January 28, 2026

January 28, 2026

Aimee and I took our neighbor to see a movie this afternoon, a rare event for us these days. Song Sung Blue is about a duet Lightning (Hugh Jackman) & Thunder (Kate Hudson) who have a Neil Diamond tribute act in southern Wisconsin. It starts out a cute love story that runs into tragedy. We went partly for the music we enjoy, but also because we have a personal connection to this true story. The real-life female lead, Claire Stingl is a cousin to a guy Aimee and I have played golf with often. The only problem is I now find myself whistling Diamond tunes all the time.

January 20, 2026

January 20, 2026

Aimee set the alarm for 4 AM this morning. After dressing and final packing, we dragged our bodies out of our Florence, Italy hotel and into the nearby Piazza. Our driver arrived exactly on time, just like both trains we took. Italy is the new Germany apparently.

Our first flight took us over the snowy Alps right past the Matterhorn peak landing in Paris on time. We flew Air France on this leg. We always look forward to it as their food is usually very good. We weren’t disappointed. We could smell the fresh croissants as soon as we got on the plane. Our flight also took us across the Butter-Oil line. Romans cook in Olive Oil. Here we savor a croissant dripping in butter.

After a couple hour layover, we boarded another Air France flight. This one came with a full meal. It was delicious. Afterwards I asked for seconds for dessert and a big glass of Cognac. Our long flight took us over Iceland and the center of Greenland. Both looked snowy and very cold. Pack-ice continued across the Davis Strait to Baffin Island. I was a little surprised. It is going to take a lot more global warming before the famed Northwest Passage is truly navigable. Right now only a polar bear would love it.

Since this is a day flight, I took the opportunity to watch three movies. They included two of the three original Star Wars movies I haven’t seen since they first came out. While watching I kept an eye out the window as we passed the lofty Grand Tetons rising steeply from Jackson Hole. Later I saw Lake Mead and Hoover Dam.

During our long layover in LAX, we took the opportunity to freshen up with showers. That is a nice perk of the Business Lounge. By the time we board our flight to Tucson, I am exhausted and I sleep the entire way.

We are happy to be home. Neither of us likes the cold anymore. I am ready for Tucson warm. Aimee is tired of the art lessons I have been giving her. She has some post-trip reading assignments learning about Greek and Roman mythology and Renaissance art. We had a good trip though. Despite the forecast for continuous rain, we had only a few showers over two days. Despite being winter we found crowds aplenty, especially in tightly packed Florence, the home of Pinocchio. We also got lots of exercise. Aimee's phone said we walked 117 miles!

Rome is a great mix of ancient Roman culture and more modern Baroque papal splendor and excess. It is endlessly fascinating. A visit to Florence filled in the missing Renaissance period. Fortunately for my tastes, both cities had venues overflowing with sculpture. While Aimee could relate to the famous Boy with Thorn in his Foot, I like the dynamic statues that invite you to walk around them. Bernini was the master of this art form.

January 19, 2026

January 19, 2026

Today is devoted to the Duomo since most museums in Florence are closed on Mondays. A reservation is required to climb the dome of the Cathedral di Santa Maria del Fiore. I thought Aimee might enjoy the history lesson while getting some early morning exercise. It is 463 steps to the top, with the last part being a narrow staircase between the two domes.

There was a competition in 1418 to build this massive dome (between Ghiberti & Brunelleschi again). Brunelleschi won this time. His design was revolutionary and it was the largest dome built since the Roman Pantheon 1500 years earlier. Some consider this event to be the start of the Renaissance. From the observation platform on the lantern, we get great views of Florence.

We are the first to go down but we still have to navigate the narrow passage inside the dome with the next group coming up. We stop at the base of the dome to get a photo of the floor far far below. When I did the climb many years ago there wasn’t a protective glass blocking photos. Travel today is a big tradeoff.

The Duomo is not open to the public yet, so we are directed back outside. We choose to visit the next door Baptistery in the interim. We first circle this immense structure checking out the three famous sets of doors (all copies) again. After entering we sadly find the medieval gold mosaic ceiling is under restoration behind a screen. The only exposed section is in an exterior archway.

We next visit the Duomo Museum housed in the original sculpture workshop. I was expecting just to see the original Baptistery doors that have been moved inside here since I last saw them many years ago. We do find all three sets elegantly exhibited, although lots of the gilding has been worn off from the millions touching them over the last 600 years.

