going off tour

 After thinking about it for a few days, I decided to tell our regular guide how very disappointed I was not to have seen the 'David' when we were in Florence and ask if there was any way we could still arrange to see it.  I told her that my travel buddy and I were willing to give up the planned activity for day 7 (which was a cooking class) in order to see the 'David.' Many years ago I was an art teacher and lectured in Art History at IPFW so seeing the original works of art that I had studied and taught about was important to me.  Our guide, Vivien, suggested that we could take the train from Montecatini, where we were staying, to Florence, about an hour ride.  We decided to do this, made reservations for a tour of the Academy to see the 'David' and boldly set off on our un-guided adventure.  We found the train station, a 10 minute walk from our hotel, bought our round trip tickets for 13 euros each, not a bad price, rode the train to the Firenze (aka Florence) Centro station, and asking for directions many times, found our way to the Academy, located the tour group we were booked with, bypassing long lines of people along the way, and were in time for our tour. (We even had time for a quick gelato.) I didn't realize I had COVID at this point and just thought it was the crowds of people and the heat that was making me so weary.  It was all worth it though.  We saw the 'David' and many other fine works of art, made it back to the station in time for a late afternoon train, full of commuters, and finally back to Montecatini, patting ourselves on the back for having accomplished our solo adventure.  I must admit it did make me appreciate tour guides.  

'David' in the distance.  We walked through several galleries to get to this spot.

It's hard to explain the difference between the original and the copy that stands outside but when you see it you realize the detail and finish that make it almost breathe.

We were told that 'David' was originally commissioned to stand on top of the cathedral steeple, but the powers of the time decided that didn't seem quite appropriated so Michelangelo's 'David' stood at the entrance to a palace in a city square, where the copy is now, for a few hundred years until it was decided to bring it inside because of vandalism and weathering.  Now it stands protected inside a gallery with only two broken toes to show for it's rougher early years.