Kim: We stayed in a cute little apartment on the outside of Florence near Fiesole. It was in a newly renovated villa that used to be the home of some noble family back in the day. I absolutely loved the garden. Trees, flowers and vines everywhere. The apartment had wood floors, rustic furniture and cool metal work, including the headboard and light fixtures. Click HERE to see pics.
We made it to church right on time on Sunday just to find out that it was regional conference and that all members should meet across town at a completely different location. And not to mention that the meeting had started 1 hour before our arrival at the building. A little frustrating but hopefully we'll be blessed for our efforts :) We met a woman and her daughter from Utah and a girl from Washington D.C. She is a concert pianist for professional singers and was there learning Italian so she can converse with the singers better.
Darren: The place Kim picked was perfect. Far enough away f rom the city to feel like country but within a walk to the bus stop. We saw some fire flies (lightning bugs)on our walk a few of those nights and I think it was one of the first times Kim had ever seen them. Crazy little things. Missing church was a bummer, especially since we'd gotten all the way into town and found the place with time to spare only to find the note about the change of schedule. We went home and read a few conference talks in the garden though, and had some really good conversations about them.
Kim: The next day we went and saw the Duomo, the Duomo Museum, the Santa Croce Church. The one thing about the Duomo Museum that stood out to us were the reliquaries. They are basically transportable shrines that contain the remains of saints (bones, clothing, etc). It was a little disturbing. First, I would see an object that looks like a mantle clock adorned with gold and jewels and then I would move in a little closer and see a finger, jaw bone, or lock of hair from some acclaimed saint. One question...WHY? After seeing a few of these, I began avoiding those areas of the museum. The Santa Croce Church was awesome. One of our favorites of the trip. Inside are the tombs of Galileo and Michelangelo. Having defied the Church by saying that the Earth revolved around the sun, Galileo's heretical remains were only allowed in the church long after his death. The Church also houses a leather school. We stopped and watched a couple of people in the process of making leather purses, wallets, etc. Pretty cool! We then walked around Piazza della Signoria and took pictures of the statues at the nearby loggia. We saw Cellini's bronze statue of Perseus holding the head of Medusa, the fake David, Hercules killing the centaur among others.
Darren: It was funny to see Kim freakin' out about the bones and fingers and stuff in the reliquaries. Don't get me wrong, I didn't enjoy them either, just saying it was kindof fun watching her reactions. :) In Santa Croce Church there was an amazing painting of "The Descent of Christ to Limbo." We just sat in some chairs and looked for a long time. The expressions on the faces in these paintings always impress me. Some were humble and hopeful, others ashamed.
That night we'd heard that they were going to be showing the Italian world cup football (never say soccer here) game vs. Paraguay live at the stadium near our apartment. It was free for anyone who wanted to go and watch on a huge screen. We made it over for the second half and watched the game with a rowdy bunch of Italian die-hard fans. They tied that night 1-1.
Kim: Over the next few days we toured the Accademia, the Galileo Science Museum and the Uffizi Gallery. The Accademia houses Michelangelo's David among some of his other work. The statue of David was awesome (and no babe...not because he's nude). The amount of detail that went into the work is absolutely astounding. The muscles, the facial features, it's just so...real. His face shows such determination to do God's will, yet there is concern there as well. So true to form. Some of our other favorites are what they call The Prisoners. These are some of Michelangelo's unfinished sculptures. Because they are unfinished, a lot of them will have their bodies completed but not their arms or head so it looks like they have a block of stone sitting on their shoulders. They look like they are trying to lift the stone off their heads, trying to dig themselves out, to free themselves from the imposing granite. It's really cool looking.
