Florence the Third

"OK. Let's get up and see another effing statue."
- Marco, 6:30 am, Florence

The Fromm was right: the crowds here are crazy. To beat the mad rush, we've decided to hit the major attractions when they open to avoid queueing for hours on end.

That meant that we were at Galleria dell'Accademia at 8:30 to see David. No pictures allowed. What I will say is that David was amazing and incredibly detailed (although the Pieta is still my favourite.) I will also say that the reproduction of David in the Piazza della Signoria (posted in Florence the First) seems to have an oversized right hand - like an orange on a toothpick - whereas the original has properly proportioned hands.

Next we went to San Lorenzo.


As you all have undoubtedly noted (having religiously followed Architectural Digest) this church has an unfinished facade. Michelangelo submitted several designs although none were finally selected and so it remains like this, a J's worst nightmare. San Lorenzo was the parish church of the Medici family and they lavished their wealth on its adornment...which you again can't see due to another picture ban. You'll just have to google the Medici Tombs, with Michelangelo's monumental funerary figures symbolizing Night, Day, Dawn and Dusk, which for us was the highlight of the visit.

Next it was off to Florence's busiest food market, the Mercato Centrale. On the ground floor there are hundreds of stalls selling meat, poultry, fish, cheese and typical Tuscan food. It's right in the heart of the San Lorenzo street market and looked suspiciously like the St. Lawrence Market in Toronto. Hold on a tic: San Lorenzo? Saint Lawrence? Coincidence? we think not. Even though those creeps clearly copied our market, no one cared if you took a picture so I went to town.




After some lunch and A Pause that Refreshes, we headed out to what is likely the most important church in Florence: Santa Croce.


The magnificent gothic church is huge: it is basically the same size as St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. Santa Croce (CROW-chay if you plan to read this blog aloud to friends and family, later) contains the tombs of many famous Florentines including: Michelangelo


(against his will - he wanted his bod to remain in Rome but his dead self was smuggled back); Galileo


(even though he was banned from the church for years for his wacky ideas, necessitating that his body be hidden within the church by monks for hundreds of years following his death until history loved him again); and, of course, our old buddy, Big D


(even though his actual body is in Ravenna and this is just a big empty marble box).

The church also houses Machiavelli's tomb and the tomb of Leonardo Bruni although we couldn't see these as they were under restoration. Of interest, the church had some very nice stained glass


and over 250 tombs embedded in the floor of various important religious and other figures. As you walk around, you're essentially walking on a giant graveyard.


It's odd to be walking on graves but that's what the Franciscans wanted; it underlines the value they place on humility.

The most important learning of the day came outside on the steps of Santa Croce: if it's just too hot for suede (like today), an acceptable substitution is an off-white, vented, pointy and super-elongated, man-heeled boot-shoe. (Note: it's never too hot not to wear jeans, though).


It's our last full day in Italy tomorrow (before Zurich). As Cindy, an experienced traveller, reminded us: the code when travelling is to "sleep when you're dead" (although as Marco points out "if you sleep when you're dead you won't enjoy it.") Tomorrow we will make a final and heroic push to fit in as much sight-seeing as possible without collapse. We're feeling strong, rested and ready for: the Bargello, the Duomo, and possibly the Uffizi (highlights only, clam lady etc.)

FORZA CANADESE!!!!!