La mia vita a Firenze: October 16, 2011

October 16, 2011

This morning I woke up around 9:45, which was absolutely wonderful. I had a nice, leisurely breakfast, sent some emails, packed a little bag lunch and took my time getting ready. I finally headed into town around 11:45 and took the bus all the way across the river. I was not sure if there was always a market on Sundays in Santo Spirito but I decided to check it out anyway and I am SO glad that I did. Last week was more of an antique’s market but today was a combination famer’s market/arts and crafts market! There were stands selling pasta, bread, cheese, greens, fruits and vegetables, jams, sauces, dried flowers, homemade soaps, pottery, baskets, handmade clothing…you name it. I absolutely LOVED it. All of the arts and crafts were so beautiful to look at and all of the food looked so delicious. On one side of the market, I found an apple stand and the man was also selling APPLE CIDER so I bought a bottle to share with my family tonight at dinner. (I already tried some and it’s delicious!) I was so happy to find it because fall is definitely not complete without apple cider! I also bought a small loaf of rosemary bread so I could eat half with my lunch and give the other half to Daniela, as I am leaving tomorrow. It was a beautiful morning and so many people had come out for the market so I was so happy that my curiosity lead me there :)

After the market, I decided to go back to the Boboli Gardens and enjoy the beautiful fall weather while it lasted. This morning I found on the bookshelf in our room (full of books other students left—mostly history books) Room with a View. I knew the name but realized I had no idea what it was about so I read the back—I had no idea it was set in Florence! Anyway, I decided to bring it along with me for the day so, when I got to Boboli Gardens, I found a bench, tucked away from where all of the people were and read for a while. It was so beautiful to hear the birds, the wind in the trees, and take in the beautiful day while reading a wonderful book! I’m hooked! I probably won’t bring it with me to London but I’m sure I’ll finish it when I get back next weekend. After reading for a while, I got a little chilly (even though I actually wore a jacket today!) so decided to take a bit of a walk through the gardens. It actually turned into quite a long walk, as I discovered parts of the garden I had never seen before. My walk lead me first to a beautiful lawn with trees, overlooking the city, then to a beautiful panorama of Palazzo Pitti, the gardens, and Florence and, eventually, to the Belvedere Gate and the Bardini Gardens. I had no idea that there were more gardens and, upon realizing that my free ticket got me in there too, I ventured through a beautiful neighborhood until I came upon the gardens and, oh am I glad I did! Within the gardens, not only did I find blooms and gardens unlike those in Boboli, I encountered the most spectacular view of Florence I have on my trip thus far. I turned the corner and my breath left me…it was one of the most incredible views I have ever seen. You can see absolutely EVERYTHING, all the way up to Fiesole on the opposite side of the city. Finally pulling myself away from the view, I explored the rest of the garden, finding it very peaceful and much more quaint than Boboli.

After spending a while there, I decided to wander down a little road where, supposedly, there was a little church. I came upon the church early on—it was very quaint and beautiful in its simplicity. I decided to keep walking down the road and found myself amongst some of the most spectacular villas. Unfortunately, the road was walled and all of the villas were gated so, unless you peeked through cracks in the gates, you couldn’t really see the spectacular view. After wandering down that road for quite a while, I figured I should head back. I found my way back through Boboli Gardens to Palazzo Pitti and to the exit. What an incredible, beautiful day in the gardens!

Once I had left, I was a little bit hungry from all of the walking I had done so I stopped by one of my favorite little gelato places, in a quiet little neighborhood, and had some delicious peach and cream gelato (I cannot remember the exact name of the second one but it was some sort of Florentine specialty that was cream and some sort of fruity flavor). After enjoying my gelato, I headed back through the city and caught the bus home. I got home around five and decided I should probably pack, as I am leaving tomorrow. However, we have very tight restrictions for our luggage so I didn’t have a whole lot to pack—I am just going to wear the same things every day, which is totally fine with me. After I finished packing and had everything in order for tomorrow, I read some more of Room with a View.

For dinner this evening, we started out with penne pasta with a creamy tomato sauce that really warmed me up and was quite delicious. For our main dish, I had caprese salad, green beans and bread with cheese, while Daniela and Franzi had some sort of tuna fish salad thing. We followed that with pears and, finally, with gelato and a cake with nuts and raisins that Daniela had made that was very yummy. Oh, and we had the apple cider I bought at the farmer’s market today! It was a delicious “send off to London” dinner :)

Thankfully we don’t have to get up early tomorrow morning and rush to the airport. Our flight doesn’t leave until mid-afternoon so we don’t have to take the bus to the airport until about noon. But, by tomorrow evening, we’ll be in London! The hotel has free WIFI however, with the luggage constraints, I will not be bringing my computer. There is supposedly a computer in the lobby that we can use but who knows if it will be working or if other people will be on it. My point is, I am going to bring a journal to London and write a “blog post” every night so that, when I get back to Florence on Friday, I can type them up and post them. So don’t be looking for any posts by me until Friday or, depending on when we get home, Saturday. I am very much looking forward to London and spending some more time there :) I wish you all a wonderful end to your weekend and a lovely upcoming week! I hope you all are able to take some time to go for a walk and crunch through the leaves, bake something with apples or pumpkin, go to the orchard or carve a pumpkin—something fall-ish!

All my love,

Kari