Today we were given the opportunity to go explore a few museums or stroll the streets in Florence. The two museums we visited were the Galleria dell’Accademia and Uffizi Gallery. Galleria dell’Accademia is best known for the world renowned David, by Michelangelo. The David was commissioned by the Florence Republic in 1501 and completed in 1504. The inspiration behind the work was the biblical story of David’s defeat of Goliath. Seeing it in person was an indescribable experience. The David is known to this day for being arguably the greatest sculpture of all time. The minor details in the piece do not even compare to other works we have seen so far on the trip. As the museum stated, this piece set a new standard for sculptures.
We then rushed to the Uffizi Gallery, another well known Renaissance museum. This gallery is best known for housing Sandro Botticelli’s The birth of Venus. There was far too much to explore in a single morning between the three floors and hundreds upon hundreds of works of art.
After meeting back at the hotel with the morning shoppers, we immediately jumped on the bus and departed for Venice. Along the way we paused for a quick rest stop, which turned out to be quite an adventure. As we were all refilling our stomaches, our bus received some heavy fire (don’t worry, we were never in any danger and no guns were used!!).
The Victim
It turned out that someone had attempted to break into our bus via the driver’s side window. Nothing was taken, but the local authorities still needed to be called in to report the crime. After scraping the remaining glass from the window, we quickly replaced the window with a thin scrap of cardboard.
The last leg of our journey to Venice was completed by ferry. This experience was far smoother than our last voyage on Super Fast II. Suprisingly enough, this journey went extremely fast and we were at the shores of Venice in no time!
Our Trusty Vessel
Upon docking in Venice, we dropped our bags off in our rooms and listened to an engaging presentation by our fellow classmates about the role of gender in sports. This class featured a friendly competition between the men and the women on the trip. As we predicted, the men came out on top and won the game. Good game, girls!
Aly and Jennessa enlightening the class
To wrap up the night, we got our first taste of Venice. The free time was spent exploring the beautiful streets and narrow alleyways of this legendary town. Aaron and Mary were able to capture a few neat pictures, which can be seen below! Ciao Ciao!
Jamie and Jered
Oh this is just great! Mariel you look so dapper!