The museum turns out to be far larger and very interesting. The Duomo once had a partially completed Gothic facade. After the dome was completed, this decor was considered old fashioned. It was removed but the plan to reface it fell apart. This symbol of the Renaissance lay bare for three centuries until 1887. The city fathers saved all the Gothic statues and they are now exhibited in a full scale model filling an open atrium.

The museum also goes into the design of Brunelleschi’s dome. He was able to build the dome without full scaffolding by building a second dome made of brick in a herringbone pattern that was self-supporting until the mortar dried.

Besides the original statuary of the Duomo facade, the museum contains the original sculpted medallions that litter the facade of the Campanile or Bell Tower. Each depicts some craft or field of science. Aimee likes the weaving one. Humorously the mechanical arts is represented by what looks like a flying monkey from Oz but is actually Daedalus and his wings of wax. The discovery of wine is depicted by a drunk Noah.

This museum turned out to be very interesting but they need to employ a German consultant to help them with signage and routing. The numbered rooms were not in order and we struggled at the end to find a restroom before exiting.

From the museum we checked out the new front facade of the Duomo. It was interesting to see all the designs that were considered before settling on this one. The Duomo is now open for visitation, but the security line for the public is very long. We circle the Duomo hoping there is a special entrance for ticket holders. Thankfully there is.

We are directed first to the crypt which has the mosaic floor remnants of an earlier church and a handful of tomb covers. Back up at floor level, we find the Cathedral is cavernous, but for such a famous church with a nice facade, it is almost barren inside. Several monuments are just painted on a wall. Only the dome ceiling is decorated (Vasari's Last Judgement).

We wander back towards the hotel and elect to visit the Laurentian Library attached to the Medici’s home church of San Lorenzo. It is on the opposite side from their chapel. Michelangelo designed it to hold the Medici books. It has an elegant neoclassical marble staircase with a very long elongated reading room. Deep benches line both sides. Did the Medici ever have this many reading visitors?

For lunch we ordered Lasagna with our salad. It was so tasty we ordered a second serving. We followed it up with Tiramisu for dessert again.

Italians like to do their ‘passeggiata’ (city stroll) in the evening. Since we are getting up early tomorrow, we do ours in the late afternoon. We think briefly about climbing the Duomo Bell Tower. Instead we walk north ending at the Fortrezza da Basso. This castle guarded the northern gate of the city. During Cosimo’s time it held troops ready to quell rebellion. It is now the city’s exhibition center.

We stroll back south past the Duomo to Piazza della Signoria getting one last look of the fine sculpture in the adjoining Loggia dei Lanzi. Aimee spends some time shopping for Italian yarn, while I check out a cook making pasta in a restaurant window. Italian pasta comes in a huge variety of shapes. Back at the hotel we retired early.

January 18, 2026

January 18, 2026

We left after breakfast towards the Arno River. We stopped on the way to circle the facade of the Orsanmichele Church. Unlike most churches that commission statues for the interior, this one has niches all around the exterior of the building. Each was paid for by different guilds and sculpted by the best of Florence. Donatello’s St George slaying the Dragon sports a shield so it was not surprisingly sponsored by the Armor’s Guild.

We continued through the Piazza della Signoria with its Neptune fountain and equestrian statue of Duke Cosimo I. Also in this central square is a medallion marking the spot where Savonarola was publicly burned at the stake in political backlash. Only a year earlier he had inspired a revolution and held a ‘Bonfire of the Vanities’ where citizens burned sinful art and books in the same spot.

Across the square we walked through the Uffizi Gallery courtyard checking out the 28 statues in niches. Instead of saints like Orsanmichele, these contain the most famous of Florence history.

We next followed the Vasari Corridor on the ground from the Uffizi and across the Ponte Vecchio. The bridge used to be full of butchers and tanners. Cosimo didn’t like the smell permeating his new passageway so he threw them out and invited goldsmiths. They are still here to this day. Aimee is disappointed to find they haven’t opened their shops for the day. They are boarded up so tight there is no window shopping either.

We continued following the corridor to Santa Felicita Church where we enter and spot the private balcony where Cosimo and his family would worship, never having to mingle with ordinary citizens.

We finished at the Pitti Palace. Cosimo’s wife didn’t like the castle-like Palazzo Vecchio so after about fifteen years they bought this unfinished palace and had Vasari renovate and enlarge it. It is now an Italian state museum.

