On my first mission to Italy, now 52 years ago, I brought a tie, which I bought from J. Green's in Safford, Arizona. J. Green's was a men's clothing store, owned by J (I don't know what that means) Green. He was a short Jewish man, about the age of my grandfather, and may have been an immigrant from Russia or perhaps Germany. He told me that Spence Kimball (Spencer W. Kimball), whose real estate and insurance office was across the street from the clothing store, told him that he (J Green) was the only "Mormon Jew in Captivity." Green had outfitted many missionaries and gave me a discount. Anyway, I took the tie home after my mission (we didn't buy ties in Italy in those days like we do now) and don't know if I ever wore it again, but saved it (as I did all of my ties). I later gave it to Jeff, so he decided to bring it back to Italy. I told him I would send it to the cleaners (It was made of a combination of polyester and wool and was dirty, partly from age), but he didn't think that would be good for it. I did steam it a bit here and wore it to new missionary training all day on Monday, and told the missionaries the story of the tie and President Kimball. I haven't seen it since Jeff left, so I assume he took it back home, but it made it back to Italy, as I did.Jeff and Stacey went to Rome while we took care of new missionaries. We drove to Florence on Tuesday evening, left at 5:30 pm and went to the Hotel Arno. It took us 3 hours and was an uneventful trip. They didn't come when they were scheduled to arrive on the train, because they didn't get off the train from Rome in Florence. They got off in Bologna and had to come the hour back. But we slept okay in a room that looked like it was the horse stable in 18th century villa near the Arno River.
Our hotel room was across the inside entrance to the hotel complex.
We were at the Academia (Michaelangelo David) by 8:00 for its opening at 8:15, and got right in, with no pre-purchased tickets. The Academia is an academy, where they are dedicated to teaching le belle arte (beautiful arts).
The first thing we saw was the museum of musical instruments, including those used by the Medici musicians. This was a predecessor to the piano, the clavicembalo or harpsichord, one of several they had.
They had an action for a harpsichord, which you could play and hear.
And next to it was a playable action for a piano, to show the difference. The harpsichord was much simpler. It only plucked the string, which sounded at one volume The piano string sounded softer or louder (piano-forte) based on how hard you pressed the key. The modern piano was invented by an Italian, and they didn't become very common in the US until the end of the 1800s.
They had lots of other musical instruments in the museum, and next door to it, which wasn't in the Academia, but I could see in the window, was a conservatory, where I could hear an organ being practiced.
They had many paintings of musicians, etc.
Then you go into the large main room where you seen unfinished sculptures by Michaelangelo,
including prisoners, made for the tomb of pope Julius II in Rome, according to the sign.
As well as an unfinished pietà , Jesus with his mother.
And when you look up, at the end of the hall, you see the David, from afar, but very impressive.
There are lots of famous paintings.
All with interesting details
I enjoyed reading the explanatons about the paintings, like this one.
This one shows the Godhead as three persons.
What were they looking at?
Perhaps the status of David's toes.
This was interesting.
And this is a detail, a little organ, and a woman holding...a couple of eyeballs?
Painted by this dude, or members of his scuola (school).
Room after room of paintings, marble sculptures and plaster models for marble sculptures.
And first thing in the morning there wen't that many people in the Academy, but enough, and this isn't the height of tourist season yet.
Then we burried to the nearby market, and found that most of the sellers were on strike that day. We didn't learn why.
But we found a few scabs who were open and anxious to sell us stuff.
And Jeff bought some ties for his deacons, Myrna a leather purse and I bought a coin purse.
Then to the duomo or cathedral, past the baptistry, on the right,.
There are many colors of marble in the cathedral.
The ceiling is perhaps the most beautiful part. The acoustics of the cathedral are not very good, said Andrea Mascioni, organ builder we visited recently, who said he has a contract to remodel the organs in this cathedral.
Where a guy was trying out the organs (there are three, two about this size). He didn't play long before he went to the other organs. I guess he was testing them for something. Jeff wanted me to ask him if I could play them, but there were barriers between us and the organs, and lots of people.
So on our way to the piazza della Signoria we went into another old church, where I asked, and was allowed to play the organ. I played a couple of variations of "We thank Thee O God for a Prophet."
This is some of the pipework in the back of that church.
In front of the City Hall, or Signoria, is where David lived for centuries, until he was taken to the Academy. Now they have a copy who lives here.
Where he stands for all to see.
Next to his fighting buddies.
These famous statues are under the nearby portico.
Where nearby a guy was playing a sax, with his case open to accept donations.
We walked past the Uffici Gallery, on either side, 3 stories high.
Past these statues of the famous guys of Florence. There wen't any women, I wonder why.
The above were not friends. Leo was a dandy and Michael was a slob, but both were geniouses.
I told Jeff that this guy is my patron saint. I have a pix of him above my desk. Jeff has read his most famous work, The Prince.
And America is named for his Italian dude.
We looked at Ponte Vecchio over the Arno. It is the only bridge not bombed out during WWII, according to my father, who spent months on the side we are standing.
And walked about 1.5 km back to our car parked at the hotel. Then we drove about an hour into Pisa. We relied on Jeff's cell phone's GPS to take us to the leaning tower. But it had us turn down one street early, and we found ourselves into a maze of a very large hospital complex, with roads going everywhere, one way, and we couldn't easily find our way out. In turning around I hit a curb with the front passenger side tire, and it blew.
So, Jeff changed it, right there in the road. We had to stand behind him so cars would not hit him.
And then, with the doughnut tire, we easily found the parking lot so we could walk over to the complex with the baptistry (first building to the left), cathedral (middle), and famous leaning bell tower.
Which Jeff and Stacey climbed up, Jeff twice, (running second time.)
I hung out in the cathedral, admiring the art there, including the most famous preaching pulpit, carved from a solid piece of marble I overheard from one of the tour guides.
Fifty years ago you played the organ from beneath the pipes, which I did, when I lived in Pisa at the end of my mission.
But now it is played from a moveable console located on the floor.
We did not hear it played and there was no one to ask to play it. I tried the roll top and it was locked.
Outside there were saints on the roof with gargoyles guarding the corners.
And this guy on the other side waived goodby to us.
We got to wait while two new tires, which they had to bring from another store, were installed on our car. We drove home along the route that took us past Carrara, where the marble for Michaelangelo's David was quarried, and from where they got the marble for the Christus and the 12 apostles for the Rome Temple.
We came home and went to a restaurant (Le Chalet), where Myrna had gnocchi con verdure. The white things are the gnocchi, little balls made from mashed potatoes.
Jeff and Stacey each got a spaghetti alla carabanaria. I wanted a pescespala (sword fish), but they were out, so I had pork cooked with mustard sauce and oven fried potatoes.
And then to the Frapparia/Gelataria, where we enjoyed a gelato.
We took Jeff and Stacey to the Rogoredo Train station early the next morning so they could go to Malpensa to begin their trip home. After working all day in the office that evening we drove to Malpensa, and picked up Mark and Amber.
Ciao for now.
