9/25 Wednesday
We bought our tickets for the Uffizi
for Thursday, so today, we’ll have a nice time at the Galileo Museum,
which is in a building on the riverfront an easy walk from our apartment. This
museum is quiet and understated, with not a lot of explanations. It has models
and instruments from the 15th to the 20th century that
demonstrate various scientific principles. Some of the early globes and
astronomy instruments, for example, are beautiful and intricate. There is a
brass model of a globe standing some eight feet high, filled with rings that
represent orbits, but we really couldn’t figure it out. You can download an
audio guide from the website, but we didn’t learn that until after our visit. There
are beautifully crafted models, built like fine furniture, that were used to
show certain principles of physics and used as entertainment in high society,
much the way a string quartet might be enjoyed. It’s fun to think of these
parties, everyone in their gowns and velvet suits, watching a ball roll down an
incline, ringing little bells on the way, illustrating the acceleration of
gravity.
We take a walk up to the Ponte
Vecchio, the essential tourist site in Florence. The buildings on the bridge
are from the 1500’s, when the city gave the buildings to the Goldsmith’s Guild.
Today, the same buildings are still occupied by jewelers, and the walk across
the bridge is flanked by brilliant displays of diamonds and gold. And tourists.
We take the promenade along the
river to go back home. On this side of the Arne, it’s more park-like and less
crowded. We can see a rowing club on the waterfront right underneath all the
crowds by the Ponte Vecchio. There’s a lovely green lawn and a dock with sculls
and eights, and a rowers’ training boat. It looks so country club and posh, perfect for the Goldsmith’s Guild setting.
1 Video Included
Florence Galileo Museum
No comments:
Post a Comment