Our Amazing Race (part 2)

Team Van Tassell’s departure time on Leg 2 was 9:15am. We left the room and headed downstairs for breakfast – they even had hot chocolate!

Then onto our ROAD BLOCK – download Rick Steve’s Renaissance Walk Audio Tour of Florence. We couldn’t get it to download onto Ben’s iPod touch. We messed around with it for quite a while trying to sync it with the laptop. But eventually we just downloaded it onto my “old school” iPod non-touch. Road block completed.

Our TASK for the day was then to complete the Renaissance Walk.

We started at Florence’s “Il Duomo” Cathedral. As we walked into the square it took my breath away. Something that I had seen so many times in pictures and Art History classes was right before my eyes. It was beautiful.

The audio tour started with the façade of the Cathedral and then took us inside (after a brief wait in line). It was expansive.

It was amazing to see just how high the ceilings were and imagine how they must have painted the inside of the Duomo.

Then we gazed up at Giotto’s Bell Tower, and prepared ourselves to climb the 414 steps to the top.

The climb was really neat. The staircase was very narrow and there were windows cut in the stone walls all of the way up. They let in a nice draft and light and sometimes made for a good resting spot.

I have to admit, my thighs were a little shaky once we reached the top. That is a lot of steps!

But, we made it. And the view of the Duomo from the Bell Tower was very cool. In fact the 360 degree view was amazing. You could see the rolling hills of Tuscany all the way across the Arno River to the Boboli Gardens.

After the Bell Tower we headed for the Baptistry. I think this is the one thing that I was looking forward to most. These works of art have always amazed me. I love the bronze, the stories they tell, the skill of Ghiberti and the story of the contest to win the commission.

Then we hit a DETOUR – find some Gelato before our appointment at the Galleria dell’ Accademia. There were so many Gelatarias on the roads near the Cathedral that this was a piece of cake (or shall we say ice cream). YUM!

We made it right on time to our 4pm reservation to the Galleria dell’ Accademia. There we got to see Michelangelo’s original David. It is a pretty amazing piece of art – and when you learn some of the back-story it becomes even more spectacular. (His head is disproportionately large because Michelangelo was contracted to sculpt David to go on the top of the Duomo. So, he made the head large enough that it would look realistic from the street below. The right hand is also disproportionately large to represent the fact that it was not David alone who slew Goliath – God’s hand was in it. Also, that it was sculpted from a piece of marble that had been stored in the basement for years because other artists had thought it was too awkward and flawed to use.) You’re not allowed to take pictures in the Galleria, so this is a replica that we saw in the Palazzo Vecchio were the original used to stand.

Then the final stop on the audio tour was the Arno River. It was bustling with tourists and street vendors. The river was very peaceful and the reflections of the buildings and bridges in the water were beautiful.

Then we finally made it back to yesterday’s PIT STOP. We checked into Hotel Cellai a little before 6pm. Our feet are sore, our tummies are full and I am amazed by what I got to do today. To be continued . . .