Sisters in Florence

Sheena’s here! And we’ve been having a fantastic time. She arrived safely (and with all her luggage!) on Wednesday morning, and we’ve being going non-stop ever since. After only a two-hour nap, she started on her education of Florence. We took a little walking tour of the city and I showed her around my favorite streets, stopped in some shops, and sat out for lunch and cappuccinos at my favorite café called Bar Pitti (“bar” means café in Italian). This cup of coffee kept her alive and well all day, and then we headed out for a nice dinner together at a restaurant overlooking the Arno River. It was right off the Ponte Vecchio, situated so we could even see the Palace Vecchio lit up at night across the river. In the dimly lit restaurant, we ordered bruschetta and wine, listened to jazz and caught up on all the exciting things going on in Medfield since I had left. It was wonderful to hear about home and school and who’s dating who now. She told me about our friends in a band, who’ve been touring colleges and doing shows and making record deals. I’m so proud of them! I also heard about the recent musical she starred in, and how she borrowed my famous green prom dress to wear for her on-stage kiss scene. So, we chatted and ate gnocchi and spaghetti, then came home to prepare for a night out with all my Florence friends. A big group ended up coming to the apartment to hang out, then we all herded out together to cross town for a club called FullUp, which I had never been to. It wasn’t crowded when we got there, but after a half hour the place filled up and we spent the night dancing away and having a great time. She said she had a fabulous time and I’m so glad to have shown Bean an awesome first day in Florence!

Yesterday, we woke up relatively early for a full day of activities. We packed picnic lunches and headed to the Duomo, which I surprisingly haven’t ever toured or even visited since the first week I was here and went to mass. It’s actually quite empty-looking inside, making the floor more impressive than any other church I’ve seen. It is completely created out of giant marble mosaics, open to view without hardly any benches or pulpits or huge altars covering it. There are a few stained glass windows, but the Duomo is much darker than other churches I’ve been in, and its most exciting spectacle is the famous painting done inside the cap of the dome. You walk along the dim church until suddenly you’re standing under a giant upside egg-shell with a fresco done by the renowned Italian artist Giotto. In fact, the dome’s construction was actually inspired by an egg-shell – the architect who designed the unusual and very sturdy dome was a Florentine in the late 1200s named Brunelleschi. He took part in a competition put on by the city of Florence, when it was looking for an architect to design one of the largest domes ever made. They gave a bunch of architects an egg and said whoever can make an egg stand up vertically would get the job. Brunelleschi cracked his in half, as everyone else looked at theirs dumbfounded, and stood his half shell on the table. And so, after building the dome using ancient cranes and stone-moving contraptions, Brunelleschi died a very famous man and is now buried in a tomb beneath the Florence Duomo.

Next stop, the David. Even though I’d already seen it, and will see it again on a school trip, I knew Sheena had to see Michaelangelo’s world-famous piece before leaving this city. And for me, it was just as shatteringly impressive the second time around. Last time I visited though, there was hardly anyone else at the exhibit; this time, there was a giant crowd of tourists, loudly gathering and pointing up at David holding his stone and slingshot (after killing the 14-foot giant Goliath, if you don’t remember the Biblical story – I didn’t until my Art History professor reminded me of it this week). So, Sheena figured this would be a good time to snap some discreet photos – even though it’s strictly forbidden and monitored at this particular gallery. You’re really not supposed to take pictures. But, this is a once-in-a-lifetime viewing (or for me, three times), so she hid behind a pole and actually got some great photos of the giant, graceful figure. After checking out Michaelangelo’s other unfinished sculpture pieces, we walked to the nearby S.S. Annuziata square, where I took pictures of Bean sitting on the steps of the hotel that our Grandma and Grandpa stayed in decades ago. We ate our sandwiches in the sun, then walked to the Mercato Centrale, or Central Market. It’s this huge market of leather goods, t-shirts, sunglasses, purses, scarves and ceramics that covers a few blocks. And when we got too tired to walk anymore, we journeyed home to cook dinner, grabbing a canoli on the way to save for dessert. Of course, Sheena fell asleep immediately on my bed while reading, I blogged and started dinner. And after our pasta with meat-sauce and peas on the side (gotta have your veggies!), we motivated ourselves again – to walk all the way up to Piazzale Michaelangelo, the square with the fake David statue overlooking the whole city, lit up beautifully at night.