Italy Chronicles Part 2

Please forgive me if I breeze through the first part of day two...I feel like we should move quickly to more important things like purses, lemons, wine, and gardens. Up first is the Uffizi Gallery. This gallery is full of Botticelli's work, Leonardo's work, and a bunch of other famous dead guys. I couldn't take pictures inside so there is not a lot to show.

I did get to see The Birth of Venus....the painting...not the actual birth...In case you don't remember High school art here is a picture from Wikipedia


Obviously, this picture doesn't do it justice...and if I could have taken a picture it wouldn't either. It was HUGE and the detail on all of paintings were unbelievable...down to the lacework on the women's dresses...incredible. I just wanted to touch it. Some stupid tourist set off the alarm when she got to close to the painting but of course that wasn't me....of course not



This was my favorite painting in my favorite room. I don't know why...I just liked it. I have already explained my affinity for portraits of old dead people. I forgot to write her name in my post when I was working on this post last night so if you really want to know...just leave a comment and I will tell you. I do know she was a very rich lady married to a banker and they were great friends with the Medici's....which is why is is hanging in the Uffizi because it used to be the Medici offices and then they started adding artwork and then all the sudden it became a museum. I don't think anyone would care enough about the posters art hanging on my walls to take it to goodwill when I was done with it.



This is the room the painting was in The Tribune. The dome was inlayed with shells and the flower scroll designs you see next to the windows are also made from using shells. Obviously I took this photo from fotosa but it was the only one I could find that showed the detail of the room. Don't think I didn't contemplate trying to slyly take one of my own but it would have been dark, grainy, and blurry so this is probably better anyway....and I didn't get carted off to Italian prison.

Those were the highlights. If you aren't satisfied....just imagine long hallways with rooms leading in to more rooms leading into more rooms full of paintings and sculptures and there you have our morning...and yes we went in to every room...thank you very much. It really was a neat place but it is something that is better appreciated in person...sorry a girl can only do so much.

Next is the Ponte Vecchio bridge. It is the oldest bridge in Florence and according to Alessandro that is because Hilter chose to destroy the other bridges, and left this one because they thought once they drove the tanks over it, it would be destroyed and they didn't want to waste the resources to blow it up....see I did learn something while I was there. Shops line the bridge and are mostly jewelry shops full of gold and diamonds....OOOHHHH AHHHH....I couldn't afford any of it so here are some pictures and we will move on....I sound a little cranky today don't I?

Apparently, I was enjoying taking sideways pictures that day so I am sorry if you just looked at those with your head turned sideways. I'll try to be better about that on our next European vacation slated to take place the year after never....who knows we may get lucky and win the lottery...oh wait Alabama doesn't have a lottery.

Now, I am going to take a brief pause before moving on. Our next stop was the Pitti Palace and Brandon and I spent over 2 hours wandering through the gardens he was THRILLED. The gardens were extensive...like central park extensive. I took lots of pictures so it is going to get it's own post because it was one of my favorite places we visited. Heather and Ryan toured the inside and said it was ok...not as glamorous as the French palaces they saw last year {they get out more than us}...so I was happy with my decision.



This is a map just to give you an idea of the size. The Ponte Vechhio bridge is number 13 and the Uffizi gallery is in the number 12 area.

I'll be back with more....more exciting stuff I promise! I'm going to go adjust my attitude and put my tour guide hat back on and we will continue on.