Arrival in Florence – the Dell’Academia
Even though the Florence is internationally famous, it’s surprisingly small. The Hotel Pensione Ferretti, where we had a room reserved, was only a few blocks from the train station. The owners were friendly and helpful and best of all, got us all checked in and squared away quickly. They gave us a map of Florence and directions and we ran out of there. We had a date with Michelangelo’s David in fifteen minutes. We had to speed-walk past the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore– no time to look at it now! Hundreds of scooters were zooming past us like some 60s biker movie!

The great thing about traveling is that you come face to face with these things that you have seen a million times in photographs – so many times that your mind starts to believe that the thing IS a photograph. When I came around the corner and I saw Michelangelo’s David, I felt like I was in a photograph instead of reality. I felt like I was down at the bottom of the photograph and that I was cropped out before they put the photo into an art history book. Time stood still. And then a guard yelled at a tourist who was trying to sneak a snapshot even though there were ‘No Cameras’ signs with the red circle and a line through it posted everywhere.

Lucky for you - Wikipedia has some great photos (Click on this)

I know what you’re thinking – Why would I want to travel half way around the world to see some hunk of rock carved by some foreigner when there’s a perfectly good replica in Las Vegas – not to mention that all-you-can-eat Buffalo Wings Specials are almost non-existent in Florence. Speaking of replicas, it turns out that there’s not just one David, there’s three! The original one was moved indoors in 1873 and a replica was placed in front of the Palazzo Veechio. There’s also a bronze version in a park called Piazzale Michaelangelo on the other side of the Arno River. At least we know which one is the real David – when I went to Jerusalem, there were three different tourist locations that all claimed to be the burial place of Jesus. According to Wikipedia, there are replicas of Michelangelo's David all over the world. They have a page devoted to the real David and another one just for the replicas. So far I haven't found out who made the replicas in Florence. I guess nobody thinks that it is important.

Dell’ Academia had a lot of other monumental statues and many paintings as well, so we were there for a while. When we got out we were hungry. We weren’t in the mood for a pricey restaurant so we went into a nearby Spar grocery store. There was the Italian equivalent to a deli counter and I ordered some great pesto pasta. They heated it up in a plastic container. I grabbed a plastic fork and a bottle of beer and was happy. We sat on the steps of San Lorenzo and had a nice little picnic in the crowded piazza. This is another thing I love about Europe, you can drink a beer on the street without being treated like a criminal by the cops. Even in China, it was not an issue. I asked a street vendor in Hong Kong that I bought a beer from, “Hey, can I drink this on the street?” He said, “Of course, why not?” That’s a good question. Why does America have such a stigma about alcoholic beverages? Is it residue from the Prohibition days? It seems ironic in a country that puts so much stock in our personal freedoms.

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The streets get a little wider but not much

Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore

CAUTION! Full-frontal nudity!
This isn't the original (no cameras allowed in the museum). This is the outdoor replica David down the street

Dragon with Beer Mug