My Bag is Packed

San Gimignano and Sienna

This is the third attempt to post this...Blogspot was wacko earlier today!!

Yesterday we went to San Gimignano and Sienna. Although I can’t spell it without looking it up, I do love San Gimignano. It is small enough that a five time visitor can know their way around. I know the cute little ceramic shops and which one has the best art deco calendars and where to get the olive wood cutting boards and where the wild boar sausage shop is. I did visit a church that was new to me. San Augustino. It is tucked away at the back of the town and is a quiet calm little place. Robbie took me and a couple of other students there and we sat on the steps and ate our sack lunches. One of the students (who shall not be named) finished eating quickly and put on her headphones to listen to a CD of opera arias. Music was leaking out of the headphones which means it is too loud for the ears parked next to the headphone (I have already had this talk with the group and told them if I could hear their music then it was too loud and current research says it is damaging their ears) so she turned it down some. No one else could hear the music but about every 20 seconds the person listening to the music would sing a note…only one note and never the words. So picture the American touristas sitting on the steps of the lovely quiet piazza in front of the church and one of the touristas is singing a note every 20 seconds. It sounded so random and yet made perfect sense to her. I should also tell you that the same person wandered away from the group in Sienna and got lost. We ended up waiting on her for 15 minutes.

The floor of the Duomo in Sienna is covered in marble dust paintings and decorations. Each year during the month of September they take the coverings off the floor and let you look at it. It is amazing. Intricate decorations and pictures. They also have a room that was supposed to be the library that has frescos that have not been exposed to much air and light. They are still very bight, vivid colors. I had never seen anything like them and we did not see either of these things during Summer 2000 semester. I am going to attempt to put a couple of photos here if the blogspot demons will allow it.


So, the demons only allowed one...maybe next time.

We were supposed to go to the Vasari Corridor today but they have changed that to next Monday. I think that Robbie has also canceled the trip to Gallo’s tomorrow night and if that is true then I am going tonight!!! I have been in Scandicci for three full weeks and I have not had a single pizza from Gallo’s. I must remedy that and do it soon.

Next day.
The internet really does defy description. If the students are on any of the downstairs computers then it may take five minutes to make it to one website. We are all so spoiled with digital that the dial-up seems so slow.

Most of the students are in town this morning on an extra credit assignment. We visit the Pitti Palace and Brancacci Chapel this afternoon so Robbie let them sleep a little later and sent them off on an assignment and with lunch money. About five chose to try and sleep until noon but Sandro, the man of a million talents, had a drill going in the villa a few minutes ago and I am sure that woke them up.

Yesterday afternoon Tracy and I decided to try and go into Florence to see a movie in English. We rushed around because Mona said we needed to hurry to make it in time (she claimed that she was going to stay here and order the food for Oct but I think that she played on the computer instead!) Making the very long story much shorter…wrong day (Tracy looked at the calendar wrong), wrong time (we were an hour early if the movie had been on that day but it is next week) and on the way I accidentally threw my cell phone card with all the information (PIN and PKU numbers on it) out the car window (luckily we could turn around and found it). Fun part is that we found a really cute café/coffee bar and sat for about 45 minutes watching the foot traffic and sipping Coca Cola Lights.

posted by BW @ 1:00 PM