4th of July

Friday 7/4/08
We were going to go to the beach this morning but decided to put that off until tomorrow. We decided to focus on this evening's 4th of July cookout at Dan, Stephanie, and Lara's place. We took it easy during the day. Kellin, Sarah, and I went shopping and bought all the meat, buns, vegetables, and condiments. Dan and Stephanie were providing the awesome potato salad and a lot of alcohol.

We arrived early and just hung out, making use of their wireless Internet connection. Dan and I went on a wine run (they already had champagne, grappa, and Budweiser) while Sarah and Kellin continued to exclude everyone else by playing their gin game. There is a wine shop that Dan frequents where you bring your own empty bottles, choose the type of wine you want, and a raspy-voiced gentleman fills them for you for about 2-7 euros, depending on the type you choose. He was really nice and gave us samples and corked our bottles for us. We also stopped and got chocolate for s'mores.

Not long after we returned, the cooking began. I didn't do anything. Sarah, Dan, and Kellin did all the preparing and cooking. The hamburgers, made special by Sarah and Dan, were amazingly delicious. Dan's potato salad was really good also. We stuffed ourselves and had a great time. Sarah, Kellin, Dan, Stephanie, and I were there, while Tom, Analia (Dan's friend), and Sebastian (former Syracuse grad student and TA and currently in Texas' PhD program) all made appearances.

We even had sparklers, s'mores, and a champagne toast. For some reason we also watched Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Why not? Happy 4th!

Sebastian, Sarah, and I.

Tom gives a toast while Analia, Sarah, and Stephanie look on.

A random car parked in the middle of a road in front of a crosswalk. I don't think there are any traffic rules here. People just do what they want. Park where you want, speed, go the wrong way on a one way street? It's all good.

Thursday 7/3/08

I had to be at I Tatti at 9:00 this morning, and I was going by myself. I am a big boy. I missed the 8:09 bus by about 10 seconds so I had to wait 20 minutes (or 19 minutes and 50 seconds) for the next. Some of the other buses stopped more frequently, but not the #10. The buses make me sick. Motion sickness that is. The only problem I had going to I Tatti alone was when I was walking up the hill to the villa. I got to a fork in the road and couldn't remember which way to go. I guessed left, which was...right. I was lucky that I chose correctly because I could have walked a long way before I realized I was wrong. I ended up being a few minutes late (I am never late), but that was alright because Michael Rocke was a few minutes later.
I worked all day with Angela Dressen, who is a reference librarian and assistant cataloger from Germany. She was really nice. She introduced me to all the other librarians. Sometimes it was kind of awkward because, after a brief introduction I didn't know what to say to these people. Luckily almost all of them spoke English, despite being from all over the world.
Since Ilaria Della Monica is going to be on vacation I am not going to start working with her in the archives until she gets back. In the meantime Angela Dressen and I are barcoding all of the books so that they can eventually be checked out by a computer instead of writing everything down. When I say checked out I mean for library use. None of their holdings leave the library. When Sarah and her fellow researchers check books out it just means that they are leaving them at a desk so that they can use them the next time they come in. The barcoding project also involves looking for problems where books are housed in a different collection that the computer says or the books are catelogued incorrectly.
At I Tatti it feels like you get to work, work for a few minutes, everyone meets for coffee and a snack, you work for a few more minutes, everyone meets for lunch (served family style with wine made at the villa), you work for a few more minutes, everyone meets for tea and cookies, you work for a bit more, then you go home. I can handle that.
When I got home (after almost getting sick on the bus with a bunch of hot, sweaty Italians stuffed in like sardines) Sarah and I left again and walked back the way I came to go to her school for a 4th of July picnic. It was nice, but the hamburgers weren't great, only made more obvious after the amazing burgers at House of Sizzle the day before. It was fun but there were way too many bugs.
After that, Kellin, Dan, Sarah and I walked around the west end of the town center (unfamiliar to me), had a drink at a bar, and went to see a movie at the Odeon Theater. It was air conditioned and there was a lot of room in the comfortable seats. We saw "Wanted" starring Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman (what was an actor of his talent thinking?!), and James McAvoy. It might have been one of the most ridiculous movies I have ever seen. Luckily we went into it assuming that it would be pretty cheesey. Read Sarah's entry for her take on the movie. Days later (when I'm writing this) we are still mocking the stupidity of that movie.

