On Thursday we had class and then we went to the Uffizi Art Gallery. To say the least it was a good time. The gallery is actually an office building that the Medici built once they took power and established a Duchy, that why no one else had a chance to gain power in the government without their approval. Anyhow it was one of the nicest office buildings that I have ever seen, taking up an entire block. Our tour guide was pretty good and she lead us to see things that were fitting to our class and our tastes. We started out in the Medieval times where she showed us the alter pieces and the difference over time of how man tries to express himself, beauty, and heaven. In the Medieval times faces are always flat, somewhat squarish, and always look bad. We tend to think of this that they just couldn't paint well, however as she explained to us that was not the case and in fact the idea was that because these scenes took place in Heaven they were supposed to be beautiful; so much so that we as humans could not comprehend it, hence why their paintings look funny to us. As time goes on however the point of paintings begin to shift to a more humanistic nature, which is central to the ideas of the Renaissance, placing humans as just as important as heavenly affairs. We noticed this as we continued as we saw paintings with mortals in them, more realistic saints and angles, and finally a painting that had no religious meaning to it, just a painting of people. It was all very interesting and we learned a lot. We also saw Botticelli's works like the Birth of Venus (which happens to be one of my favorites) as well as works by Raphael, and Michelangelo. Even though I like the works of Botticelli, my favorites of this trip so far are easily Bernini for sculpture and Raphael for painting. I feel both have no equal in the realism to their works, and that is what I like, and can relate to the best.
Friday, if i can remember we did not do that much as we were rather tired after a very busy week. Oh wait I remembered what we did, we went to Santa Croce which is the largest Franciscan church in the world. It also happens to hold the tombs of the most famous Florentiens in the world, such as Machiavelli, Dante, Michelangelo, and Galileo. It was amazing to see so many famous dead people all in one place and it made it well worth the 5 euro to get in, even though there was restoration being done on the alter. For Saturday we had planed to meet a friend the next day for lunch and go exploring, however I somehow slept for a straight 12 hours, while having taken a 3 hour nap earlier in the day, so we missed that. We felt very bad, but at least we were not tired anymore. lol That leads to things on Saturday when we an English Mass at the Duomo with our Professor. We liked the mass but were slightly disappointed that 1) there was no music, at all 2) they seemed to have a contempt for the English language, like "why do I have to do this? there are better things to do then say mass in English". That was the feeling we got from the priest the entire mass. Anyhow it was still nice to have a English mass. After that we had a nice dinner with our professor under the Duomo. It was another nice night.
Finally things come to today, Sunday. We were going to go to mass again, this time for high mass with Latin, signing, other cool things, however somehow Brandon managed to lock himself in our bedroom and we couldn't get him out.... yep this happened. So it took us about 30 mins to get him out, even calling the landlord to try and get help. In the end Dylan figured it out and saved our friend from being stuck in our room with nothing to do (and by nothing to do i mean his computer, wireless internet, and a bathroom). lol So after that event we meet up with our professor again after mass and climbed the large tower next to the Duomo, which is only slightly less taller then the dome itself, and got a good view of the entire city and the valley it sits in. And that was our day.
Also random, happenings that have been going on around town. I think they are to celebrate the feast of St. John, which is this Friday, and he is the patron saint of the city so there will be fireworks!!!!! Anyhow, the other day we saw a parade of men in Renaissance military apparel marching down the street. It was pretty cool and we got lots of pictures. And last night, i stress the night part, there was a marathon through the city. So its been rather exciting around here as of late.
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