A day in a tourist’s life
Thursday, 25 September 2014
We made the decision to get the pricey one-size-fits-all-and-we-mean-all card that includes entry fees for just about every venue, plus city busses, and free wifi across the city, plus lets you cut in line. Not really, but you get to go ahead of most ticket-holders.
It’s good for museum/church/etc. entries for 72 hrs from when you first use it, so you can stretch it to four days if you make your first entry late enough in the day to make your last entry early on the last day. Only one entry per venue, though….
Great plan! Now, to put it in motion!
Trekked up to the botanical garden, apparently the first modern botanical garden ever (a Renaissance invention? Live and learn). Closed. The hail storm a week ago tomorrow, which produced enough hail to cover the streets and make them white, and was accompanied by miserable winds, brought down limbs and trees, so, safety first.
Next stop: Museo di San Marco. Turns out it is centered on a courtyard that also got damaged by the hail-storm: chiuso, again.
Well, let’s pick a museum that’s all indoors, and nearby: the archaeology museum. Ah, staff meeting today (of all things!), so closed for three hours starting at 11:45, about an hour from when we arrived. Not a long enough window for this Inquisitive. Another bust, since we have only one entry on our card.
Okay, we gave in. Let’s wait in line at the Accademia and go see Michelangelo’s David, we decided—along with two other lines of people; ours moved fastest because of the magic card, but we still waited in the street for 20 minutes. Woman behind us was a French teacher from Peru, so we talked in Spanish, which kept me distracted from the wait. Major kudos to the Guru, because line-standing is NOT his thing (can’t blame him).
Other than David, we liked the strange side exhibit of musical instruments, including early pianofortes, hurdy-gurdies, and a Stradivarius violin.
Also learned about how gold-leaf was added to altar-pieces and the like, plus more about how they were painted (DVD kept freezing, rather comically).
Escaped to the street and made a hunger-fueled beeline for the BRB chow stop, where paninis are 5€, with 2€ more if you want wine. Yummy paninis, skipped the wine, huge line here, too. Thanks for the recommendation!
Drifted a bit farther south and entered the Galileo museum. (That’s a statue of him, frowny-forehead guy number three in this blog entry.) Devices galore. Shiny bronze shapes with calibrations and loopy inscriptions.
This is a 1625 theodolite. I’ve used a theodolite, two different kinds; didn’t look like this! Principle of operation looks the same, though. Safe assumption, anyway.
Rather pooped; contemplating evening plans. Wondering if we’ll ever find/be able to connect to that free city wifi…. Over and out.