Juri took us into the world of his past the Mercato Centrale of Florence for the grand tour. It is an enormous indoor market that you think, "was this a train station at one time?" No always the indoor market where you can get any kind of fresh food your taste buds could imagine! also some that we tend to not imagine....
the offerings of cured meats, cheeses, aged balsamic, olive oils, limoncello, fresh fruits, pasta, wine, it just goes on and on and on. a cool thing about Italy is that is is very common to see a person at one of these stands with a slice of bread, cheese, meat and a glass of wine. that is really how they eat a snack or light lunch in Italy, standing talking and drinking.
a friend of Juri's who has worked at the market since she was 8. she kept insisting Bill show her the pictures then her response was, eh'. she was intense but in a funny way.
After our tour of the market Bill & i strolled through an outdoor market that happened to be in the city that day. sorry no pics but i can tell you it was filled with leather stands and many other made in Italy type items. Bill bought me a beautiful red leather carry on bag and looked for a 'man bag' for himself but decided against it. (*/*) he thought maybe it wouldn't fly here in Oregon like they do in Italy.
we then headed off to lunch before meeting 'ludie" for our second day of art history lessons. of course along with a fantastic lunch we had to imbibe in our new favorite beverage.
we then strolled around and Bill took more amazing shots of some of the sculptures that are all over in the piazzas and such.
it was now time to meet our group to finally go into the museums and see even more incredible art up close. Michelangelo's David is located in Accademia delle Belle Arti. It is amazing as are the other unfinished Michelangelo sculptors that Bill dearly loved. Unfortunately no picture taking allowed. These shots are of one of the two copies that are in open areas in the city. The are both strikingly beautiful but really do not compare to the real deal. It is fabulous!
Then we were off to the Uffizi Gallery. Again no pictures it is filled with works of art that are ages old. It was a fabulous day of absorbing the culture of a city that is really almost unbelievable.
2 comments:
One word from us to the two of you two: Jealous... ;)
the unfinished "prisoners" (i think thats what they were called? cant remember) at la accedamia were among my favorite things of the whole city too.
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