We made it to Florence (Firenze) by train yesterday. On travel days we are generally tuckered out from carrying our ever growing packs around. After getting into our room, we headed out for the Duomo.
One glance and you can believe that this place is the birth of the Renaissance. What a contrast from the Gothic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris!
I wanted to visit the Galileo museum. Galileo is one of the patrons of the Renaissance, and is significant for overthrowing the Aristotelian view of science. His use of the telescope as outlined in his "Starry Messenger" opened the way for a creation of a new science. Naturally, as a teacher of the history of mathematics, I could spend a lot of time here. Galileo not only overthrew the Aristotle stranglehold on science, but he showed us a method for creating the new science using mathematics. He made one of the most important discoveries to illustrate his belief that the universe is mathematical in its design. He used the inclined plane apparatus to reveal one of the Laws of gravity. Here, let me explain it to you...
Florence, amazing Florence. More than any other city I am charmed by this place. Michelangelo was born here. Dante, the Shakespeare of the Italian langauge...