So if Cinque Terre was the place one went to hang out with American fraternity and sorority types… Florence would be the place to chill with the family types. And even more American students that were studying abroad. You know the ones that wanted to become more cultured.
Or to day drink, a lot. And to shop for Italian leather.
Anyways, once again, we were a little unprepared for the number of tourists in a place. At Cinque Terre, we overheard someone complain, “Nobody in Florence was Italian!”
At the time we laughed, and thought, “silly American.” But now, we realized that they had the last laugh.
We arrived on Sunday, just in time to realize that the Uffizi Gallery wasn’t open on Mondays… so we patiently waited in a line for a few hours to see the worlds largest collection of baby and adult Jesus paintings.
Why there weren’t any adolescent paintings of Jesus? who knows… maybe those were his rebellious years, where he hung out with the bad kids, so people wouldn’t paint the scenes.
“But wait!” someone may say, “didn’t he hang out with everyone?“
Gosh, Sunday school was hard.
Anyways, while waiting in line, there was an artist who was essentially the Italian version of Bob Ross. He was working on a piece, so I took this photo, and then he yelled at me. Thus, I pretended to not understand English, and he felt bad, and apologized.
Then I felt bad. ⇐ True Story.
^but the photo turned out pretty well!
When we finally escaped the heat and mobs of tourists, we were greeted with a glorious glorious climate controlled environment, and more tourists.
If you were looking for new ways to light your portraits, I would definitely suggest a baby Jesus soft light.
^I hear the Kickstarter is nearly funded!
About an hour before closing time, I left the Uffizi and ventured over to the Pitti Palace. They had Napoleon’s bathroom, which was neat (I think?). When they were closing up, one of the docents started to let folks onto a balcony for views of the sunset, and recommendations for what to do in town.
^if one could Yelp a docent, he’d get 5-stars.
Then I met up with Shane, and we went to Piazzale Michelangelo for more views of the city.
The next day we split up. I discovered the Eataly by the San Lorenzo Market. Lunch #2 was consumed at the Eataly.
I didn’t do much for most of the day, and met up with Shane to climb Giotto’s Tower. We left for Venezia the following day.