You guys:
I think I’m burned out on museums, this trip. This was the Uffizi yesterday, in the off-season, before the “crowds” arrive. Granted, this is the most famous painting in the building, but still. The entire room was full of amazing Botticellis, most of which looked like they’d been painted two hours ago (including “The Birth of Venus”) and they were largely ignored, for mob scenes like this. Many of these people would sidle to the front, take one photo of the painting and another of the title card, and scurry on to the next must-see canvas on the list.
It’s Pokemon Go for tourists.
Today we see David, at the Accademia, and after that I think I’m done with this particular pursuit. As I said of the Sistine Chapel: Get a good-quality art book from the library, go home and explore it at your leisure.
The Galileo Museum did not disappoint, however. From the medical section:
Two whole cases of terra cotta models of childbirth – routine, emergency and so on. Seen here, breech birth and forceps-assisted. Kate was born that way. She had bruises on her temples for the first 24 hours or so. I remember nothing about it.
On to David’s marble corpus. Fingers crossed.
Dexter Friend said on April 25, 2024 at 4:00 am
Terra cotta models or real whale penises in Iceland…choosing which to edit from my memory banks…HAL 9000? Some assistance, por favor.
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Jeff Gill said on April 25, 2024 at 7:29 am
I hope you get some quality piazza time. A little paisano watching. (With espresso, surely.)
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Deborah said on April 25, 2024 at 7:56 am
As I said we’ve been to Florence many times when my husband’s daughter lived there. One time LB and I went there, the only time LB was there, and unfortunately the Uffizi was closed for repairs or something. This was the end of February maybe 25 years ago. LB had really wanted to see the Hieronymus Bosch paintings there, but it was not to be. Hard to believe it’s been that many years ago since we’ve been to Italy. We need to go back.
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Little Bird said on April 25, 2024 at 8:14 am
When Deborah and I went to the Uffizi the one room with the one painting I REALLY wanted to see was closed because they were doing some kind of cleaning or repair. The rest of the rooms and halls were open though. It felt kind of overwhelming realizing how old the building was, how many people had also walked those halls. I was 22. So this was ….. 27 years ago. I just had to do the mental math.
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basset said on April 25, 2024 at 9:02 am
Never been to Italy, but those horses which got loose in London the other day bolted & ran from right in front of the hotel where we stayed on both of our trips there.
And some of em were pretty seriously hurt: https://news.yahoo.com/don-t-punish-horses-charging-104507484.html
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ROGirl said on April 25, 2024 at 9:32 am
Those fetus sculptures would most likely be relegated to a dark storage room in this country to prevent the circus performers from triggering unstable supporting players.
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Peter said on April 25, 2024 at 9:33 am
I know one of the primary objectives of a visiting a particular museum is to see the greatest hits, but I really enjoy seeing something away from the crowd.
About 10 years ago we were at the Louvre, about 30 minutes after it opened, and as you can guess, it was peak auto show crowd in front of the Mona Lisa. After we endured that, we walked around, and wound up in the medieval art galleries, and there was NO ONE there. One room had a guard who was loudly snoring. When you went from gallery to gallery a little chime would go off to let a guard know that someone was there – you heard that chime maybe once a minute.
It’s a shame about the Sistine Chapel. I have some great pictures that I took (oh my God – 40) years ago – I even had time to lay on the ground and take pictures of the ceiling. I didn’t realize that while I was taking pictures in the chapel, the Pope was having an outdoor audience next door. I still think I made the right decision.
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LAMary said on April 25, 2024 at 9:47 am
I spent about four months in ‘Hertogenbosch and some time in Nijmegen. I always wondered what Hieronymous Bosch went through to inspire that painting. He wasn’t terrorized by the Dutch Reformed church. I guess Catholicism was scarier back then.
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Mark P said on April 25, 2024 at 10:12 am
We have about twice as many people on Earth as we need, and they have too damn much time on their hands. These days you have to make an appointment to enter some national parks. At some times of the year they warn you at Arches NP that if you enter the park too late in the morning there will be no parking spaces to get out and actually see the arches.
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LAMary said on April 25, 2024 at 10:26 am
I did an extended national parks trip about 35 years ago. Only two of them were crowded. Arches and Zion. Mesa Verde was sort of crowded but the trails in Zion were like city sidewalks.
