Like every similar event, first thing
was a parade of all participants, Florentine ladies, soldiers and many other
characters to the Piazza della Signoria, followed by a renaissance dance by
said ladies. Now I was squeezed in between French, Florentine and American
people. And unfortunately I have to say the American were the rudest. About an
hour into the show, just when the last group presented their “piccolo squadra”
choreography, one woman really asked if she could stand between me and an
Italian woman. Before I could say something, the Italian said what I was
thinking “We have been here for several hours. Of course you can not”. I have
to say that after that there was also a French couple that did not behave properly.
But her reaction was what made me even more angry. First she asked me to stop
photographing because she wanted to make a video for Instagram with her
selfiestick. Then her question and her reaction. She stomped off bragging to
her friend how rude we were. But in words that were not really nice. But
fortunately, she tried it somewhere else and left us alone.
The presentation of the small group
was followed by the big group. Honestly, I couldn’t decide which group was the
best. One group did amazing acrobatic elements, another had an overall awesome
show making it a bit more military and not having just a choreography for the
flag throwers, but also for the drums and trumpets. The official Bandierai of
Florence did not participate. Just with their smallest (up to 14 years if I
remember right) and the seniors (over 40/50 years) out of competition. I have
to say they were really cute with their small flags and costumes. I am sure
they will one day be as good as their fathers and the other “big” ones!
The beginning of this month was also
the end of my university course. Just when I started to really feel
comfortable. Well at least I improved my knowledge and language, got some nice
words from my professor and the others about the time I committed to catch up
with typologies we never used in Germany and was encouraged to do the oral
exam. I don’t want to do it, but hey, at least I can use it as replacement for
my exam in Germany!
To fight against me missing
university, I not only went to the aperitivo of my language school, but decided
to take my camera and do a small night tour through the city. Although it was
already well after 10 pm, the river was still a bit crowded. I started from
Piazza Santa Trinita, took nice pictures of the Ponte Vecchio and its
reflection, before following the river up to the Galleria degli Uffizi.
I continued with the Palazzo Vecchio
and was amazed by how dark the sky seemed to be, the building standing against
a black background and dark grey clouds. It almost seemed like it was 1480 and
not 2018 –except for the guys selling stupid toys. Seriously, I never see
someone buying these things and if you dare to stop in front of one of the main
sights they approach you no matter if you have a child with you or not. It
always takes several attempts to get rid of them and even if they leave you be
it seems like they are staring at you planning how to get your wallet. And they
start their blinking-lights-propeller-things the exact second before you take a
picture so that you have a picture with a blue or pink light in the middle of
it.
From there I took the main “shopping
mile” to the Duomo after avoiding it for weeks. Honestly, I have to admit that
I forgot how amazing it is to wander through the streets and finally see the
Duomo rise in front of you. One step after the other, revealing more and more
of its beauty as you approach the Piazza Duomo. And it is even more beautiful
at night, when the white marble appears to glow in front the dark sky.
The last stops were San Lorenzo and
the Ospedale degli innocenti, which were almost abandoned when I reached them. The
second thing I did next day was to walk beyond Piazza della Libertá and visit
the Stibbert Museum. Two villas in a park where Frederick Stibbert had
collected all kinds of armoury, weapons, paintings and art from all over the
world to make typologies of them. The museum actually houses one of the biggest
collections of Asian Armoury. The rooms themselves were also impressive and a
perfect scenery for the objects. Really impressive was the room of the
cavalcade– a church-like room with models of rider’s armoury of Italian, German
and eastern origin. The only sad part about the museum is that you cannot see
all rooms. The visit is only possible by an hourly tour in Italian. You get a
brief introduction to the rooms visited and then have some minutes to look at
everything yourself. There was just a bit more information about one display
with Etruscan and roman metal objects and to Egyptian mummies. For me, this was
a pity because it was not enough information. Maybe I got the wrong co-visitors
–two families with children that touched everything even after the woman doing
the tour asked not to touch anything for the tenth time. I would recommend the
museum but there could be done more!
After the first week of may, the rain
came again. There was a huge storm with floods of rain during practice;
flooding smaller cities in the Chianti and forcing me to leave my gear in the
rink and walking to the locker without my skates. Of course we did not have the
lockers directly at our rink but on the other side of the complex that day.
