nikhil and sauyee in italy

yesterday we went to the galleria degli uffizi in florence and i finally got to see botticelli’s ‘the birth of venus’ after a very long wait. since my encounter with (a cartoon replica of) it in some educational game on the computer, i’ve always wanted to see that particular picture, and yes, it didnt disappoint. of course, the gallery was lovely, and it had better be, since we queued for 15mins before opening time, and about 1.5hours after. it showcased works by leonardo da vinci, michelangelo (who considered himself more of a sculptor than painter), raffaello, etc.

i think the icing was the exhibition on leonardo da vinci and his interest in, and research on, various fields. they numbered quite a lot. engineering, architecture, physics, mathematics (geometry, patterns, his man inscribed in circle and square), and yes, for the meddies, even anatomy. and by god that man is a genius indeed. it had an in depth coverage of the last supper and monalisa’s smile. there is so much more to a painting than artistic technique and aesthetic appeal. the monalisa exhibit dealt with da vinci’s play on light and shadows, which i didnt linger too long over, since it had been 2.5hrs of nonstop walking thus far. the last supper, which interested me more, explored how he meticulously painted each disciple’s reaction to christ’s annoucement of his betrayal to match their individual temperaments. the position of the limbs, the body stance, the mouth nose eyes and space between the eyebrows, are all carefully considered. really, ‘the mind of leonardo’ special exhibition made my day.

of course, it did help that lunch after was at this quaint trattoria called ‘mario’, which served out lovely minestrone with risotto, and roast veal (aack vegans pls dont hate me). we are going back today for roast rabbit. because its thursday’s special. yummy! hehe.

more artsy things later.. michelangelo’s david at the galleria del academia.

florence is thriving. it’s teeming with vibrance and diversity. it’s such a cosmopolitan city, mostly due to immigrants (illegal or not i dont know). there are artists who use pastel and chalk on the cobbly roads, portrait sketchers, entertainers, magicians, and not forgetting our ‘you know how much’ darkfriends who have been such a constant through our exploration of italy.

back to milan- it was a city, city. lovely! wished i had shopped more and bought stuff there.. all the shops were saldi saldi-ing, while the rest of the shops in other parts of italy arent saldi-ing. gaaah. dolce and gabbana, gucci, etc. all the big names. milan is lovely, like the duomo it houses.

realised that niks and i have climbed many towers. strong legs, firm asses now? ready to tackle some realruns and armyhalfs.

in two days i will be going back to rome and then bangkok with eusoffboys. i cant say that i dont regret not visiting more european countries, but i did enjoy italy, and the diversity of this country. every city is different from another. the daily gelato scoops did help too.

by the way, michelangelo is not pronounced michael-an-gee-low, but mee-cal-an-gee-low.

we lost letsgo. and the postcards contained therein. apologies to shirlene and papamummy. and the various other intended recepients. ahhhhhh my lovely postcards!!!