David, Galleria dell'Accademia, Firenze

I know I have been seriously failing at the blogging recently, but there hasn't been much to report. I was thrilled to have a quiet weekend in Siena after 10 days of travel and I essentially did nothing. I was worth it.

Yesterday though, we went to Florence for one of our classes. We spent a couple of hours at the Uffizi, and then went and saw the David by Michelangelo before it closed.

The Uffizi was super crowded but it was amazing. We got to see pieces of art that we had talked about in class as well as pieces that we were all familiar with because they're just that famous. 

It's really not a place to take pictures...pretty sure it's not allowed, but...

There's also a gorgeous view of the Ponte Vecchio from one of the windows. That was one of the places that there was a large crowd of people standing and taking pictures. As a perpetual tourist, I hopped right on that bandwagon.

Really what I want to talk about though, was seeing the David. You can't take pictures there and I know you all know what it looks like anyway, but it was truly the experience of being there in person. Everyone who has been says the same thing: "I didn't realize it was so big." Really though, you absolutely must see it for yourself because you can't fathom it just from a picture. Ok, that's also what everyone says too but it's true. It's one of those pieces of art that you must see in person. 

We walked around it twice and sat on the floor and just stared. I think it was a comparable experience to seeing The Last Supper in Milan. 

Also...we were going right before the museum closed. It wasn't the whole class because technically the class was over and we were free to return to Siena, but some of us really wanted to go. Silvia, our fabulous teacher, walked us over because she knew we didn't have enough time to get lost finding it before the museum closed.

We were showing up right as the doors were closing, and we only got in because the guy at the door recognized our professor and let us in. We felt like we were getting into an exclusive club. It was awesome. 

Then, naturally, we had to get gelato before heading back to Siena. I really do appreciate that you get to pick two flavors instead of one because the decision is already hard enough.

That is all. We have an IES organized trip this weekend and we're visiting 4 towns in 2 days so I'm sure there will be lots to share from that.