Cooling off.

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So another week in Florence pasted and this one was much more interesting than my last entry. I have FINALLY started to know where I am going in Florence, so that when walking home at night I can actually get home. So long as I find the Duomo, Santa Croce, Arno River or the Hotel Bernini (which is next to the Bargello) I can make it down the impossibly narrow streets and back to my apartment. Florence is such an interesting city that even people who have lived here their entire lives still get lost. I have met several that could not tell you certain streets if they are not on them. Most, when asked for directions give landmarks, because everyone knows the main landmarks in the city. Usually the Duomo or Piazza della Repubblica are the two best since they are more or less the city center. I however use my senses to find my way around, because I usually find the best places to eat or see when wandering the city streets during the day. Ashley (my friend who is studying in Italy also) and I did get extremely lost during the first week when we left the Duomo from an angle I wasn't used to. That is another thing about this city that is interesting, everything looks completely different when seen from a different viewpoint. Which probably explains how people can become so lost and have to pull out their maps when walking around the city.


I still have not visited any museums or churches yet. Mostly because the crowds here are unbearable at the best times to see them. I truly dislike any crowded places like the Duomo and try to avoid them whenever possible. Since these are the places that people get robbed, also the more annoying street vendors and "local" men hang out at these spots, because they are tourist attractions most likely. It is quite funny to watch Molly and I crossing behind the Baptistery, since we basically sprint through the crowds and just barely squeak past the people standing their taking pictures in the street, before the hole in the crowd is gone and you have to walk around them. The large tour groups are the worst since they are herded through the streets from location to location, god forbid if they became separated! My suggestion would be for people to skip the tour group that basically are just a walking tour and buy a book on Florence, with the relevant history and take your own walking tour. So that a) you don't clog the street, b) you can see only what you want to see, c) you can experience Florence more naturally. Honestly I don't know how people on those tours learn/ hear whatever the guide is saying unless they use earpieces (which makes it look like the people are part of the U.N.)


Enough about my ranting.


This was the first weekend in my temporary home where I had no agenda or scheduled plans. It was rather difficult not having anything to do because on the weekends it is very crowded, which as I have stated before I am not a huge fan of and also because the temperature has been nuts. By nuts I mean that in the morning it is humid and sticky, then sometime in the early afternoon the weather changes and it starts raining. Now being from Seattle I am not by any means afraid of the rain but this was a downpour I have never seen except in Hawaii. About an hour into the rain it began hailing. The hail was about the size of a quarter so if you were hit, it felt like you would have a bump for a few days because of it. Since I had never seen the raindrops so large, it was decided by my roommates and myself that we needed to go play in it. To our neighbors we probably looked like a bunch of monkeys jumping around, laughing, and generally making quite a bit of noise. With the four of us dancing on the slick stones of our terrace to rap and hip/hop songs like we were in our own private club. The merriment continued for about an hour, until the aforementioned hail became too large to have any more fun playing outside.


A funny thing about Italy is that most American singers/artists play concerts here, and the tickets are cheaper. Take for example the concert I went to on Tuesday night. I had no plans to go to it except that my girlfriends I was hanging out with wanted to go. Out of all the people I could have seen he would have been at the lowest possible point on any list I would have made. The one and only Mike Jones, who quite possibly has only one song that I can credit to his name, which I cannot even remember at the moment. Most of his hits have been with other artists, so they are not technically his songs. He didn't even get on stage until 1:30 am and was only playing for half an hour. The venue he was at was across the Arno at central park. At least I think it was across the Arno because again my sense of direction at night is not very good, and we took a cab there. The people there were mostly Americans but there were Italians there as well. Only Molly and I went to the concert, but we were with our friends from class. So our group was large enough that it didn't feel awkward to be there.


Well ciao from Italia for now. I am off to Venice for the weekend so will have more to write once I return.

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Photos

Downpour
Molly enjoying the "shower"

Feeling good.
The cool rain felt amazing after the hot summer sun during the week.

Hail no!
A slightly blurry picture of the hail that was falling.

Candle wax.
This was the amount of water that landed in the candle in just over an hour!

Mike Jones.
I randomly saw a Mike Jones concert in Florence.

SRISA girls
Group shot of the girls I was with.

Lockness
A bar located behind a red door that is hard to find unless you have been their before.

Delicious drinks.
Ashley and I having our vodka creations at lockness.