Tuesday 7/1 and Wednesday 7/2

Tuesday 7/1/08

Once again we went to the library. Today, while Sarah worked, I went for a walk. I explored the northeastern side of Florence, outside of the historic district. It was a pretty uneventful walk. Here are some pictures of the highlights:

Our broom technology is lightyears ahead of theirs.

They even have pro, or at least semi-pro, baseball in Italy.

This is unfortunately the best view I could get of Stadio Artemio Franchi (originally called the Comunale until it was renamed in 1991), the home of Fiorentina (Florence's top-flight professional soccer team). It has a capacity of 47,282. At the top center of the picture you can see the barricade which probably separates home and away fans.

One of Florence's smaller train stations. We always use the much larger Santa Maria Novella station. I really wish that we had a similar rail system in the states.

A cemetery I passed on the way back to Sarah's school. It was in the middle of a traffic circle.

The smaller two story building is Sarah's library. Her school is farther to the left off screen.

Later in the evening Sarah and I met Dan at a park along the Arno. There was a little refreshment stand that sold all kinds of drinks. We enjoyed the alcoholic variety, as did the hundreds of young Italians that showed up. Apparently it's a little hotspot. It was pretty fun. One really cool thing about it is that it is close to this amazing gate from the original town wall. Actually, it is the only one remaining at its original height. It is massive. If I had my camera I would have taken pictures. Sorry.

--Check that. I just looked on the Italian version of wikipedia. It is called Porta San Niccolo and was built around 1324. Here are two pictures from Italian wikipedia. I am amazed at how tall it is for such an old structure.

Front - from the east

Back - from the west

Wednesday 7/2/08

We got up at a decent time this morning because I had a 10:00 appointment at I Tatti, The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, with Michael Rocke (Librarian and Senior Research Associate for History) and Ilaria Della Monica (Reference Librarian and Archivist). I had to dress up in pants and a button-up shirt, of course, which would be the first time since I got here in this heat. We left the apartment around 9:00 and got to the bus stop near the Duomo around 9:15. I was dripping sweat already. The bus was quite hot too, so the whole ride my face was soaking wet. I'm letting you know in case you were wondering how much Chris Tangeman sweats in a day.

I Tatti is in the hills outside of town to the northeast of Florence. Once we got to our stop we still had a long uphill climb to get to the villa that once belonged to the eminent historian and art critic Bernard Berenson.

I was pretty nervous when I went into Michael Rocke's office. He asked me to describe my experiences and education. So I did. I must have looked guilty of something because I still had sweat dripping down my face. I Tatti has air conditioned areas, slightly air conditioned areas, and non-air conditioned areas. His office was slightly air conditioned but it didn't matter. I was still hot. Luckily my nerves were quickly put at ease when he made it clear that they wanted me to help and he wanted to know what I wanted to work on. The rest of the time I was there I was given a tour of the villa that has become a library and research center and trying to figure out when I'll be able to work. Unfortunately I'm going on a trip next week and they (Michael and Ilaria) are going on long vacations in a couple of weeks. We'll see. I'll be back at 9:00 tomorrow morning.

After that we trekked back down the hill and took the bus back to Sarah's library where, of course, we spent the rest of the afternoon. Sarah had to work at 1:00.

Later, after freshening up at home, we went with Kellin to House of Sizzle where we met Dan and Stephanie. It is a restaurant and bar that has a lot of American food and a hilarious British manager named Francesco. We had burgers and they were delicious. I was happily stuffed for the first time in a while. We went to the bar side for the rest of the evening. Good times and karaoke were had by all.

