October 14, 2011

October 14, 2011

It’s fall break and today definitely felt like it! This morning I slept in and then had a leisurely breakfast. I headed out of the house around 10:30 or 11:00, dropped my computer off at school for later and then headed into the center of town. It was an absolutely beautiful fall day, with a high of 70 degrees, sunshine and some wind. I decided to head down toward the river to walk around there and just enjoy the day. It was beautiful down by the Arno and, let me tell you, the Arno is not always the most beautiful river. But, today, it seemed pretty beautiful :) After a little bit of walking around by the river and in the neighborhoods around there, I headed over to Palazzo Pitti to visit the Galleria del Costume. The Palace (once home to the Medici) is incredible, opulent and very expansive. Today it is home to many different museums and exhibits that fill many of its brilliant rooms. I didn’t want to spend too much time inside today so I decided to just visit the one exhibit today. The Galleria del Costume exhibits clothing from the early 1800s up to some of the latest fashions and, to show how styles and fashion have changed over time, they mix them up. For instance, in one display case, there were evening gowns from the 1800s, the forties, the seventies, and the nineties. It was so interesting to see how incredibly different each one was from the others. I will definitely be back to that exhibit!

After I had finished in the Galleria del Costume, I headed to the “backyard” of Palazzo Pitti to Boboli Gardens. I hadn’t been there since my first week in Florence and was kind of expecting it to be not quite as pretty as the last time I had been there—I was so very wrong. The Boboli Gardens seem to be the most beautiful in the fall, especially on such a beautiful fall day. I wandered in a different direction than I had last time I was there and found that the gardens were MUCH more expansive than I had imagined. I walked and walked, getting lost in the paths and the trees, crunching my way through the fallen leaves, and loving the kind of oasis it was. I have definitely found my favorite place in Florence and will be back soon, before this fall weather is over! After some time in Boboli, I headed back toward school, grabbing a light lunch on the way. At 3:30, I was able to Skype with my whole family because my Dad didn’t have work and Sonja didn’t have school. It was SO wonderful to be able to see all of them and talk to all of them! They even Skyped for on the iPad for part of the time so I could see the new car! I am so happy that we could all be “together” at the same time :)

After Skyping, I gathered up my stuff and went to buy a new pair of walking shoes. I have been walking so incredibly much that I have already walked my way through a pair of shoes. I got a pair of Converse and then caught the bus home. When I got home, Massimo was over and they were watching the Disney Three Musketeers movie with Mickey, Goofy and Donald and they invited me to watch with them and have some popcorn, which I did gladly :) Once the movie was over, I started to think about what to pack for London and did a little bit of homework so I’m not saving all of it for the last two days of break.

For dinner, we started with fettuccini with a butter and cheese sauce that was absolutely wonderful. For our main dish, we had omelets along with cooked peppers and potatoes. For dessert, we had apples and more nuts, which were still delicious. It was a lovely dinner for a lovely fall day. Good company, good food, and good conversation :)

It has definitely been a wonderful first day of fall break and I am really loving this fall weather! Tomorrow, Franzi and I are taking the train to Assisi just for the day so hopefully we will have another beautiful day like today. I am very excited to go back to Assisi because it was my favorite place we visited when I was in Italy on choir tour in high school! It is such a beautiful little town. I hope you are all having beautiful fall days as well and I wish you a wonderful start to your weekends! To all of you at St. Olaf, say “hi” to the King and Queen of Norway for me!

All my love,

Kari

At the Galleria del Costume

Boboli Gardens

More Boboli

Piazza della Signoria