Day 5: The Monk

This morning I (Kevin) woke up, and pretty much had to leave. I didn't have much time to make myself pretty that day, but I had a good feeling about that day. On the bus, we sang the Backstreet Boys, among other things. Beverly said she saw sunflowers and grapes, but I saw nothing. When we got to Florence, the bus had to stop to get a permit to enter the city, so at the bus stop, we all went to the restroom. On my way back from the bathroom I almost legitly died: I said hi to Tori or something like that and when I looked away I almost was hit by a bus. Beverly thinks it's funny for some reason... anyway, we got to Florence and stopped by San Miniata al Monte. We saw a monk that was breathtaking, and that was pretty much the last thing I remembered.

This is Beverly now: The bus ride lasted one and a half hours. In the bathroom, I had trouble turning on the sink, because I didn't realize it had a pedal instead of a knob or sensor. Oh, Europe! I really loved the trip to San Miniato. From the top of the hill, we could see the most spectacular view of Florence, but without the crowds of Piazzale Michelangelo, where all the tour busses stopped. Surprisingly, it was only a short walk from there to San Miniato, and a walk well worth it.

Inside San Miniato, we looked at the art and frescos. The ceiling was very tall, and beamed. On the beams, there were tiles painted with colorful geometric designs. It was a very beautiful church, but it was hard to appreciate it fully because it took a Euro in the machine to turn on any lights.

We walked down from San Miniato to Piazzale Michelangelo, where we met our tour guide for the day, Natale. We observed the view for a while he gave us an overview of Florentine history. Apparently, Florence was first a Roman town, but it grew through the years to become much, much larger. The oldest part of Florence is actually at the center, and Natale promised that we would get there later.

We walked down a lot of stairs to get to the city. It was fairly steep and a bit treacherous at the top, so we Americanos were surprised to see a native run full-speed up to the top. It was impressive. At the bottom of the stairs, we entered through an old medieval entrance in the outer wall.

We walked then to see Santa Croche, or the Church of the Holy Cross. It was really impressive on the outside, but our tour guide assured us it was “fake” since it was only from the 19th century. Inside, we saw tombs and monuments to some famous people. We saw Galileo’s tomb, and a monument to Michelangelo. Michelangelo was actually buried in the church, but not in the coffin seen on the monument. He is in the catacombs. On our way out of the church, we saw a sculpture by Donatello.

After that, we walked to the Duomo, or cathedral, of Florence. It was also covered in a “fake” façade, but it was beautiful nonetheless. We also saw the “Gates of Paradise” on the Baptistery, which were two gold-gilded doors with three-dimensional depictions of the Old Testament on them.

All the views in Florence were spectacular, but after all of the walking, we were ready for lunch! We went to a small restaurant in the Roman part of Florence. It had air conditioning! Everyone sat down and gulped down some water, but many of us were allured by the wine offered for our first “cultural experience” meal. Some of us had our first taste of wine there—with mixed reactions. Though, most of us agreed that it was better when tempered with some of the wonderful Italian cuisine. The meal was incredible! We had a pasta course with some of the most amazing cheese tortellini, everyone’s favorite dish so far. The next course was a chicken with a cheese or alfredo sauce, followed by a dessert of vanilla ice cream and an intense hot fudge sauce. Delish! Some of us (especially the boys :P) were really enthused about the wine, though, and were tempted to have more than our share. Our student leaders kept on top of us, though!

After lunch, we went to the Accademia to see Michelangelo’s David for real. There are many replicas throughout the city, but luckily Florence also houses the real thing. The first gallery is rather soft-spoken, with dim lighting and frescos from churches, but, when you turn the corner, David is overwhelmingly spectacular. He is lit with natural, but indirect light, and he almost glows in the white observance area. Paolo from Santa Chiara accompanied us to give an overview of Michelangelo’s contribution to art, and his insights were enthralling.

Some of us toured the Accademia thoroughly, checking out the other sculpture and painting galleries. We saw some really imposing allegorical paintings from the Renaissance, and almost all were Christian in subject. It was a humbling exploration.

After the Accademia, we wandered through the city back towards the Duomo. We wanted to check out the inside, and possibly climb into the dome, but we were on a tight schedule, and didn’t really have time to explore it. We passed it after another look at the outside, and retraced our steps towards Santa Croche. We rubbed the nose of the pig fountain said to bring good luck. It was really touristy and crowded there, though, so we didn’t stay long. We wandered back leisurely, checking out some of the famous Florentine leather goods. Many of us were ripped off.

We walked along the Arno back to the busses, and most people napped on the trip back. At the center, we relaxed before a delicious dinner of pasta, squash, carrots, potatoes, chicken, and watermelon. After dinner, we made our obligatory trip to the Coco Palm for gelato. There, Andrew told us a “scary story” about a winged beast. In case you were wondering, it was quite a cliffhanger. We all enjoyed it immensely.

On the way back, we encountered a very large boy walking around in his underwear. Some things just don’t have to be explained.

Ciao,
Kevin and Beverly