Firenze (Florence)

We took a bus and then train into Florence today. One word really. Fabulous. My camera died the moment we arrived. My fault because I charged one battery last night for the purpose of this trip, however, I left it on the charger on accident and took my almost dead battery instead. Thankfully, we return to Firenze 2 more times before our departure so I can get many pictures. We walked so much I feel that we walked 17 thousand miles. No joke and my feet will tell you the same thing. Such beautiful architecture and art pieces. Quick list of all the places we went in Firenze – Santa Maria Novella Church, Palazzo Strozzi, Santo Spirito Church, Palazzo Pitti, Ponte Vecchio, Palazzo Vecchio, Piazza della Repubblica, Palazzo Vecchio, Duomo, San Lorenzo Church, Accademia, Santa Croce Church….to name just a few ;-)

I chose to do the walking tour with Dr. Paul Krieg and I am glad I did. I learned a great deal about the history of Florence and saw some pretty cool fashion stuff while walking all through the city streets. Drivers and bicyclers in Florence – CRAZY. A man on a bicycle almost killed me that could not make up his mind which way to go nor control his bike. Not fun.

Seven of us, including Dr. Suzan Thompson, went off on our own after the walking tour. Great idea. We ate a delightful little Pizzeria and I tried a slice of basil, tomato, and mozzarella pizza – cold – cause that is how the waitress said it tasted best. And it did. No sauce on the pizza and I loved in more than the panini’s I have had here thus far. We shopped for many hours and I had such a good time. Dr. Krieg knows the owner of one of the market shops and he let us into his actual shop as opposed to just the street sale. Fabulous. It was totally a Sex and the City moment. He opened the store up for just us seven! We all stopped and took in the sight and smell of the Leather purses. Then Rhiannon modeled some purses and took a poll before making her purchase. The owner gave us almost 50% off the ticket prices because of our knowing Dr. Krieg. We took a picture with him to commemorate our time, too! I bought a fun purple big purse made of genuine Italian leather! I also purchased some yarn and knitting needles at the yarn store. Rhiannon was in knitters’ heaven and I relished in her delightfulness and excitement about something she was so passionate about. I was talked into attempting to learn to knit, too. Not my idea. I insisted that I would get mad, mess up, and then quit because I am not good with the hand eye coordination thing. I was told that I could do it – she teaches 6 year olds, but I feel I might fall on the scale of a 4 year old, when it comes to knitting. Still be determined. I am going to try at a scarf and get back to you on this one. I then got a super cute flowy dress. The best part of this adventure was having to explain what counseling was to the Italian man that was “helping” me with my dress purchase. When I asked what size a dress came in, he simply said, “your size”, which I found greatly amusing. However, like our speaker yesterday said, he had NO idea what counseling was. Claire and I did our best to describe how counselors help people “get to know themselves and work through issues to feel better” and at the end, I feel he understood. However, his salesperson said, “ohhh, ,kinda like a psychologist” which is precisely what the counseling profession is trying to decipher itself from in Italy. Clear that the word still has not gotten out enough to the public of Italy. I’ll try to work on that more while I am sightseeing.

When we went to Accadmia, we obviously saw The David. Breathtaking. I mean to think that this man created such a detailed piece of a human form out of one piece of marble. No words. The artistic ability baffles me beyond comprehension. How does one create something without an example in front of them? Out of a piece of marble? To chisel such detail from the texture of human skin down to the veins in the hand and arm…How? What patience for man said to be wild and a bit of a scrapper. The other marble works there were pretty amazing, too. I wish we could have touched them though, to touch and truly feel the detail and hard work and probably frustration that went into creating these pieces. That would have helped me comprehend. We also went to an old world pharmacy that was once run by the Monks. It was pretty fantastic. It smelled like fresh herbs in there and I took a few descriptive fliers (two in Italian and one in English) about all the natural remedies in there. Overall, it was delightful to see such rich history in a city. Americans do not understand the meaning of “old” – to us 70 years is really old and a relic. To Italians – 700 years is old and they work hard to preserve this “oldness” whereas we knock it down to build skyscrapers instead of building upon what is already there and maintaining a sense of what it means to be us. Shame on us.

It is almost dinnertime and I am exhausted. I will close for now and possibly write more tonight. Tomorrow is a day at Casa Cares with classes. More on that tomorrow.

Ciao!