Darren: I have to say that out of all the museums and exhibits we'd seen to this point, none struck me with the spirit as strongly as did the statue of David. It actually caused me to take out a pen and paper and begin to write down a few of my thoughts and tranfer them to my journal later. Looking into the eyes of the statue you can see the combination of emotions that Kim mentioned; confidence and concern. It shows his faith and humility all at once. It made me think back to how I felt and how I'm sure most missionaries have felt when leaving for a mission. You know you are on the Lord's errand and you know it's the Lord's work, but you worry about your own ability. You could see that David had confidence in the Lord's strength and trusted in God. There were a few other really neat statues that made me ponder that day. There was one that represented "Day." It was an amazing statue of a man and very detailed...all except for his face. The face and beard were a bit unfinished and looked out of place on this amazing statue. It made me think that each day that Heavenly Father gives to us is a gift. Each day is amazing and full of beauty. Each day, however, is unfinished and we must give our own expression to it and decide how we will live it.
Kim: The Galileo Science Museum was cool. Some of the exhibits included compasses, globes, thermometers, telescopes, clocks, pumps, medicine and chemistry. The Uffizi Gallery was awesome! It has the greatest collection of Italian paintings anywhere and features works by Giotto, Leonardo, Raphael, Caravaggio, Titian, Michelangelo and Botticelli. Room after room after room of famous paintings. It truly was an experience. One of my favorites was the Birth of Venus. It shows a woman standing on a shell with the god and goddess of wind blowing her toward shore, where a woman awaits to clothe Venus with a robe. The colors and details are spectacular!
Darren: The Galileo Museum made me think of Dad. The microscopes, pulleys, etc. all made me think back to 8th grade science. We were at the Uffizi for 2 hours and they had to shew us out at the end. Amazing artwork. My favorites were Botticelli's Primavera and Birth of Venus. I also liked Lippi's Madonna and Child with Angels, Da Vinci's Annunciation and Cranach's Adam and Eve. There was also a newer one that we both liked by Notti called Adoration of the Child.
Kim: Later that night we ate at a restaurant where we had to share a large, long table with 5 other people. We were literally sitting shoulder to shoulder with strangers. I made the comment to the lady sitting next to me that it felt like Thanksgiving dinner. While it was a little uncomfortable in the beginning, we were able to meet two ladies from NY who were there for the first time. One of them was an artist who owned an art studio in NY. She taught us about some of the different techniques in drawing and the best way to learn them. It was fun.
Florence was amazing. So much art and culture. Another place to return to someday
We made it to church right on time on Sunday just to find out that it was regional conference and that all members should meet across town at a completely different location. And not to mention that the meeting had started 1 hour before our arrival at the building. A little frustrating but hopefully we'll be blessed for our efforts :) We met a woman and her daughter from Utah and a girl from Washington D.C. She is a concert pianist for professional singers and was there learning Italian so she can converse with the singers better.
Darren: The place Kim picked was perfect. Far enough away f rom the city to feel like country but within a walk to the bus stop. We saw some fire flies (lightning bugs)on our walk a few of those nights and I think it was one of the first times Kim had ever seen them. Crazy little things. Missing church was a bummer, especially since we'd gotten all the way into town and found the place with time to spare only to find the note about the change of schedule. We went home and read a few conference talks in the garden though, and had some really good conversations about them.
Kim: The next day we went and saw the Duomo, the Duomo Museum, the Santa Croce Church. The one thing about the Duomo Museum that stood out to us were the reliquaries. They are basically transportable shrines that contain the remains of saints (bones, clothing, etc). It was a little disturbing. First, I would see an object that looks like a mantle clock adorned with gold and jewels and then I would move in a little closer and see a finger, jaw bone, or lock of hair from some acclaimed saint. One question...WHY? After seeing a few of these, I began avoiding those areas of the museum. The Santa Croce Church was awesome. One of our favorites of the trip. Inside are the tombs of Galileo and Michelangelo. Having defied the Church by saying that the Earth revolved around the sun, Galileo's heretical remains were only allowed in the church long after his death. The Church also houses a leather school. We stopped and watched a couple of people in the process of making leather purses, wallets, etc. Pretty cool! We then walked around Piazza della Signoria and took pictures of the statues at the nearby loggia. We saw Cellini's bronze statue of Perseus holding the head of Medusa, the fake David, Hercules killing the centaur among others.
