Firenze

June 18, 2010

Holy smokes! Florence is a very magical city. On a level of business versus calmness, I'd say it's a little less hectic than Rome but a little more crazy than Sorrento - gorgeous nonetheless! The entire weekend was rainy which was absolutely fine - I'm glad I brought along my bright yellow umbrella! The rain and mist placed this really cool silvery sheen on the city that only added to its splendor. Puddles on the gray black of cobblestone definitely reminded me of the fact that I was actually in Italy! The streets were very European - lined with trendy stores and cafes. The hotels and buildings towered up to the skies as excited people clamored about at its feet, dressed in leather and the fashion forwardness that is Florence.  Riding along in the bus, we pass by huge groups of jostling, ogling tourists getting their taste of the Duomo and some museums before hurrying forward to pose for a shot in front of a fake David.  Small booths line the vias, calling out "ciao bella" almost as much as the illegal street vendors do. I've learned to be very careful of these fraudulent Fendi swearing swindlers! You only have to just look at their hastily prepared displays for them to jump on you as a target like a lion jumps on its prey. After learning about the history of Firenze on our tour of the Duomo and some museums, we happened to be exploring on our own a little bit when one of the little buggers decided to seize his opportunity. I just happened to look at a pretty but fake printout of a famous painting that was displayed on the street. The vendor hopped over the paintings and asked me my name and how I was doing and that the painting was only 20 euro but 15 for me. I wasn't even able to finish smiling before his partner jumped to his side, took the painting, rolled it up, and rubber-banded it. Man! I said no and he kept hassling me until the carabinieri came by on patrol. I seized the opportunity and ran away!

Other than little instances like that, Florence is a very cool city. It's beautiful at night with all the lights and the energy. The shops are very cool and I've discovered how fun it is to find all the little deals - cute local gelato places with flavors like casata siciliana and gusto di Grom for 2 euro instead of walking away with a 6 euro waffle cone! There are a lot of very cute baby stores too filled glowing and glittering things - a kiss to the senses! We spent the afternoon and evening exploring the pretty historic streets of Florence. Gabrielle's Rick Steve's book has come in handy so many times on our travels and Florence was no exception! We found this cute recommended place called Casalinga -  affordable, tasty, and sit-down too! I wanted something different than the normal delicious pasta so I opted for the Ribolietta - a Tuscan specialty dish made with bread and lots of vegetables - kinda like a crock pot stew - phenomneal! It was Emiliy's birthday too! I was hoping the restaurant would offer a free treat for the birthday girl but no such luck haha. We ended up walking around that night - checking out shops and looking for things to do.

It's absolutely wonderful - this feeling of being able to really spend time doing something - time - this little fairy that's like eating chocolate or something - wonderful to experience during but before you know it, it's gone, leaving only a trace of how good it was! We had passed by some awesome looking waffles with a scoop of gelato and Tessa wanted some we se went out on a search…and discovered a really cute place! We landed on the most wonderful surprise after that - a really cool guitar player was singing and putting on a show right in the middle of the square! The music was great so we stopped to listen. It was really cool to see that he was from London and just out on a quest to support himself and promote his work. It made me realize how free life can be - I mean, here he is living on his own and working on what he loves - it makes me wonder…why not? Like what makes us live such restricted lives? Who tells us that there's a certain recipe we must follow? Who's the mathematician that made the universal equation I'm supposed to equate my life with? I'd like to meet him! This trip has given me so many ideas and quite a few realizations…there's no one set way to live! I was always brought up with the idea that the most successful way to live..to be…in fact is to go to school, get a degree, get married, settled down….and work work work! But what if there's something more? Who says we can't live this grand adventure anyway? Follow the path less traveled, stray for a bit! I have LOVED getting lost in Italy - I've loved setting  out each day without a map - with no direction and just letting what happens happens! I have met the most incredible people, been involved in these wonderfully unplanned intimate moments that have brought me so much meaning and happiness (sorry for the melodramatics - I'm sitting on the plane listening to the epic greatness of Danny Elfman's music for the Alice in Wonderland movie). Anyway, Irene (our API director) has a job to meet with ambitious students from all over the USA and to travel with them - she has seen so much from all of these viagos and is ridiculously knowledgeable. She gets to have fun and is doing a JOB! She's successful! Perche no? Why not?

Listening to the music on those cobblestone streets made me miss home. I was quite nicely surprised to see a cascade of stars in the purplish sky overhead and I couldn't help but think….only one week left!