The top of the world

Well, we found that cache last night. It was great! To get there, we had to walk up a stairway (which was actually more of a steep road made of rocks) toward the Piazzle Michelangelo and the Basilica at San Miniato. The cache was hidden in a wall in a spot with a really nice view, but higher elevations beckoned. So, after dropping off a travel bug and signing the log, we continued up the road, which left us in a very nice (and obviously expensive) residential neighborhood. Farther up, we came to and crossed the viale Galileo Galilei (dodging speeding cars in both directions), and ended up at the stairs of the San Miniato al Monte. Ascending the stairs to the top, we were greeted with an unforgettable view of the city, just as the sun was setting. My only regret was leaving the camera back in the apartment (who knew where that road would lead?), but that just means that—oh darn—we’ll have to go again. The construction on this particular church began in 1018, and much of it was completed over the 12th and 13th centuries. A bell tower—constructed but never put to use as intended—was added in 1518 to replace an older one that collapsed in 1499.

After the hike, we walked back across the Arno to find a pay phone. A call to the back revealed that the problem wasn’t on their end—some ATMs just don’t process international transactions. So after trying a few more ATMs… success! Il molto bene!

This morning, I’m at the CAPA office checking e-mail and getting some work done on a couple of websites. A trip to the British Institute is on the agenda for later this afternoon, which will be great since it’s supposed to have very good research resources. Tonight, Vittoria and Laura will be leading a walk through the sculptures at Folon and the Forte Belvedere. The fortress was apparently designed in 1590 by Bernardo Buontalenti to guard the city from attacks by political rivals. Soon, it became a private refuge for the Medici grand dukes. Figures… seems like those aristocratic folks always spoil everything.

‘Till tomorrow…
-Leanne

On the road again...

Well, on our feet, anyway. Today was a walking day, and we got quite a bit of it in. Started by heading east along the Arno until we got to ponte San Niccolo, then across the bridge and north to viale Duca d’Albruzzi. West again, past the University of Florence, over toward the CAPA offices for a noon meeting. After chatting with everyone there a while, we headed southwest to piazza Santo Spirito for lunch with Judith. Then, back up to the Duomo (got a little off-track there), and then back to the apartment. Maybe 4-1/2 to five miles total. Looks like those toes of mine are getting tougher—I survived the trip with no new blisters, and no worsening of the existing one.

Over at CAPA we told Lorenzo that we’d prefer to just stay put. He was actually really nice about it, given the fact we dragged him out for about an hour and a half yesterday when he could have been doing something more productive. I’ll have to see if I can make him some cookies or something as a thank-you. Wonder if I can turn on the oven here without burning down the building?

I waylaid a few dogs today with scratches, and didn’t seem to annoy their owners any. I think I may have mentioned that the Florentines love dogs, and we see them everywhere—on the sidewalks, in cafes, and even in the markets. Today’s pooches were especially cool; one was a little terrier-type guy who seemed surprised I would pay attention to him, another was a very pretty yellow lab, and a third was an unspeakably cute black-and-white Springer puppy. It’s no substitute for being with my own kids, of course, but it’s nice to be able to get a little bit of a fix from time to time.

Seems the ATM card has gone on the fritz (I just love how banks put these “fraud alerts” on your ATM card at exactly the most inconvenient of times, even though you called them ahead of time to let them know you’d be using it overseas), so that may require a couple of phone calls back home to see what can be done about it. Meanwhile, I may run up the road and see if I can take another stab at a nearby geocache (geocaching is sort of a worldwide treasure hunt for geeks; see www.geocaching.com if you’re curious about it) before it gets too dark. Until tomorrow, then…

Ciao!
-Leanne

Aha... I found it!

Success! I’ve managed to get my hands on a saxophone!

