Hello, Gorgeous!

I know that's what Barbra Streisand said to the Oscar when she won, but puh -- that was only a meh statue.  Today I got to see THE STATUE that is Michelangelo's David.  I'm so glad I heeded the on-line suggestions of every travel site and got tickets ahead of time because that put me in a nice short queue and we were inside the Gallerie Accademia within 10 minutes of our arrival.

Before we entered the Gallerie, we were greeted with the new warning that museums are now using. 

Even as an owner of one, I don't blame them.  There are selfie sticks all over various tourists spots now.  They are apparently de rigeur with groups of young people (okay, and oldsters with short arms).  And they are hawked everyone there is an outdoor market.  But I really haven't seen anyone or any group abusing them.  They aren't being waved around and accidentally hitting people as seems to be the fear.  Just used by people who want to take good photos of their trip.  No biggie.  But I disgress. 

We wandered around in the small Musical Instrument Museum and saw a few pieces of note (hey a pun).  These were my faves:

 

This is a tenor viola made by Antonio Stradivari !!!  Wow

 

And what was described as "probably the first attempt" at producing the pianoforte in an upright position.  Very interesting.  Very cool.

 

 

But the real thrill was yet to come.  Seriously.  I saw the Mona Lisa and was very impressed.  I saw Venus de Milo and was very impressed.  Ditto the Winged Victory.  This was the first time I actually let out a gasp when I walked into the room and there was the statue at the far end.  The gasp was partly for the beauty of it, but mostly for the enormous size (no, not that.  get your mind out of the gutter).  It is much bigger than I ever imagine (okay, stop!).  The statue just captures your attention and you are mesmerized.  

 

There are pictures of the statue everywhere there is an art book and here in Florence, it is more than everywhere.  You can even get an apron with the strategic parts of the statue placed on strategic parts of the apron.  Gene is still toying with the idea of buying one, even though he is rarely seen in the kitchen except to boil water for his tea.  So I present, the unseen photos of David:

 

 

The statue may be perfect in many ways, but his right hand looks disproportionately large, compared to the rest of his arm, imho.

 

 

No comment is necessary.

 

 

It is official:  David is an inny.

 

 

After the Museum, Gene & I headed to the Mercato Centrale, the big open-air market here in Florence, aka "leather central".  Every other kiosk is full of the most beautiful Italian leather you can find.  I got roped into putting on a lambskin car coat that fit me like a glove and was sooo heavenly to touch and to wear.  The guy was making me a deal I couldn't refuse, but Gene stepped in in the nick of time and pulled me away.  I also reminded myself that Phoenix hit 90 degrees yesterday and cooler heads prevailed.

 

I followed him into a shoe store -- he was determined to buy leather shoes while here -- forlorn, but knowing I made the right decision to walk away from that leather car coat (omg, it was fabulous).  He was having a great time trying on a pair of leather shoes he said felt like slippers.  And suddenly, I was distracted by a fabulous pair of open-toe, wedge sandals that also fit me like a glove.  And so there we were, husband and wife, married almost 20 years, in shoe heaven together.  I KNOW!!!

 

We walked out, both with a new pair of shoes, feeling fulfilled.  We almost needed a cigarette.  We settled for a local pizza.

 

Tonight, we took a walk to, and then over, Ponte Vecchio.  It's lined with store after store of jewelry.  I broke into a sweat often during the walk from all the bling, but managed to come out the other side unclad with any new baubles.  We stopped in the middle of the bridge and noticed this:

 

                             

 

Oh man, someone needs to tell them how sorry they're gonna be in about 5 years to have allowed this.  Maybe the Mayor of Paris is the one to issue the warning.  At any rate, not our circus, not our monkeys.

 

On our walk back, we had gelato for the first time while here (it seems like we've been here forever, rather than just over 36 hours) and probably said goodbye to our local frozen yogurt place for a while.  Once you've had good gelato (is there such a thing as bad gelato in Italy?), you can't really settle for anything less and we'll have to get the taste of gelato out of our heads before we can again enjoy the frozen yogurt.  It's a price we must pay.

 

The walk along the Arno is lovely at night:

 

 

 

We wound up back at our apartment loaded with lavender (see my Facebook post -- three times the amount I get through a mail order from Seattle at half the price) and a bunch of David souvenirs.  How can you resist?

 

15,713 steps.

Total to date - 31,968