Tumut High School Europe Trip 2012: Sunday in Florence

Sunday 15.4.12

Florence

We all woke up very excited to explore Florence. The motel (Hotel Raffaello) breakfast provided us with yummy eggs, bacon, cheese, fruit, cereal and pastries to fuel us for the day ahead. We did some much needed laundry before taking off on the bus, heading for Florence CBD. All 32 of us are becoming extremely comfortable using public transport, with two people being mistaken for locals!

Our wonderful guide, Francesca, meet us at 10am in front of the impressive Duomo Santa Maria Del Fiore for our tour of the Science Museum. Town was a little more crowded than usual with the completion of a marathon taking place in the centre of Florence. Francesca had our attention from the beginning, explaining the rise and fall of Galileo Galilei and the role the church played in this. The Museum held amazing and original inventions, objects and information in regards to Gailileo’s lifetime achievements. The study of the galaxy, star signs, time, optics, pregnancy, warfare …….. the list is endless and was almost unbelievable. He was an amazing man, who was before his time in regards to the way the world works and we live our everyday lives. Some of the more memorable pieces in the Museum were the telescopes, the progression of the thermometer, an ancient defibrillator, fan, medicine, clocks …..again, the list is endless. Not to forget the preserved fingers and tooth belonging to Gailileo.

After the museum, we headed to lunch. Mr V lead the way to a favourite restaurant of his where he claimed the lasagne was to die for. It didn’t disappoint, with all students rolling out the restaurant door full of yummy garlic bread, bruschetta, pizza, salad, ravioli, spaghetti and of course, lasagne.

This afternoon took us to the Academy of Fine Arts, the home of Michelangelo’s famous David and unfinished statues. Words cannot describe the feelings of the group in regards to what we saw. To start we learnt about the unfished statues. These were constructed by Michelangelo at the end of his life. They were great to see, demonstrating the work and techniques used to create the amazing statues we have seen over the last week. Then, finally, it was our time to meet David. He is amazing!!! To create this masterpiece with a single block of marble is almost unimaginable. His hands and feet were noticeably larger than the rest of his body. We also learnt that Michelangelo was 26 when he started David and it took him 3 years to complete amongst other things. The last thing we viewed before leaving the academy was the famous family tree painting, with its golden background depicting Jesus’ family and the events that shaped his (and the worlds) life.

Our afternoon was left for exploring/shopping. And oh did we shop. Our group is starting to deck themselves out in beautiful leather jackets, new shoes and scarves. Thoroughly enjoying the similarities and differences of Florence and Rome, such as the cleanliness, the sometimes cheap prices, haggling for a bargain, gelato. After a solid 2 hrs of exploring /shopping we had definitely injected some funds into the Florence economy.

Looking forward to dinner, we all meet at the steps of Duomo Santa Maria Del Fiore. Tonight was extremely popular serving chunky vegetable soup, osso bucco and biscotti. Again we followed dinner with a gelato detour, sneakily becoming a tradition for the group.

Students and teachers are falling in love with Florence! Off to Pisa tomorrow for a day trip. I’m sure another amazing day awaits us. All Students are travelling along famously, taking in all the new info and supporting each other.

By Stace Clark