Florence Day 3

The next day, the the Galleria dell' Academia was open, and the wait to see Michelangelo's David was worth it! Even though we've seen pictures of this sculpture many times, seeing it in person was an amazing experience. It's so huge and so amazing lifelike! I saw a quote attributed to Michelangelo: "If people only knew how hard I work to gain my mastery, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all." But, looking at the David sculpture makes it seem as though he really was all that wonderful at his craft! The gallery also included other sculptures and art, but we didn't take any more pictures since weren't supposed to take any. A staff member nicely pointed that out to Roger after he took the picture of David

The guy in all white that looks like a sculpture is actually a street performer who springs into action when given money.

After leaving David, we passed some interesting buildings on our way to the Basilica de Santa Croce where many people are buried, including Michelangelo, Galileo, and Dante. In a separate area of the basilica exists a leather school and shop. The woman in the picture designs and makes purses that sell for $3000 to $8000. We were able to watch and talk with the craftsmen. The scaffolding in the basilica was a common site in many of the large churches since the need for maintenance is ongoing. The plaque with Leonardo da Vinci's name on it indicated that he had created one of the tombs, not that he was also buried there.

Market Square was not far from our hotel. The main thing in this square was a huge indoor food and flower market. The market included a lot of produce, meat, and baked goods. One unusual thing we saw there was a tray of chicken heads for sale. They didn't look very appetizing.

We were constantly awed by the narrow streets and the ancient beauty.

The first time we crossed the bridge with the buildings was on the drizzly day, and the buildings, which turned out to be shops, were all closed. When we went back, we learned that they were all jewelry shops since, in the 1500s, Duke Ferdinand decided all the shops would be silver and jewelry shops. Before that, the bridge shops included meat markets and other types of shops. It turns out that this bridge was the only bridge in Florence that survived the WWII bombings.