Traveling Solo: Museum di Palazzo Vecchio

After a good nights sleep we arise, get ready, grab a juice at our hostel and fill our water bottles. Our hostel provides a luggage check and it is inexpensive. We check our luggage for the day. We will have to return for it by 7 which works because we will meet Father Bruno midday. We will be staying with Father Bruno for the rest of our time in Florence, another blessing come our way.

Today we will tour the Museum di Palazzo Vecchio. This is just one quadrant of the massive palace of the Medici family. Tomorrow our plan is to tour the Uffizi Museum which is also housed within the palace and is about two times larger. On our way to the Medici palace we go by the Pitti Palace which we are thinking of visiting, it has a garden with statues. Outside along the walls of this palace are artists lined up with stalls. Elida knows one of them and we stop to talk with him and gaze at his art. His name is Joseph and he is inspired by DaVinci and I have to buy a painting. It is difficult for me to choose just one. He tells us his story while I thumb through his work. He studied graphic arts at a prestigious university and was very successful. He was working for a well-known firm and he created many pieces for them. Unique furniture and bowls were some of his specialties. The firm took his ideas and made copies without his permission. To him that was unthinkable, unethical and he felt used so he decided to quit. He has been selling his art on the streets ever since. He had several magazine articles about him and his work from back in those days that we looked through. He could easily return to graphic arts but he said he just wants to be true to his art. He studies DaVinci and paints. He is satisfied in life. His story is as attractive as his art. With my newly acquired art in hand we say our goodbyes and head to the museum.

Once there we add a tour of The Studiolo of Francesco I because it is highly recommended and once again doesn't cost too much. On the bottom floor there are ancient maps of Florence. Hand-drawn streets, houses, walls and rivers adorn these sophisticated and accurate representations of the city. As we walk by each map Florence transforms in front of our eyes, growing as it did throughout time. Some of the maps are colored, others black and white. Each map is detailed and must have taken hours as they are massive in scale taking up whole walls. Imagine what we see from a satellite image having to be see with human eyes and then transformed into a hand-drawn map. These geographers were talented in many ways.

Upstairs we walk into the massive Salone dei Cinquencento. It is grandiose with ceilings at least a hundred feet high covered in paintings detailing battles and life. There are marble statues lining both sides of the hall and above the door the symbol of the Medici family. It seems to be a ballroom. There is a window that opens up to a view of the Duomo. There are many tour groups sitting in chairs placed in the middle of the room. It is difficult to look up for very long as your neck tires but I keep trying to pick out details in each painting. They seem to be juxtaposed to contrast one another or to finish telling the story. I want to read the story and my neck suffers. Laying down would be the best way to view the paintings but again you would have to move around the room many times to capture all of it.

Off in the corner of the Salone is the Studiolo of Francesco I. Although the room is small it is as impressive as the Salone itself. It is obvious why the girl recommended we see it. The walls are lined with elegant paintings framed in guilt. The rectangle room is set up to represent the four elements; air, water, fire and earth. The paintings on each side are connected with the assigned element. The paintings are detailed and I am drawn to one on the water side. This woman stands draped in a see-through cloth. The men around her admire her beauty. The water is behind her but a part of her as well. She looks fluid. The movement in her clothing is obvious.

After looking at the paintings for at least 30 minutes we notice hinges. These paintings are disguising something else. We read our brochure and find out that this was Francesco de' Medici's private studio and was only accessible via his bedroom. He stored the precious family heirlooms behind these cabinet doors. The museum worker explains that in the cabinets the riches that represented each element would be stored in the proper cabinets. Bones would be under the heading of earth, metals under fire and so on. Francesco I was interested in science and alchemy. The paintings sometimes have scientific themes as well. There are also scenes from the Bible.

We finally leave to finish our tour but we are both overwhelmed. We climb the stairs and continue through room after room of massive paintings, frescoes, tiled floors and large lighting fixtures. The Medici's lived well and certainly did their part to support art and science. If it weren't for the wealthy the arts would not survive. The Mezzanine looks out upon the city and countryside and is one of the best views of Florence. We head to the Hall of Geographical Maps. There is a huge antique globe and I pose like Atlas. The amount of details in the maps are amazing. Even hundreds of years ago they knew so much about our world. They mapped it with precision. The dining room reminds us we are hungry but I love its dark wooden table. There were even modern day conveniences for the Medici family. No water, but a toilet. We finish our tour and head out ready for lunch.

