Once again we had a free day to explore the city on our own. Due to our exhaustion and extreme lack of planning, we all didn’t wake up until 11. After this our group of Megan, Michelle, Ashley, Becca, Mal, Whitney, Susie, Julia, and Amanda, went to go to the Pitti Palace to explore the Medici’s home and royal apartments as well as the art that they had. On our way to find this we sat on the steps of a church in the shade. Sounds interesting right? It actually to me was a great way to start the day, as I had a moment to reflect upon where I was, how amazing this city is, and why I fell in love with design in the first place. The plaza was so peaceful and relaxing among all the people and tour groups chatting and running around. On our walk we found this artist Delia. His works almost moved me to tears. They were so unique from anything else I had yet seen. You all know me and my picky ways so naturally we sat there for an hour trying to decide what to get. Once I decided that was what I wanted, and I wanted it my way. Graciously the artist offered to sit down and paint me a picture right then and there. He pulled it out in less than 5 minutes. I was so impressed and it once again showed me that real art doesn’t have to take 5 years to complete. As I was talking to the artist about his work he told me to only be picky with some things, that life is about being free, especially in love, to just love and accept people for who they are and let myself be accepted in loving. This advice was probably the most unexpected and useful. Most of the time I wind myself up getting too worried about things I can’t fix and need to just let my heart be free. Sometimes the best lessons come from unexpected places.
The Pitti Palace was amazing! I cannot believe how chic and glamorous it is. Every detail of the entire mile long house was posh to the extreme. Guarantee the house now costs zillions of dollars. My favorite room was probably the yellow bedroom because it was bright yellow, just like my room in Draper. The bed had yellow damask which continued throughout the curtains and chairs. The best part was the chandelier, you all should know about this fetish of mine by now. The whole thing probably weighed 8 tons, 8 tons of gold and crystal and loops and candles. What surprised me was how low it hung to the ground. Probably the weight has pulled it down over time, because I would've walked right into it. I loved the huge chunky Victorian gold mirror over the fireplace and the gold detailing in the ceiling. It’s one of those rooms where you just want to look at and not touch anything because it was too beautiful… or a museum. After visiting the other art galleries it was another blessed opportunity to be able to see more works by Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Tintoretto, Caravaggio, and by a new artist, in the “I haven’t seen” category, Reubens, who is famous for his landscapes because he was the first to make that the focus of his works. He always sets his scene up with a tree in the foreground, a building in the background, and a winding river or stream focusing your eyes through the painting. His technique was the first to use this type of set up. I guarantee this took us eight hours to go through and study each piece as they had about 20 portraits in every room. Also, the bathrooms contained majolica tile, for those who know what that is, it’s beautiful.
After this we decided it was about time to go shopping, mainly because my mother’s bag she gave me broke and I needed a new one. Everyone else left to go back to the hotel, so Michelle and I ran around quickly to find me a bag. I purchased at Segue because their bags were quality, on sale, a fun style, and accessible to my need. I chose a simple travelers bag, khaki and green with lots of pockets for cards and pencils. Most people would generally think that a bag this plain is boring, but I love it and know I can use the bag for more than looking pretty. Europe has made me practical. I now wish that I just took a backpack and shoved whatever clothes in. The whole purpose was to look cute and that’s not happening. I may end up throwing half of the clothes away. Just teasing Mom. I want to pack an entire bag full of my life here, from the stones, to clothes, to food, to tacky souvenirs. I want everyone to experience this with me, unfortunately I have limited space. Anyway, back to the packing thing, seriously I don’t need deodorant or bras because no one here uses them, probably don’t brush their teeth either. That’s at least 12 pounds I could have left home. Oh! Also I went to this incredible little shop that sells handmade paper items. They hand glue, hand paint, hand everything. Naturally I feel in love with the patterns and bought out the entire store. We continued our shopping ventures at Santa Maria Novella at the Apothecary in their chapel. They use old methods for curing ailments, making soaps and perfumes, and healing. They have had that there since the middle ages! I found it to be so cool; you walk inside and can smell oils and herbs which cleared my senses right away. Because we took so long shopping we had to run to get to the Duomo to make it in time to climb the dome. We got there just in the nick of time. So just the lonely two of us hiked all 460 stairs to the top. It was scarier and so much longer than St. Peter’s. The last few stairs to get up to the cupola were a straight ladder with no railing. I was not the youngest one there and it was difficult for many people but once we got to the top it was so worth it! The views were incredible. I will never question climbing that many stairs again. The coolest part for me was knowing I was standing on top of a dome that was created centuries ago, while an entire city formed around. I loved seeing the Tuscan hills and red tiled roofs.
