Florence Day 2

On our second day in Florence, we were planning to visit the Galleria dell' Academia where Michelangelo's David is housed. But, it turned out that the museum was closed that day, so all we did was take a picture of the library and planned to return the next day.

We then headed over to the Duomo, which is the huge church in Florence. We had seen a very long line waiting to get into it the day before, so, since there wasn't a line, we stayed by the door for about 15 minutes so we could be sure to get in without a long wait. Our plan worked out great since there was a very long line when we came out.

The Florence Duomo experience begins with the huge front doors…..although, we weren't allowed to enter though those doors. Inside, the Duomo is quite majestic, although most of the wall art and sculptures have been removed and placed in a museum for protection.

After leaving the Duomo, we went to Galileo's Museum where we read about Galileo's work and saw two of his telescopes. Then, we went to the Vecchio Palace where we saw great art and amazing ceilings as well as very elaborate living quarters. This palace was built from 1299-1302. In the 1500s, it was home to Consimo I and the Medicis, but is now used for city employees and is open to the public. The "Hall of the 500" or "Salone dei Cinquecento" is the most outstanding part of the palace and is filled with frescoes and sculptures. There used to be Leonardo da Vinci frescoes, but he had included wax in them and they were ruined (melted) by braziers used in the frescoe-drying process. We saw Michelangelo's Victory showing a young man treading on a bearded older man. Theoretically, Michelangelo put his own face on the older man. The Vecchio is partnering with the University of California in San Diego to explore the underdrawings of one of the large paintings. The plastic covering showing in the picture with all of the chairs is over the painting that is being explored. UC San Diego developed a method of seeing through the paint. It was rather a surprise for us to walk in this room and see "UC San Diego" showing prominently! The city views and the map room are also in this museum. The church showing through the rain-covered window is the Duomo at a distance.