Hello, it’s Allison. I thought I would join in the fun and write a post of my own!
Day 12 brought continued explorations of Florence. It was Mike’s turn to wake up with the boys, and I was able to sleep in until about 8:30am when we needed to make an urgent trip to the store for some diapers. The boys enjoyed some fruit and yogurt at home, and then enjoyed some pastries when we ventured out for morning cappuccinos. (Beren and Silas have had voracious appetites, and every day eat more than the last!)
After enjoying a leisurely morning, we walked to the Cathedral Santa Maria to see if we would have more luck getting in this time. We waited in a long, steadily-moving line, and watched Silas run back and forth along the crowd as we slowly inched toward the cathedral. The outside of the cathedral is breathtaking, and the inside was not to be overshadowed. The enormous and ornate interior was awesome, and even the boys lowered their voices in instinctive reverence. The marble floors were decorated in intricate patterns, and inside the globe was one of the most amazing murals we have ever seen. We stood admiring the paintings until our necks got sore, and then moved on to our next activity – lunch!
A few blocks away was an indoor market, Mercato Centrale Firenze. The first floor hosts stands of produce, butcher shops, and other food stalls. The second floor is a food hall with different restaurants. We split up and ordered a variety of food including, pizza, truffle risotto, and some of the best spring rolls and dumplings I have ever had! We all enjoyed ourselves, and the boys played under and around the table between bites. We were all sitting together on the same side of the table at one point, and the boys were smiling and laughing with each other. The market’s photographer stopped by to ask if she could take a picture of us, since we looked like a happy family enjoying the food and each other. We said yes, but the interruption caused us to suddenly fall silent. The boys immediately stopped playing and laughing, and sat there as if they had been turned into sad little statues. After hanging around for a few seconds, the photographer said “oh well” and walked away.
After lunch, we walked back to the airbnb for naptime. The boys tried to pretend they weren’t tired, but promptly fell asleep after a few lullabies. Mike went to work at the little desk in our room, and I walked across the piazza to the palace museum.
Palazzo Vecchio was originally built in the 1200’s, but had been added to over time as different inhabitants moved in and out. The entrance is lined with some incredible and old statues, including a replica of Michelangelo’s Statue of David. The Statue of David has been covered by a large black sheet in mourning and support of Ukraine. Once inside, I bought a ticket to view the apartments of Cosimo I. They were incredible! The first floor included rooms for each person living there at the time. The ceilings were ornately adorned with murals that depicted scenes from that person’s life. The floor above mirrored the rooms on the first floor, but were themed around different gods that corresponded with the person’s room below. There was also an entire wing devoted to Eleonora of Toledo, which was themed after different divine or inspirational women. I spent almost two hours walking through the palace, and could have spent more, but had to get back before the boys got up from their nap.
Our afternoon consisted of another carousel ride and gelato. It was a lot of fun! Then, we met up with Mike for an early dinner (well, early by Italian standards. It was 5:30pm). We enjoyed a relaxed and happy afternoon together until the boys crashed again around 8pm.
After the boys went to sleep, I noticed strange sounds outside. I thought it might be singing (we heard a group singing the previous night), so I went to the window to investigate. To my surprise, I saw at least six police cars, surrounding the entrance to the palace, and officers slowly encircling a man that stood on the steps. The covering that was previously over the Statue of David was removed. I soon noticed that it was laying on the ground, on fire. It had mostly been stamped out, but a few officers were still working to put out the flames when a fire truck arrived to finish the job. They quickly had the man (who I now presumed to be a Russian sympathizer) handcuffed and zipped away in a police car.
It was a pretty crazy occurrence to witness, especially in a place with so much history. This piazza existed before the United States existed – before the American continents were even discovered by this part of the world! Centuries of royalty lived here. Artists such as Michelangelo created masterpieces in this very place. A few feet from the spectacle we witnessed, the preacher Girolamo Savonarola was hanged and burned for his radical preaching in 1498. It’s crazy that this place has served as a place of importance for so many hundreds of years, and continues to do so.
Anyway, after the hubbub died down, I left the sleeping kids and working Mike to go to a café on my own. I ended up in a cool little Hookah Bar, and ate dessert and wrote in my notebook about some observations I’ve made while being in Italy. Maybe that will be a blog post of its own at some point! As I got up to pay and leave, the bar tender invited me back the following night for drinks with him. I left it a maybe, because I love the drama.
Thanks for having me as your guest writer for the day! I hope to be invited back soon. 🙂