4TH OF JULY!!!!

Courtyard at Brancacci Chapel
Painted ceiling in Brancacci Chapel
Chelsea and I at the Duomo
Lindsey and I at the baptistry doors of the Duomo
View of Italy from the Ufitzi

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY EVERYONE! I hope you all enjoyed fireworks and parades and stuff. Italy doesn't really celebrate America's Independence, so we didn't while we were there. We had guided tours today and they were awesome. We started out at the Brancacci Chapel, which has some amazing paintings on the walls and ceilings. It is a small chapel, but I was still in awe by the paintings. They were some of the first paintings that perspective was used. Before this time, all of the important figures such as Christ, the Virgin Mary, the royal family, etc. were painted much larger than everyone else to show their power. So, the contrast to the perspective drawings they changed to was dramatic because now the people in the painting closest to he front where bigger no matter what their status was.

Our tour guide took us to the Academia as well. Here we saw Michael Angelo's David statue. This was amazing to me. It was one of thoes lightbulb, hit-you-in-the-face moments. I never knew how amazing this statue really was until I turned the corner at the museum and there was David staring back at me. This wasn't just a picture or a copy, this was the actual marble that Michael Angelo carved so many years ago. Because I was so shocked, this will probably be one of the most memorable moments of this trip.

To top of a great day, we ended at the Ufitzi gallery. We saw the Birth of Venus painting and many other wonderful works of art. There is so much history and talent in Florence and I can't believe I was lucky enough to see a lot of it. There is seriously nothing like this in the whole world. Florence is so unique.