Monday 6/30/08

Today we went to the library again. I have become quite content to just sit at the library all day. I know that it's kind of pathetic when there are so many things to see and do, but it's so hot and the library seems to have the best (if not the only) air conditioning around.
Sarah was telling me about our plans to go to Verona, Vicenza, and Venice (all in the Veneto region) next week. Apparently that was what she was doing instead of studying. She had all of our hotel arrangements made by the time we left around 6:00.
After dinner we went to the Piazza della Signoria (the one with David and all the other statues) to watch some ballet. The only reason I cared, other than the fact that I like to consider myself somewhat cultured, was because someone said there would be breakdancing.

We got there really early while everyone was warming up and just stood around. More and more people showed up behind us and kept pushing foreward. By the time the show started I was incredibly uncomfortable with the lack of room I had. Sarah, Kellin, and Lara were at the front along the railing. Dan was behind them. I was behind Dan with no room to move. Plus, there were short people behind me complaining that they could not see, so I spent almost the entire evening slouching or standing at angles so that they could kind of see.

The show was actually really cool. The way they mixed ballet with modern dance and breakdancing was impressive.

Actually, I really only cared about the breakdancing. They three main breakdancers were doing some amazing things. Hopefully Sarah will be able to put the videos she took on my camera on Youtube. Her name on Youtube is Schuylerbug. You can search for that name and find her videos. I think she only has one up for the dancing so far.

After the show we went to Angie's Pub to hang out. Actually, we just sat out on the street in front of it. It was fun. There were a lot of people out on our street even though cars were still coming on occassion.

However, scenes like this one are not uncommon. I don't know how there aren't 50 fatalities and car accidents a day in Florence, or any city like it.

I was kind of uncomfortable though because my ankle was really swollen for the first time since the swelling went down after I sprained it. When we went home I sat with my ankle raised and tried to sleep that way too. I didn't sleep very well.

Sunday 6/29/08

Today was a pretty lazy day. I actually slept pretty well but I was uncomfortable all day due to the sunburn. We sat around reading for quite a while. Eventually Sarah, Kellin, and I headed out to throw trash away and finf the appropriately labeled recycling bins that seem to be randomly scattered around the city (we never found the yellow cardboard bin), wondered through some street markets, and Sarah and I went to the grocery while Kellin went in search of the Internet.
The market was more like a flea market, but there was some really cool junk. Sarah and Kellin looked at a lot of jewelry, art, and girl crap. I found a lot of really interesting things, but most were too expensive. I was tempted to buy some old coins but I decided that it would be best to avoid coin collecting while I'm here. Since I didn't even know what most of the old coins were, I realized that I could have spent 2 euros on a coin that was worth about 1/1000th of a cent. There were some other cool things like old watches and other things that would look really neat on a knickknack shelf, but the prize of the market was something that I was suprised to see.
One of the vendors that had a lot of old sports equipment had a football (soccer ball) from probably before the fifties and it had Arsenal's name and cannon logo on it. It was so cool. It was an old brown leather ball (like the one above) that used to be used before there was better technology used for making footballs. I wanted it so badly but it was about 150 euros. A little out of my price range.
After the grocery, Sarah and I went home and watched To Catch a Thief, one of my all-time favorite movies. Then Sarah made some incredible pizza. Seriously, I know that it's not what she wants to do and it would make all of this education a waste, but she should open a restaurant back in the states. Finally we watched Spain beat Germany 1-0 in a kind of boring UEFA European Championship final. Germany did not play like their usual selves and Spain probably deserved to win. They were the much more creative and aggressive team. If anyone cares.

