If you can believe it, we spent our fourth day in Florence going to museums again.
We started out Sunday morning at the Museo Nazionale del Bargello. Bargello comes from a Latin word that means castle or fortified tower. This building, now housing the museum, used to be a palace for the first Captain of the tower. It later housed the highest magistrate in the Florence City Council. It is the oldest public building in Florence, being constructed beginning in 1255. It also was a former barracks and prison.
This museum had some really awesome pieces from history. I really liked this octagonal folding table...
...and these traveling gaming box...
...this old trunk...
...and these really old shoes.
I liked that it had a book from Marco Polo too!
It also had several large galleries of famous statues. We saw work from Michelangelo and Vincenzo Danti and Donatello!
Again we saw some amazing woodwork!
Glenn really liked the knight room. We found a suit of armor that would fit someone smaller than him! Was that ever used by someone? Crazy to have one so small!
Next we made our way to Dante's House museum.
Inside we saw his death mask and copies of his famous book The Divine Comedy.
We were starving after all that, and we found a doner place to satisfy our hunger. Yum!
Just around the corner, we went through one of their famous markets. At the end of the market was this boar statue. Cheryl's guidebook said it was good luck to rub the snout of the boar and drop a coin from there. If it went through the grate at the bottom, you did it right. So of course, we all had to try it!
And with it being Sunday, we figured it would be good to attend church. We went to the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella.
The interior was beautiful and ornate.
We got to hear part of a Mass that was taking place when we walked in. Glenn liked walking around and pretending to give a password in a pattern using the floor tiles.
Outside the church there was a small area of grass, but it had a fence all around it. I just think it is so strange that Europeans think it is respectful to not walk on grass.
On our walk back home, we found this tiny car. Glenn looks big enough to drive it!
Later that evening, Paul and Cheryl went out for a walk to see Florence at night.
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