Florence and First Field Studies

This weekend I went to Florence! It was my first time outside of Rome and although Florence was nice, I'm happy that I chose Rome.

I first went to the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, also known as the Duomo. The dome of this famous cathedral was designed by Brunelleschi. I climbed up the hundreds of stairs to the top of the dome. The view from the top was gorgeous!

The Duomo

The inside of the dome

View from the top of the dome

I also saw the David at the Accademia di Belle Arti. It was so amazing! I never realized that the statue was so big! And the detail, showing the veins and muscle definition, was so incredible! Pictures weren't allowed, but here is a picture of a replica in the square where the original used to be.

Copy of Michelangelo's David

I visited the Uffizi Gallery, which I had to wait for 45 minutes to enter. I saw two paintings that I recognized, Botticelli's Primavera and the Birth of Venus. I wish I knew more about art so that I could be familiar with more of the pieces there, but everything was very impressive.

I also had my first field studies this week. I had class here on Thursday:

The Roman Forum

I love having class at the actual sites that we are studying. The Roman Forum was really interesting and we learned about the functions and time period of the buildings. The forum was buried under mud and used as a cow field during the Middle Ages. The mud actually preserved the carvings in the arch so you can see the details. Many of the buildings that are mostly intact are reconstructions, from the time of Mussolini. We also went to a couple of ancient Roman temples that are now Catholic churches. I like that they recycled the buildings instead of demolishing them. There's so much history in the one building.