I left you off with saying we were going to the Academia today. We met out front at 12:45, when we had scheduled with them, and were able to skip the giant line. One the way, I detoured to some street vendors and bought two scarves. The important parts of that are these: Firstly, there was no English spoken by me or her, it was all in Italian; secondly, I haggled and got a euro off each scarf. That's not much, but I'm proud of myself; not many people can say they've successfully and comprehensibly haggled in a language they've never ever studied and weren't exposed to until a week prior. Fortunately for me, it's an easy language to pick up the basics of, though unfortunately I think I'll experience the same thing I did coming back from Germany last summer, that of walking into stores/restaurants in America and instinctively beginning to talk/order in another language. And I know I'll be responding to everything with "si" instead of "yes" for quite some time, I'm sure much to the chagrin of my friends back home. But I suppose back to the point- we went to the Academia.
We had to check our purses through the same things they use in airports, and walk through metal detectors. Apparently, some guy a while back went into the Academia with a sledgehammer and started pounding on David's foot, breaking it into pieces. So, better safe than sorry for them I guess. We saw some paintings and stuff, but I'm just going to skip over those and get to the David. After the initial room of paintings, we entered a hall, flanked on each side by unfinished statues by Michelangelo, and ending in David. Our tour guide, also named David, the same one I've mentioned in previous posts, I think was being intentionally cruel by stopping us at each statue that flanked the hall, as our eyes darted constantly back and forth between David and the David. At the very last unfinished statue he gave the longest lecture, but finally, we got to the David. He gave us it's history from creation to present say, punctuated by the screams of "NO PHOTO" by the guards as people (some idiotic enough to leave on flash) attempted to sneak pictures. My feet were sore by the time it was over, but it was so worth it. After the tour, we were allowed to go back and sketch the David, which a handful of us did for a couple of hours. Many people stared at us, a couple pointing, and one little girl saying "They're really good artists!", which absolutely made my day. Periodically, David (the tour guide, not the statue) came in and gave us advice. Remembering his belief in the Zodiac, I asked him if he could tell our signs based on the way we drew. He said probably not, but continued to tell us that when he taught college art, he would ask everybody what their sign was the first day and use it to help them in a way they'd like and understand. At this point, I'd drawn everything in my sketch but the hands, which were posed awkwardly on the statue and disproportionately large, because when it had been sculpted, it had been meant to be seen from way underneath. I asked Tour Guide David, who himself is a Capricorn if I remember correctly, if he had a Scorpio method for drawing hands, at which he laughed and got to work. He showed me one method which I didn't like but respectively listened to, and then said "But here's the Scorpio method" and showed me one which made much more sense and I liked much better (weird, right?). We finished up our sketches and headed out...
...into torrential rains. Our professor emailed us before this trip and said "Say goodbye to clouds in Pittsburgh, because you won't see them again for a month!". Apparently he was wrong. I had no umbrella (why bring one? We weren't supposed to have clouds, let alone monsoons) so trekked home in the rain. It was actually quite enjoyable though, but now I'm soaked and have a fancy "Renaissance Dinner" to go to.
Oh well.
Some photos to sum it all up:
Me in the freak Florentine rain/thunder/lightning storm
My sketch of Michelangelo's David (complete with its right hand drawn by David in two styles to let me choose from)
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