Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Florence- Old Town & Uffizi

Today we went to the Uffizi gallery, which is in Old Town Florence. It was about a 40 minute walk from our apartment, which was hard on Aven, but we made it on time for our entrance time. I was really looking forward to the gallery since it's filled with Medieval and Renaissance art that I know and love. It wasn't exactly the magical art experience I was hoping for. We stood in three different lines to get into the gallery and then spent the entire time we were in the gallery dodging huge tour groups that were so focused on listening to the tour guide through ear pieces that they were completely oblivious to the fact that other people were trying to exist in the same room. I did get to see some very famous paintings by Giotto, Caravaggio, Michelangelo, Durer, and Boticelli (just to name a few) which was pretty awesome, but the amount of money we spent didn't really stack up against the amount of headache we endured. The best part of the Uffizi was when we first walked into the main corridor of the gallery, which is full of large statues of nude men. Aven very loudly said "Hey! I can see his . . ." and right as she was about to say "pee-pee" Emma clapped her hand over Aven's mouth just in time to muffle those last two words. It was pretty awesome.

After the gallery we wondered around old town. It was incredibly beautiful in most places. The main piazza near the Duomo was incredibly crowded and crawling with gypsies (the panhandlers/ pick-pockets of Europe). The only two things I didn't like about old town were the cars and motorcycles speeding through the very narrow streets and, yet again, the tour groups. We got gelato (it had been two whole days, so we were going through withdrawals), and then we got some dessert at a cafe/ bar so that I could sit down in a chair and nurse Etta (I wasn't really enthused about sitting on the curb and nursing her as cars and scooters buzzed past).

After making the long walk back to our neighborhood Aven and Etta played at a really nice little park down the street from our apartment (they really needed it). We cooked dinner ourselves and put Etta to bed a little early (she was so exhausted that she fell asleep within a few minutes).

Overall it was a great day and Aven and Etta held up like champion travelers through 5 HOURS of walking around town.
Etta tries her first ice-cream (pistachio) she LOVED it.

One of the many tour groups we ran into today. 

The only thing more ridiculous that looking like a sheep in a huge tour group is going on a segway tour. Sorry, but people who do this just look silly.

Family photo time!

This is what this trip is all about! There's the Duomo in the back ground, by the way.

Emma.


1 comment:

  1. That is why, if you really wanna see the museums and galleries that you go in spring/fall. Try getting into the Louvre during the summer.

    ReplyDelete