Sunday, February 15, 2009

Hercules will help me....

So,
Since the last time I posted I've been to my first museum here.  The Pitti Palace.  Its a Renaissance Palace from way back in the day.  The Medici family bought it and lived there for some time, decorating the inside of it with marvelous frescos and art.  They later sold it to another family and it continued to be the home of royalty in Italy until Italy became united.  Then it belonged to the state and was open to the public as an art gallery.  From the outside it doesn't look like much, but thats one of the pleasures of being rich.  On the inside its a whole other story.  Beautiful gardens that stretch farther than the eye can see, beautiful fountains, and a rich interior with fabric walls, high ceilings, and amazing art.  The place is simply jammed full of art.  Its very overwhelming b/c your mind just can't make since of all of it.  Its one of those museums where you appreciate the beauty of it, but its going to take many trips back to appreciate all the artworks.  So, nevertheless, I will be returning there.  It still has an old Roman bathroom in the palace, which they have open so you can see.  Thats real cool.  A beautiful bathroom.  I want one.  lol.  But I plan to take Keith, when he comes, to the gardens for a picnic.  The look gorgeous from what I could tell and I only got a small view of them from the upstairs window.  Just beautiful.  (And yes, my camera will accompany me when I return.)
Speaking of pictures, I took some of that wonderful little market that I fell in love with.  Everything is so fresh and healthy.  We don't do things like this back in the states, everything has to be FDA approved.  I wish I could take my mom to the market.  She would love it!  I was telling her about it on the phone but I really wanted to just make her come over here so I could take her to see the real thing.  So fresh. I also bought about 400 kg of dried fruit that day - and ate almost the entire bag of it too b/c its such a healthy tasty snack!
On Valentines Day, I was really homesick.  I hate Valentines Day too.  But I just wanted to be with Keith.  So, Saturday was a not so good day.  Now that its Sunday, I'm ok.  The weather was really nice today.  Sunny, high 40's.  Me and Caitlin walked around the city today.  Then later we went to the supermarket and bought food and stuff - then  made dinner at home.  It was italian sausage with pasta and tomatoes, and wine of course.  It was pretty damn good if I do say so myself, especially since we weren't 100% sure how to cook the sausage.  We boiled in water and then put it in the oven until it was "golden".  It was good.  
Me and a friend of mine thats in my painting and marble class are in the process of planning a trip to Paris.  We both want to spend (pretty much) all of our time in the Louvre and her friends/and my friends don't want to do that.  So we said we'd go together.  So hopefully this week we'll have a plan for that trip.  I'm very excited about it.  Nicole is a cool kid.  I'm glad I've met her on this journey so far.
I'm trying to think of things to update you on.  I'm addicted to Nutella by the way.  Its a hazelnut chocolate spread that you can eat on bread, or crackers or anything really.  Its amazing.  Megan bought a huge jar of it and I've been eating on it like crazy, so I got more of it today.
OH! I remember something funny.  On Thursday night Caitlin and I went out to a bar with Nicole and her Florentine boyfriend Leo.  The bar was real cool, low key with really good (and cheap) drinks.  They also played good music.  But Leo thinks my accent is so funny.  He started to intimate it.  Let me tell you, its hilarious hearing an Italian say "ya'll" and "reckon".  I about peed in my pants it was so funny.  And Leo took us to the secret bakery.  Its rumored (and I assume its true) that they are a couple bakeries that bake all the bread that the panini shops and restaurants use here in Florence.  And the "secret bakeries" are only open on certain nights between the hours of 12-3:00 am.  They speak no English but you can get a chocolate croissant for only one euro -- and they are delicious!  Its a little hole in the way place that doesn't look like anything from the outside, except the smell....the smell is the tell tell sign that you are getting close.  I felt so cool getting my chocolate croissant from the secret bakery.  
Anyways, thats all I have to update you on right now.  This blog entry is so unorganized that its killing me.  I almost can't stand to re-read through it.  Thats what I get for waiting longer between posts.  Anyways the next post is going to be straight up pictures.  A reward for reading through all this.  lol.  

Peggs.

1 comment:

  1. I loved the post!!! I especially love how it's all about FOOD and FRIENDS -- pretty much the best things in life :) I could go for some fresh market food, and a secret bakery.. :) and I loooooove the European guy trying to immidate the Kentucky accent --- that is the best!

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