Sculptures, Florence, Action

Crumby picture, but it's still of Eddie and me

I have two words for you. Eddie. Redmayne. This man is from my favorite TV mini series, Pillars of the Earth. It's based on the book, and he plays a sculptor named Jack from the Middle Ages. Because this was the best day of my life, I'll give you a second by second replay of the moment. I was walking across a bridge in Florence, and he was walking the other way. As we passed each other, I recognized his face immediately. Gasping, I told my friends "I just saw my favorite actor ever!" Then, I turned on the spot and began following him. He was walking with his arm around a girl (unfortunately, ha), and I was debating whether or not I should talk to him. I did. I said, "Excuse me, but are you from Pillars of the Earth?" (even though I already knew the answer). He turned around, smiled, and replied in a British accent "Yes I am." I asked, "I know you're on a date, but would you be willing to take a picture with me?" He graciously replied, "Of course." Then he asked me what my name was, and I told him it was Katie. However, in my frenzied excitement, I completely forgot his name and I said, "I'm sorry, but I only know you as Jack." I wanted to slap myself in the face because I do absolutely know his name, but I was too excited to remember. However, he politely introduced himself as Eddie. His date took our picture, he said it was a pleasure to meet me, and then we parted ways; a simple yet unforgettable moment. I'd rather not mention this part, but I may or may not have cried out of pure joy after he left. The excitement was too much for my body to contain, so a little bit of happiness had to be squeezed out of my eyes for me not to explode. Okay, I’m being dramatic, but I’d never met a movie star before. This was a cool moment for me.

View of Florence from the Duomo

Gelatooo!!!!

This morning, we got up early, so we could beat the crowds and go up the Duomo. It was an architectural masterpiece in its day, and it has a spectacular view of the city. After 500 steps up through the church, we reached the top and had a spectacular view of Florence. We all took plenty of pictures of the view as well as each other, so hopefully they show up on Facebook soon. When we got back down, we headed to the Academia and met up with the rest of the group. Inside the Academia is one of my top 3 favorite sculptures--Michelangelo's David. It's not just because David is particularly nice to look at (although that's part of it), I am just so impressed by the skill and time it took to create something like that. I could literally see the veins in his hands and arms, and it was almost as if there was actually someone in there who had been covered in plaster or something. Every time I see this statue, I think that if I could create one thing as beautiful and spectacular as Michelangelo has done, my life and legacy would be complete. We'll see if that happens, but it's a bucket list thing. Lunch was in the covered market, and I found two wonderful things there. First of all, I saw Inca Cola there, which is what we drank when we were in Peru, and I hadn't tasted it in over 4 years. I let the people I was with try it, and we decided that it tastes like cream soda mixed with bubble gum. Tastes better than it sounds, so don't knock it until you try it. Second, there was a dried fruit stand, and this guy had everything. Dried cherries, apples, pineapples, mango, coconut, passion fruit, and peaches to name a few. I bought a bag of mango and coconut, and they were phenomenal. Actually, I should say they ARE phenomenal because I'm still munching on them days later. Great, healthy, and tasty find. After lunch, we soaked up a little sun and lay down in the grass right in the center of the piazza. Tired and warm, we took a little nap before it was museum time again. At the Ufizzi are a couple really famous pieces. Botticelli's La Primavera and Birth of Venus are probably the most famous two, and they really are beautiful. There were a few paintings by Da Vinci along with other classic art history pieces. I actually felt like I was walking around my old art history textbook; pieces I'd spent weeks studying were right in front of me. A bit surreal. To finish up the night, we headed out to dinner at a great little family run place. A man and his 10-year-old sons served us bread, drinks, gnocchi, and grilled chicken all for a reasonable price--especially because it was homemade by a great little Italian family. It was one of the best meals I had all semester--I may also just be missing homemade food. Of course, we had to get gelato after (fruiti di bosco), and we ate under a bridge by the river. And when you get lots of college students and give them sugar, they might potentially start a dance party under the bridge. Sorry ACU, it wasn't sanctioned dancing, but it was incredibly fun. Hopefully, that makes up for our illegal dance party. Dancing under the bridge created nice closure to our wonderful time in Florence.