Un Giorno delle Viste Spettacolare

Well, that’s annoying. And a bit of a concern… My normal blog page wouldn’t open up and let me in. I’ll start writing this in Word and try to paste it over later, but if there’s a problem, this’ll be why.[Ed's note: It worked! Yay!] And I need to tell you about our day of spectacular sights.

 Well, here we are in Florence, people. We went into town pretty early, getting away before 9.30 (not bad for a Saturday) so that we would have at least an hour to get orientated. Using information from the host who met us yesterday combined with that of Google Maps, we found ourselves not far from where we arrived in the city yesterday, at the train station. It took a good 5 minutes after that, however, figuring out which direction Google thought we were going, as opposed to which direction Google wanted us to go, especially when my Google and Stephen’s Google had differing opinions. 

Ponte Vecchio

Our aim was the Uffizi Gallery. This is the biggie in Florence, so we wanted to see it early. Last night I used my phone to pre-book a ticket, and the earliest time available was 11.15, although the app said to get there 15 minutes early. We got there at about 10.30 and tried to pick up the ticket then, even thought we weren't expecting to try to enter for a while yet, but were told quite curtly to come back at 11.15. So we continued to explore the surrounds of the Uffizi Museum, which is right on the Arno River, just down from Ponte Vecchio. There is a warren of little streets and tiny piazzas around about it too. We walked and then had a coffee, waiting for the clock to tick down. When we got back it was a little early, but apparently it was okay to give us the tickets at 11.13. So we went and joined the queue.

I assume (and hope) the system means that if you haven’t pre-booked a ticket, you have to queue twice: once to buy and then again to enter. Today the queue to buy was very short – barely out the door – but the queue we were in (that of people who had tickets in their little hot hands already, and were waiting to enter) was maybe 200m long. It stayed that way for several minutes (don’t you hate it when you’re at the end of a long line, and no one joins it after you? You want to feel better off than somebody, and there’s nobody. But then somebody arrives, and you feel better about waiting again.) But suddenly the line started moving, and it kept going fairly quickly and constantly. We were inside at 11.26, so 13 minutes from picking up the tickets.

It took us two hours to see the top floor, and then we had lunch at the cafeteria that was provided at exactly the right spot. Then there was another circuit to complete on the floor below, and that was it. Highlights were Michelangelo, da Vinci, Caravaggio, Botticelli, and Artemisia Gentileschi, the only female artist represented in the entire gallery, but who wasn’t even noted as such. 

It’s a joy how close you can get to the works to examine them closely and see the brushstrokes, tiny details, and signatures. Some have sensor alarms and some have glass, but I’d imagined there’d be a 1 or 2 meter security cordon or some such thing. But no: you can get intimately close to them. There were some other works that were fascinating to look at with this advantage, for example comparing Rembrandt’s (presumed) self-portraits as a young man and as an old man, hanging next to each other.

Possibly Rembrandt as a young man

Definitely Rembrandt as an old man

Cathedral Tower and Duomo

After we emerged from the Uffizi, we decided to see what was away from the river, since according to the map, that’s nearly everything. We knew the direction of the Duomo, since we’d seen it along the way and from the cafeteria terrace, so we could head that way without having to get out the map. And what a breathtaking sight that is, when you see what it’s part of. From what I’d read, I knew that the Duomo, or the cathedral it’s attached to, at least, is a must-see. But I was not prepared for the exterior to be so spectacular. You see all the pictures of the red-tiled dome, not particularly tall, or huge, or spectacular in any way, so the body of the cathedral comes as a shock.

Baptistry cupola

Entry to the Cathedral itself is free, so there was a big queue for that, but there was no line for a much smaller, but clearly related building just in front. We were directed to the ticket office nearby, and finally understood how the Duomo situation stands. We now have tickets that will let us into the five different sites that comprise the sight that is the Duomo. But in addition we had to book a time (6.30pm Monday being the first available) to see the Duomo itself. Now we were able to go over and visit the smaller building we were interested in, the octagonal Baptistry in the middle of the piazza. Half of its interior was under repair, but they're very considerate in Italy (in this respect anyway): the material that covers the scaffolding has pictures on to show what it should, or will, look like. The baptism area itself was quite plain, being 11^th century, but the cupola was golden and quite lovely.

