We finally made it into the gallery and I have to say that it is definitely filled with priceless works of art. Here's the thing though, after a while they all start to look the same. How many times can you see Jesus being crucified? How many times can you see baby Jesus suckling Mary's breast? How many times can you see Man's struggle between Heaven and Hell. After a while, they all kinda rolled into each other. Michelangelo, Botticelli and Da Vinci did stand out, though. Not necessarily because they were well-known names but because their art really was just a notch above everyone elses. Michelangelo, especially, had a way of expressing depth-of-field that was mesmerizing.
Priceless works of art? DONE!! On to the important things in life like exploring and drinking good wine! First, we made our way back to the room to shower and change clothes. After, we had a general plan to head in the direction of the Ponte Vecchio which is a Medieval stone closed-spandrel segmental arched bridge over the Arno River. How's that for regurgitating Wikipedia? Once we got there, we were completely encompassed by the crush of Humanity as it slowly swayed it's way across the river, pausing at every rock, trinket and overlook to hold up their phones with selfie sticks and document their journey. What I found very interesting was that the majority of the merchants on the bridge were jewelry merchants. I wonder why that is?
After the bridge, we knew that the next major point-of-interest was the Palazzo Pitti. So here's the thing; we walked around a corner and the Palace just rose before us. It was breathtaking in it's grandeur and presence. As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly what it was. Months ago before we ever had any tickets or anything purchased for Italy, I was cruising through Google Earth and I stumbled upon this place that looked totally amazing. Guess what? It was the Pitti Palace!! I recognized it as if I had already visited it! So cool what technology has given us.
My lovely bride and I found a great little wine bar and proceeded to have a few glasses of wine and some specialty cheeses endemic to the region. Awesome!! We took some artsy-craftsy pics, had a good time and figured it was time to work our way back towards our hotel. Of course, on the way, we needed to make sure that every local bar was graced with our presence. We found a Birrateca, an Irish bar (Grizzly's....and we had Jager shots there) and I'm sure there were a few others as well.
You know, after drinking a bit, you work up a huge appetite so we fired up Google and looked for a steakhouse nearby as Firenze is known for it's steak. We called to make a reservation for 15 minutes from the time we called. Needless to say, the restaurant was about 15 minutes away! We took off through the streets on our quest for some carniverous delight. We made it on time and were promptly greeted by the waiter who informed us, in Italian, that he knew exactly what we wanted. Yes, we were hungry but the sizzling side of beef that was carried to our table by a team of oxen, was a little much. We dug in with gusto, drank some wine, dug in some more, drank some wine and before we knew it, we were ready for the cardiac unit at the local hospital!
It was about 10:45 by the time we rolled ourselves out of the ristorante and began the slow, painful shuffle back to our hotel. It was Saturday night and the townsfolk were partying it up and, as much as we wanted to join them, there was no way we could ingest another bite or drink of anything. Speaking of partying, they partied at two bars right below our bedroom window until dawn. Seriously, they were screaming and yelling at each other, dropping beer bottles and making a ton of noise until the sun came up at about 6AM. Needless to say, neither one of us got much sleep and we were meeting a taxi at 8:30 to take us to pick up our rental car for the drive to Venizia. Grrrr.......
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