Florence- Day 2

Today was a rainy day. But not cold at all! It was still in the high 70's/low 80s so it was pretty refreshing.

We started out at the Uffizzi Gallery (the best collection of Renaissance art anywhere, so says Rick Steves). It had a lot of pre-Renaissance art as well, and Roman statues. The art was in chronological order, so it was interesting to see the changes in art and what was acceptable/popular over time. Art gained popularity during the Renaissance. We followed Rick Steve's audio tour throughout this gallery.

Most medieval art looked like this (see picture below)... Art had no purpose other than serving the Catholic church and was not realistic. Most people were illiterate at that time so art served to help them learn the biblical stories. Artists never signed their work, they were generally unknown, and all works of art looked pretty similar...

Mary and Angel Gabriel...

Slowly, as the Renaissance drew near, art began to get more complex. (There is a little more "depth" here- objects that are closer appear bigger, and further away appear smaller.)

The Renaissance was a "return" to the old Greek and Roman ways for appreciation of art and the human body. (And it all started in Florence!) Art was "in" and seen as more than just church propaganda. (Art for art's sake. It didn't have to have a "purpose.") Artists were well-known and signed their work. Art was more realistic. The Renaissance was very much Christian, and they saw art as an extension of God's hand. Also, mythology from the Greeks and Romans was also "in" so many artists painted scenes from mythology.

Rite of Spring by Botticelli... 

Botticelli's Birth of Venus... (One of my favs!)

Leonardo di Vinci painted this of Angel Gabriel and Mary... (See how different it is from the Mary in mideval times! Much more realistic!)

After the Uffizi Gallery, we got some delicious lunch. It is VERY difficult to eat healthy on this vacation when the food is so delicious. I was eating pretty healthy before I came on this trip, and I'm planning on resuming healthy habits when I get home. But while I am here in Europe, I must say, I have definitely been enjoying my culinary experiences! (I especially LOVE the gelato! It is my favorite food EVER! Jaren and I sometimes have 2 gelatos a a day. And I could totally eat more- it is THAT good! There are so many flavors! Every time I try a new flavor it becomes my new "favorite!")

While I'm on this tangent of foreign food, can I just say how much I LOVE Coca-Cola Light here?! Europe doesn't have Diet Coke. It's Coca-Cola Light and it has a slightly different taste. SO good! Drinks are expensive here but when I see this for a good price I buy it!

Anyway, back to our lunch today... I have a story... It all started when I ordered a panini sandwich. The waitress/owner brought it out to me and I took a big bite! "This is SOOOOOOOO good," I told Jaren. Well, about 20 seconds later the waitress/owner came back to our table and said something to me about giving me the wrong sandwich. "It's ok, I already took a bite," I told her as I pointed to the sandwich (and anyone could clearly see the bite mark out of the sandwich.) She said something to me in Italian which I obviously couldn't understand and then Jaren and I watched her give that SAME sandwich to its rightful owner, a table to the left of me! The waitress/owner obviously didn't care that I had bitten off a chunk of the sandwich, and I guess the lady she gave the sandwich to didn't care either because she ate it!!!!!!! We laughed so hard at this and couldn't believe it!!!! When our food arrived we checked it to make sure there were no bite marks. 

After lunch we went to the Galileo museum which showed the progression of science and the instruments used from the middle-ages, to the Renaissance, to the Enlightenment age. We saw Galileo's very own telescopes! That was fun and made me want to watch The Cosmos (our favorite documentary TV series) again! We saw old globes and a map of the world from the 1400's (I think) showed what they thought was the whole world! (Which was basically just Europe, Asia, and Africa.)

Map of what was thought to be the world way back when...

Galileo's telescopes...

After the Galileo Museum, it was gelato time! Then we went around the market and Jaren got himself an Italian leather bag to take to work. He wanted a souvenir that he would use and would last him a long time. I still haven't found anything I absolutely love to bring home as a souvenir yet. 

After that we went back to our hotel and rested for a little while. We needed to do laundry so we went to a little laundry place down the street that our host recommended to us. Out of all our Air B&B hosts, the one here in Florence (Ivancica) has been our favorite! She is so helpful and kind! She is from Croatia but has lived in Italy for a long time now. She is married with 2 children. She spent a long time talking to us about how to get places and recommended some good local restaurants! She even called and made our dinner reservation for tonight!

Jaren hanging out at the laundry place...

Dinner tonight was AMAZING! So yummy  and authentic. Our host recommended a starter called coccoli and she also recommended Jaren get the Florentine steak. So we had to try what she recommended! The coccoli was delicious! One of the best Italian foods I have ever eaten! And before Jaren's steak was cooked, they brought out the meat to show him. It was huge. It was the biggest piece of meat I have ever seen. It was literally (not figuratively) bigger than Jaren's face. Jaren thought it was a joke and said, "Is that the smallest piece?!" The waiter looked confused and told him yes. Then he went off to have it cooked. Jaren ended up eating most of his steak (he loved it), and I had pasta. The noodles were the best I've ever tasted. We loved our dinner experience! We were the only tourists there, everyone else was a local! And our waiter was so nice, he kept checking on us to make sure we liked our food. So fun and a meal to remember for sure!