Today was our second class trip to Florence. The day started with spill #1.Every Wednesday the center provides us with a little breakfast, since the whole school is gone for lunch. It is usually a packaged pastry and a juice box. Last time they gave us juice boxes, I guess I put the straw in too hard, because it shot out at me. Today, I made sure I was very careful putting the straw in the box. I made sure the bendy part was upright, I slowly pierced the little straw into the hole, and set the juice box carefully on the provided ledge in the train on our way to Florence. I then proceeded to dig into the pastry, but right when I opened the package crumbs fell out all over my jacket, lap and into my purse. After cleaning up the crumbs, as much as I could, I decided to take a drink of my juice box (that I had been so cautious with). As soon as I picked it up, there was a stream of juice squirting all over my lap, arm and once again into my purse. For some reason I couldn’t figure out how to stop it for a good five seconds, until I realized I should just put the juice box down. I guess I should just avoid the juice boxes from now on.
When we arrived to Florence we headed to the museum of the Duomo. This museum houses most of the original statues and marble architectural pieces that were being damaged from pollution. The pieces currently on the Duomo are all replicas. (Makes me wonder if there is going to be a completely fake Duomo sometime in the future). It was interesting to see how pollution damages the statues so much, some of them were unrecognizable. The most interesting piece we saw in that museum was the Pieta by Michaelangelo. It was the first one he did, and the same one that he was unhappy with so he broke the arm of Jesus off of it. His apprentice collected all the pieces and put it back together, and this was the first piece of stone work that was unfinished and still displayed. Or something along those lines.
Then we went inside the Duomo, and it was a big church with a lot of nothing in it. We got to see the inside of the dome, and found a bunch of cracks in it. A little concerning. We didn’t get to go up the 400-some stairs to the top of the dome, but maybe if I start gaining an excessive amount of weight I’ll consider joining that gym.
We went to lunch at I Fratellini (Little Brothers) which is the same stand that I told you about the other day, and this time I got the Panini with truffle cream in it. A truffle in Italy is not what you would think it is. It is a type of mushroom that is very coveted. And with good reason! It was DELICIOUS! Apparently they are so hard to find, they have to feed them to pigs when they are babies so when they grow up they can go find them. It is impossible for humans to find them. Dogs are also used, but pigs are more interesting.
After we got an appetizer of a Panini we decided to search out a place called Doner Kebab, recommended by my Rick Steve’s book and by Geoff Ekey who ate at one in Orvieto. In my book it said that ethnic food is becoming more popular with immigration from the Middle East. I had the responsibility of finding the place, but my trusty Droid died and I had to look at a map and guide us from memory. Yes – I was leading the pack. After going down a few wrong roads, we lost hope and decided to look for a different place to eat. We turned the corner and walked past a dark alley that had a sunshiny market on the other end, which immediately attracted us to see what they had. All of a sudden, the people at the back of the pack pointed out that we were right beside Doner Kebab – we found it! I am such a good navigator. Anyways, this “fast food” wasn’t Italian at all, but rather like a confused Chipotle. There was some kind of meat spinning on a spit (Andres said it was lamb) and they carved it off as it spun around into your choice of a Panini or tortilla. Then they put lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, purple thingies, French fries and some white sauce in it. Hot sauce is another option, but I can hardly handle honey barbeque sauce so that was a negative. It turned out to be pretty tasty! As I was digging in to my tortilla of deliciousness, Andres and Sarah told me I was dripping…. Uh oh, spill #2. White sauce dribbled out of the foil, down the napkin wrapped around it, hit my jacket and landed right in my open purse. Awesome. Guess I just have some for later.
After lunch we had to go to history class in the Museo Galileo again. This time we went straight downstairs and saw demonstrations of machines made a long time ago. They were all replicas, of course, but they were really cool. I have video that I might upload sometime, but basically one showed centrifugal force and the other produced electricity! I made sure to video all the demonstrations for the nerds in my life. After the demonstrations we went to our little classroom area and our professor Giovanni had a shelf full of really old books. I won’t list them all out, but they included the complete collection of all of Galileo’s work, printed in the 1600’s by the Medici family. There were also really old books of maps with diagrams of the universe and lots of cool stuff. Don’t worry, you nerds out there, I have video of everything.
Giavonni showing us an old scroll with a map of Europe and northern Africa on it, showing the Atlantic Ocean as the edge of the world. Everything else was fairly accurate. Burned edges and everything - very cool!
After class we had some free time so we headed to Ponte Vecchio to see what it was all about. There were beautiful views of the river, and also beautiful views of jewelry! Ponte Vecchio is known for its shops of gold, silver and jewels, and other shiny pretty things. We could have spent a whole day looking in the windows. They have displays packed with jewelry. Everything from diamond rings to octopus necklaces and broaches that have a mini Duomo in them. I will definitely be returning to Ponte Vecchio sometime so I can stare at shiny things again!
Ponte Vecchio is also the site you will find locks of love all over (not hair). I guess the tradition is to buy a lock and key, go to the bridge, write you and your lover’s names on the lock, attach it to something and throw the key into the river. Very romantic! Some were engraved, some were rainbow and one was a bike lock…not sure they got the memo. It is a 160 euro fine if you’re caught!
We got back on the train and I took a great nap until we rolled into the “Castiglion F.no” station (that is what the signs say, and it is becoming quite a fond name). For dinner we had delicious broccoli pasta and some cheesy meat with peas and salad. Spill #3 was the meat and cheese. As I was trying to serve myself with the awkward fork and spoon they give us, I decided to serve the table instead of myself. Landed right in between my plate and the platter of food. Since they don’t wash the table clothes every day, there will now be a lovely reminder until next week.
Buona Notte!
Cara Marie
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