Uffizi..to be finished

Ok I have to come clean - part of this rather adventurous family trip to Italy was from a long held desire of mine to see some works of art that I have a strong emotional attachment to. At school I was fortunate to take Art History to the equivalent of A Level and to have had an inspiring teacher who positively enthused us all with her love of the Renaissance period. So I knew that in particular Florence was a place I needed to visit and see for myself what had brought forward such great emotion in her and in turn put dreams and passion into my adolescent mind.

So what to do - wait until the children had all grown and flown so I could explore it at leisure on our own (some time away when you have a seven year old) or try to arrange a 'mini break' and deal with all the logistical issues that it brings forth between sorting out five children and your own business. So I decided that we would visit as a family - with me fully aware that I would not get the mental space nor time to really take it all in to the level that I so desired but really it would be good enough.

I did try and prep them though so they might get some enjoyment from the experience
... I researched and planned and created a series of 12 cards depicting the paintings that I thought they would enjoy discovering with added interesting information and then I just dove in head first with them and let them soak it in! All the time appreciating that their understanding and attention was limited in many ways yet managing at the same time taking what I could from it all - which was of course plenty!

And yes it was amazing and emotional! Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Allegory Of Spring La Primavera were delicious, Filippo Lippi's, Madonna and Child with Angels was as tender as expected and Titian’s Venus of Urbino made all all stop and wonder. There were a few others thrown in that we came across that also evoked a response or two from the kids. Then as I started to loose them we came across Caravaggio's Medusa, which sparked them up having been featured in a 39 Clues Steps book! And then that was that! Two hours later I was satiated and the kids weren't completely put off by Renaissance art - phew!

However I did owe them ice cream!!! So after lunch, I managed to wheedle them past Basilica di Santa Croce which is truly fascinating - especially with the tombs of Galileo and Michangleo there (although by this stage no fresco no matter how beautiful - was capable of holding their interest) and across the river to find ice cream, a place to sit with time to watch the world go by. Then it was across the old bridge or Ponte Vecchio to the Galileo Museum which was brilliant and included his telescope and preserved finger, thumb and tooth!!! And then back to the apartment...a brilliant day although to be fair especially for me!