Well today was the next part of our adventure. We woke up early to have our free breakfast of muesli and yogurt and headed straigh to the gallery de Academia to see the "David" and more art. We got there 15minutes after it opened and only waited about 15minutes to get in. Success. We bought the audio guides which were somewhat interesting but more so for the rooms as a whole than individual pieces of art. Most of the art was early renaissance by Florentine painters. We mostly just cared about David. We sat and stared at him for a long time, it was just incredible..we were so in awe. I don't think I could describe the feeling looking at such a monumental piece of art. It's like we expected him to move at any second! A lot of the sculpture was like that, the detailing is so incredible that it makes something as hard as marble look like it has as much movement as silk or gauze. Amazing. After that we went to the Annunciata which was a church and there was even mass going on. It was very beautiful with lots of gold and several little rooms for us to look at.
The fake David they keep outside in the garden of statues
From there we didn't really have anything else we were dying to see so we thought we would just walk and not worry about the map. This was really quite fun and relaxing as well. We came upon a supermarket and bought some gifts for family/friends and then some snacks for us. We then came across an organic/natural/vegetarian restaurant but it wasn't gluten free so we kept on. Then we found a fair trade store. Haha we would. I bought jon a shirt there that was made from organic cotton in an Italian jail. Score. Doesn't get much more authentic than that!
Then we went towards the Church of Santa Croce which has the tombs of Dante, Michaelangelo, Macchiavelli, Galileo, Charlotte Bonaparte, and other wealthy Italians. The tombs were so gorgeous with the sculptures on them and it was kinda cool thinking how close we were to the bodies of these extremely brilliant and famous men and artists. The people in that church played a huge role in forming culture and science and thought and everything!
We stopped in a cafe for a cappuccino and shared a gluten free plum cake with chocolate that I bought at the supermarket. Sounds better than it tastes...I don't know how gluten free Italians live...I can deal with it in America, or bread isn't famous or like beyond amazing good...but to eat such inferior bread in Italy for your whole life? Devastating.
We walked around by the water and the Uffizi one last time and got our daily gelato. I had panna cotta and cafe, Lilly had pineapple and coconut. Yum...as always (except I hate coconut lol ) and then we meandered back towards the hostel to collect our things.
On the way back we passed by the huge street market and Lilly bought a pair of sunglasses that she bargained for from 6euro to 4 euro. I was very proud of her. 4 euro is still too much by our standards but she did well and I doubt she could get them cheaper in Italy. She needed sunglasses since hers broke.
On the way back to the hotel we made one last stop at a supermarket to buy food for dinner since our train was from 610-745 and we wanted to be there way early so there would be no rush like the other train ride lol We bought yummy cheese and pancetta and grapes and cherries and water to eat on the train with the gluten free biscuits I still had from Alessia's house. Excellent idea for while we watched Marie Antoinette on the ride.
We got to our hotel in Rome easily taking the metro. Unfortunately we feel kinda scammed on the hotel for the amount we paid...we really are not getting what we paid for. The room is very safe, we have like three locked doors just to get to our room and we do get free breakfast and wifi but the wifi is really iffy and selective when it works...the bathroom is small and the water goes hot cold warm... It has a fridge which is ok but all in all...we should have stayed somewhere else. We are trying to be positive about that since in 10years (or maybe even 1) we won't remember the prices, just the experiences...but right now it stings. Speaking of stings, I also have bug bites all over my legs. Like big ones and we have no idea why or how...my feet, calves, thighs, ridiculous. The only place I have been that Lilly hasn't (she has no bites) is my bed at the hostel. So probably some sort of bug there last night. Lovely. Hopefully they don't get worse.
We had planned on the Vatican to tomorrow because it is free on Sunday but all the sites we read tonight said it was horrible with a crazy long wait...so we may put that off until Tuesday now and do the Spanish steps/pantheon tomorrow...
Wish us luck and that I don't get any sicker/more injuries/maladies/bites.
