Now I'm Museumed and Cathedraled out

The duomo in Florence had a massive facade and it was decorated in green, red, and white. It was elaborate but I actually thought it was quite ugly.
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Today I started out early in the morning because Let's Go was saying that there were all kinds of queues to wait in to get into the most popular places.  I had breakfast at 0730 at the hostel which was very tasty as Let's Go suggested.  I had toast, scrambled eggs, and bacon.  Along with that I had some bits of chocolate (they just got bars of chocolate and crushed them up), some sort of cake, vegetable salad, and some fruit.

I immediately headed to the nearby Accademia where Michelangelo's David is held.  When I got there I saw a queue had already formed!  I was there at 0800 and the line was a city-block long!  Whoa....this is going to be crazy.  I stood in line and actually only waited 30 minutes, which is bad compared to all other museums and stuff I have been to.  I guess it went by quickly because the museum was empty of tourists when it first opened at 0815 so they were letting us in quickly.  I tried to argue that I was an EU citizen with my student ID...no go.  He also picked up on the american accent even though I tried to explain I went to an American English school.  He finally said no when I said I was an engineering student...he made up some bologna about discounts only for art and history students.  Whatever, I was making stuff up too so it's fair.

Florence ahoy!
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I walked through the first part of the museum which contained many paintings showing the crucifix and nativity scenes.  I finally turned the corner and saw the David.  Just like the guidebook said, I was blown away.  I have never seen pictures of it before (not even on the internet so that was a nice surprise!).  I averted my eyes because I wanted to see his slaves and peita before getting to the masterpiece.  The slaves were interesting because they were unfinished.  Michelangelo supposedly left them that way because he wanted to show people that figures and subjects were being released from their marble enclosures.  Neat concept and I bought it.  I don't understand how these marble pieces don't crumble while being chipped away.  How does he get such detail without making erroneous marks!?  I guess that's why I'm only looking at it and not doing it.

This is a marble copy of the David. You can't take pictures of Michelangelo's David.
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The David was so realistic.  He even had the knuckles, skin creases, and veins all in place!  I was half expecting David to just take his sling shot and walk off the podium.  Now I can see why people think it is such a great work of art.  You really need not see any other sculpture after seeing it because none compare.  I sat down for 30 minutes just staring at David and finally decided that there were other things to see in Florence.

I walked out and about and found a small market where I bought my bottle of water, 2L for 0.40 euros.

Ponte Vecchio bridge was owned by a rich family back in the day. Now it's littered with jewelry (primarily gold) vendors.
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I found my way to the duomo and circled it looking for the entrance.  I saw the bronze cast doors of the Baptistry known as the gates of paradise.  I paid the 6 euros to climb the 463 steps of the duomo and get a great view of the city.  On the way up we had a great view of the painting on the ceiling of the duomo.  It depicted heaven, hell, and purgatory.  It was really nice and I was blown away at how well the artists portrayed the three...regions I suppose.  My neck started to hurt from looking up so I continued on to the top of the duomo.  Like the leaning tower of PIsa, many people were huffing and puffing and taking breaks here and there.  The top was amazing, just like you would imagine being 100m up in the middle of Florence.  I took my pictures here and there and just hung out for a while overlooking the city.  I made several circumferential walks and them finally headed back down.  I really wanted to see the Uffizi Galleria.

Picture of Florence from above atop the duomo
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I found my way down and then walked through the streets again wandering aimlessly.  I ran into the Bargello, where Donatello's bronze David resided.  I tried again to get a student discount but had even less luck.  I asked for the exit and the lady opened the door to the museum for me.  I was very confused, but she waved me on.  I guess I somehow gave her enough pain to give me a free admission?  Anyway, I just walked through and saw the sculptures around the area.  They were really nice, but I had already seen the David from Michelangelo so really these didn't quite compare.  Some were more intricate and detailed but they didn't capture reality like his did.

River Arno
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I left the Bargello and found my way to the Piazza della Signoria.  There, they had an outdoor open air museum of a couple of bronze and marble statues.  They had a replica of the michelangelo david in front of the Palazzo Vecchio.  Not as impressive because it was kind of dirty from being out doors.  They also had another more impressive sculpture of, I think it was, Poseidon.  I can't be certain though.  Another bronze sculpture showed Mercury, the winged god, with a severed head of a defeated warrior.  I hung out there for a bit to get my bearings in the city and headed in the correct direction to the Uffizi.

