We took it pretty easy today. After our classes this morning, we headed to a restaurant recommended by our school only to find out it was closed for repairs. So we just headed in the general direction of the Galleria dell’Accademia (where we had tickets for a 2:00 entrance) and along the way stumbled upon a nice little trattoria that was serving a delicious cold pasta dish with tuna for only 5,50 Euros. Not a bad deal.
Then we stopped by a gelato place that was okay. (We had found a much better one yesterday and will probably have to return there.)
Chocolate and coffee gelato
I ordered the coffee flavor gelato because it said the coffee came from Guatemala, and I thought that was funny since I’d just been there for spring break.
By then it was about 1:30, so we headed to the museum. Since we’d purchased tickets ahead of time, we thought maybe we’d get into the museum pretty fast, but what we’ve learned from the Uffizi and the Accademia is that the advance tickets get you in a slighter shorter line, but you don’t avoid the line completely. It still took us over 20 minutes to get in the museum. Katie and I took turns stepping out off line to shop at a Christian bookstore across the street.
I ended up buying this magnet, which I liked because I understood its meaning in Italian.
This I know, God is my help. The Lord sustains my life.
The Galleria dell’Accademia doesn’t have nearly as much art as the Uffizi (although they charge the same price), and the main attraction is really Michelangelo’s David. That meant Katie and I had plenty of time to sit and study this seventeen-foot tall statue, which just made me marvel at how Michelangelo could keep his perspective while working on an object so large. He must have been climbing on ladders and/or stools to carve the top parts, which I think would have made it really hard to keep the whole statue in mind. The more I contemplate carved statues, the more I admire the artists. It’s not like drawing or painting where if you make a mistake you can erase it or paint over it. Once you’ve chiseled off too much for the nose, that’s it. You can’t make the nose any bigger!
More angles of David shared on my Facebook page
The museum also had a ton of paintings and artwork depicting St. Francis. We were trying to figure out if this is normal or if they did this only after the current pope chose the name Francis.
Another part of the museum that amused us was this room full of white statues and busts. It was hard to get a good picture, but I took a video that I’ll share on Facebook.
It’s kind of creepy with row after row of heads staring at you.
By the time we’d had our fill of the art in the Accademia, we were tired. It was only mid-afternoon, but we both decided it would be good to go home. After all, we’d spent the entire day out of the house yesterday. A little “riposo” today sounded nice. Besides, I had three different homework assignments to do.
We had some of our leftover pasta from Monday night’s “fatto a casa” (made at home) pasta dinner, then spent some time doing a little planning ahead for Spain.
Around 9:00, we decided it was time for an evening stroll, so we headed out hoping to find a wine bar. The one near us was closed, so we headed back into the center of town. It took a while before we found a bar, but it turned out to be just a beer place. No wine. And it was really hot inside, so we headed down the street again.
After a while, Katie said, “So what are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking one more block, and if we still don’t find something, we head back home.
At the next corner, we turned left and saw the bright lights of a piazza just down the block. There were tents set up and lots of trattorias and such surrounding the square.
We found a place that would let us just get drinks and dessert (one place had told us: “This is a restaurant–for eating. Not just drinks!”
In Italian, I asked the waitress which dessert she recommended. For the second night in a row, I was really glad I’d asked for a recommendation. We ending up getting this really yummy apple torta with a homemade cream sauce. Hard to explain, but really yummy.
