| Jul. 29th, 2009 @ 12:31 pm More Florence. |
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Current Mood:  awake
Current Music: Celtic Woman - "Orinoco Flow"
Amanda and I well and truly have colds now, but we were bound and determined to go to the Uffizi Gallery today, our last day in Florence. The Uffizi is a massive art gallery in what used to be a palace, with all kinds of Renaissance art: Caravaggio, da Vinci, and of course Boticelli - their most famous possession is his Birth of Venus. We ogled at that for a while, as well as all the other Boticelli paintings in that room. They had a lot of impressive religious art from some lesser-known artists as well, and overall it was an impressive experience.
We drank tea in the ridiculously overpriced museum cafe, looking out over the (very green and sick-looking) river towards the Duomo. We took a photo op on the terrace, and then headed over to said Duomo. It's proper name is the Church of Santa Maria del Fiore, and its claim to fame is one of the biggest domes (if not the biggest) in Europe. There was a dress code, which none of us met in our clothing suited to the hot Italian summer. I brought along a sarong in anticipation of this, but Shaina and Amanda were forced to don ugly blue plastic smocks in order to gain entry. The dome was truly impressive, made the more so by all the candlelight. It was drawing on to late afternoon, and we got there just before closing time.
Shaina and Amanda felt like going back to the street market, so I went back to the hostel alone and had a siesta.
Several people recommended that we check out the fortress festival tonight. From what I understand, this is a weekly festival put on for the locals in Florence, with lots of food, music, etc. We got there early enough that the live musical acts hadn't started yet, but some of the food stalls had music playing. There was all kinds of food: Cuban, Jamaican, Brazilian, Thai, Greek. We eventually settled on Indian, and it was quite possibly the best Indian food I've ever had (although this was only the third time I've ever eaten it, so I'm maybe not the best judge). There were tables, but there were also pillows and such on the ground, so we ate there. We hung out for a while after we finished eating, talking and people-watching. The wife of the guy running the food stall lit incense, adding to the smells of the night and the food around us. It was a perfect way to end our time in Florence.
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