San Gimiano

Sunday June 20

Good morning! My day started with a great experimentation of all the drinks I could made with the little cappuccino machine at our Hotel breakfast area. I've discovered that by combining the hot chocolate with the wonderful cappuccino, I can create a rich cup of mmmm combined with a  cap of delightful foam. Pure happiness.

At 10:30am, we went to see David as a group. Yup - THE DAVID - Michelangelo's best - in all it's glory. Oh goodness - David is certainly magnificent…standing at 17 feet and carved out of marble. Standing there reminded me about something a sculptor once told me: "an artist isn't trying to carve a person into the stone…she's just trying to uncover the person trapped inside it." I love that! It isn't a matter of forcing the magic to happen - it's all about taking the time to let the magic happen to you. David's story was really cool - I just couldn't help but thinking, once David was the little runt set up to fight the massive goliath - and now here's David all massive - his size now shows the grandeur of his heart back then. Even the slightest person can make a difference.

It started pouring after we saw David. Running through Florence under a torrent was neat! Never letting a bit of rain stop us, we huddled beneath our umbrellas and continued to shop -I eyed the leather bags enviously - omg I wanted one but I didn't have enough money so I settled on the fact that I'll just have to have a huge shopping spree the next time I'm in Florence!

At 5pm, Gabrielle and I went to an English mass at the Duomo of Florence. It was beautiful! There's definitely something about the light streaming through the pretty stained glass windows that add to the glory of the church. We had an hour to spend before dinner at 7 so Gab and I went across the city to this super cool Perfumeria/Apothecary -- these monks hand make the soaps, teas, perfumes, liquors…

We thought we were going to this little shop or something - oh no - this place was beautiful! It was in this really gorgeous old building complete with sculptures and old school furniture from the 1700s or something! I felt so posh and boutique-y just stepping in! Gab and I giggled like little school girls through all the different rooms, spritzing on different perfumes and taking deep wiffs of the purest lavender, vanilla, and sandalwood I have ever experienced. My favorite was called the Angels of Florence…it was simply…heavenly! The perfect blend of fruity, floral, and sweet vanilla. I wanted to bring home a bottle for my mom but since it cost 80 euro that I only wished I had, I settled on going back later. We left the Perfumery reluctantly and was pleasantly surprised when we still smelled delicious even after being out in the city air. We raced ominous looking storm clouds back to the Hotel so we could meet the rest of our group for dinner.

Dinner involved us actually cooking!  We went to a cooking lesson in the heart of Florence and proceeded to make a 3 course meal! One of my favorite parts of this trip has been people watching. Seeing our cooking instructor cut zucchini, mix pasta, and whip up eggs was awesome - I've loved seeing people in their element here - whether that's our cooking teacher, or painters, or the British musician from yesterday or ever our very own Tessa. I've loved seeing her grow more and more into a photographer. Just the way she walks and considers her subjects is like the essence of photography - she makes taking a simple picture an art and like all other people in their element, it's simply beautiful. We learned how to make Tiramisu first since that had to be chilled. We whipped up egg whites with sugar and mixed the mascarpone cheese with sugar and egg yolks then folded the big beautiful mess together. We dipped lady fingers in espresso and layered the whole deal together. A sprinkle of cocoa powder on top and voila = Tiramisu! The first course consisted of a delicious egg plant sandwich which was eggplant and a to-die-for filling made with potatoes, zucchini, and a blend of spices. We layered the filling with slices of cheese and sprinkled the top of the mini sandwich with a parmesan cheese and top quality olive oil. Into the oven it goes! Our main course was gnocchi in a pomodoro ragu sauce. I never thought I'd actually get to make the gnocchi but we did it! Massed up potatoes, flour, seminola flour, and some cornstarch went together to make the dough of which we individually formed the pieces. The sauce was super easy -made with tomatoes and olvie oil and a bit of garlic and basil. Presentation is everythign of course so we made sure to garnish our plates with parsley. What an experience! It reminded me of cooking with my mom and I loved it! Everything was fantastic!

Afterwards, Tessa and I had been talking about how much we've always wanted to go to a European discoteca and we decided that tonight was the night (especially since this was our very last opportunity and our last Saturday to do so!) We got some recommendations, got lost finding the club, but finally made it - all five of us, to this place called Twice. The entrance was free and it wasn't mandatory to purchase drinks in order to dance - right up our alley! The music was good and I think we were all just high off the fact that we had actually made it there that we had a great time! Definitely one of the major highlights of this trip!

Sunday brought an entirely different adventure - on the way home to Tuscania, we stopped at the super cute medieval Tuscan town of San Gimiano. It was even more ancient looking than Tuscania (complete with it's own Renaissance Fair) but still hip-hopping with stores boasting leather goods from Florence. Gelata was very excited…she found the gelateria that had won best gelato of the year 3 years in a row! She shared a cone of white chocolate vanilla, praline, and lavender flavors with wonderful Emily - ahh so good! Right outside of San Gimiano was the grand hillside vineyard that belonged to the winery where we were doing a wine tasting. The wine tasting included lunch (best ribollieta and lasagna I have EVER tasted in my life) as well as 1 white wine, 5 different red wines, and a dessert wine. I liked the dessert wine the best, naturally! We spent some more time at the vineyard with its crazy owner before heading home.

 I felt really bad missing Carlotta's baptism this past weekend but Maria Carla promised to show me pictures as soon as Frederica develops them!  We walked around Lake Bolsena about 5 minutes after I got home since MC had already planned to do that with her friend, Flora. Flora is actually American but she's been here for like 40 years. It was very interesting talking to her. I mean, MC kept telling me how great she is but I found her to be a bit of a lost soul. In the little was able to talk to her, I picked up that she seemed to have once been very optimistic but the hard reality of a difficult divorce and feeling like she doesn't belong anywhere changed her. She had this biting sense of realism that kind of attacked my happy go lucky romanticism just a bit. In any case, it was cool learning from her. Finally stepping back into the house again brought home reality in another much less appealing way - I had an 8 page term paper on Spartan women to write for the morning. After explaining this to  Maria Carla, she made me two espressos which I downed (bad idea = tummy problems for the rest of the night!) and proceeded to pull my first and only all nighter of the trip. Golly gee!