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alex said on April 25, 2024 at 11:42 am
My parents were travel junkies and they took their first trip to Italy in the early 1960s. They recalled having the whole place to themselves and there were hardly any tourists. On their last trip, maybe 20 years ago, they felt that the crowds had gotten so enormous that it made the experience unenjoyable for them.
I’m following the oral arguments in the Orange Turd’s immunity case and the right-wingers are trying their damnedest to gum up the works and throw Trump a lifeline. They truly have no shame.
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Sherri said on April 25, 2024 at 2:15 pm
What’s happening on college campuses right now, with non-violent student protesters being arrested, is why I don’t buy the whole “marketplace of ideas” notion about free speech. Free speech can never be looked at independent of power dynamics. When people with power are comfortable with what’s being said, even if it’s hurtful to some, then it’s all “marketplace of ideas” and “the way to handle bad speech is with more speech.” The minute people with power are uncomfortable with what’s being said, the police in riot gear come out, and Tom Cotton calls for the National Guard.
It’s fascinating. Nobody was arresting the tiki torch marchers chanting “you will not replace us,” but at the hint that maybe the US should stop supplying arms to a country that is murdering every Palestinian in sight, suddenly arrests are everywhere.
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susan said on April 25, 2024 at 5:52 pm
The powers-that-be, ever the same even with a changing cast, have not learned anything from the events of the late 1960s-early 1970s. It’s as if they don’t want to…. It’s so depressing to see this $hit coming up again. I will join any protests locally. Just as I did in 1968, 1969, 1970 ——> 2003 ——> Gah.
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brian stouder said on April 25, 2024 at 8:41 pm
One thing I’ll say about the Good Guys and Good Gals of current times is – I find myself taking for granted how well the crazies are being contained. Trump-to-the-contrary-notwithstanding, the crazys are kept in check, and our political and cultural icons are protected from awful-awful. Think where we were in 1968, for example – with cities burning, an endless war grinding on, and cultural and political leaders being literally murdered in front of us. Indeed, this cannot be taken for granted, especially with a political nihilist like the Donald vowing ‘retribution’ (such a moron!) stalking around the countryside, always appealing to our worst “angels” (as opposed to our better ones)….but it’s our only sane alternative
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Mark P said on April 25, 2024 at 10:26 pm
I heard a few clips from the Supremes’ hearing today (Thursday) on Trump’s claim that as president he could commit literally any crime he wanted, up to and including murder, and be immune from prosecution. His attorneys made the usual absurd claims, and two or three of the Republican toadies actually seemed to be receptive to the idea of a president who is absolutely above all laws. I leave it as an exercise for the reader to figure out which of the stooges seemed to worry more about the terrible consequences of holding a president liable for criminal prosecution if he violates the law. One of the commentators doubts they will actually rule in his favor, but they will almost certainly delay any final ruling until after the election by returning it to the lower court or maybe saying their dogs ate the ruling. All in service to the one they are whoring themselves to.
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Sherri said on April 25, 2024 at 10:36 pm
Yeah, the Supremes aren’t doing anything to contain the crazies. Let’s see, the president doesn’t have the authority to waive student debt, but the president is immune from prosecution if he has his political rival killed?!? Of course, in the first case, the president is a Democrat and in the second case, a Republican, and what they’re really telling us is, IOKIYAR.
But packing the Court is too radical for Democrats to even discuss. They learned the wrong lesson from FDR. FDR wasn’t wrong to threaten court packing, because he won a power struggle with the Court. The Court backed down.
Democrats have forgotten what power is for.
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Dexter Friend said on April 26, 2024 at 4:33 am
Neil Gorsuch revealed to the world that he is the corrupt tool for Trump, right on cue, no vague long-winded lawyer talk gobbledegook.
He wants more hearings. more delays, stretching into the next decade perhaps, to solve a simple matter. These Justices are corrupt and are working for Donald Trump and they are not even hiding it anymore. And not a goddam fucking thing anybody can do about it. They are all but crusading for a ruling allowing Trump total immunity. It’s a stain on the republic, a shameful time in USA history, and it will be taught in law schools for centuries.
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