At this point I was still not hungry, so I skipped lunch and dinner and headed to do laundry before we had to leave for Venice. Now this process was a joke. Michelle, Ashley and I shared two loads of laundry, hauled it about two blocks, sat for an hour, and made some good friends from Vegas, Arizona, and Chicago. We made the best out of an otherwise thrilling event. After an hour of being sarcastic about life in Florence, we; headed to our favorite blog spot to hang with the Penn kids. Luckily they were all studying so they weren’t drinking and being out of control like normal. The bad part was that we all were trying to use the internet, so once again, sorry for the no picture policy. A group of us decided that since this was our last night in Florence we would go out to the disco. After the frustration of not being able to blog happened, we went back to our hotel where we decided that if our concierge would keep the door open we’d go. Unfortunately he’s an angry old man who doesn’t speak an ounce of English. Mallory tried to sign language him and he just yelled at her in Italian for about twelve minutes. Needless to say we just packed and decided bed was a good idea. Which it was.
The Pitti Palace was amazing! I cannot believe how chic and glamorous it is. Every detail of the entire mile long house was posh to the extreme. Guarantee the house now costs zillions of dollars. My favorite room was probably the yellow bedroom because it was bright yellow, just like my room in Draper. The bed had yellow damask which continued throughout the curtains and chairs. The best part was the chandelier, you all should know about this fetish of mine by now. The whole thing probably weighed 8 tons, 8 tons of gold and crystal and loops and candles. What surprised me was how low it hung to the ground. Probably the weight has pulled it down over time, because I would've walked right into it. I loved the huge chunky Victorian gold mirror over the fireplace and the gold detailing in the ceiling. It’s one of those rooms where you just want to look at and not touch anything because it was too beautiful… or a museum. After visiting the other art galleries it was another blessed opportunity to be able to see more works by Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Tintoretto, Caravaggio, and by a new artist, in the “I haven’t seen” category, Reubens, who is famous for his landscapes because he was the first to make that the focus of his works. He always sets his scene up with a tree in the foreground, a building in the background, and a winding river or stream focusing your eyes through the painting. His technique was the first to use this type of set up. I guarantee this took us eight hours to go through and study each piece as they had about 20 portraits in every room. Also, the bathrooms contained majolica tile, for those who know what that is, it’s beautiful.
After this we decided it was about time to go shopping, mainly because my mother’s bag she gave me broke and I needed a new one. Everyone else left to go back to the hotel, so Michelle and I ran around quickly to find me a bag. I purchased at Segue because their bags were quality, on sale, a fun style, and accessible to my need. I chose a simple travelers bag, khaki and green with lots of pockets for cards and pencils. Most people would generally think that a bag this plain is boring, but I love it and know I can use the bag for more than looking pretty. Europe has made me practical. I now wish that I just took a backpack and shoved whatever clothes in. The whole purpose was to look cute and that’s not happening. I may end up throwing half of the clothes away. Just teasing Mom. I want to pack an entire bag full of my life here, from the stones, to clothes, to food, to tacky souvenirs. I want everyone to experience this with me, unfortunately I have limited space. Anyway, back to the packing thing, seriously I don’t need deodorant or bras because no one here uses them, probably don’t brush their teeth either. That’s at least 12 pounds I could have left home. Oh! Also I went to this incredible little shop that sells handmade paper items. They hand glue, hand paint, hand everything. Naturally I feel in love with the patterns and bought out the entire store. We continued our shopping ventures at Santa Maria Novella at the Apothecary in their chapel. They use old methods for curing ailments, making soaps and perfumes, and healing. They have had that there since the middle ages! I found it to be so cool; you walk inside and can smell oils and herbs which cleared my senses right away. Because we took so long shopping we had to run to get to the Duomo to make it in time to climb the dome. We got there just in the nick of time. So just the lonely two of us hiked all 460 stairs to the top. It was scarier and so much longer than St. Peter’s. The last few stairs to get up to the cupola were a straight ladder with no railing. I was not the youngest one there and it was difficult for many people but once we got to the top it was so worth it! The views were incredible. I will never question climbing that many stairs again. The coolest part for me was knowing I was standing on top of a dome that was created centuries ago, while an entire city formed around. I loved seeing the Tuscan hills and red tiled roofs.
At this point I was still not hungry, so I skipped lunch and dinner and headed to do laundry before we had to leave for Venice. Now this process was a joke. Michelle, Ashley and I shared two loads of laundry, hauled it about two blocks, sat for an hour, and made some good friends from Vegas, Arizona, and Chicago. We made the best out of an otherwise thrilling event. After an hour of being sarcastic about life in Florence, we; headed to our favorite blog spot to hang with the Penn kids. Luckily they were all studying so they weren’t drinking and being out of control like normal. The bad part was that we all were trying to use the internet, so once again, sorry for the no picture policy. A group of us decided that since this was our last night in Florence we would go out to the disco. After the frustration of not being able to blog happened, we went back to our hotel where we decided that if our concierge would keep the door open we’d go. Unfortunately he’s an angry old man who doesn’t speak an ounce of English. Mallory tried to sign language him and he just yelled at her in Italian for about twelve minutes. Needless to say we just packed and decided bed was a good idea. Which it was.
I'm glad you are finding some unexpected advice in your adventures. That is what makes the trip truly worth it in the end. You can look at pictures of all the amazing architecture and design, but you can find the people and culture in books. Love you descriptions!
ReplyDeleteI am glad you are seeing such cool things, it sounds like a lot of fun!
ReplyDelete