Tuscany, Pisa, Florence

We left Venice at the edge of morning. Very early, is what I mean. The days in which we left a place were the days I definitely ate breakfast. Because you had to put your suitcase outside an hour before you left. Meaning I had to have my face done and my clothes on because otherwise - where would I put my makeup/pajamas.

So, we eventually managed to get off the island of Venice despite some broken transportation. Then we hustled over to the region of Tuscany. Where we stopped for lunch at a winery. At this winery we sampled (unlimitedly) five different wines, different types of olive oil, and delicious pasta and Italian food things.

They also had a really cute dog.

Our next stop was shortly after in Pisa. Our guide to the winery would refer to this as "Dirty, stinking, smelly, rotten, blah blah blah, Pisa ptooey." Some of our retired tour members took this up as the rallying cry of the tour. I've no idea why.

The tour leans.

Eventually we made it to Florence where I walked around, taking night photos of some of the sights that Tyler (from Budapest, who studied abroad in Florence) said were "must-do"s.

Above is the Duomo. I think that's Italian for "cathedral."

The next morning we woke up to a surprise from Johnny. He took us to the Piazza Michelangelo where there's an amazing scenic overlook of the city. Then we headed back into Florence to go to the Accademie where Michelangelo's David rests. Unfortunately, you're not allowed to take photos inside. However, I did pick up some post cards. Our tour guide was very enthusiastic about art. While we spent most of the time talking about David, we did also examine the "prisoners" - statues that were abandoned (or maybe intentionally never finished). They're really interesting. More are in the Louvre. (Hint hint).

We continued on with our walking tour after seeing David. At the doors to the Baptistry of the Cathedral (mentioned above) was this amazing golden scene. I thought it looked familiar. GUESS WHAT. IT WAS FAMILIAR. It's mimicked at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. A block away from Amy's apartment. The place I went because it's referenced in a Decemberists song.

Florence, Italy

Grace Cathedral, San Francisco

The main piazza has an outdoor sculpture garden. Some of them are statues that have been replaced. Others are originals. A striking original is the "Rape of the Sabine Women" (second photo). In the first photo you can see where David used to stand before he was moved indoors for his protection.

This is a bridge that the Medicis used to cross the city. They avoided interacting with the smelly common folk. I suddenly want to learn so much more about them!

They also created the second layer of this famous bridge so they could walk across. And told the butchers who used the bridge (for the convenient waste disposal called "a river") that they had to find other places to work so more normal gold smith people could move in.

I headed to the Uffizi after a short (delicious) lunch with Jon and Trudy and some others. The Uffizi has things like Boticelli's Birth of Venus. Despite only having American Art History in school, I really appreciate all the European art. I'm still very much an Americanist and a Modernist. But I wonder how much of that is because of my frames of reference.

Next, I headed solo to the Galileo science museum where I drew on every inkling of my science memory to try and figure out what the crazy machines on display were used for.  Some of them were very cool. Some of them were incomprehensible to a lay person like me. Other exhibits were Galileo's finger. And tooth. Not kidding. See below.