Fortunately, the weather got better
for some days. I was visited by the parents of a boy I used to teach extra
lessons after school and we climbed the 414 steps of the Bell Tower (Campanile
di Giotto), before we visited the Museo dell’Opera del Duomo and the
Baptistery. After a small city tour to the Palazzo Vecchio, Palazzo Pitti and
Ponte Vecchio, we ended the day with dinner at the Fiesolano at Fiesole. The
GPS took us on a crazy route through small and curvy streets, but that way we
had an awesome panoramic view over the city. Well fed, I returned after 11 pm,
editing my pictures and just resting in my bed after that. I would get the
theme of my oral exam the next day.
Following the climb of the tower, I
went to the Giardino delle Rose and the Giardino dell’Iris the next day with
language school. We did not take the “easier” way crossing the Rose garden. We
took the classic, steep stairs up to the lower entrance to the Rose Garden,
enjoying nice views and beautiful smelling roses. From there we continued to
the Piazzale Michelangelo, crossing it and entering the Iris garden. Because of
the strange weather, there were again just some flowers in bloom. I enjoyed it
anyway, but one of the other students not so much. She was nice and friendly, but
she was complaining a bit too much. Sure, it was a really hot day and the sun
had no mercy, but the trip was not mandatory. The teacher joined us on the way
back to Ponte delle Grazie, and from there I continued with the other student
to a bus stop. We figured out she lived close to me, just two stops with the
bus, and the next day, we even met when I was on my way home from the
supermarket!
Except watching the IIHF worlds via
Youtube, I spent most of the time reading articles about Neolithic tool
exchange. I just managed to do a trip to San Gimignano on a Saturday and hoped
the weather would be better as it rained almost everyday. Turned out I was
really lucky. I had the perfect weather for my trip. Around 23 degrees, a mild
sunshine, almost no clouds, really low humidity and a little bit of wind. First
thing I did was of course buying Prosciutto and oil at Bazar dei Sapori, where
I got recognized and had private service although the shop was packed with
tourists. After that I got to enjoy the view from the Torre Grossa almost on my
own. It was magical and I spent half an hour up there. I could see the rolling
green hills, fields and olive groves for kilometres –up to the point where it
seemed like the hills touch the blue sky. From there I wandered through the
city. I discovered a free museum (San Gimignano 1300) just behind the Torre
Grossa. It is basically one room with a big terra cotta model of the town in
der 13 hundreds. Nice to see, a lot of effort in there, but there is a lack of
information. I think I saw some information cards in English and Italian at the
souvenir table, but they were about Etruscans. In my opinion there should be
clear information about medieval San Gimignano and just a mentioning about
previous civilisation there.
I wandered the city in search for San
Lorenzo in Ponte, a small church that was new among the included sights of the
civic museum ticket. It was still closed when I reached it so I walked around
the quarter and then entered. It is beautifully painted and there are plates
with information about each fresco.
The last stop that day was of course
the Gelateria Dondoli, where I had to wait between two Japanese tourist groups
that wanted me to give up my place in line for them to take pictures. In the
end, I got my gelato (lime, passion fruit and strawberry), walked to a shady
passage nearby and sat down to eat it before heading back to the bus.
Unfortunatly I had to wait almost 2 hours for on Saturdays busses just drive
every 2 hours. One of the main tourist attractions in that part of Tuscany and
on one of the main lines. In the middle of high season. Do I have to say more?
For the remaining month, there was
not much to do. It was either raining or incredibly hot and humid outside. My
third wheel broke during practice; and of course I have none left to change it,
so I continued with 7 instead of 8. My next trip was a short one which went not
far. I took the bus to the church of San Miniato al Monte, which celebrates a
millennial this year. The church fits in the classic florentine/Tuscan style of
simple design and a richly decorated apsis. Sadly, I was the only one paying the
“entrance fee” of one euro for the sacristy which had to be put in a wooden
offering box. From there I walked back home, enjoying the city during late
afternoon and the nice and less crowded view you have from the stairs leading
to the church.
I had to do a 9 hour security course
in which I basically learned how to store paper and how to behave in a biology
laboratory. That was followed by packing things for the next month and
studying.
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