After having our tickets scanned multiple times, we decided to start on the highest level and work our way down. We start in the Costume Gallery that begins with the outlandish and bulky clothes that royal women wore in the Renaissance. Normally I would be snoozing right now, but the collection was interesting because it followed Italian high fashion all the way through the Belle Epoque and Flapper eras to the mini-skirt of the 1960’s.

Also on the upper floor was the Modern Art Museum. It was kind of a misnomer only in that it was more recent than Renaissance and Baroque. There is nothing ‘modern’ in it. I enjoyed our walk through the galleries.

The art is all in what probably was the living quarters of the royals who owned the palace after the Medici’s died out. For a time that even included some French Napoleon relatives. The collection included a number of Romantic Era paintings, along with lots of the ‘de rigueur’ portraiture. I was intrigued with two female statues in the probably standard fashion of the day.

We then moved down to the main floor and toured the Palatine Gallery. It has over 500 Renaissance and Baroque paintings filling every spot of wall space in these highly decorated palace rooms. Each hall is dedicated to a different mythical story or god and decorated with brilliant ceiling frescoes. It would take days to do this art justice. My favorite was the Venus Room.

On the ground floor we quickly ran through the Treasury of the Grand Dukes. It is a little bit like the royal collection we saw in Dresden but on a more modest scale. Even then it has a most outlandish collection of ivory carvings, not to mention amber, crystal and other stones.

From the Pitti Palace, we worked our way back across the Arno, checking out the facade of the Palazzo Bianca, and the now open jewelry stores of the Ponte Vecchio. We crossed over the Santa Trinita Bridge which was blown up by the retreating Nazis in WWII. The stones of this prized Renaissance structure were fished out of the river and carefully reassembled. The sun is in the right position for photographing the Ponte Vecchio. We popped into the Santa Trinita Church to check out some nice Ghirlandaio frescoes.

We were waylaid getting across because of a long line of Vespa scooters on a club road rally. Most of them must be 2-stroke as they leave a stinky cloud of gas vapors behind.

We next passed through the Piazza Repubblica with its triumphal arch built into one side. We sit and watch a street band play some music for a few minutes.

After resting at our hotel room we go for lunch at the same spot as a few days ago. For some reason it is jam-packed today and the service is very slow. Despite that the Chicken Cacciatore (hunter) was very tasty. The Chianti wasn’t bad either.

After lunch we toured the nearby Basilica of Santa Maria Novella. Like all the others it is very cold inside. Shockingly the gift shop is inside a chapel making it the nicest one I have ever seen.

The best part of church is the choir area behind the altar. It has a bunch of colorful frescoes by the Renaissance artist known as Ghirlandaio. He shows his mastery of linear perspective. Michelangelo worked for him on it too at the age of 13. Even then he was masterful enough to show depth by painting shadows of non-descript figures.

The tour continues in the vast set of cloisters in this Dominican facility. We run through the Spanish Chapel, the Cloister of Dead, and the (really) Large Cloister before exiting.

January 17, 2026

January 17, 2026

We left again right after breakfast for our early reservation at the Accademia Gallery, another world famous art museum in Florence, Italy. We skip the audio guide and we get some nice tourist-free time with probably the greatest sculpture in the world, Michelangelo’s magnificent David. I have seen it before and I wanted Aimee to see it too. Maybe she will start to appreciate the art she is seeing.

The hall leading to David has a series of unfinished Michelangelo’s known as the Prisoners. Michelangelo thought he didn't carve the figures, but just released them from the stone. These were intended for a papal tomb but he got pulled away on other projects.

The Galleria has a few other exhibits too. One room contains lots of plaster casts of famous works. Humorously one is a sculptural version of Titian’s famous Venus painting we admired yesterday.

Oddly another small room has musical instrument history. Besides lots of violins, it has several harpsichords and pianos, especially portable Spinets. The piano was invented here around 1700 by a Medici musical craftsman.

Aimee was ready to leave but I dragged her upstairs to a small hall devoted to medieval art. While I was checking out the art Aimee got fascinated by a video showing the great skill and time needed to create these gilded artworks. I noticed that while the figures themselves were flat, the folds of the clothing were exhibiting volume and were full of detail. It was as if the robes were more important than the subjects.