I don’t think I mentioned this before. It seems that it’s getting harder and harder to fly with musical instruments, and upon arriving at LAX, I learned that I had the choice of checking the tenor sax I’d brought (and paying for an extra, non-insurable bag that they'd probably mutilate), or going without it. Fortunately my parents had remained nearby just in case this happened, so they came back and relieved me of the horn, and I crossed the Atlantic horn-less. It was certainly better than having the thing destroyed by Air France, but I was still pretty bummed at the thought of what three months of no playing could do to my already-suffering (28 units in six months cuts WAY down on practice time) chops. But Lorenzo, one of our friends at CAPA, knew of a music store very close to our apartment, and lo and behold… they happened to have a tenor I could rent for the duration of my stay! It’s a Maxtone--another of those ubiquitous Taiwanese labels that used to be awful and have gotten marginally better over the last five or six years--but it will give me something to play scales on. And I grabbed my mouthpiece out of the case before I left, so I’ve at least got a decent setup to hobble along with on this horn.

Last night we had dinner at Judith’s house, and we all went out for the nightly gelato afterward. As we walked toward the Ponte Vecchio, we noticed it was all lit up in a rainbow of color. Turns out that they were holding a commemoration of September 11th--kind of a show of solidarity against terrorism. One thing you notice right off the bat is that Italians (and perhaps this is true of most Europeans) seem to have more of a sense of themselves as being part of a global community than we do at home. They’re also very aware--and sympathetic--about the disaster in New Orleans, so it’s pretty clear we’re among friends here. It’s a perspective I’m going to try to bring home with me.

Today we looked at a couple of apartments that we could move to, but although both were larger and configured more conveniently, neither will be available until October 1st. That throws us into a bit of a quandary, since we’re likely to be that much more settled in where we are, so it’s looking like we’re probably going to stay. Also, given the benefits of our current digs (better location, very quiet, it’s cute, and the landlord seems nice), we’re getting more or less ambivalent about the need to move. Could be that this was part of Lorenzo’s strategy to let us adjust to the surroundings a bit and realize it isn't all THAT bad, but if that’s the case, well… it worked.

Getting back to music, though... tonight we saw the Orchestra da Camera Fiorentina (Florentine Chamber Orchestra) at the Orsanmichele, which is a beautiful chapel in the middle of town. First, they premiered a piece by Porro. Then they featured a wonderful cellist on Tchiakovsky’s Nocturne Op. 19 for cello and orchestra, and Boccherini’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (I think it was in C minor). Finally, the full chamber orchestra played Mozart’s Symphony Number 30 in B major. The cellist was Umberto Clerini—I’d never heard of him before, but he was excellent and got even better as he played. And the chapel was an incredible place to hear a group like this—fantastic art, and surprisingly wonderful (given the age of the place) acoustics. I’m really glad we sprung for the tickets.

So... that’s about all for today. Hope all is well with anyone who’s actually taking the time to read this, and I promise to add more pictures tomorrow or Wednesday.

Cheers, Leanne

Doing Laundry

So here I sit at the laundromat… waiting for clothes to dry. So many of the simple things we take for granted turn out to be a little more complicated here.

Actually, one thing that really sucks is that it’s costing €15.00 to do what amounts to about two and a half loads of laundry. We do have a tiny washer in the apartment, but the weather has been kind of unpredictable as of late, so we haven’t been anxious to hang clothes outside to dry and have them get rained on. Ugh.

One of the other things that I’ve been taking for granted at home is a hot shower. Here, it’s more like: wait for the water to warm up, get wet, turn off the water, soap up and apply shampoo, rinse (by this time the water is getting quite brisk), and jump out as fast as possible to dry off. It’s tolerable right now, but it’s going to totally suck come November, since it’s against the law for the landlord to turn on the heat until November 15th. I think this is another of those things that falls under the heading of “character building,” so I’m going to mention it here by way of sharing the information, and I’m not going to say another word about it, except to curse quietly as I shiver in front of the bedroom sink. Brr!

My mom asked what it’s “like” here, so I guess I should try and find a few generalities with which to express this experience. For starters, the people here in Italy are pretty much like people everywhere. Most are friendly, some aren’t. There are a lot of tourists around, and they’re from all over the world. There are a lot of American students. Yesterday, we ran into some architecture students from the University of Boston who are here for a four-month stay. There are a lot of American tourists, too—you can usually spot them a mile away.