Michelangelo's second Pieta

We walked around the back of the Duomo and found a museum that our ticket entitled us to visit, a modern building that houses some of the works and items and other bits and pieces that have been removed from the Duomo over the years. We were looking for Michelangelo’s Pieta, but it turned out not to be the Pieta, but a Pieta. Reading and reflecting on the information on the work (started when he was 80 for placement near his own tomb; unfinished and in fact destroyed by the artist when he discovered flaws in the marble, but then pieced back together; himself as Nicodemus, carrying the dead Jesus, to show his personal faith) I found it utterly moving.  Later, at the exit was a sign that explained that this site had been the workshop where Michelangelo carved David, and he would have used that entrance in his day. We noticed today that a lot of buildings here retain their historic lower parts, or facades at least, but seem to have clean smooth lines above – some have old-style shutters and windows and balconies, and others look completely modern. So although this was a beautiful light and airy museum, our footsteps could still have trodden Michelangelo’s path. 

We were trying to make our way towards the river, and the Museum of the Works of the Duomo had been a distraction. What we wanted was the Galileo Museum, which was next to the Uffizi, but we hadn’t known that when we were there. Our plan at the beginning was to do one big thing and one small thing each day, but that has already gone out the window. A) there are too many things to try to fit in, and B) it’s too easy just to stumble across something that looks interesting and may be too good to miss. But the Galileo Museum was one of our small things, and we thought we might still fit it in, since it was just a little after 4.30. We saw the sign and got to the door – and it was closed. And it had been since 1 o’clock, so at least we hadn’t just missed.  And it would be closed tomorrow too. You’d think people would check these small points when they make a plan, wouldn’t you? But no, some people are idiots when it comes to plans. They think they know what they’re doing, but they know nothing.

Ponte Vecchio, inside

So, if you’ve been following closely, you know that we are now back near the Uffizi, which is near the Ponte Vecchio. This morning we had seen the bridge only from the outside, but now we had nothing better to do so we thought we might as well cross it. Coincidentally, at exactly the same time, every other tourist in the city had the same thought. I hadn’t realized that there were only jewellery shops on the bridge, but apparently this was ordered by a Medici in the 16^th century, because the butchers who used to be there would toss their stinking leftovers into the river. The upstairs and the outsides and the closed shops’ shutters still look medieval and quaint, but the shop windows are bright and glittering and just like your high street jewellery shops – it’s a startling juxtaposition.

We continued over the bridge and into the shopping streets on the other side. We were a bit sick of walking so we stopped for an aperitif (all right, a beer) and to figure out where to go from here: have dinner and go home, or go home and have dinner, and how would we do either? Mr Google kindly informed us that a walk, a bus, a tram, and another walk would get us home; and somewhere along the way an opportunity for dinner would surely present itself. As we set off there were some pizzerias, but it seemed a little early, and we kind of felt we would be settling too soon if we ate there, so we kept going. A few minutes to the bus stop, a few stops to the tram stop, then from the stop nearest the flat we knew we would be passing a few neighbourhood businesses. Some of them would have to be restaurants open on a Saturday night, wouldn’t they?

Well, actually, you might be surprised. The first one we came to, in the second or third bunch of shops, was a Japanese and Chinese restaurant. It was open, and it looked quite nice really, and although it’s weird to be in Italy and have a Japanese or Chinese meal, we thought it could be an experience. Of course, having Japanese and Chinese in the same restaurant is already a bit of a warning signal, and also nobody said “Irasshaimase!” when we walked in. So we figured it was more Chinese than Japanese. The waitress didn’t speak Japanese or English (only Chinese and Italian, which is fair enough).  We ordered from the Japanese part of the menu, but our starters were more Chinese than Japanese (dim sum instead of gyooza), and although the main wasn’t authentically Japanese, it was close enough and I thought it still tasted good. But it was expensive. We won’t be going back there.

We kept looking for the rest of the walk home, but there really doesn’t seem to be anywhere else to eat around here other than last night’s pizza place. We had a bit of dessert (bought earlier in town) and a cup of tea, and started planning for tomorrow – only to discover that we need to book a ticket for a quided tour at set times, at a place we were just going to squeeze in before doing something else. See? That’s why you have to plan ahead!