Florence: Science and Art Intertwined

Day 7: We continued our tour with another trip outside of Rome. Today we headed to Florence by train. We took the first train out in the morning and a late train back to Rome. This gave us a full day in Florence. One day in Florence is never enough. I called this a “wet your whistle tour.” If the group liked Florence they can plan to return again in their future. This is my second trip to Florence in less than 12 months. I do love the city.

We started our day with one of the best stops in Florence, the Galleria dell’ Accademia. We wanted to visit Michelangelo’s David in all of his splendor. I love the unfinished works as well. Each time I visit the Accademia they have added to the exhibit. This time they had a nice exhibit of musical instrument. They had a couple of Stradivarius and beautiful harpsichords. I would love to take one of the harpsichords back to Atlanta with me but it would not fit in my backpack. The difference between a harpsichord and a piano is the harpsichord’s strings are plucked and the piano’s has a hammer that hits the strings.

After a walk down to the Arno River, a rub of the boar’s nose to assure a return to Florence and a trip across the Ponte Vecchio, we met our guide for a tour of the Uffizi. The guide was a historian first and an art expert second. Our tour was chronological through the evolution of the art of Florence. We left feeling that we had really connected with the art.

We used a little time to support the economy of Florence and headed to the Mercato Centrale for dinner. The Mercato Centrale is a high end eatery with many different venders and choices for a meal. We ended the day with a train ride back to Rome.

We are on an adventure.