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Published: September 15th 2004
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My kind of research
I've isolated small sections of images of paintings and am trying to sketch and study the values and color of that one piece of cloth. This is from one of Michelangelo Buonarotti's paintings. For all of you concerned about my running experience along the curves of the Lungarno (the hazardous street I described in yesterdays journal), you'll be happy to know that I have found a quiet, peaceful park called Parco delle Cascine. Many years ago it was used by the Medici as a dairy farm (it is a long, 2.25 mile oval park with paths layed between trees, flowers, bushes, lined with wider, paved paths for bikes, runners, etc) and is thus called Cascine from the word "cascina" or dairy farm. Later on, from what I know, it was full of dear and became a hunting park and a location for public theater and social gatherings. A friend told me about this place, free from smog and cars. It parallels the Arno, but feels fresh and quiet. I often see statuesque Blue Herons and various types of ducks, geese, and unfortunately as well, a river rat the size of a small puppy swimming among the shallows of the underbridge.
A foreigner in this place, exploring independent of a group, and stubborn as I am timid, I am learning the ropes of this city little by little...mistakes here, good fortune there, building my vocabulary
of living the Florentine life! I have to balance the newness of this life, in creating new habits, adding tastes, building my repetoire of experience, with my old habits, interests, abilities. Here there are different expectations for behavior in stores, even different kinds of doors to enter and exit banks. I run because it helps me adjust. I choose to listen to my music and draw intensely for 3 hours one afternoon, instead of exploring the city; this because I go internal, while sensing and screening the external...my method of assimilating one life with the next without losing sanity along the way.
Now-yesterday in Florence it poured hard and for a good 8-9 hours. It is interesting how stone and marble look and feel, with such a heavy, dark sky to bar the light I've been so in love with here. Today, the hills, which are often masked with fog and haze, are clear and vivid, the closer hills with ocre colored buildings protrude from green forest, very crisp profiles against the fading hills (colinne in Italian) and clearing blue sky. Last night, I went to a movie with a friend, which was interupted 3 times by power failure
(yes the movie was in Italian-Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson with voice overs!!). Thunder, lightening, the whole ten yards...a "tempesto". The streets were flooding with water, garbage blown from corner to corner, now muddy and disintegrating, and every vendor possible was out in the rain selling umbrellas. Many people stood under eaves or in the marbled archways of grand buildings-but just to rest before heading out in the showers! For cafe's, this is the perfect event, as many people headed inside for an espresso and some apperitif! (Here at the cafe's or bars, you are automatically served one of the following: little potato chips, green olives, peanuts, small pieces of thin bread sprinkled with herbs, or a pretzel/chip mix...how sophisticated...but you also pay a bit more to SIT down, rather than stand at the bar!)
A FEW QUICK OBSERVATIONS
-To cross a very busy street, instead of risking death stepping into the street, I timidly wait for another person to start crossing and then I follow...pedestrians do NOT have the right-of-way around here.
-The white dove depicted in the religious paintings, with outstretched wings, is the symbol of the Holy Spirit.
-Boticelli is buried (15th century painter, lots of work in the Uffizi gallery which I have not visited yet....the cherry on the icecream sundae that I will save for later) in the church called Ognisanti, literally All Saints, which I pass on my way to the park where I run. Little do I know what mysteries are to behold in the houses, streets, churches, museums, stores, gardens that I pass every day!
-The buses are horrible. You have to go in one door, and only exit another. If you don't know your street, there is nothing to tell you when to exit. If you pay for a ticket (bigletto) you are a "fool" according to most Italians, who DON'T pay, because no one checks your ticket to see if it is stamped by the machine on the bus. BUT if a politzia DOES come on the bus and finds you without a ticket stamped, you pay a big fine on the spot.
-No ones moves for you in Italy, not even if you are beautiful. If the street is full, you have to shuffle all over the place, and not take offense to getting hit and jabbed a million times...here it's just not personal, but not fun either!
-There are lots of concerts, free or "ingresso libero", that take place in churches around the city. Music is high quality, and always classical. Next week I will tell you about some that I visit.
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