Day of the Markets
Heading out on our first full day in Florence, we decided to hit the markets!
Let’s get this party started!
Today was ear-marked as market day, and we had many successes – 4 or 5 or maybe 17 purses for Sofia, a purse for each of Chrystal, Jane and Andi. Nada for Kinga and me (we justified this failure by claiming to be holding out for the San Lorenzo market tomorrow). The market stalls were everywhere in Florence along side streets and around piazzas and in actual markets. It was easy to get distracted and lose a lot of time “window shopping” as we walked, so eventually I insisted we go to an actual sight, her preference being the church of Santa Croce, where my BF Galileo is buried.
Two important things I learned on this trip is that Hungarians bargain hard and walk fast. Very fast….
We stopped for lunch first and at an awesome little restaurant in an alley (no umbrellas – good sign) that Kinga spotted, and we shared a delicious meal of ravioli, complete with an extra serving from the chef to accommodate the 6 of us, plus asparagus, beans, caprese and green figs/salami.
This is also where we first encountered the smooth beer [“Manabrea” (I think)]. We had cannelloni (or possibly cannoli) with pistachio and orange for dessert, to which I could only say “Meh”.
After espressos we received complimentary Lemoncellos to finish up. The complimentary post-dining offerings would prove to be a fairly regular and welcome occurrence.
Kinga is the master restaurant-finder!
On the way to the church we split up so a few of us could do a bit more market shopping. Having maxed a bit on the market, Kinga and Risa wandered ahead and found their way to the famed Santa Croce Leather Market, where they teach leather goods-making as well as produce very high quality Italian leather products such as beautiful purses and jackets that ranged up to, say, a totally affordable 800 euros. So instead most of their time was spent looking at change purses … which were still about 80 euros …
I have to say that at this early point in the trip, I was already “shopped out”. Since I was no longer carrying the weapon, I had lots of space in my suitcase and could have fit many scarves or pairs of shoes, but I just didn’t have the heart to do anymore shopping. After awhile, one purse is the same as all the rest hanging on the market stall. One scarf looks like the others. And every assignment blends into the ones before, and soon you can’t tell them apart. So I sat in the shade in front of San Croce, watching my friends walk up the street from one leather store to the next, looking for “the jacket”.
Post-market shopping calls for a little nap.
The Santa Croce church was a lovely church. Outside was a very pretty facade of green and white marble. Normally it is also perpendicular (not all buildings in Italy are “leaning”).
Chrystal is successfully hiding behind her friends.
Inside was home to the tombs of a few well known people, including my heroes Galileo and Michelangelo!!! Other interesting tombs included Dante, and Machiavelli.
Santa Croce was one of the few places that I visited last year during my one day trip to Florence. I loved the building, the cloisters, the art and the ceilings. I had no idea that so many famous people were buried here, so I was glad that Risa could give me a tour. One of the questions that I had was if the cenotaphs actually contained the remains. In some of the churches, particularly at shrines of tombs, relics are often on display.
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The highlight of the day was the ArtViva tour of the Accademia and the Statue of David. This tour was fascinating, and it was quite different from the one I was on just a couple of weeks ago where we saw more of the museum but got less insight into the state of David itself. Some very interesting tidbits about the statue:
- His expression changes as you walk around him, from interest, to anxiety, to determination
- Michelangelo chose to present David in a pre-battle pose, rather than the victorious post-battle pose that most artists chose, in order to show the tension of the unknown outcome
- One possible reason for his large hands, feet and head is to portray the humanistic belief in free will and control which is achieved through the mind and the hands/feet
- His proportionally smaller genitalia may also have been intended to demonstrate free will through control over his body, as his pre-battle anxiety might otherwise have been in a different state of arousal (it occurs to us that this might explain a couple of things we have noticed … a: the prevalence of marble penises and b: the proportionally small size of said penises)
- Michelangelo shows very precise detail in the veins of his hands and neck, again in order to show his pre-battle tension
This was the first time that I realized that David was actually the “boy” from “David and Goliath”. DUH! All those years of Sunday school….wasted! [ME TOO!!! ] The Academia also had lots of statues and busts from the school and many pieces of Florentine art.
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Final important and note-worthy events:
Adonis of the day:
David (of course), but not to be overlooked were the 5 Firenze police we saw, and a waiter from a restaurant we passed on the way to the David tour.
Wait! Come back! I think my friend here is doing something illegal!
Discovery of the day:
After wandering around Florence yesterday looking for a grocery market, we discovered a huge one today RIGHT outside our apartment, and next to that we found a lovely breakfast cafe that serves up all kinds of coffee and croissants for under 2 euros. Awesome. We would later find that anything we wanted could be found on our street […like a great COLD beer store much need due to said faulty ice box!]
Not quite Girls Gone Wild.
Agreed, the David was a true highlight and I too thought he was something else………the Jewish David. You know like the Star of David. Travel is true education and enlightenment! Money well spent.
I have to admit I was pretty fascinated with the small penises and it was good to finally get the clarification that the artists did that on purpose. Actually, it’s really the one and only art history fact that I can actually remember. Thank you Michelangelo!
As for the purses, I think it took me until about day 6 to tire of the market shopping. Having never been to Italy, that was definitely a highlight. The end of our evenings on our lovely patio together was also one of the great parts of our trip.