We try to visit the San Marco Convent Museum but find out it is sold out while we are here. There is a special Fra Angelico exhibition going on.

On our way to our next sight we passed through the Piazza della Santissima Annunziata. In the center is a bronze equestrian statue of a Medici duke that was made from the Turkish cannon captured during the Battle of Lepanto. Next to it is a foundling hospital where mothers could drop off unwanted babies. It was built by the nobles of Florence to minimize the moral regret of the local elites who all had mistresses on the side.

Our next stop is at the Bargello Museum, another treasury of art. This one is housed in an old medieval town hall that became the city police station.

The lobby has some famous pieces like Giambologna's Flying Mercury we often see used in quick delivery advertisements (eg FTD). The second floor main hall is full of Donatello sculpture especially the effeminate David with a bonnet. It also has another famous David by Verrocchio.

This room also has the original two bas-relief panels of Ghiberti and Brunelleschi from the Baptistery door competition of 1401. The one on the left won. I almost missed it, but Aimee noticed this non-descript wall display.

There are many more rooms stuffed with possessions that the Medici family collected over the centuries. It included porcelain, jewelry, storage chests, and of course armor. All of it is highly ornamented, even the gunstocks.

Another room contained works of Luca della Robbia and his nephews. Luca developed a process to make colorful glazed terracotta statuary.  I had never heard of him before, but we ended up running into his art almost everywhere we went in Florence.

We then walked east to the Basilica of Santa Croce. There is a market in the piazza in front. I have to let Aimee spend some time there before I get her inside.

Santa Croce is famous for all the tombs of famous Florentines. There are almost 300, most of whom are interred under a floor slab. The prominent ones have wall monuments, including Galileo, Michelangelo, Ghiberti, and Machiavelli. Florence is proud of a lot of other erstwhile Florentines buried elsewhere, so there are memorials and plaques for Dante, Da Vinci, Fermi, and Galvani.

It is colder inside than out, so Aimee is rushing me through. We quickly peruse the chapels with Giotto frescoes and then out through the cloisters to see an early Last Supper in the Refectory. Santa Croce has flooded many dozen times over the centuries damaging much of this work.

We make our way back to central Florence to tour the Palazzo Vecchio. It has a tall tower that dominates the Florence skyline. We climb the stairs to the Hall of 500. When this building was the town hall, this room was where the leaders of Florence would assemble and vote. The walls are decorated with frescoes by Vasari, one of which is featured in Dan Brown’s book.

When the Medici Duke Cosimo I took over and dissolved the Republic, he made this his Palace. We climbed more stairs to explore his living quarters. Every room has a highly decorated ceiling mostly painted with mythological scenes. A few important rooms are decorated to the floor.

The room I liked best was the Hall of Maps. In particular it has a monstrous globe. I would love to have one like it. Another hallway has the death mask of Dante, which also featured heavily in the book Inferno.

Outside in Piazza della Signoria and the adjacent Loggia dei Lanzi is a famous historical repository of Florentine sculpture. The original David once stood here. It still contains some of the finest statues and it is free, something you can’t say often in Florence. I like Giambologna's Rape of the Sabine, and Cellini's Perseus with Medusa the best.

We pass the Central Market loggia with its Boar fountain and then find an intimate restaurant for lunch. We are exhausted and need the nourishment and downtime. We share a Greek Salad, Tagliatelle with Tuscan Ragout, and a nice mini-bottle of tasty Chianti wine. Aimee insists we finish with Tiramisu.

Aimee is refueled so she agrees to see some more sites. We next tour the Palazzo Davanzati Museum. This is a well-preserved urban tower house. The guided tours are sold out so we can only visit the second floor of this five-story building. Since there is no elevator that might not be a problem.

What we do see is pretty cool and looks very authentic with wooden shutters, round crown glass windows, iron bars, faux tapestry painted walls, and hole toilets. We spend some time with a quilt that has a medieval story woven into it.

Our last stop was at San Lorenzo Church to visit the Medici Chapel containing the tombs of the nobles of this family. We first enter the Principal Chapel. It is a vast octagon shaped room with a tomb on each side. It is all luxuriously adorned in semi-precious stone. It is unfinished though as only two of the five have a statue in their niche.

We finished in the New Chapel that has the tombs of the earlier Renaissance Medici. It is smaller, also unfinished, but contains two monuments sculpted by Michelangelo. I don't think they were his best work.