Finally - Museums

First off, and I have to say this to admit my shame, I ate Mc Donald’s Monday. Yes, I, Hillary Stroud, who hates fast food (unless it’s Chick-fil-a), ate a Mc Donald’s cheeseburger and fries and I’m not going to even mention how much I paid for the three ketchups that I was initially craving from the beginning. Although I love Italian food, and I know that I can’t get pizza, panini’s or pasta like this anywhere else, I need some dang American food sometimes. That day, I also bought Skippy’s Crunchy Peanut Butter, jelly, and bread at the supermarket to eat for lunch from now on. I’m not gonna lie, I had one today, and I think it was the best PBJ I’ve ever tasted in my entire life – nay, the best sandwich I’ve had in my entire life. Take that back , that’s not true, but it really made me feel like a good ole’ American! Did I mention somebody said, “Roll Tide” to us today? Right on the streets of Florence, a Tide fan! I mean my heart lifted and a bright smile grew on my face. Sometimes… you just need feel like an American!

Now that I’ve gone on my American rant, and don’t judge me, but this past Monday was the first day I had finally gone to a museum. I know I’ve been here for two weeks and you’re probably wondering what the heck I’ve done so far and it feels like a lot but now I’m not so sure!

Monday, a group of us went to the Galleria dell’Accademia where you can find the real Michelangelo’s statue of David. It is surprisingly remarkable when you see the enormous intensity of the statue. It's over-sized hands with it’s strength visible through the veins almost makes you feel like this thing could come to life and crush you. I can literally see what looks like body weight planted on the foot of the statue. It’s incredibly overwhelming to take in for the few seconds it takes to see the statue.

I have to also mention, as I was pointed out by Barton, when/if you go to the Galleria dell’Accademia, make sure you take in what’s just right before the statue of David in the hallway leading to it. The Accademia has on display a few sculptures called the unfinished slaves where it shows how Michelangelo carved his figures. It’s interesting, because you can see their struggle to break free from the rocks that he chiseled them into. I would have taken the time to look at these sculptors whether I knew about them or not, but I’m not sure if I would have appreciated it as much as I do now if Barton hadn't told me about them.

Today was another exciting museum day (and thankfully it’s been raining), a group of us went to the Uffitzi, one of the most famous art museums in Florence that holds famous works by artists such as da Vinci, Botticelli, Michelangel and many many more. One of my favorite piece of artworks that I was excited to see was “The Birth of Venus”, which I’m sure if you don’t recognize the name you’ve seen the painting somewhere before. It really is a beautiful piece of art that I took the time to fully take in. Maybe it’s the innocent simple colors that are used or the softness of the figures, but this painting just seems so graceful, simple, and pretty to me.

The other piece that I really liked was by Leonardo da Vinci, who always interests me. “The Adoration of the Magi” is displayed that is a painting that Leonardo never finished, which I think is engaging because you can see the different strokes and shades of the figures that were never completed. I’ve seen some of Leonardo’s work that was briefly on display in Birmingham, Alabama that shows just some sketches that he had done of figures and gadgets. He was not only an artist, but a brilliant man, as I’m sure you know. Well, you may think it’s silly, but I always think it’s sort of mind boggling.

I also FINALLY ate at the legendary Grom – supposedly the best place to get gelato in Florence. From what I heard, there’s a line down the corner of the street to get inside to order. However, we somehow, went at a good time and didn’t have to wait at all. It definitely lived up to it’s reputation, I ordered the Café and Crème di Grom (which is I think vanilla ice cream with biscotti bites and chocolate chip bits) in a waffle cone. I wish I got a bigger waffle cone to fit more ice cream, it was the best gelato/ice cream I’ve ever had! And I fully intend to go back tomorrow.