The Italians we interact with are usually the folks who work the counters at the cafes and tabacchi shops (that’s where you get international phone cards and bus tickets). They don’t always speak English, but seem to understand my patois of English and Italian, and I’m picking up enough Italian vocabulary to catch the gist of what’s being said to me. At any rate, I’ve been able to order in restaurants, find local points of interest, and find my way around with a minimum of difficulty, so I’d say things are working well enough.

Just put another token in the dryer (now we’re up to €18.00), so I’ve got a few more moments to ramble. For some reason, it seems odd that we’ve been here a week and have only seen one concert (the Philharmonia di Rossini last night), and have only been on one significant sightseeing hike. We’ve been doing a lot of walking around as part of our daily existence, but it hasn’t been the go-go-go pace I had expected, and to a certain extent I’m starting to get the itch to hop on a plane. I might have to check out the Ryanair website and see what’s cheap over the next couple of weeks.

Oh, and speaking of walking around, here’s a toe update: the right little toe is doing better, but now the left little toe has a blister. It’s small, but it smarts, and switching to sandals isn’t helping this time. I may have to see if I can find a pair of backup shoes to wear when this happens, I think. Like I said, walking is part of our daily existence; it’s close to a half-mile to Standa (the grocery store), about the same distance to the capa offices, maybe a quarter mile to the place where we’ve been in the habit of grabbing breakfast or lunch, and about the same to the closest internet café, which is where I end up when the CAPA offices are closed or when I lack the patience for their slow connection. It doesn’t seem like much, but it adds up when you do it several times a day. Needless to say, I’m hoping my toes can toughen up enough to handle it all without blistering like they have been. We’ll see what happens.

Looks like my laundry is about done, so I’m going to take it home and find something fun to do. Until then…

Arrivederci!
-Leanne

End of the first week....

Went for a walk today, up the steps to the Piazzale Michelangelo. The view was spectacular, and it was one of those gorgeous days with scattered clouds in the sky, making it all the more pleasant to be out there. The only annoying thing about it was that when we arrived at the top, we were greeted by several hundred tourists who had arrived by bus, and a number of those tacky souvenier stands at the top of the Piazzale. It was sort of like, huh... where the heck did all THESE people come from?

At the request of my mother, I’m posting a couple of pictures of the smallest apartment in the world. Here’s two: one of the front door, and the other of the infamous bathroom. You can’t really get an idea of the size from these pictures, but I don’t have enough space to really capture that without a wide-angle lens, which I don’t have. I'm also trying not to get too attached, since the folks at CAPA are trying to find us different digs. Monday, perhaps, we'll have an idea whether we're going to stay put where we are, or move someplace else. My only requirement is that whatever new place we get has a toilet and a shower in their own respective locations, and that hot water lasts for more than about 45 seconds in the shower. I don't think I ask all THAT much, after all.

After lunch and a nap, we went out again in search of an organ concert that was supposed to take place at 9:00. We never found the venue, but a troop of schoolkids playing drums led us to the steps of the Uffizi, where a community concert ensemble was playing. Now, as the veteran of a number of community concert bands, I was immediately prepared to run for cover. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that this was a VERY good ensemble as community groups go, and their literature--although definitely in the "pop" vein, was quite good. So we ended up spending the evening in the open air at the Piazza Signorina, eating gelatos and listening to their take on a few American pop and film tunes. Not bad.

I do have to sneak in a couple of words about the fauna here. First, there's bats all over the place, but especially under the bridge across the Arno. I want to take pictures of them, but I've found it's nearly impossible to track a bat through a camera lens. I tried to catch one by simply pointing the camera at it, arms outstretched, but that just got me a blurry picture of something that looks something like a bat... I just can't get the thing in focus. So I'm thinking about trying to get my hands on a motion detector that I can wire up to an electronic shutter release cable. If I can do that, then I can put the camera in focus at whatever that distance is, and fire away. Hmm. Where's a Fry's when you need one?

