Blogs from Florence, Tuscany, Italy, Europe - page 183

Monday, October 11, 2004. * Let’s not believe that just because a week starts out badly, that the rest of the week will follow in the initiator’s footsteps...because if we do, fate has cast an interesting spell this time. Before I skip back to Monday’s events, let me switch time on you and tell you what I’m doing at 8:15 am Tuesday morning, as this is the direct effect of the previously mentioned event. I arrive home from Choir rehearsal at 12:20am. I go to bed, awake at 6:30 to turn on the boiler switch to heat water for the shower. I stumble back to bed, fumble with the alarm clock to set it to 7:30am, and doing all this without arising so much that my body is fully ready to great the day. After a ... read more

Monday, September 27th * I found another friend, and we spent a few tranquil hours getting to know one another at the Parco Cascine this afternoon. My friend, a good book, gives me an excuse to lounge on a bench, with the afternoon sun warming my back, and my mind flirting with another world. Any good book is good company, the kind of companionship that gives you permission to buy a piece of chocolate cake at the book store café while reading or browsing stories, or sit on a bench while passersby or groups of runners wonder what it is that so engrosses you, or snuggle in bed early, too early for such a young, cool woman such as myself, but early just the same because I’ve got other plans-my book. *The book store in Piazza ... read more

Saturday/Sunday September 18/19, 2004 * Boticelli, Gentileschi, Ruibens, Andrea del Sarto, Raphaello Sanzio, Filippo Lippi, hung in tremendous frames one hanging from the next, 3 rows high…some hanging in dimly lit corners, others high and bold, recognizable by the lovers of art history. The Galleria Palatina, in the Pitti Palace, held my attention for a full 2 hours, with room upon room, antechamber upon antechamber, stocked full of imagery-either wall to wall frescoe, rich fabric, gold and crystal, or walls filled floor to ceiling with various framed images. To see some of these paintings within inches brings them under critique, analysis, adoration. I looked at technique, the softness or vividness of color, the accuracy of anatomy and form, the realistic or idealistic rendition, the folds of cloth, stylized or not, the repetition of symbols, use of ... read more

Yes! I am here! I thought it would never come, but the time has arrived. I hope everyone is doing well. This is the first e-mail i've sent from Villa Aurora, and I am having the worst time with this keyboard. I can't even find the 'at' symbol, much less quotation marks. i had the strangest time getting here. it started in july when i still hadn't recieved documents from ACA, and continued until i sent in my visa application only 3 weeks before departure (it got there it time and was processed in less than a week). Mom and I spent the day of my flight gettng things together in Los Angeles for the flight. We got to the airport on time and found that one of my carryon's was too big. so i had ... read more

This morning I woke up early, to the sound of bells from the Duomo, to take my first run here in Florence. I know that it is very "American" to do such a thing, but running allows me a sense of freedom, ownership of an area, and a peaceful, internal start to the day. Florence is tranquil at 7am, piazze (plural of piazza?) empty, trucks still cleaning streets, shops being swept, statues and window sills catching the orange light of an awakening sun...but within 45 minutes, I almost lost several limbs because the sidewalks along the Arno river are only 1.5-2 feet wide and cars, buses, motorinos and bikes zoom past with what seems like no regard for the surrounding objects (and subjects like myself). The run, was, however, wonderful, and despite the many odd looks ... read more