On our way to lunch we pass by Dante's house and the church he attended. We explore. The church is small but the prayers said I am certain were not. A genius prayed here and lived in this tucked away house that looks like a castle tower.

We stumble upon a monastery, The Monastic Communities of Jerusalem. It is located in the Santa Maria Assunta Church. As we walk into the sanctuary we spot an old wooden table. On the table lies a slotted box, small pieces of paper, a pen, brochures and a basket full of slips of brightly colored paper. There are two signs on the table. One says, "God Listens" and the other "God Answers". The instructions say to write out your prayer and drop it in the basket and then take an answer out of the other basket. We each decide to write our prayers. Taking a white piece of paper I begin writing. What has been heavy on my heart the entire trip and in my life lately is feeling alone for the last seven years. I write the prayer, "I do not want to be alone any longer." I pull my answer, "Preso un bambino, lo pose in mezzo a loro e, abbracciandolo, disse loro: Chi accoglie uno solo di questi bambini nel mio nome, accoglie me..." It is found in Mark 9:36-37, "Anyone who welcomes a little child such as this in my name, welcomes me." Echoing Aldo's sentiment about my perfect life, this tells me I have yet to be alone in my journey. I have been sharing it with my two boys who God plucked out of Russia just for me. I sit and pray.

Elida's prayer and answer bring her to deep tears. We have both been broken women at times in our lives and have fervently searched for healing. Our praying on this trip has given us each a gift. We linger in this sanctuary for awhile.

We walk a few more blocks and find a grocery where we buy fruit, water and a salad. We park ourselves on the curb and eat up thoroughly enjoying our simple lunch. We people watch while we sit on the old large brick sidewalk.

We are in Sam's neighborhood and Elida decides we should stop by. We head that way passing through the market with all its bustle. There are so many things that I could buy, bracelets, belts, bags, shirts but I purchase none. Sam owns a leather shop. It is tucked into one of the streets that connects to the market. He has top of the line jackets and other leather goods. Sam is wearing a unique silver cross that is on a leather chain. It is bulky and looks strong, the strength of the cross. We do not stay long as Elida's presence has upset his girlfriend.

We wander a little more until it is time to meet Father Bruno. We meet him in a piazza and then walk to our hostel to pick up our luggage. We drag our luggage to his apartment which he has promised was only a short while. Elida and I are used to dragging our luggage by now and it hardly phases us that like all Italian things that are supposed to take only a little while, this takes a good amount of time.

We drop our luggage and freshen up, and Father Bruno pours us a glass of beer. Father Bruno has planned dinner at a favorite spot around the corner. We head that way and read over the menu. Father Bruno is not overly hungry and but he suggests a few things including the mussels. We order an appetizer which is a heaping pot. They are delicious. I have decided on a vegetarian pasta once again and Bruno doesn't let me order but I tell him I need the practice and the waitress is gracious and lets me try. Bruno says I have good pronunciation. That is a nice compliment. Our meal is one of my favorites from the trip. We had wine and bread and engaging company. Bruno is brutal in his honesty with Elida but he repeats the advice Aldo gave me to her and then to me. He explains that our freedom is a blessing, especially Elida's. He says Elida should move to Portland. She is stunned. He also tells her to stop messing around with losers. Bruno loves her and wants only the best for her. After dinner Bruno turns in and we stroll. Tonight we pass by Porcellino and rub his snout for good luck. He is a bronze pig people rub for good luck. There are locks of love connected to him as well. Lovers each buy a lock and lock their love together on the pig or the Ponte Vecchio, a romantic tradition that I am immediately taken in by.

Florence at night is interesting. The lighting is medieval in feel. Castle towers loom, church domes cast shadows and the energy is softer than Sorrento. We stroll by the water and gaze at its tranquil nature. We walk past the Galileo museum where there is an instrument that reflects light onto the ground where the symbols of the zodiac are carved. At night there is a blue light reflecting down. We try to figure it out but are unsure of its purpose. We continue our stroll and have our only scary encounter of the trip. Men approached us who were obviously drunk and try to convince us to go with them. We say no and they follow us but we were able to lose them quickly since the alcohol prevented them from being fast. After the encounter we headed back to the apartment to turn in for the night.