Other fauna: went geocaching today and while moving a rock aside, stumbled across a scorpion. Ack! I didn't realize they had THOSE things here? Also heard from Judith that they have nutria here (nutria are those critters that look like big sewer rats... the ones that used to eat the levees in New Orleans), and I'm pretty sure I saw one tonight. Looked like a big sewer rat, swimming along in the Arno. I'm also seeing dogs of every shape and size, which is making me miss my own beasties. Sigh. Not much to do about that except keep writing Deb and bugging her for pictures By the way, I heard the dogs are her headphones the other day... leave it to them to choose now to start chewing things again. :-(

Well, that's enough rambling thoughts for tonight. I'll leave with this picture, taken from the front door (the street door, that is) of our apartment. It's a really pretty street on a misty night.

Ciao!
-Leanne

Drizzlies!

Here I sit, typing away…

At the moment, however, it’s not as torturous as it might seem. Today was the day we were supposed to go hiking, but after dinner last night (more on that in a moment), I just couldn’t force myself to keep working, so I was obliged to stay home and do it today. Harry went, though, and since they were meeting someplace this morning that was a bus ride away, I decided to walk him to the bus stop and grab a bit of breakfast at the same time, figuring it would be a good chance to get out. The bus stop was near the Duomo--roughly about eight or nine blocks away.

Interestingly enough, when you don’t know your way around, one picturesque street begins to look very much like every other. And one thing you don’t always learn when you grow up in Southern California is that navigating unfamiliar streets is far more difficult from under an umbrella. The umbrella, of course, was necessitated by the thunderstorm that broke, literally, the moment I left the bus stop. Probably the heaviest rain since we’ve been here, and I get lost. Argh.

I finally found my way back to the Arno, but by that time I was several blocks downriver from where I should have been, and over the walk back I had plenty of time to get thoroughly drenched. I’m not complaining, mind you--being lost in one of the world’s most beautiful cities is still pleasant, even when it’s pouring, but it certainly wasn’t something I was prepared for. Anyhow, I’m home now, and finding that listening to the thunder and the rain drumming on the roof isn’t bad, even if I have to be sitting here working.

Last night we had a welcome dinner put on by the CAPA staff, and it was easily the best meal I’ve had since I arrived in Italy. Innumerable courses of appetizers, glass after glass of really great wine, two pasta dishes as main courses (which I hardly had room for by that point), and an excellent tiramisu to finish things off. I felt as though I might explode by the time we left the restaurant. The students on this trip really seem to be a neat group, and we had a lot of fun chatting and taking pictures. One group of girls is headed to Munich for Oktoberfest at the end of this month, and if a class trip doesn’t get moved to that date it might be fun to join them. We’ll see how the schedule shapes up.

I best get back to work, but I’ll post again if anything interesting happens. By the way, I've been posting new pictures on the photography section of my website. To see them, go to www.leannepowers.com/florence.html .

Ciao!
-Leane

Another day, another round of database work...

Not a whole lot happening today--I'm just doing my best to get a Posey job wrapped up so I can go play with a clear conscience. I ended up dozing off last night at around 11:00pm and sleeping until almost 11:00am, which seems to be a sign that I’m a little more jet-lagged than I thought. Hopefully, I’ll be more caught up on sleep so I can start feeling normal again.

Tomorrow will be another walking day. Lorenzo (one of the staff from CAPA, the Centers for Academic Programs Abroad), will be leading a hike on Mount Ceceri, which is southeast of Fiesole. Here we’ll see the ancient quarries of pietra serena (grey stone) used to build many of the palaces and monuments here in Florence. I’m hoping that my blister will have healed itself by then, since I’m not about to stay in just to nurse my little toe back to health. Since we don’t have a car every day involves some amount of walking, either to the market (and we’re now proud owners of a Standa membership card!), or just out for a stroll, but the distances vary with what’s going on and how energetic we feel. Sometimes a mile or two, sometimes more.

We’ve had rain nearly every day, which is probably typical for this time of year. Usually just a sprinkle, and today I didn’t even bother with an umbrella, but yesterday morning it came down in bucketfuls. Thank heavens I got my hair cut short before I left. Temperatures are warm right now--somewhere in the high seventies, I’d guess--and I’m making god use of my summer clothes, walking around in t-shirts, tank tops, and sandals. It’ll get cooler eventually, I’m sure, and I’ve been warned that Amsterdam will be chilly when we get there in November. Sounds good to me.

Okay, back to work. Hi to everyone at home.

-Leanne