Day 19

Hello!

Today was cool. I woke up at 8:30 because my body doesn't let me sleep past that time anymore. I don't really remember what happened this morning besides it being rainy and cold. We walked through the rain to get to San Lorenzo at 11 to finally tour the beautiful interior of the Medici church with the unfinished facade.

First we walked through the crypt. It's a very barren space, but it holds two tombs and both are very important: the first is the artist Donatello, and the second is Cosimo de Medici, the patriarch of the family. Cosimo's tomb is literally a giant pillar that supports the center of the church. It's very cool and symbolic. In a room near these tombs is a whole bunch of reliquaries (fancy/shiny things that hold pieces of dead saints). There was a couple making out in there, because here in Italy everyone makes out everywhere. I was the first to notice so I went, "ew"; when Geoff saw, he said, "Get a tomb!"They obviously didn't hear him, but it was wonderful.

Actually, prior to entering the crypt we walked up to the second story around the cloister to see Michelangelo's famous staircase. We knew you had to pay extra to see it and we were aware that our tickets did not cover this feature, but Dr. Zaho went up to the security guard and played dumb and it was hilarious and we all peeked in through the door to get a look while she was chatting with the woman.

After we left the crypt we walked out of the cloister (which has a big, beautiful orange tree in the center - a symbol of the Medici family) to the front of the church to enter it. We walked in and it was gorgeous. Pure Brunneleschian architecture, soothing gray tones, and high ceilings supported by massive smooth shafted columns. We went straight to a booth to the left to pick up tablets and headphones to do a self-guided tour. Dr. Zaho somehow managed to get a ticket different from ours that didn't include the tour, so Geoff gave his to her so she could do it and he could just walk around and look at things on his own. So we all picked up a set and started the tour. It was actually really cool. There are graphics on the tablet that show you close-ups and details that you aren't able to see in front of you. A woman speaks about the thing that you're standing in front of, and once she's done talking you can view the object, painting, or architecture with this newly gained knowledge. About halfway through I ended up next to Geoff on a bench because he was sitting right in front of the next stop in my tour, so I gave him an earbud and we shared the thing for the rest of the stops.

My favorite thing in the Church of San Lorenzo (besides the architecture itself) was probably the ceiling of the dome in the sacristy. It depicts the night sky on the evening of July 4, 1443 using zodiac constellations. It's ridiculous. The same night sky is depicted in the Pazzi Chapel at Santa Croce. The Pazzi family was basically the enemy of the Medici family and their sacristies are pretty much the same exact layout, so it's either a huge coincidence or a big unknown mystery as to why they have matching zodiac constellation frescoes that represent the same exact night. It's wild and it blows my mind a little bit. No one knows anything special about that date, either. It's just there.

So we did that tour and it was awesome, then we were done for the day. Actually, that marked the end of our time in Florence. That was the last art history thing we had to do here. All we have left to do as a group in Florence is eat a farewell dinner with a guy from Capa tomorrow night.

Anyway, we left the Church of San Lorenzo and went into the indoor food market at San Lorenzo. Everyone wanted to be out of the cold rain and to get stuff to take home from Conti. I just wanted to get to the outdoor market to buy some last minute souvenirs, get it over with, and get out of the rain for good. Katia, Geoff, Chelsea, and I ended up out there for a while before we were done. Then we just wanted to be sitting in a warm place with food in front of us. So I led us out of the market and down a street we had been down once before. Katia remembered seeing a gluten free restaurant on that road, so we went straight there. It was called The Club House and it was wonderful. We were seated right away and the Tour de France was on TV and we were enjoying each other's company. Chelsea and I got spaghetti that was really good. Katia got a bowl of ribollita that was apparently better than Mario's, so we're kind of planning on going back there tomorrow for more. Geoff got a pizza that looked really good. At the end of our meal our waitress actually brought us out four slices of pizza to sample because they screwed up an order. It was great!

After that we walked down the street to a really cool vintage shop and walked around in there for a while, talked to the guy working, then left for gelato. We went to Leonardo, one of our favorite places. This one guy owns it and seems to work alone all day every day. He makes the best chocolate gelato in the city, we swear. Geoff thinks it's "the best chocolate ice cream in the world." So we ate there and chatted with the shop owner for a while and promised him we'd be back tomorrow.

At this point we had a short list of shops to go into because it was our last chance. Everything is closed on Sundays and we're leaving Monday morning. So we made our way through the city to hit all these shops and a few more. One of the places we went was a men's clothing store to help Geoff pick out a really cool jacket. We were in there for at least 30 minutes trying to choose between blue and brown. He ended up going with the blue and man, it looks awesome. We all left feeling so accomplished. After that we made a few random stops (a knife store where I pet the sweetest little black dog; a cool paper store) before hitting the last shop, Velvet Goldmine.

Geoff, Katia, and I had stumbled into this place a while ago. It's underground and it's a really cool tee shirt place. I think I wrote about it before but I can't remember. Since we found it, everyone in our group has gone there separately and bought something. So we wanted to go back as we said we would and get something ourselves. I went in there wanting to find a Santa Croce shirt that Rosie got, but the one that I found fit Katia nicely so she got it. I ended up getting a super cool shirt that has the reflection of the Palazzo Vecchio in a big chopping knife, a head, and a reflection of David in the pool of blood next to the head. It says Savonarola on top (as in Girolamo Savonarola, a Dominican friar from the 15th century) and has something in Spanish down the side, which I have yet to translate. It's awesome and kind of gruesome but I love it.

After that we went home, I packed a little, then Katia and I got ready and left for dinner with everyone but Geoff, Chelsea, Rosie, and Amber. It was awesome. We went to Dr. Zaho's favorite place. All Acqua Al 2. As you can guess, it was wonderful and delicious. The meal started with a free appetizer of bread with tomatoes and some of the best hummus I've ever had. Next was a sampling of five different pastas dishes: corkscrew noodles with a spinach sauce, shell noodles with a broccoli sauce (that was the best one), bow tie noodles with an artichoke sauce, gnocchi in a veggie ragu, and tube pasta with an eggplant and mozzarella sauce (close second). Obviously it was all delicious and my tummy was so happy by the end of it.

But wait! We weren't even close to being done yet! Katia and I shared a salad sampler. There were three little salads on a plate; two of them were pretty much just cabbage and beets with dressing on top, so I wasn't too into those. The third one had lettuce but I didn't enjoy it too much either. Weird, right? Whatever. Ana Maria loved them so she finished my plate. The other girls ate a steak cooked in balsamic.....three of them got seconds and Brittany actually cried because it was so good to her.  I just about did the same thing when we got our dessert sampler. On it was chocolate cake, tiramisu, panna cotta, and cheesecake. I've never considered myself a cheesecake person, but oh my gosh it was heavenly. I totally ignored the chocolate cake for it and that's pretty unbelievable to me because chocolate is always my #1 choice. But it happened and I have no regrets.

After that wonderful dinner (that I paired with a small glass of their red house wine), we went outside and chatted for a little. While everyone was talking I realized that I could see my breath. I got very excited because that's always weird to me, especially at the end of May in a Mediterranean country. We  then walked home, changed, and went right back out. Everyone except Sarah went to a bar near Santa Croce tonight called The William. Everyone else has been going here since we first got to Florence, but it was my first time. I pretty much just laughed along with everyone and continuously complimented Geoff on how well his jacket flatters him. After about an hour, I got real tired so I ducked out and came home so I could do some more packing (and write this post) before bed.

Good night friends!