David stop, you're making me blush...

Yep.

You guessed it.

Today I went to the Galleria dell' Accademia--you know, the one with Michelangelo's David.

Seeing that today, March 8, is National Women's Day, women are granted free access into all state museums. While my museum pass through ISA already allows me free access to most of the major museums, I decided to take advantage of the day!

That said, I knew the lines would be long and wanted to start my day early, "Rube Time," as my family would say.

Growing up, my grandfather, Rube, taught me three very valuable things:
1. Where the candy drawer was.
2. How to play poker.
3. Always arrive early to beat the crowd--hints the name,"Rube Time."


While the museum opened at 8:15 AM, I arrived shortly after 8:30 AM and was pleasantly surprised to find that there was no line. I made my way through the metal detectors and security and entered the first room. Despite my Rick Steves book in hand, I managed to turn right instead of left.

Hmm..something is missing here. Where is David? I know I didn't miss him, I couldn't have. There's no way!

Slightly confused, I took a few moments in the first room stopping occasionally at paintings that seemed interesting, but it was still no David. Where were the marble figures Michelangelo so famously left unfinished? Where was one of the most recognized statues in the world?

After making a quick sweep, I walked back out, this time turning left. There, in all his glory stood Michelangelo's David. Even better was the fact that lining either side of the hallway, as if they were leading the way to David, stood Michelangelo's marble statues.

..I slowly walked toward the massive figure.

Surely, he's not that big when I get closer..

Now wait, that doesn't make sense.

Is he really that big?

The answer is Yes--17 feet to be exact.

Sure, I've seen pictures, none of which prepared me for this little gem however. Speechless, I sat down simply staring at him.

I bet I'm like the size of his thigh.

Wait, maybe his calf.

Is his hand the size of my face?

All of these thoughts crept into my head as I beganto slwoly walk around this magnificent sculpture.

And, to make the day even better, the museum was not even crowded! David and I were practically on a "One-on-One" date, Bachelor style.

I found it interesting that when Michelangelo was asked to construct this, he was given the same giant piece of marble that others had previously turned down simply because it was too tall or too shallow. (Rick Steves).

Poor decision guys...

...Sticking with The Bachelor "theme," I was given a rose and retreated back down the hall to visit with the others. The "others" being Michangelo's unfinished marble sculptures.

There I saw, The Awakening Prisoner, Young Prisoner, St. Matthew, The Bearded Prisoner, Atlas Prisoner and my personal favorite, Pieta.


It's incredible to think that while most artists sketched out their designs and marked where to chip away stone or where to create a jagged edge, Michelangelo just did it in the moment, all free-hand, no plans.

Like most museums, I was unable to take pictures but, I have found a few on the internet. As usual, none of these do any of Michelangelo's work justice.

(Keep in mind he's 17 feet tall)

(Pieta: Can you believe that at one point this was just a giant cube of solid marble?)

There were also a few other smaller rooms with a few works done by other artists but, the biggest draw in this museum are the works of Michelangelo.

If you come to Florence, be sure to visit this museum and get there early. When I left the museum around 9:30AM there was a huge line down majority of the sidewalk. It pays to get there "Rube Time." Because it was "off" season, I got lucky but, you should really try to get there a little before 8:15 AM.

XOXO,
Meggie