A  Rendezvous with David in Florence

2 -3 July 2008

Florence, Italy

We headed for Florence. I was excited to see Michelangelo's David. Ronny, our driver, took the scenic route instead of the freeway. He drove us between columns of trees until we got to a high point where we could view the city of Florence.

The only thing I knew about David is that he was a shepherd youth who, according to the bible, slew the giant Goliath (six and a half feet tall, according to the bible, and nine feet tall according to another source, but nevertheless, he was way too big for David) with a sling shot. In anticipation to see David, I read about him long before the beginning of the tour. In his Best of Europe 2008 book, Rick Steves wrote, "Michelangelo's David was not just a depiction of a shepherd youth slaying the giant but a depiction of a confident human being looking at the crude giant of medieval darkness and thinking, I can take this guy."

Upon arriving, we checked into our hotel. After settling down our luggage in our rooms and refreshing ourselves, we went to the Accademia to see David and the arts. David's statue is 14 feet tall. Unlike the David I had in my mind, the statue looked rough rather than smooth marble. I was disappointed. The signs warned us that taking pictures was not allowed. Not being able to take David's picture was another disappointment.

Later, we met with Ricardo, our local guide, at the Uffizi Museum. He gave us a ton of information about the arts that abound in the museum. We saw the works of Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Rafael and others. Ricardo delivered the history well. He also told us of the mighty and powerfully influential Medici Family and about the secret passageway, called the Vasari Corridor, that the Medici Family would use in case of an attack. From a vantage point, he pointed to us Ponte Vecchio.

After our tour with Ricardo, Ron and I went on our way to the public market as Ragen told us not to miss going there. The public market, Mercato Centrale, had an abundance of leather goods, mostly leather bags, purses, and wallets. We browsed through the leather goods and bought three men's wallets and one shoulder purse psyching ourselves that we got a bargain. In the meat section of the market, we saw a skinned animal with its skinned head on and looking like a skinned Dachund. It was marked "cognilio." Then we wanted to buy a banana to eat as a snack and the lady at the stall thought we wanted a kilo of bananas because in Italy no one buys just one banana. She begrudgingly weighed one banana and Ron said, "One more please." She was upset and got agitated and talked to herself and to the people nearby and I heard her say something like, "uno, due, uno, due", and continued to grumble probably saying that we could not make up our minds. That is how I understood her. I thought she was rude but we tried to forget our embarrassment and her rudeness. We continued to wander around while eating our bananas.

By nighttime, I was looking forward to seeing Caesar's Rome. We needed to take a good and early rest, as we needed to be on the bus by 7:45 in the morning.