Thursday, June 2, 2011

Duomo, Baptistry, San Lorenzo Church, and Medici Chapel



We have visited important building after important building today... First we toured the Medici Chapels where many of the Medici family are buried; we saw Michaelangelo's sculptures he made for the family tombs and marveled at his attention to detail despite his conflicting emotions about the family. We then strolled through the San Lorenzo Church, the oldest church in Florence. We discussed the exterior and interior of the Baptistry before seeing the lovely mosaics decorating its ceiling - gold and stones the size of your fingernail make up Biblical stories that helped the people of the time understand the scriptures. We ate our sack lunches while standing in the good-paced line outside the Duomo. Once inside, we saw the beautiful frescoed ceiling. Seeing people along the walkway near the top of the dome puts the grand scale in perspective.


Here we are inside Florence's Duomo... a few of the group straggled behind, so don't worry if your student isn't pictured--he or she was just appreciating Versari's frescos inside the Duomo's dome. The magnitude is unbelievable.


The students had more free time in Florence this afternoon. This evening, our plan is to make the uphill climb to HU's villa on the outskirts of Scandicci and to join the HUF group for chapel and dinner. It will be great fun to be able to visit with Robbie and Mona over a wonderful meal prepared by Paula and Leda - when we were HUF teachers in 2007, I remember wanting to ask the ladies to curl up in my suitcase and come live in the States with us! Even though I speak no Italian (Clay and A-C are working on it though!), we will have fun communicating with gestures! Some of our BAT students know a few of the HUF students, so tonight is sure to be a nice time with the HUF staff and students.

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