Its amazing how time flies when you don't want it too, I've been exploring this wonderful country for the last month.
The days have been filled with beautiful sights, wonderful images, sculptures and paintings, and awesome food & wine!
I've expanded my knowledge of Giotto, and satisfied a curiosity about his work which was born when I visited the Scrovegni Chapel last year. My eyes were opened to the works of Fra Bartolomeo, Fra Lippi, and Cimabue to name a few. I have explored every corner of the Uffizi and Museo San Marco.
I've learned that the train system sometimes is not as perfect as I thought it was, and I'm not taking about the unexpected strikes in Italy. The bus system can be a little tricky if you don't know where you are going. I have validated what I've know all along: "I suck at reading maps"! , so thank God for the little blue dot on my google maps app that tells me where I want to go and if I'm going the right way.

Today I'm back at La Santa Croce. Currently the frescoes that surround the altar are being restored, so I decided to take a tour of the restoration process.
In this picture you can see the scaffolding and plastic that covers the area being restored. Slowly we will climb to the top, checking out each area. More details to follow later.

Today is a good day to be indoors, cold and cloudy day, total opposite from yesterday.
First on my agenda: head back to Oggisanti to see il Cenacolo di Ghirlandaio.  After that visit the Pitti Palace (the Palatine Gallery, The Royal Apartments and the Boboli Gardens). The Palatine Gallery has a few Caravaggio's , Fra Fillipo Lippi , Fra Bartolomeo, a fabulous collection from Rafaello,  to name a few. The gardens are luscious with many sculptures along the way, a nice place to unwind, relax, read a book on a sunny day.

Many of the museums and popular sites are closed on Monday. As well as many restaurants, so I decided to cross the Arno (Oltrarno) and explore how the other side lives. Along the way, since I took the "scenic" route I stopped at a few churches on my search for Cenacoli.
My first stop took me to the Church of Ognissanti, my goal: to see il Cenacolo di Ghirlandaio. Well, I left short of meeting my goal, blame it in Giotto! Also blame it on my Florence book that says its open until 1:15.
I was so stricken by Giotto's Cruccifix in this church that I missed the Cenacolo viewing time. I need to go back tomorrow. I learned that Boticelli is buried in this church. Below you see the reason I was delayed; 

I left the Ognissanti and crossed over to the other side of the Arno, walked to Piazza di Santo Spirito, the church was closed but the Piazza was alive with families and vendors. I went to Museo Fondazione Romano to see il Cenacolo di Santo Spirito, cost me 3 euros to find out that there's not much left to see of the Cenacolo. I found a flicker image as pictures were not allowed. 

I left the Santo Spirito area and continued walking until I made it to Porta Romana. From there I headed up the hill to Piazzale Michelangelo, after a bit I decided to take the bus, it was not as close as I thought. It was definitely a great day to take in the panoramic view of the city. 

From Piazzale Michelangelo I walked to the Church of San Miniato, to my surprise it was open , although some of the areas were not, I was able to explore it even though it was a little dark.  My journey concluded after that, it was time to figure out which bus will take me home...

Today marks three weeks of my Italian adventure.  My time in Sicily was amazing, met some wonderful people in my tour group. I will have more about the tour on the webpage soon.
So far I have enjoyed these last few weeks in Florence, I love having the train station so close by and being able to visit other cities in the spur of the moment. And I can go on and on about art, history and culture  in Florence, but I won't.
Living in a studio apartment and having to walk everywhere, has reminded me of my college days when I didn't have a car and I shared a small studio apartment with a high school friend. 
This week was particularly intense with school 6-8 hours a day, and as comfortable as I am speaking italian; italian grammar makes my brain hurt. Therefore to ease the pain I found that doing my homework with a glass of wine, really made things easier. 
I really could be an eternal student, I just love the whole "campus" life, meeting new people, going to class, yes I know I'm a geek. This week I've had the opportunity to interact and spend time with people from Japan, Ukraine, Switzerland, Germany, Brazil, Australia, Mexico and Colombia. 
Walking to and from school every morning and afternoon takes me through il mercato di San Lorenzo. Each morning I see the same people setting up their kiosks, in the afternoon they are usually busy with tourists looking for bargains on leather purses or jackets, scarves, hats, t-shirts, you name it they have it. 
I love italian customs, like the passeggiata in the early evening, il caffé, un aperitivo before diner just to open your appetite , and when you are here that's what you do. If you know me well enough, you know that I'm a TV freak, so you will find interesting that here I rarely watch TV. There are two reasons for that 1) Italian TV sucks, 2) the TV at my place is so small that it hurts my eyes to try to watch it! All kidding aside, there are quite a few italian shows that I watch even when I'm in the US, but they are off season now.  
So I read, I read a lot, I go to the bar downstairs and read, and chat with the owners, or go to the library or the bookstore (which here are plenty) and read some more.
Let's clarify for those of you that do not know when I say "the bar" is not the american definition of bar, here a bar is a coffee shop. In the morning you go to the bar, get your caffé or un cappuccino and a cornetto (small croissant) and that's Italian breakfast. In reality here you are always at the bar, because life is better with caffé...

It is impossible to describe the emotions you feel when you walk into the room in the Accademia and glance at David for the first time. It doesn't matter if you have seen the copy in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, or maybe seen the statue at Piazzale Michelangelo, there are no words to describe when you see the real thing.  So tall, handsome, almost perfect and I say almost perfect because I think his right hand is slightly disproportioned. But who I'm I to go against Vasari who stated with " feet, hands, and head so well realted to each other..."
The visual effect of its placement by the half dome at the end of the corridor, with the natural light of the skylight dome, and accentuated with some artificial light it's superb.
I enjoy just walking in finding a quiet spot to sit and just look at him. Sometimes I read about the Renaissance under his watchful guard.
The Accademia has other works by Michelangelo. The Prisoners, a series of unfinished pieces can also be found in the same room. Large figures trying to come out of the marble that surrounds them. They lead the way to David, it's almost like they mark the struggle a sculptor goes through to work a solid piece of marble with David being the Capolavoro of such struggle. I'm not an art critic, it's just what I feel...

As I headed to the Uffizi Gallery this morning I decided to take pictures of the different door knobs and door knockers I saw along the way. Needless to say I got so distracted with looking at the different doors that I lost track of my route and ended up God knows where, but eventually I found my way back and made it to the gallery. Below is a sample of my finds along the way, the last one is mine...

Images of Il Duomo or the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence are iconic. The Cathedral is so large that it fills you with all sort of emotions just by trying to capture its splendor. But there are many treasures in Florence in smaller places that are not particularly packed with tourists...

By far if you are going to be spending a 4 or more days in Florence, this card is a great deal.
For 60€ you can get a yearly membership to the Uffizi which gives you unlimited access to the Galleria UffiziI and several other museums in Florence, including La Accademia where you can see Micheangelo's David. The year is a calendar year (Jan-Dec) not based on the date of purchase. For two adults and two children the membership is 100€, youth up to age 26 (I'm not sure why after 18 you are not an adult) the cost is only 40 €

If you consider that the admission to the Uffizi is 10.50 € (16€ with reservation), add 6.50 € for the Accademia (10€ with reservation), same for the Medici Chapels, the Pitti Palace, etc ...
Reality that you need more than one day to really explore the Uffizi, and the money goes back into the gallery for restorations and up keeping.

If you are in Florence with limited time the Firenze Card for 50€ may be a good option, it is valid for a 72 hour period from the time it gets activated with your first visit to a museum. However you can only use the card once at each museum.

I intend to get every Euro worth out of mine, I started today ...