The Pinkoski's Great Big European Adventure: Florence and the Uffizi Gallery

MWR, Morale, Welfare and Recreatio n, are the folks who provide a huge variety of support services for DoD personnel - military and civilian - while serving the country overseas. This mission includes fun things like trips every weekend to somewhere. Since we are so close to some the best skiing on the planet, most of the trips from here involve skiing or snowboarding. However, there is plenty to choose from for those of us who don't ski (yet). After two false starts - we had to withdraw from a trip to Milan when I threw out my back and the Munich trip was canceled by MWR - we were able to take part in the trip to Florence and the Uffizi Gallery. Maybe we should avoid cities that begin with "M"?

Florence (Firenze)

has entirely too much to offer for a quick day trip, but it was a good way to assess the city and get the lay of the land so we'd know what we were getting into with a return trip.

A quick heads-up - Art in Florence features naked people. Samantha is still giggling over and she's declared "Perseus with Medusa" gross because of that part right there. If you are going to look at our photos with your kids, you might want to have a little talk with them first.

We started our day at the Uffizi Gallery. The Uffizi was built at the request of Medici duke Cosimo I (1519-1574) as administrative offices. His son, Francesco I (1541-1587) had the top floor transformed into a gallery to house the huge art collection of the Medici family. The rest, as they say, is history. Unfortunately for tourists but best for the art, you aren't allowed to take photos of the items in the gallery. The Virtual Uffizi is a terrific web site where you can explore the gallery from where you are. The pictures below are jpegs from this web site. We didn't dare try to take our own

. We saw a museum host yelling at someone who was taking photos (without a flash) and it wasn't a pretty scene.

Lesson learned: Do NOT challenge the authority of the keepers of antiquities.

Of all the art at the Uffizi, the painting with the greatest pop culture presence is probably "The Birth of Venus" by Botticelli. As many times as I've seen this painting in books, magazines and on television, I never really noticed the figure on the right rushing to cover Venus with a blanket until the tour guide pointed it out.

"The Holy Family"by Michelangelo is an attention grabber. If you can find a better image of this painting, check out the details in the frame (also designed by Michelangelo). The painting captures real family life to me - Mary is handing Jesus over her shoulder to Joseph. Jesus has his hand on mom's head for balance. I also like that this illustrates a concept of Mary as a powerful woman. Notice Mary's biceps (Cross Fit?). Also, she isn't a blonde. Ever notice that Mary is ALWAYS painted as a blonde? FYI - The baby to the right of Mary and behind the low wall is John the Baptist. If you weren't aware, they were about the same age so the depiction of them both as children is chronologically accurate.

There are literally thousands of pieces of art within the walls of the Uffizi. We only hit the highlights while we were there, but you could easily spend a week wandering through the place and still not see it all.

We made our way to Piazza delle Signoria to see the Fountain of Neptune at the Palazzo Vecchio. The entrance is flanked by a copy of Michelangelo's "David" and Bandinelli's "Hercules and Cacus". The original David used to be here, but it was moved indoor in the 1800s for protection and replaced by this copy.

In the same plaza is Cellini's "Perseus with Medusa". If you are unfamiliar with Cellini, his autobiography is a journey through one of the biggest egos you'll likely ever encounter (my personal opinion). It's called "The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini" because what else would such a book be titled. If you read e-books, it's available free on P roject Gutenberg. Ron took the pictures of this sculpture while I my attention was captured by all the faces on the Fountain of Neptune.

Next, it's a short walk to the Ponte Vecchio. I had read that its the only bridge to have survived the German's withdrawal from Florence during WWII and I had

also read that it's one of only two original bridges that still stand after the German's withdrew from the city. I wasn't sure which was correct, but I got my answer from a children's book about Florence called "Florence, Just Add Water". The Ponte Vecchio was left intact, but the roads on either side were destroyed. The Santa Trinita bridge was destroyed but rebuilt from the original stones and statues that were fished out of the river after the war. Amazingly, all the pieces were found eventually.

There is a bust of Cellini surrounded by an iron fence in the middle of the bridge. Couples write their names on padlocks, lock them onto the fence, and toss the key into the Arno River. I read on the Tuscan Traveler blog that the authorities cut them all off the fence every few months. This tradition has more to do with the bridge than it does with Cellini. Cellini may have been an amazing artist, but he was a notorious switch hitter in his day. In a rage, he murdered his wife and his apprentice when he found them "together". He had a serious crush on his apprentice at the time so I won't guess as to who he credited with the greater betrayal.

After the Ponte Vecchio, we walked a little way to Piazza Duomo to investigate the The church of Santa Maria del Fiore, the Campanile (bell tower), the Baptistry and, of course, The Duomo.