Intro to Firenze

Saturday, 2/1/03
I'm going to try to never miss a day again. If I can stay awake, this will be an extremely long entry. Yesterday we went to Florence and today we went to Arezzo. And it is so important to get everything out because every day here is going to be so jam packed with memories that I won't be able to remember them for long.

Thursday night people came in at 2 in the morning and woke me up. I couldn't get to sleep for another four hours. That might have been because I took an allergy pill, not realizing that it was non-drowsy, and it had the hyper effect on me. Cady came in and said that when they got back Dixie jumped up and got in the shower thinking it was 6:30 in the morning! Then Kate came out and said something like, "What is going on? My hair is still wet!" because she had washed it before she went to bed. She told me the story again at breakfast and it was even funnier the second time.

While I was awake in bed I started thinking about the story I developed over the summer. Everything about it became so much more vivid and detailed after seeing with real eyes these glorious Italian buildings and landscapes.

So I went to Florence on four hours of sleep and for the first time in my life, sleep deprivation didn't destroy my day. It was an hour long bus ride to Firenze. First we went to a Benedictine church [San Miniato al Monte] on the hill away from the city, where we could see the whole cityscape. We toured the church and Marco gave us a lecture on the history of Firenze. Modern architecture in Florence means less than 500 years old. And Firenze is actually a relatively new city. It was founded by the Romans, not the Tuscans. The Roman wall is still around part of the city. The Arno is beautiful. We next went by the Santa Croce squere where that pivotal scene in A Room With a View was filmed. We saw the Bargello, the Palazzo Vecchio, the Loggia de Lanzi, and the financial district where the Peruzzi family house is. We ate lunch (pasta, pork, salad again), only we had ice cream for dessert. After lunch Peter took the architecture students to Brunelleschi's Hospital of the Innocents, then back to Santa Croce where we actually went inside. We walked by the Duomo, but only got to see the back. I really really really want to go inside next week. It was so big. More tomorrow.

Sunday, 2/2/03
On the way back from Firenze, I still didn't sleep on the train. I took an hour long nap after we got back before dinner and I wanted to sleep through dinner too, but I knew if I didn't eat I would be too hungry at the concert and I was not going to miss the concert. So was a little but of a zombie during dinner. The concert was divine. It was an orchestra from all over Tuscany and they were amazing. First they played a really fun Schubert piece, then a Mozart violin concerto with a guest violinist. She was Asian and only 19 or 20 and she was wonderful. Then they ended with Beethoven's 8th symphony, which was really good too, but I can understand why it isn't one of the most famous. It isn't as singable, or memorable. The concert hall is beautiful, too. Red velvet curtains, white walls, painted to look like they have carvings. The shadow work is perfect. All right, it is already time for bed so I'll have to write about Arezzo tomorrow.