We had a porter to take our suitcases to the water taxi port. So nice! The water taxi trip to the train station was a little eventful. We waited a few minutes for our boat, then got on — except Randy didn’t make it on! The worker stopped everyone after me and Cori and said the boat was too small for people with big luggage. As he was undoing the rope, I said something like, “That’s my husband. What can we do?” He sort of rolled his eyes and said, “Go back for him?” We started mad texting. Randy finally got on a different boat that allowed big luggage but took the “scenic route” to the train station. Cori’s and my trip took about 15 minutes, his around 40. Finally, we all came together and got on the train. Rather stressful.
The train ride was smooth and we all relaxed on it for about 2 hours. The walk from the Florence train station to our Airbnb was not eventful, but it was extremely tiring for me and Randy. The cobblestones here are bigger so you’d think they would be easier to roll the suitcases on, but not so. They’re more uneven and the wheels catch so you’re always pushing or changing from pushing to pulling. Randy and I were huffing, puffing, and sweating by the time we got there. It’s very nice, though. And we had another lovely dinner, then bed.
Today, the Duomo! Cori had a tour arranged and we were the only ones on it. Our guide, Alessandro, was excellent — so knowledgeable. He lives about a mile outside the city, he said, and he also said he is a Catholic himself. So he knew all the Biblical images, besides the ancient mythological ones.
He pointed out the Baptistry and how across the street is the church. He said we start our lives at the Baptistry, then go to the church, then end our lives back at the Baptistry. Alessandro also said nearly every dome in church buildings depicts the Final Judgment.
Everything is symbolic! There are octagon designs on the floors and walls, and octagon shaped buildings and domes. The octagon has 8 sides, and 8 is like infinity; it represents eternal life. Triangles are the trinity. Circles are God, too — infinity. Squares are humans.
There are 3 different churches represented in the building; I think they are from the 400s, the 700s, and the 1,000s. They have excavated some parts of those churches. He said, “In Florence, you dig, you’ll find something.” He pointed out the transition from Gothic to Renaissance. One way you can tell the difference is people in the paintings and statues show emotions as they move into the Renaissance. The discovery of perspective happens in there, too.
We stopped at a chapel for volunteers, monks who picked up dead and dying bodies during the plague. I loved the feel when we walked in the door. So silent and cool (literally, meaning the air was cool). There was a painting that showed the church at the time it had no facade. A pope decided he didn’t like it and had it removed. It was many years before they built it again.
There was a Madonna there I particularly liked. Mary’s face was so serene and beautiful. All the ceiling angles were painted. Our church in San Jose has beams. I said to Randy, “Wouldn’t it be great if we painted our beams like this?”
Randy pointed out there was a cart like the one we saw there in “Room With a View” in the scene where someone was stabbed by the fountain, Lucy Honeychurch faints, and gets caught by George. My favorite movie.
Then the museum, where we saw statues and paintings that either did not make it into the final design, or were reproduced for us to see.
We also saw what Alessandro said was “the best thing” in the museum — Michelangelo’s Pieta, a different one than the more famous one in Rome. In this statue, Michelangelo places himself with the body of Jesus being held by Mary, as well as Mary Magdalene. Quite moving to look at Michelangelo’s face as he holds Mary and Jesus.
The wooden statue of Mary Magdalene was also touching. Alessandro said after Jesus’ resurrection, she did work for her faith, and at the end of her life she stopped eating, out of devotion, I’m sure.
