maria cathedral.
Amazing detail on the outside.
We found some lunch right next to the cathedral and then walked over to another famous gelato place, Grom. This one was my favorite, I think. It had the most natural flavor made of organic ingredients. My apricot gelato was delish!
After our sweet break we walked back to Palazzo Vecchio square as that is where the Uffizi Gallery is located. We had about an hour to spare so we walked around the square, enjoying the weather and people watching.
Here is an example of how kids just got used to seeing naked people everyone.
More naked statues everywhere.
This was a bit funny--a Cupid statue (well, a guy dressed like Cupid) was resting between his "photo shoots" and smoking. Can you see the white winged guy?
More crazy moving statues. This guy looked very realistic.
And here are some funny statues who were just chilling in the shade.
What in the world is Mark doing?
Robert wanted to make sure to capture his picture with Machiavelli (and someone's gray-haired head)...sorry..this blogger program doesn't let me just crop the picture here.
And finally Uffizi! Lots and lots of paintings. We downloaded an audio tour from Rick Steve's website and followed it around. Katya actually was enjoying herself.
Mark and I did an audio tour as well trying to find different pictures that were on our list. He was an amazing little champ, not complaining at all!
Impressive ceiling decorations throughout.
And at least a hundred of random pictures of paintings and sculptures taken by the kids.
This one is not a random one, of course. This is "The Birth of Venus" by Botticelli.
"Everything is awesome".
We tried to keep our visit quite short so not to exhaust the kids. I think we were done in less than two hours and it was just perfect. As you come out from the Uffizi gallery, you see this beautiful view of the Palazzo Vecchio's tower.
It's so tall it's impossible to fit it all in.
The afternoon sun was so brilliant and inviting as we strolled through the courtyard by the gallery. The kids really-really-really wanted to get a caricature drawing of them, so we found a guy we liked, haggled the price (done by me, of course) and watched the guy create a "masterpiece".
Feeling special.
It was so funny to see Katya pose for the picture although the guy was drawing Alex.
And the final products.
The evening was still early so we walked around the plaza for a bit and then walked for twenty minutes to the place to eat we wanted to try.
This place was like a "canteen" of sorts. Kind of like a buffet, but for real just a bunch of entrees and sides you pick up and make up your dinner, very interesting.
Florence IS beautiful and definitely a must-see. Although a day and a half seems like a very short time, it actually worked perfectly for us on our whirlwind trip through Rome and Tuscany.
At least the streets were quieter this last night so we could rest well before setting off to Venice by train the following morning.
Lyana.
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