Tuesday 6/24 - Friday 6/27

I didn't write much at all about these four days. After doing a pretty good job of chronicling the trip over here, I didn't really write anything in my notebook for a few days. I'll have to make a better effort in the future to remember to jot stuff down as I go. Here goes...
Tuesday 6/24/08
We walked back across the Arno and up into the hillside, this time a little west of where we were yesterday. We went to the Pitti Palace (pronounced pee tee not pity) and walked through the Boboli Gardens. The palace was cool but kind of boring since our passes only got us into the gardens and a costume exhibit in the palace. There were probably some really cool things in the palace but we didn't see them. Is this a good story so far? The Boboli Gardens on the other hand, and despite its lack of boboli pizza, was amazing. It was huge. We walked around it for quite some time. It has wide open areas, fountains, amazing views, and lots of paths through the trees. It would take hours to explore every trail. It was tiring though. Everything seemed to be uphill. Florence is certainly not for people who don't want to burn some calories walking up hills. I'll have some pictures in the next posting.
One interesting thing about the palace (the Palazzo Pitti) is that there is a covered corridor that runs from it all the way down the hill, across the Ponte Vecchio, over the Via della Ninna, through the Uffizi Gallery, and into the Palazzo Vecchio. It was built so that the Medici family could move quickly, freely, and inconspicuously from the government palace (Vecchio) to their residence (Pitti).
After we walked back to our street (Via de Neri) I had my first experience with Florentine gelato. I don't know what the difference is but it is so much better than plain old ice cream. Plus, it has a cooler name. After that we went to another Sarah's apartment to visit. This Sarah was one of last year's grad students and has stayed on as a teaching assistant. Also, for reasons unknown, Sarah refers to her as Vanessa Avery in her blog. Since this happened to be the feast day for St. John the Baptist (the patron saint of Florence) everyone in town went down to the river to watch some fireworks in the evening. We (Kellin, Sean - another TA - Sarah, Sarah, and I) watched from the Ponte alle Grazie. It was packed. There were so many people out tonight. The fireworks lasted about forty minutes. It was pretty fun. Then we had to fight through the herd of people to get back to Sarah's place. On the way home from Sarah's, I got to experience another new culinary delight. You may know it from Sarah's blog as Ka-tom, or however she spells it. It's just kabob in a tortilla-like wrap, but it is delightful. Hits the spot.
We ended the evening by going to the Lion's Fountain Irish Pub. We went with Sarah to hear some live music. My Sarah and I only stayed for one drink. It had been a tiring day.
Wednesday 6/25/08
Here's where it gets boring. We woke up late and went to Sarah's school in the afternoon. We stayed quite a while reading and working on the computer. For those of you who don't know, this is pretty much our only access to the Internet. We went home, had dinner, and watched Germany beat Turkey 3-2 in the first semifinal of the European Championships.
Thursday 6/26/08
We got up late again (or at least I did) and went to school all afternoon. I had a chance to look through her school's library. It is very small but neat, being in an old house. The history section is really small but it has a whole lot of medieval history crap that I'll love to read. After I finish my book about unsolved serial killings in Florence, that is. We went home, had dinner, and watched Spain beat Russia 3-0 in the second semifinal of the European Championships.
Friday 6/27/08
Finally acting like a responsible adult (which I am not), I woke up at 7:30 and we left the apartment by 8:30. Sarah had to be at her school's library by 9:00 because she had a job. She has been employed to take an inventory of the library's books and journals. She worked until about 2:00 when the library closed. However, the grad students have some perks including being aloud to stay after the library closes and the undergrads (Sarah calls them "the undies") are kicked out. So we stuck around while Kellin and Lara worked on their assignments that Sarah already finished. Sarah and I just kept reading our non-school books until we were all ready to go around 6:00. We then went home and had dinner. After dinner Sarah and Kellin decided to watch Crimson Tide. After that we read some more and went to bed.
We live exciting lives. We eat, we read, we watch tv. What else is there to do in Florence, birthplace of the Renaissance?