Firenze

...or Florence. It is a quaint little town (city?) - very small, very intimate. Like I alluded to in my previous post, there are tons of kids studying abroad here. I don't know how I'd feel about studying in Florence - it may be too small. Then again, almost anywhere could be considered too small compared to London...


We had two tours booked for today, with time in between to nomad around. First we saw the Accademia with the famous David. It was better than I expected. Michaelangelo's story is quite interesting as well. His mother died when he was very young, which seems to be the inspiration behind his four Pietas - depicting Jesus and Mary. I love hearing about diplomacy and historical tension, so hearing how Michaelangelo messed with the Popes that patronized (the actual definition of the word - although either could work) him was super cool. Although I don't know if that really counts as "diplomacy." The details on David are superb. Apparently Galileo was born on the same day that Michaelangelo died... coincidence? I think not!


Then we roamed around and saw the Duomo during the day. It was very different, but equally awesome. We hung out in the Square that has a fake David where the original David stood. Michaelangelo created David to be seen in an open area by all, not in a small room that required a ticket for entry. I can see why...