Florence- March 9

Florence is a breathtaking city.  I especially loved this photo I found online of it.    This bridge "Ponte Vecchio"  has an interesting story to me.  These shops were built over the bridge initially for the butchers most likely because they had easy access to dump their access waste into the river.  As commerce increased it was the main access to the city so jewelers found it prime location for selling but the smell was so rank that they kicked out the Butchers and it continues to be shops for fine jewelry. 

We started out by first visiting the Galleria Dell' Accademia.  Home to Michelangelo's David Statue.    Last year I read the book "Oil and Marble" which told the story of Michelangelo during his time he carved the David Statue.  A few things I learned from the book was that the huge block of marble that we carved from was passed up by most sculptures deemed to hard to carve but Michelangelo saw it's potential.  Michelangelo was a temperamental and unkept man who seldom bathed and wore rags.  It was against the Catholic Church laws and customs to desecrate a human body but Michelangelo would sneak into the morgues below the Cathedrals and dissect dead people to learn more about the human body.    He built himself a small shack around the block of marble right in the middle of Florence and worked around the clock to finish it in a little over 2 years.    Before he could carve he had to establish a connection to the stone as if it was human.  During the tour I learned that with one of his carvings, not the David, he became so mad that after he finished the person didn't talk to him that hit the chisel into the knee exclaiming "why won't you talk to me"   Needless to say he was an interesting and mostly unlikable guy.  Proceeding up the David was a serious of unfinished carvings of Michelangelos.    These were fascinating because its almost like a strange transformers movie where the people are just busting out of the stone.  It really showed how Michelangelo felt that these were real people inside the stones.

Paintings after a while start looking a like but this one caught my attention and made me laugh a little.  It's like Jesus is saying "Peace out you all.  I'm good".   

Our tour continued through the streets of Florence.  Our group had to divide amongst two tour guides and by this time I noticed that the other tour guide was way more informative than ours so I switched my earphones to channel 6 and enjoyed learning a little about the history of Florence.  

Bart and I were tempted to climb to the top of the Duomo but with it being free day we figured we would be waiting in line too long. 

So instead we walked down the same streets Michaelangelo walked toward his house

Casa of Michelangelo

Roman art is fascinating yet super morbid.  Like this statue of the Rape of the Sabine women.  Just morbid.  Romans were super obsessed with bodies especially naked ones.    

We ended our tour in a jewelry and leather shop where they explained a little about Italian Leather vs. pleather and had a little fashion show.   I had absolutely no intention of buying a leather jacket but the color of one caught my attention and before I knew it the sales lady had my trying it on in my right size and I fell in love. 

John found one he liked as well but we both couldn't bite the bullet just yet, despite our spouses encouragement, so we put it on hold and walked around the open air market looking for a new wallet for Bart and souvenirs for my kids.    Here's a "flattering" picture of us trying to haggle this guy for a couple of small leather tween like backpacks.    I think it captures how I feel when haggling.  We walked away from the first guy and ended up with these 2 nice guys in there shop where we got a blue and pink backpack and Bart a wallet.

We then found our way over to the shoemakers shop that had previously made John, Suzanne and I think Sarah some shoes.  We got there in the middle of siesta time so decided to tour the castle close by while we waiting for it to reopen. 

In my opinion most statues were very masculine or sensual in nature but I liked this one because it showed a tender maternal side.  It must have been commissioned by the woman of the house and not the ruling king.  Either that or all 3 of these people tragically died so they sculpted them.  

The line was long and the castle itself was more of the same but Pauline enjoyed a textile art show inspired by animals.  Here are a few pictures she took of the outfits.  

The outside grounds were beautiful and with the best view of Florence

Afterwards we made it back to the shoe shop to discover they didn't have a single shoe in mine or Bart's sizes.    Woe is the life of people with big feet.   I couldn't get that jacket out of my head so after a pizzeria lunch we set off back to the leather shop to buy the jackets we left on hold.  Here's super cute picture of John and Pauline in front the Pointe Vecchio.  Bart took off a different direction once he discovered he bought the wrong wallet and wanted to exchange it so instead of a picturesque moment of the two of us I took a selfie.

My favorite part of my new jacket is my initials inscribed in 24 K gold.   Im sure every time I wear it I'll think of Florence.  

After the shoe shop disappointment I'd given up finding boots in Florence but Pauline hadn't for me.  As we strolled through the cobblestone streets she kept peaking her head into leather shops seeing if they sold shoes.  As she peaked her head into one shop to see if there were shoes this friendly handsome salesman said "You know you can come in and see the place."   Soon we were inside his shop chatting with him about where we were from and how he has relatives in St. George and is good friends with a customer who is an Utah Author Richard Paul Evans who comes to write in Tuscany.    I'm sure he was a little disappointed when he saw our bags from his competitor Misuri but that didn't stop him from almost convincing Pauline to buy herself a new jacket that she didn't really like.  He was that good of a salesman.  Just in case anyone wants something in fine leather from Florence look him up.

He did give us a name of a leather shoe store and assured us if anyone had boots to fit this guy would.  Soon we were off and made our way to the store called Goccia at via Pellicceria, 12/r Firenze - 50123. 

Once there we found another charming salesman who had a few pairs of boots in my size and only one pair of size 14 shoes on clearance for Bart which fit like a glove and in Bart's words "Doesn't make my feet look like ski's". 

Shopping in Florence was so fun and I think we all enjoyed it and to top off the enjoyment on our walk back to the Hotel we once again  stopped at my favorite Gelato place and I indulged in their decadent Mango Cheesecake once again.