Sunset from the Piazza del Michelangelo
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Wow, talk about queues.  This queue was to take 3.5 hrs to get to the entrance!  I stood in line for about 15 minutes and then decided that there were other things I wanted to see and would come back in the morning tomorrow to see the Uffizi.  I headed to the river Arno and took a couple of pictures.  Walked east along the river, dodging motorists here and there.  I found the Chiesa del Santa Croce.  this is where the tomb of Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli, among others, lay.  I went in and saw their impressive tombs.  Visari designed Michelangelos.  Machiavelli's was most impressive I thought.  I hope people adorn me like them when I die!  I also saw the predecessor for the Statue of Liberty.  She was impressive and cool to see up close.  She was holding a brken chain and something else that I can't remember.  It basically represents that art was being freed from previous constraints.

Better river photo
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I left the chiesa and headed to the next chiesa del Santa Maria Novella near the train station.  I wandered into the tourist office and found out that a concert was on tonight for 5 euros.  I almost bought a ticket but decided to leave my night plans open.  I went into the church which was less than impressive.  Don't go there.  It was nice if you haven't seen a church or cathedral in Europe before...but since this was my umpteenth one, I was not wowed at all.

I hung out in the grassy area of Plazza del Santa Maria Novella.  Took off my shoes because my feet were sweating...no socks since I washed them last night and they hadn't dried yet.  Ew.  I figured out that I would check the Uffizi again because apparently the line dies in the afternoon.  I wandered through more small side streets taking in the city.  I stopped in a small pizzeria to have a slice of mushroom pizza.  I thought it was sausages so it was interesting when I took the first bite.  Good thing it was still tasty.

better sunset photo
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Then I went back to the Uffizi where the line had died considerably!  People were now only waiting 30 minutes so I gladly joined the crowd.  The line moved in chunks and people were cutting like mad but it was okay because I was in no rush.  This is where I met Jolene from Vancouver, Canada.  She was traveling throughout Europe since she had just quite her job as an english teacher in Japan.  I asked her tons of questions about teaching there and now I definitely want to do it.  It sounds like a great experience and I'm planning to go there after I get a master's degree...seriously following Sarah's footsteps.  We toured the museum together and saw one-too-many crucifixes and nativity scenes.  We got to see some paintings from michelangelo, visari, and many more.  It reminded me of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, London.  The Uffizi was very impressive and I highly recommend it.  They have quite a large collection of all kinds of paintings from almost every big name artist.

We ran into Sang, the girl from the flight from Barcelona to Pisa.  I don' tknow if I've mentioned her.  It was an odd coincidence so we hung out for a bit.  It took us 20 minutes to find the exit to the museum because the arrows pointed towards emergency exits, which were connected to alarms.  It was confusing.  Anyway, we decided to head up to the Piazzale Michelangelo to overlook the city for the rest of the afternoon.  Sang had to meet up with some of her friends so it was just Jo and I.

Chatted up at the top and enjoyed a good gelato and view of the city.  it turns out that we were staying in the same hostel so we started walking back.  We stopped in at another pizzeria and I had some pepperoni and bacon slices of pizza which were really good.  Back at the hostel I just got settled in.  Jo and I met Ignacio and we all went out to buy some wine to drink for the night.  I bought a 4.50 euro bottle of red Toscano (Tuscany) wine.  It wasn't great but it was good enough.  They each bought 1 euro bottles, which were honestly just as good.  We all hung out together and I ran into more people that I had previously met in Krakow, Poland.  The 7 of us: Me, Jolene, Sarah, emily, Danielle, Ignacio, and Rodrigues had a great time just talking about places we've been, places we're going, and keeping in touch.  I definitely want to stay in touch with Ignacio because he made Chile sound like a complete paradise.  He also said that engineers are in high demand there and its good that English is my first language and that I can pick up Spanish again.

The new plan is as follows: graduate from HMC, get a master's somewhere in the US, teach English in Japan for 1-2 years, engineer in Chile for 1-2 years.

Turned in for the night.  Tomorrow I will wander Florence, just aimlessly.  I've seen everything I wanted to.  Then I'm heading out to Rome, three hours by train.  Love you all!