Esplorare

Today marked my first full day in Italy, and I have very tired legs to prove it! I managed with a great deal of struggle to make it until 9:30pm last night before going to bed, but it was worth it because this morning I woke up refreshed, and officially on Italy time (only 5hrs ahead). Last night, I met all but one of my flatmates. Trevor helped me in the door since I had not yet mastered the very strange key we use to get into our apartment. I'm not sure if this is normal in Italy, but instead of having a lock that locks the door horizontally, there is a vertical rod that runs the entire height of the door that locks our door. Anyways, Trevor, a flatmate, is American also, but he speaks fluent Italian. He has been living in Florence and staying in this apartment since January so that he can complete the research for his PhD. He is writing his dissertation on Roman Catholic families from the WWI time period and he said many live in Tuscany. Marco is the other flatmate I've met. She is a student here, and will only be staying in the apartment for the rest of this week unlike Trevor who is staying here until the end of July! Marco speaks little English, and I speak little Italian so our "conversations" have been brief, but it is amazing how much hand signals help you communicate.






Today, also marked another first! I began my day walking to the main square or Piazza Duomo. On my way there (I am about 25min walking distance from it), I stopped into this little coffee shop where I ordered my first caffe con latte. I made sure to ask for it with milk so she knew I didn't want an espresso, but it was still the strongest coffee I've had well maybe other than Turkish coffee. This was one of the best parts of the day because I ordered it all in Italian, and then sat outside to write and people watch. I wish I could eloquently capture all the sounds I heard as I sat there drinking my coffee, but I am neither that eloquent a writer nor would I be able to do it justice. Imagine though the mixture of the sounds of mopeds and cars driving along a small cobbled street, bike wheels passing in front of you, and the sounds of an Italian couple discussing a book they are reading passionately while frequently standing up to act out different parts, and finally the sound of a fiddle playing in the background from one of Florence's many street performers.





I ended up walking for close to 5 hours today, and I made it to the central square and got to see the Duomo and the Baptistry doors(only the beginning of my art history escapades). I plan on going there again tomorrow because I didn't go into either place (so I'll write more about that in another post). Other than the coffee experience, the great thing about today was just wandering around getting comfortably lost, and discovering different random places. As I would round corners I would peek through and think "hmm what's that?" and just follow the road until I found out what it was. This totally paid off because one the coolest things I saw was this amazing church that I'll have to research to find the name of, but it reminded me of St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow with it's almost candylandesque multicolored towers.





Also, the other place that I randomly found by intentionally wandering was the Giardino dell'Orticoltura. I found out it has been there since 1859, and is used for hosting gardening exhibitions, and if you have ever seen it you would understand why. I sat and ate a snack there on one of the benches before making the walk back "home."





Arrivederci,
Rachel




I just thought this was funny!