Darren: It was funny to see Kim freakin' out about the bones and fingers and stuff in the reliquaries. Don't get me wrong, I didn't enjoy them either, just saying it was kindof fun watching her reactions. :) In Santa Croce Church there was an amazing painting of "The Descent of Christ to Limbo." We just sat in some chairs and looked for a long time. The expressions on the faces in these paintings always impress me. Some were humble and hopeful, others ashamed.
That night we'd heard that they were going to be showing the Italian world cup football (never say soccer here) game vs. Paraguay live at the stadium near our apartment. It was free for anyone who wanted to go and watch on a huge screen. We made it over for the second half and watched the game with a rowdy bunch of Italian die-hard fans. They tied that night 1-1.
Kim: Over the next few days we toured the Accademia, the Galileo Science Museum and the Uffizi Gallery. The Accademia houses Michelangelo's David among some of his other work. The statue of David was awesome (and no babe...not because he's nude). The amount of detail that went into the work is absolutely astounding. The muscles, the facial features, it's just so...real. His face shows such determination to do God's will, yet there is concern there as well. So true to form. Some of our other favorites are what they call The Prisoners. These are some of Michelangelo's unfinished sculptures. Because they are unfinished, a lot of them will have their bodies completed but not their arms or head so it looks like they have a block of stone sitting on their shoulders. They look like they are trying to lift the stone off their heads, trying to dig themselves out, to free themselves from the imposing granite. It's really cool looking.
Darren: I have to say that out of all the museums and exhibits we'd seen to this point, none struck me with the spirit as strongly as did the statue of David. It actually caused me to take out a pen and paper and begin to write down a few of my thoughts and tranfer them to my journal later. Looking into the eyes of the statue you can see the combination of emotions that Kim mentioned; confidence and concern. It shows his faith and humility all at once. It made me think back to how I felt and how I'm sure most missionaries have felt when leaving for a mission. You know you are on the Lord's errand and you know it's the Lord's work, but you worry about your own ability. You could see that David had confidence in the Lord's strength and trusted in God. There were a few other really neat statues that made me ponder that day. There was one that represented "Day." It was an amazing statue of a man and very detailed...all except for his face. The face and beard were a bit unfinished and looked out of place on this amazing statue. It made me think that each day that Heavenly Father gives to us is a gift. Each day is amazing and full of beauty. Each day, however, is unfinished and we must give our own expression to it and decide how we will live it.
Kim: The Galileo Science Museum was cool. Some of the exhibits included compasses, globes, thermometers, telescopes, clocks, pumps, medicine and chemistry. The Uffizi Gallery was awesome! It has the greatest collection of Italian paintings anywhere and features works by Giotto, Leonardo, Raphael, Caravaggio, Titian, Michelangelo and Botticelli. Room after room after room of famous paintings. It truly was an experience. One of my favorites was the Birth of Venus. It shows a woman standing on a shell with the god and goddess of wind blowing her toward shore, where a woman awaits to clothe Venus with a robe. The colors and details are spectacular!
Darren: The Galileo Museum made me think of Dad. The microscopes, pulleys, etc. all made me think back to 8th grade science. We were at the Uffizi for 2 hours and they had to shew us out at the end. Amazing artwork. My favorites were Botticelli's Primavera and Birth of Venus. I also liked Lippi's Madonna and Child with Angels, Da Vinci's Annunciation and Cranach's Adam and Eve. There was also a newer one that we both liked by Notti called Adoration of the Child.
Kim: Later that night we ate at a restaurant where we had to share a large, long table with 5 other people. We were literally sitting shoulder to shoulder with strangers. I made the comment to the lady sitting next to me that it felt like Thanksgiving dinner. While it was a little uncomfortable in the beginning, we were able to meet two ladies from NY who were there for the first time. One of them was an artist who owned an art studio in NY. She taught us about some of the different techniques in drawing and the best way to learn them. It was fun.
Florence was amazing. So much art and culture. Another place to return to someday