26. Renaissance Art and a Walk Downtown

I know everyone has been anxiously awaiting the answers to yesterday's quiz... Here they are!

1. The Holy Spirit

2. St. Jerome - he pulled a splinter out of the lions foot. So now they're BFF's

3. a dog

4. Saint Peter of Verona

5. horns - this is due to a mistake in translation of the bible. St. Jerome translated "grew horns" rather than "radiated light"

6. John the Baptist

7. Saint Sebastion

8. Caravaggio

9. a knife

10. Rembrandt - seriously here's a wall full of his paintings of himself.

Today we got up early, downloaded a great Rick Steves audio tour and set out to roam the city. We stopped at the Orsanmichele Church - which used to be some type of grain factory. It is found on the road between the Duomo and what used to be the governmental part of the city. We walked around and learned some interesting stuff about the statues on the outside.

On the left is St. George by Donatello. Does he look familiar at all? He is said to be the "David" of his time. On the right is St. Mark by Donatello. See his stance? His left leg is popped just like Michelangelo's David. I think I know who Michelangelo looked up to... 

THIS IS NOT THE REAL DAVID! The real one used to sit outside Palazzo Vecchio in this spot until someone decided to throw a bench at it. This is why all the good statues are placed in museums...

Our Rick Steves tour ended at Ponte Vecchio where we walked along admiring the jewelry shops along the side of the bridge.

On the way back we stopped by Galileo Science Museum. Brody was less than enthused to be at another museum.

Until he saw this!

That's right, my friends, you're looking at two of Galileo's fingers. I have seen so many dead people's bones on this trip. 

We finished out the day with a walk through the Uffizi Gallery where Rick taught us how to look at art. I learned a lot about 2D medieval paintings compared to 3D Renaissance paintings. The Renaissance was the beginning of a time where people didn't have to paint religious stories anymore and Venus took precedence over the Virgin Mary. Unfortunately about half the rooms we wanted to see were "closed for renovation," but I guess you can't win them all.