The end to Florence

Today marks the end of our last day in Florence. I'm kind of upset because I have enjoyed our stay here (especially due to the amazing hotel staff and the leather market didn't hurt either). Today was one of my favorite days yet. It was really cool to visit the Uffizi and be able to see some of the most famous works of art that we have studied all year in person. The Birth of Venus and the The Primavera by Botticelli were by far my favorite, and were much larger in person than I expected. It was interesting to be able to see the actual brush strokes and detail even in the grass of the paintings. You can not see those same details when looking at it on a powerpoint in class.
My favorite part of the day, and what I've been waiting the whole stay in Florence to see, was Michelangelo's DAVID!! Kat has seen him and told me I would not be disappointed with him in person, and boy was she right. He was one amazing specimen :) I could have sat there and stared at him all day. Once again, in class we discussed he was really tall, but I was just amazed at how tall he really was. I was just in awe and stared at him for most of the time that we were at the Accedemia. Seeing him in person was a completely difference experience. You could see all of the detail that Michelangelo put into sculpting him. His veins were visible in his arms and hands, you could see his achilles tendon, his ribs and sternum were sculpted, and his muscle definition was unbelievable. It was really cool to be able to see his back side (not for the reason you're thinking), but to be able to see his strap from his sling shot. I never really noticed that from the powerpoint in class. As Dr. Mills pointed out, it was also nice to be able to see the unfinished slaves in the room to see how rough marble sculpting really is, and helped me appreciate Michelangelo's effort in creating David.
In defense for the poor souls who ate Ben & Jerry's today, it was gelato, not ice cream. It was much smoother and creamier (or so I've been told). I also heard it was pretty tasty ;)