Firenze. Isn't that a Harry Potter character?

I am going to try and make this a short one. this comment is more for me than for you. Amy, make this a short one. it's a beautiful day outside.

So. Florence, in Italy, is called Firenze, which is, after all, a way better word. try it. say it out loud: fee REN zay. any word with a z...

i arrived here yesterday by train to a slightly overcast day, having left behind a sunny Rome containing friend Hollie and generous Servas hosts. Familiar faces. Here, there is not a soul. first time. I had a ... ahem... little difficulty finding my hostel. not totally my fault though - the street numbers here are chaos and the hostel is set back hidden in a courtyard! no fair! but i found it anyway. got a single for the price of the dorm because they'd run out of available dorm beds. good deal, right? well yeah, but i was kind of excited for the traveler-social-contact of the dorms. anyway. yay privacy.

now, i should've guessed from the name of the hostel (Pio X) that it was religiously affiliated... that's a pope... but i shrugged it off. so there's a little picture of a saint above my bed and my room looks like a church cell, down to the little study desk by the window. strange but true.

so i wandered the streets and it's a pretty town. lots of cute shops, lots of leather, lots of jewelry. my hostel is across the river in the "over there" (literally what the name of the neighborhood means) part of the city, but it's also the student quarter, so there's still stuff going on.


I was slightly lonely as i strolled yesterday, looking up at the multicolored duomo and the wide open piazza out in front of the palazzo vecchio and uffizi art museum. i had dinner at a restaurant - table for one - dinners always seem the saddest, mostly when you forget your book at the hostel - but i did get to sample the famously saltless tuscan bread along with some tasty olive oil, and my primo piatti was spinach ricotta ravioli in a creamy rucola (arugola) sauce. so that was yum. thanks, rough guide. ::thumbs up, cheesy smile::

Made my way back to the hostel and did some guidebook reading in the common area. a couple of groups of people were playing cards. eventually, everyone in the room merged into a big gang around 2 tables and we all played together.

most people were young'uns on spring break from college, but there were a couple of us elderly thrown in, including an Aussie named Brendan who is (NA!) from Agnes Water, and he was really excited that i knew where that was and had been there. I said, "is that near 1770?" and he looked at me like i was from another planet and said "Yeeeeaaaah!" in his thick australian drawl. hooray. he was the only one on long term travel - traveling solo for a year and 7 months in, having visited peru and a few US states in the south, parts of canada (first time he saw snow was with snowboard attached to his feet), NYC, and he is in the midst of a somewhat comprehensive european tour before he heads off to bangkok, hong kong, and manilla in the philippines. so great. so great. yay for long term travel. and australians from agnes water. ha.

this morning i got up at a time that I THOUGHT was early to get on the famously absurd line for the main attraction here in florence: the uffizi museum. i waited for 3 hours anyway. that's right. THREE (3) hours. that's ok though. it was totally worth it. as was the 9.50 entrance fee AND the 5.50 audioguide. what a fantastic museum.


someone told me they cried in the botticelli room. i almost cried in the leonardo da vinci exhibit. what a big thinker. absolutely amazing. AMAZING. i finally understand that viruvian man thing (is that even the name? i could look it up but that would waste my internet time. you know what i mean). i mean, i GET it. great exhibit. and the art through the 51 rooms was astounding too. everyone was there. and the organization was great; i could really see the change in style from the flat characters to the "mannerism" and the change in light and the way landscape and objects gained importance and... just great. when you come though, reserve your tickets in advance. just do it. all in all it was a 7 1/2 hour experience for me, including the wait.

so yeah. that's it. i am hoping to hear from a couple of tuscan servas hosts and then i'll finish planning my trip through tuscany. another week and a half and i'll be back in parma with only venice in front of me, then home home home.

ok. back to the sunny day. and gelato. and maybe find someone from my hostel to have dinner with.

not really a short one, but anyway.
ciao.
amy

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