Hooray for Art!

Buon giorno, mama! (Good morning, Mom!)

Today everyone in our group got to go the Uffizi museum. We didn't have to leave until 8:45, so it made for a relaxing morning routine. Natalie, one of my student workers, is an art major and was really looking forward to this. She has wanted to see Botticelli's Birth of Venus for years and was so excited she was finally going to get to see it. (I asked her later if it met her expectations, and she told me the whole trip was worth it just to see that painting.)

Because I had been here last year, I decided to concentrate on some things I didn't spend as much time on before. In particular, I enjoyed the pre-Renaissance paintings of Fra Lippo Lippi. Very cool with bright colors and nice composition. I also spent more time with the paintings by Caravaggio. I was more intrigued this year after watching a really good series by the BBC called The Power of Art. It really made Caravaggio the person come to life for me in ways that a book hadn't.

About midday I left the museum and decided to wander about. I trekked through the neighborhood north of the Piazza della Repubblica and explored the residential areas away from the touristy sections. Interestingly enough, you only have to go four or five blocks to leave those sort of places behind. I walked about for about an hour, but then got hungry, so went to look for food.

I had seen some of our students earlier at a cafeteria called Hot-Pot, so stopped there for a quick lunch. I had lasagna and tiramisu. I was at first disappointed when I saw them pop my square of lasagna into the microwave to heat it up. Whenever I reheat pasta at home, the noodles are always chewy. Imagine my surprise when the lasagna tasted as soft and fresh as if it had just come out of the oven. Leave it to the Italians to figure out how to make fast food taste wonderful.

The "host" at Hot-Pot is named Irvin. His job is to stand out front and get people to come in and eat. I sat at an outside table so had a chance to visit with Irvin. I asked him what he would like to tell my friends to convince them to come to Italy. "You tell them to come to Italy," he said, "and if you bring beautiful woman, I talk to her." Umm, ok, Irvin. Not really what I was looking for, but I'll pass it along.

Once I had eaten lunch I went to the Mercato Centrale to look for a gift for my neighbor Jenna who takes care of my ungrateful cat Dante when I am away on travels. I bought a really pretty cashmere and silk scarf for 6 Euros. It was a nice gift at a reasonable price, but I have to confess I stopped at that particular booth so I could talk to the beautiful Italian saleswoman. I think all that tomato sauce is starting to turn me a little Italian.

I wanted to climb the dome of the Duomo next, but the church had closed early for services that day. Fortunately, the bell tower--or campanile--was still open. For €6 I climbed all 414 steps of Giotto's Tower and was rewarded with spectacular views of the city. I have some incredible photos to show you when I get home, mamma.

About two-thirds of the way up the tower, I ran into Natalie, Michelle, and Gwen who were on their way down. I whipped out the little video-cam I've been carrying around to film our students and asked each of them to tell me what they had been doing. About the time we started recording, the bells began to chime...and chime, and chime, and chime. Wow, was it loud in the tower! I was surprised the bells rang for so long, because it was only half past the hour. I decided I should definitely be out of there before it chimed the hour.

I was supposed to meet a group of faculty and staff for dinner but got horribly mixed up on the time. Thinking I was late, I ran to the restaurant where we had decided to eat, but no one was there. (Turns out I was 45 minutes early instead of 15 minutes late.) I walked through the Piazza Santa Croce and found three students sitting there waiting for a restaurant to open. Emily, Maren and Katlyn invited me to join them. We went to a restaurant called Francesco's, and the food was, of course, wonderful. I had a bowl of pasta with fresh pesto and sliced cherry tomatoes, and for dessert had a most excellent coffee mousse. Emily and Katlyn had ricotta- and spinach-stuffed ravioli and Maren had penne with salmon in a light tomato sauce. We spent the first few minutes of dinner passing forks around saying, "You have got to try this one." We agreed everyone had great meal, but secretly I think we all believed we each had the best dinner choice.

I have to tell you about our waitress, mamma. She had absolutely no trace of an Italian accent, so I asked where she was from. "I'm from Ireland," she said with just a hint of brogue. "I knew you must be from an English-speaking country," I said. "Thanks for noticing," she answered. "Most tourists tell me my English is almost perfect." We all got a laugh out of that one.

After dinner, the four of us climbed up to the Piazzale Michelangelo to look at the city lights of Florence one last time. It was a little cool with a light breeze blowing as we stood there and admired the beautiful view. We're all a bit sad to say "arrivederci" to Florence, but I'm also looking forward to saying "Ciao" to exciting Roma tomorrow.

alla prossima,
your loving son,