We stayed in our apartment in Orvieto for 5 nights, the longest stint during our vacation. Unfortunately, it was time to move along and make our way to Firenze! (That's Florence, for us American's) I wonder why we have to make our own spelling for cities around the world? I'll tell you this much, if you try to find a train to Florence, you will be looking for a long time - there is no such listing. Traveler's note: it's Firenze.
The first leg of our journey... The funicolare! It's a steep trip down the hill and the funicolare does make it fun. Like an amusement park ride. It takes you down to the train station where we hopped on the 10:15 train to Firenze. We arrived by around 12:30 and had a leisurely walk to our apartment over on "the other side of the river." Kim and I have been here before and staying on the "tourist" side of the river can me maddening.
The walk from the train station to the apartment immediately reminded us of how maddening it can be. I could not believe how many people were out in town - and this is not even high season! What will it be like in July?
After checking in to our apartment and dropping off our bags, we headed back out to get acquainted with the city. A quick trip across the PonteVecchio bridge got us into the "tourist" area. Then we headed straight over to the Museo Galileo. When we were here 5 years ago, the Galileo museum was my favorite attraction in Florence. I was really stoked to take Jules there. I am proud to announce that he loved it too, my budding little scientist! Over 500 years of science is represented here, and it is absolutely fascinating. I highly recommend this museum to anyone with even one single nerdy bone in their body.
Galileo was famous - and to the Catholic Church, very INFAMOUS - for what he observed and deduced from using his telescopes. However, the museum had a big section on globes, including several geocentric celestial globes. In common language, celestial globes portray what is seen in the night sky (all the stars and constellations). Geocentric means that it was constructed by someone who still thought the Earth was at the center of everything.
Seeing these old globes was very thought provoking to me.
Before scientists figured things out, it was quite natural and quite reasonable to assume the geocentric view was true. That is what Aristotle observed, and for many centuries, he was the be-all, end-all authority on such matters. The problem was in explaining why things in the night sky moved in the way they did. The "geocentric" explanation turned out to be very, very, very complex. As were the geocentric celestial globes. They attempted to make sense of the motions of the "heavens," but these globes are a MESS!
It wasn't until Copernicus and Galileo - with the help of some brand new technology, namely the telescope - that people started to realize the sun was at the center. Actually, it took a long time for this idea to be accepted - like a couple of hundred years! Despite all of Galileo's observations, sound logic and deduction, and clear explanation of why the sun MUST be at the center, very few people believed him. It actually got him in a lot of trouble.
Copernicus' and Galileo's idea went against the status quo. The contemporary thought leaders of the time, including the Catholic Church, fully believed in the Aristotlian teachings, where the Earth was at the center. Contradicting this idea ultimately got Galileo convicted of heresy by the Catholic Church. He was mercifully sentenced to house arrest for the rest of his life. Otherwise, he would have been put to death. Probably by stoning or burning or some other barbaric treatment. Go religion! That was in 1633. It wasn't until 1835 that the Catholic Church realized they were WRONG and lifted the ban on Galileo's work. That's 200 years of progress wasted away by politics. It wasn't until 1992 - yes, 1992 that the Church finally admitted they made a big mistake with Galileo's conviction and pardoned him. That was 350 years later. To quote our new President, "Sad."
During this trip I have learned a lot about Galileo and his plight. The visit to his museum and looking at these geocentric globes really got me to thinking. There are many parallels in this story to modern science and modern politics. Our scientists are telling us and warning us about what they are observing. They have sound logic and a clear explanation, but the dolts in charge refuse to listen. Instead, they are attempting to marginalize science and dismantle scientific organizations like the EPA. Is this simply to retain their power? Is it that they cannot admit they were wrong? Or is it sheer idiocy?
To re-quote our new Dolt-In-Charge: "Sad."
Have our scientists been excommunicated?? Will it take 200 years for the ruling power to realize and admit they made a mistake??
Whew. Sorry about the rant...
Up next... More Firenze!
Old pals...
Geocentric globes were beautiful, but what a MESS!
Yes, Earth is there in the middle.
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