una ragazza americana: Rain, Santa Croce, & Casentino Visit

Today it rained in Florence.

Tracy and I were walking to Santa Croce to meet the rest of our Art History class for a tour when it suddenly started to downpour. Luckily, Tracy and I had our umbrellas with so we didn't get soaked. However, wearing flip flops while it's pouring rain and walking on lumpy stone streets isn't the easiest thing to do.

Tracy in the rain

Smart tourists with umbrellas!

Santa Croce (one of those cool old churches - but this one is especially cool because Galileo and Michelangelo are buried there) is the first church I've actually gone into since I've been in Florence. I was surprised at how big it was inside. These churches look enormous from the outside, but I never quite expect it to look as huge and spacious on the inside for some reason. It was gorgeous. Walking through the church and seeing the monks passby makes me think about things greater than myself. It reminded me of how the Israelites built the tabernacle to worship God, and how specific everything had to be... I wonder if people thought of it like that when they were building these beautiful churches here...

"Regular" people would sit toward the back of the church behind this pulplit on the right hand side. The front of the church was sectioned off so that monks could sit there and see the priest. No one else would be able to see him. They just went to "listen' to the service from way back here.

Tomb of Galileo Galilei

Tomb of Michelangelo Buonarroti

On Wednesday of last week we walked up to San Miniato, a church that's up on a hill overlooking Florence, and watched the sunset. It was wonderful. I tried to take some pictures to make a panoramic view and edit them together, but it didn't work out the greatest. I don't have the patience to fix it, but I'll put it up here for you to get an idea of how beautiful the scene was.

Saturday our whole school (there are only 48 of us) was invited out to the director's country home in Casentino to relax and help make a big lunch. I helped make "fettunta". The guys made a fire in the big open fireplace inside, slid a grate over it, and I put slices of course bread over the coals. I took a clove of garlic and rubbed it on the toasted bread, drizzled olive oil over it, and sprinkled salt on top. yum. We had salads, cheese with fruit, penne with pesto, homemade ravioli with spinach and riocotta, rabbit, pheasant, sausage, and a peach pudding dessert. Oh...my...gosh...was I full. I loved it.

Me making "fettunta"

Fresh ravioli!

It was so nice to get out of the city and breathe some fresh air. The landscape was beautiful. It kind of reminded me of Colorado, except...with more haybales. Check out the view they have on their "porch"...

Isn't it a fantastic view?? This is all in attempt to get my entire extended family to move over to Italy with me some day...is it working guys?

Pearl, Alyssa, Sam, Allie, and I decided to walk into the town (San Martino) to check it out. We ended up talking(?) with a couple of older Italian gentlemen who were just sitting on a bench in the middle of town. We had no idea what they were saying but as long as we smiled they were happy to talk. Thankfully, a lady named Titta (I believe) came to our rescue with her knowledge of the Enlish language she aquired while she studied in Oxford. She said she didn't like it there because she liked to eat. haha Overall, it was a beautiful day full of incredible food and wonderful people. Can't wait for more!