“Ultimo goirni in Firenze”

I can’t believe I have been in Italy two weeks. It seems like I just arrived.

Class is going to be late today so I have my morning to wander around. Not sure where I am going to so I just head out at 8:30 on a street I have yet to take. I pass the botanical garden but it is closed due to damage from a tornado in September. I had no idea Italy had tornadoes. After peeking through the fence I continue on and stumble on St Mark’s. It was included in my Ufizzi pass so I went in to see the Fra Angelico paintings again. It was early and at the beginning I had the place to myself. His paintings are beautiful and I am glad I stumbled on it so that I saw them again this trip.

Before I finished my solitude was interrupted by a group of high school girls. They I think enjoyed being out of class more than the art. Basically they just made it hard to go to the bathroom because that is where they all congregated. Girls are girls doesn’t matter what nationality.

Having finished St Mark’s I headed to the Duomo. It had been my North Star if I could catch a glimpse of it I could at least get going in the right direction. Although I had passed it multiple times everyday I had not gone inside. It was still relatively early for Italy/tourist standards so it wasn’t too crowded.

I remembered it being more impressive inside. It is just so big that it looks empty. After having seen Santa Croce, St Spirito, and other smaller churches I wasn’t as in awe as I thought I would be. The dome painting is still quite impressive (nothing like the view of the medieval hell monster eating people to make you feel like your in church) and the stained glass is nice but that is about it.

I went down under the church to buy my ticket for the baptistry and stayed to see the roman ruins. I don’t remember this from my previous trip. The new church (as new as a 15 century church can be) was built over a smaller church which had been built over a roman temple. There were still some mosaic tiled floors to see and what looked like steps. They had also moved some additional pieces down, mostly grave markings. I wanted to go in the baptistry but you had to buy the ticket for everything. There were no solo tickets. So since I had paid I did the roman ruins museum otherwise I wouldn’t recommend it. Of course that philosophy did not hold out for the cupola tour or the tower. I considered climbing the tower. Kind of on the idea that it furthered the theme of the trip. However after doing just over 150 steps in the Ufizzi (and yes I counted or tried to when I wasnt concentrating on breathing) I decided I really wasn’t up to 400 stairs. I have no idea how we did it last time.

So I basically paid 10€ to see the baptistery. Of course I was not the only one assuming all the older people weren’t climbing all the stairs in the tower or cupola. I do really love the baptistry it is gold mosaic tiles similar to what is used in St. Mark’s in Venice. After all the frescos in florence the mosaics are a nice change of pace. The dome of the baptistry basically tells the bible from beginning to end. There is a picture for Adam and Eve, the annunciation, the birth of Jesus, the cruxifixction and everything in between.

After the duomo I had just enough time for one more pizza before my class’s at 2. I went back to the pizza place by the school and tried something different. I went with the prosciutto and mushroom. It was good but did not compare to the caprese one I had earlier this week.

There was a Halloween meets wurstfest market in the St. Croce piazza which made it very hard to go to class. I had time for a quick beer then off to study italian.

After class which was only 2 hours I went back to the festival for more beer. I thought I would get a little snack for the train ride tomorrow and tried to buy a little cheese. The cheese vendors in Italy must all go to the same school. I asked for a little and he starts to cut off a fourth of a round of cheese. I keep saying smaller and he moves his knife like a centimeter. Eventually you give up and end up with more cheese than you needed. My train snack cost me almost 10€. The extra large pretzel I bought to go with it was only 1€.

Having decided that I needed the brown purse I had seen at the leather school day one I went back to buy it. I know you are saying that I didn’t need another brown purse and technically that would be right but I didn’t want to get home and regret not getting it so I did need to buy it to make sure I had no regrets. I know crazy logic but I can justify anything. And now it has my initials in it so it is a done deal.

For my last night in florence I just wandered around a bit. I considered going back to where I had the really good dinner but decided to try someplace else. It was okay but I should have gone back to the other place. The gnocchi was a little different but the salad was good. It was covered with more prosciutto than I could eat. I did have a nice glass of nobile moltipucianno.

After dinner I headed back to the house to pack up. I had to try and fit all my purchases in my bag. It was a tight fit but everything mad it in. It weighs a ton and I might have to pay extra to bring it home but I didn’t have to leave anything behind but the pillow I stoles from my mom. I thought it would help me sleep on the plane. No such luck there but was super glad I had it at “mama’s” house. I basically had a cot with the hardest pillow in the world. I can’t fault her the bed at the hotel in Perugia was just as bad.

My final night in florence is over. I can’t wait to come back again.