9/22 Accademia Tour

I met two nice girls from California in line. They had been to Paris, South of France, Cinque Terre, and now Florence. Maybe Madrid in there somewhere? I am so encouraging my kids to travel! And I think they all need to be learning Spanish now--it makes translating all these other languages so much easier.

The Accademia really is all about David so I’ll get right to him. Ya, he’s gorgeous. There was one other bust that really caught my eye at the Uffizi--just very handsome. If you’ve seen David then you know and if you haven’t--it is not overrated. And it seemed like everyone there agreed. Proportions, intensity, details, angles, pure size. I think he makes everyone swoon a bit.

So this is the thing I’m taking away from Italy as far as the human form goes. We are all built of bones and muscles and skin, amongst other things obviously. But not one of us is the same. I was trying to explain the word unique to my kindergartener’s classmates the other day--it’s hard for them to articulate what makes them different. And as grown-ups I think sometimes we work too hard to stifle what sets us apart, in an effort to keep up with the Jones’ or to measure up by someone else’s standards. None of us are the same. The leg bone’s connected to the hip bone and all that, but the women I’ve seen in this Renaissance art are natural and beautiful and sensual--and they have soft bodies. They are rounded, yet strong. Feminine.

It makes me feel good about myself. It’s allowing me to be more gentle with myself, which is a big take-away in general from this journey. As I often say (originally said by Forrest Gump, of course) “I am as God made me.”