Saturday 6/28/08

We got up fairly early again and left the house by 7:40 to make the 8:05 train to Viareggio. This is the nearest beach to Florence. The train had ten stops or so between Florence and Viareggio and took around an hour and a half.
The town was fairly small, but we had to walk about ten blocks from the train station to the beach. The beach is divided somehow, I'm not sure how it works. Rather than just going to the beach and picking a spot you have to choose an entrance, pay, then go and sit in your section. Every 200 feet or so there is another entrance. I don't know if each section is owned by a hotel or restaurant or what, but each section of the beach has lines of umbrellas and beach chairs that you have to pay for. Kellin, Dan, Lara, Sarah, and I decided to huddle around one umbrella which came with two chairs. We had to pay for an additional folding chair.

It was probably after 10:00 by the time we were all settled and it was already getting pretty hot on the Tyrrhenian Sea. Or was it the Ligurian Sea? Let's just call it the Mediterranian Sea. I think the forecast was for 95 degree weather. We went out to the water, which felt cool at first but ended up being really nice. We, along with many other people, kept getting whistled at by the lifeguards, but we didn't know their rules or what they were talking about. We went back to our chairs after a while, and by this time the sand was extremely hot. It really hurt and we cried a lot.

The next time we went into the water we went out about chest deep and swam for a while. We got whistled at again but we couldn't come back in. Apparently there were very strong undercurrents. That's what all the red flags meant, but I didn't know that or even notice them. Kellin got back in towards the beach but Sarah and I were out farther and were struggling. It was kind of scary, but I was able to make it in slowly. Sarah was moving out farther however, and was having a really hard time. We were both getting pretty tired. I went back out to where she was and tried to help. I could barely get myself in, let alone both of us. At first she tried to hang on to me, but that wasn't working because I couldn't swim with both of us together. Then I tried to position myself behind her and every time a wave came, sucking the water back out to sea and making it slightly shallower for a few seconds, I tried to plant my foot and push her forward with the wave. We were both kind of freaking out and I was thinking that maybe I should start waving my arms for help. But my pushing her ahead of each wave seemed to help and eventually we made it back. We were exhausted and quite scared. That's when we found out about the undertow, after we were already out in it. Thanks lifeguards.

After all that we had lunch at a restaurant on the beach and swam a little more (in the shallower area). I was fried. After we got home I saw just how burnt I was. Very. I am sitting in front of a fan, completely red, writing this.

Pictures of the Arno, Uffizi Gallery, and Piazza della Signoria

I took these pictures back on my first or second day here. Nothing too exciting, just touristy stuff.

This shot is from the south side of the Arno. The building in the center with the three arches is the Uffizi Gallery. It is one of the oldest and most famous art museums in the world. The Ponte Vecchio is just out of the shot to the left.

Now here is the Ponte Vecchio. It has shops all along it, as it has since it was built in 1345.

Here is Sarah walking through the courtyard between the Uffizi Gallery's two wings. The statues (which are along both sides) represent famous Florentines such as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Donatello, Dante, Giotto, Petrarch, Bocaccio, and Lorenzo "il Magnifico" de' Medici.

Adjoining the north end of the Uffizi on the Piazza della Signoria is the Loggia dei Lanzi. This covered area with openings under the arches houses some very famous statues. Here we see Perseus With the Head of Medusa by Benvenuto Cellini and The Rape of Polyxena in the forefront.

In the center of the loggia is Menelaus Supporting the Body of Patroclus.

On the right is The Rape of the Sabine Women by Giambologna. This statue graces the cover of the book I am about to finish called The Monster of Florence.

Just north of the loggia the statues continue. Here is Hercules and Cacus by Baccio Bandinelli. Next to that is...

Michelangelo's David. Well a copy. The original (finished in 1504) was moved indoors to protect it while this replica was created in 1910.

Here the two statues stand in front of the Palazzo Vecchio.

Here is the Palazzo Vecchio from across the Piazza della Signoria.

In the center of the piazza is the bronze equestrian statue of Cosimo I de' Medici by Giambologna from 1594.

And last and certainly least is Sarah's least favorite, the Fountain of Neptune ffrom 1575.