Florence
and UsWELCOME TO FLORENCE SCENE SHOTS
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Florence
and Us
Frank, Alishya and Missy outside Santa Croce
Katie and Missy atop the Duomo. Alishya stayed in the house (after one joke too many) and
took pictures of them up there waving.
This has got to be the funniest moment on my trip. Lisa was in town and was utterly
obsessed with the Gucci store. This particular store was the 'motherload of all Gucci
stores' as the Let's Go Book described it. As we were walking past, I noticed that a man
had fallen, face down, in the display window. As I rushed over, I realized it was actually
the mannequin lounging on the floor. Those $400 purses don't seem to afford good
display supports, I guess :)
Man down in Gucci!! Quick!! Somebody call someone!!
The famous bronze boar of Florence (Il Porcellino). Tradition holds that if you
rub its snout, you're destined to return to Florence some day. Needless to say, I rubbed
it often and continuously.
Katie, getting in on the action...
The Duomo, a magnificent church and a facade to marvel and gape at (just ask all the
japanese tourists)
Two of my favorite statues in the Piazza della Signoria - Giambologna's Rape of the
Sabine and Donatello's Judith and Holofernes (a work largely present in my
thesis). I came to the piazza often and just sat people watching and listening to the
music at night - a favorite spot of mine.
Parents!!
My parents came originally for 1 week but ended up staying for 2. Poor mom was down with
the flu and moaned a lot about not being able to sightsee. By the time they left, though,
they were ready to cruise here, there and everywhere!!
Fascinated and highly amused by the water fountains in town...
Mom saw the Carousel and ran right over there - they went around while I stayed off and
took pictures. For a moment there, they were the kids and I was the adult (odd!). Then
they ran off in front of the Duomo doors amidst very windy weather and while I was loading
the camera, they were smooching like mad! I quickly shooed them off the church steps -
that's not the place to do those kinds of things! :) I love them!!
Baby
Boom
We were surrounded by little people this semester and we loved every minute of it!! Jill
and David, our fabulous professors, had Joe - the cutest and most adorable little boy!! We
passed him around cause we all wanted to play and he merely looked at us like we were
nuts. Kevin, the director of our program, had the biggest and smiliest little girl,
Beatrice, and we all tried to pinch her round cheeks only to find that there wasn't an
ounce of pudge on her... solid! What is most interesting about having pictures of
these two children who graced our semester is that we completely forgot to take pictures
of their parents... a common mistake but quite noticeable nonetheless. Sorry Jill, David
and Kevin! :) We just loved your little ones!
Bea and Missy. For Easter, we went to Kevin's house and ate DELICIOUS pasta and played
with cute little Bea while getting toured around Prato. It was a fabulous night and Bea
smiled her way through it.
Katie and Bea
Alishya and Bea going eye to eye on all the important issues in life.
This was our dearest Joe who we all got to spend lots of time with... he was the cutest
thing and looked EXACTLY like our professor David :)
Poor Joe... all this socializing with cuties!
David, Jill and Joe - the happy family!
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Such a good mom!
Partying
We ended up doing only a little partying this semester, as homework dictated how much
energy we did or did not have. Kristine and Simon came to Florence, though, and we had a
grand time!! Not that we remember much of it, that is...
Tammy, Katie, Missy, Frank, Kristine, Simon and Alishya at dinner. Although Missy actually
was the one taking the picture, she's been added to the group because it just wouldn't be
the same without her (check out Alishya's computing skills.. hehe)
Katie, Alishya and Kristine... an ad for leather jackets, perhaps?
The adorable girls
And it wouldn't be a party without a little tequila. Thank you, Frank, for providing those
double shots for us...
you naughty thing.
And, last but not least, a final note on our trip to Florence.
As we were including Missy in our group photo (see above), we decided to play around a
little with Photoshop. Upon removing her head from one picture, we chose David to
add her onto. Funny thing was that the program positioned her head directly in the center
of David... convenient, no?
Hehe
And that concludes our trip to Florence. It was a magical journey filled with beauty, frustration, dental issues, plumbing issues (remember that the Italian word for 'plumber' is 'Igor'), appointment issues (that Frank), numerous speeches, smoked scamorza and the abundance of CHEESE, those four Italian studs, the Medici, Mormons everywhere, the pickpocket in the laundromat, the mean Germans at the Kunst, that stupid-ass phone man who avoided Alishya like the plague, pidgeon bombs, Danny Rock burgers and crepes and Nuti pizzas. Above all, however, it was a journey of bonding for us four Renaissance students and we helped each other learn the wonder and excitement of a little town called Firenze.
Thanks you guys, for making the last few months so memorable!!
:)