Roaming the Streets in Rome!
Well, we are in Rome now. I loved Florence, but we could not find Internet cafes. Finally we found one last night but Blogger was down. GRRR! So much to catch up on!We started out in Florence seeing the biggies--Uffizi and Accademia. The Uffizi also had a special da Vinci exhibit at the end and we enjoyed all of the multi-media special effects, including seeing how Leonardo wrote his famous backwards script. The Botticelli paintings, Michelango's sculptures--so much to absorb...
We made a quick trip to Pisa in between sights in Florence. We spent more time on the trains than in Pisa, but we met a very nice banker who travels the area doing PR for his bank. He was very helpful on how to get around and what to see. The countryside is as beautiful as the pictures you see, but of course we're seeing it in 3-D!
A special treat was seeing the Laurentian Library next to San Lorenzo Church in Florence. Becky's professor had shown them a lot of details from the library in her Renaissance class, but they didn't allow photographs. However, if you signed in with your passport number and swore not to sell the pictures, you could take photos, so we took advantage of that and got many great shots. Especially Michelangelo's staircase.
The Pitti Palace was, well, basically overwhelming. It seems as if every square inch of the walls is covered in priceless art, and what is not covered in framed art is carved, covered in gold leaf or covered in silk. The ceilings are amazing--each a little 'Sistine chapel' in itself.
We've had wonderful hotel clerks in all of our hotels--every one has been so friendly and helpful. We get wonderful service, and all of the locations have worked out well. In Florence we had a surprise in the fact that June 2 is one of their many holidays, so all museums were free! Yes, it was pretty crowded, but we could just walk in any museum, see what we wanted to see, and then go to another museum. My only real disappointment was not getting to climb the dome in the Duomo. The lines were always just way too long. I'll have to save that for another trip. We did see a good exhibit on how the dome was constructed when we toured the Duomo museum, so at least I got some of my engineering lesson in!
Before taking off for Rome this morning, I got up early and toured the Science Museum (which oddly enough was closed on June 2, the day everything else was open and free!) I got to see Galileo's telescope, lots of astronomical tools, some mathematical instruments, early telescopes, microscopes, and other navigational devices. There was even a glass case with Galileo's finger (wassup with these relics??)
This has been my catching up issue so I'll end for now. We're having a blast in Rome so you'll hear more about that next. Ciao!
posted by Choir Traveler @ Saturday, June 03, 2006
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