Italy Trip – Days 15-21 – Florence- Part 4 – Museo Galileo

Buds found a museum that looked like it would be a good fit for our crew: Museo Galileo.

We popped up early and headed out.

We arrived before the museum opened, which meant a great excuse to have breakfast at a cafe by the entrance.

Since I attended Colfax-Mingo High School, I loved the name of our breakfast caffé.

The museum was a beautiful mishmash of science equipment, information on discoveries, and the interactive room, which was where we started.

Seeing the historic equipment, which was often handmade by a superior craftsman to exacting standards was amazing and inspiring.

This next one showed the earth at the center of the solar system.

A hand-painted artistic “optical illusion.”

There was a whole display of handmade globes and the sections of paper cut to make them.

Measuring instruments:

Buds and I could have spent hours exploring and reading. The children were able to hang in there for about 2 hours, then they were done.

After the museum, we headed down the street to the outdoor “statuary” at the end of the Uffizi. There was a ceremony of some sort going on, but once the crowd had cleared we were able to wander amongst the statues.

This is about the point the children started talking about all the nakedness in the art. We talked about the beauty of the human body. Buds pointed out how draped cloth never really looks detailed or idealistic, but when you can show the human form, unclothed, the muscles and sinew can be emphasized.

It was (and continued to be at other museum visits) an interesting conversation. And Buster very thoughtfully took me to the exact location where you could get a direct view of Hercules and his “jewels.”

Then we laughed about the number of other people we noticed standing in that exact location.

Hercules slaying a centaur:

From there we headed down a side street where we had passed a trattoria with fantastic looking fruit displayed in their window. We had a delicious lunch with lots of laughter and a little excitement.

A street performer dressed up with his face painted white snuck up behind Monkey as she was digging in the backpack for the water bottle. None of our children are big fans of clowns, so I immediately warned her not to look around, that he was behind her, etc. He continued to pester us for money for awhile until he was shooed away by the waitress.

After the clown was gone the waitress said, “Watch out for the gypsies. They steal.”

We’ve heard this sentiment many times in Italy on this and previous trips. We discussed it a little; this idea that a whole group of people can be judged based on the actions of a few. We have certainly seen people acting aggressively in pursuit of money in Italy, but lumping all people together is offensive and wrong. (All homeschoolers are religious.)

Great lunch, great discussion, great memories.