Florence - Shelby

Hello -
We've been having a great time in Firenze! Luckily, the heat of the first 3 days had died down and there is a warm breeze (and at times wind) that has been keeping us cool(er). We moved across town to our second hostel - this one we are staying at for 5 days. It's nice to experience another part of the city, as this is on the other, less populated, side of the river, though still close to museums and plazzas.
Since here we've attended many museums -
- The Plazza Pitti, which housed the Boboli Gardens (a huge network of formal Italian Renaissance gardens and sculptures) and the Costume Museum. The costume Museum was amazing - I loved every moment of it and it was so cool to see in real life all the costumes that I have studied and rendered in college! The beauty and exquisiteness of the embroidery was something I needed to see in person to be able to appreciate on a deeper level.
- The Uffizi Gallery, which contains the largest collection of Italian Renaissance art anywhere in the world. Masters such as Botticelli, DaVinci, and others. Paintings, sculpture, bronze and silver casting. We got to see some of the famous paintings like The Birth of Venus and Adam & Eve, as well as the largest collection of Medieval Art pretty much anywhere.
- Anthropology Museum, which was a collection of relics from Native cultures from all over the world. Oddly, it's the one museum in Florence that has nothing to do with florence, but it was very cool none the less.
- Science Museum, which displayed a huge collection of antique science, medical, and math instruments, as well as a huge telescope and microscope display. Plenty of astrolabes and instruments used to chart the stars and study Astrology.
- Galileo exhibit, was a special exhibit only on this summer, and it followed societies beliefs and studies of the heavens and Astrology from the Mesopotamians and the Egyptians until Galileo. Origins of Astrology and the Zodiac were explained in immense detail, and the crowning glory of the exhibit was Galielo's middle finger, enshrined in a glass egg. Weird.
- Borgello Museum, also known as the sculpture museum, it housed many great statuaries and fountains of marble, sandstone, and other unknown rocks, as well as bronze and iron castings, terra cotta, and wood and wax. Some beauties by Donatello, as well as early renderings and practice pieces by Davinci. Also, the museum housed a great collection of relics from the Italian Renaissance, such as jewelery, armor, home furnishings, worship related objects, and bobbles and trinkets. Very awesome.

Lots of love to all, and I hope you've had a good July so far!
Shelby