a day in the life...

ciao!

so, a few days ago my friend Raffaelle called me and asked me if i wanted to accompany him to the uffizi for the day. so, today, we went. first, we went to a place for lunch (breakfast for me, but you know italians dont eat breakfast, they only have some sweets...bazaar) anywho... this place was so cute, the kitchen was part of the restaurant so it felt like you were in someones house for lunch. they waitresses were hilarious and so frantic! they were screaming at everyone and telling people to finish their meals and what not. after lunch, which was amazing, raffaelle ordered a coffee and i wasnt going to take one. but the waitress gave me one too. when we told her it was a mistake she waved at us saying 'its ok, its ok, take it' so i figured it was on the house since it was a mistake and that i should drink it. well, as i went to pick up the pack of sugar to pour it in, she whipped the coffee out from under my nose. well, raffaelle started cracking up and so did i, and the people next to us. apparently she didnt want me to have it after all. hahah

next we walked to the uffizi. raffaelle was calling me a 'vip' because i have a card which allows me to get in the museum for free and i can jump the lines. its the Amici delle Ufizzi card. its amazing, and anyone who is with me can jump the line as well. so he said from now on, hes not going without me haha. we saw the entire museum and he is a student of art history and knew so much about each painting that it was great to go with him. he would tell me about the history and i told him the story behind the painting. see, italians study the style, the composition and the difference between the artists. americans (as in me), we study the stories behind each work of art, and all the details of the symbolism and such. so the two of us together could have written a book on every single painting in that place. it was awesome!
http://www.florence-museum.com/it/index.htm?gclid=CLKU1YKA7pgCFQxbtAodDWPZ0w

next, after having a coffee on the balcony of the uffizi which was fun, we went to the Opera di S. Maria del Fiore di Firenze. it is the museum behind the Duomo that houses all the works of art, and medieval decorations from the dome that were taken down after the counter-reformation. it was incredible. the way it is set up in phenominal as well. its very well curated. http://www.operaduomo.firenze.it/


then, since i chose that museum, raffaelle chose to show me something else. it was the unveiling of the madonna by Raffaello that has been under restoration for 10 years and the Opificio. (which is THE restoration facility/lab on the planet! raffaelle's friend works there and she told him that she would give me a tour because they are IMPOSSIBLE to get! i mean, people try every year and nobody is EVER allowed in! so this is like getting into heaven for me haha
(http://www.opificiodellepietredure.it/)

so, the madonna is on display today and we went. its incredible!

The Virgin is holding a book, with identifies her as Sedes Sapientiae ("Seat of Wisdom"). The goldfinch is a symbol of Christ's future violent death. St. John offers the goldfinch to Christ in warning of his future.The Madonna was a wedding gift from Raphael to his friend Lorenzo Nasi. On November 17, 1548 Nasi's house was destroyed by an earthquake and the painting broke into seventeen pieces. It was restored shortly afterwards, but the damage was still visible.the poor thing has taken quite the beaten. http://www.palazzo-medici.it/ its been imaculately restored and i cant tell you how amazed i was. its on display for a few months and if youre in italy, you MUST go see it. its been hidden for centuries and finally unveiled.



i love you all so much, and i hope to talk to each other you soon! this next week will be very busy for me with some exams, and then on the 27th im off to Treviso (a norther city above venice) to visit alberto, michele, mattia and the rest for the weekend =] i will take LOTS of photos and i will most likely have some pretty silly stories for you all when i get back. they are crazy, those boys =]

love you all xoxox

arriverderci!

since no photos were allowed, i have posted the links to each museum and you can check them out =]

san miniato and the marcato

so im back tracking here to friday...

...shirene and i decided that we would like to take a walk around florence to the 'other side of the river' (from where the center is where we live) we decided to walk up to piazza michelangelo, where you can look over the entire city center as well as walk up to san miniato, which is a beautiful church built in 1301 by the monks that live there. its amazing, and one of my favorite places to see. the church yard in the back is massive, and filled with mausoleums and graves from the 1300's to today. everything is scrambled every which way, and nothing is in a uniform design, which i love. most times i am very uncomfortable in grave yards, but for some reason, this particular one is so beautiful and full of light (being on the top of a mountain) that is so peaceful and calming.

then on saturday, yesterday (valentines day!) i woke up to a frantic phone call from shirene telling me to meet her at once at the park with the fountain by the old prison walls. when i questioned why she informed me that there is the most incredible antique market there and that i HAD to come down. so i dragged myself out of bed, got dressed, ate some pancakes with my flat mate nicole and her boyfriend leo, and headed down. i am SO glad that i did because it is to cute there and there are so many things to just look at! it was a great spot to sit and watch people as well. anywhooo hope everyone had a lovely valentines day yesterday =] xoxox pat and i skyped as a date, which was very fun, but i miss him terribly.

love you all so much! and enjoy the photos!



here are a few of my apt, flat mates and some from the train when we went to san marino:

street veiw (the little windows on the top of the building straight ahead are my kitchen and nicoles bedroom

the cat that lives on my street

i always think this is so cute =] its by my house

my favotrie delivery truck for the bakery next to my flat

cute sign on the train, reminded me of earnie =]


florence train:




drawing i did for art class:


flat mates (nicole standing, mirabella sitting at the table hiding from the camera)

silly face haha

me and shirene walking up to piazza michelangelo:














bronze copy of the david

hello hello


(shirene has more photos of us at the top that i will post when she send them to me)




san miniato:



view from there(the church sits on the mountain right above piazza michelangelo)


church yard and inside the church photos:






























all of these angels were making me think of jake, and as i stepped around the corner at a moment when i was really wishing i could see him, i saw these instead. the pink tulips...anyone who knows this story will completely understand, but if not i wont go into detail here, but they are my symbol of jake...and i didnt see them anywhere else in the church yard.



back to the church yard...











i thought she was so beautiful:









soldier from WW2 and his bride(they died 3 months apart):




no matter how close you got to this cat, it didnt move form its spot. it was protecting the grave of a newborn baby:





nooooowwwww.....onto the marcato =]

its held in a park by the autostrad (highway)

cute little dress form



i have always really like skeleton keys



this man was playing italian circus songs on this type of piano, pretty cool:


very pretty



SO many chandeliers!!





lady and the tramp =]


this seemed out of place, but i thought it was very interesting

a chandelier made from camera parts (i dont know if you can see it perfectly..)

operation =]

the old prison and the wall, along side where the market is




i love you all and miss you so much, but now i have to go wander around aimlessly to find something to do =]


xoxoxo