The Kookaburra's Kackle: Counting down

With only 15 days left before leaving Italy, Seth and I have been trying to cram in as much as we can before it is too late. For Seth, this is a combination of sightseeing and gathering material from the libraries. For me, I only have one day before the rest of my time will be spent with guests, so I have been trying to organize and sort all my notes, papers, and trip itineraries, as well as visit as many obscure artworks as possible before it is too late!

Here are a few things from around town the past couple weeks:

A party hosted by Gerardo, a fellow who lives in one of the apartments up at I Tatti. The apartments are actually attached to a church and during the pre-Berenson years were part of a convent.

After the party we headed to a theater near the Arno to see Claudia's Modern Jazz dance performance.

Last week I made for the first time in Italy a lasagna. Pretty ugly, but it tasted great!

The lasagna sheets here are typically a very thin, flat rectangle and come in egg (yellow) or spinach (green)

A typical way we start lunch: giant salads, tuscan bread (with garlic, oil, and salt), tea, and Pinocchio!

I wanted to show off a few things at the large grocery store, Coop, where I shop once or twice a week. Here are just mozzarella balls and fresh pastas!

The pasta aisle is just that: a pasta aisle

Rows of olive oil... and ketchup

I thought this was kinda neat: baby food of bunny

Also interesting is that a lot of the baby food is not fortified. I wonder what would happen, then, if a baby ate only bunny?

Excuse the side-ways picture, but here is tuna frozen pizza, actually very popular. Tuna is also a favorite in tomato sauce, though I have not yet tried these. I do, however, really love the store-brand Capricciosa frozen pizza to the right ... well, bottom (ham, olives, artichoke, and mushrooms).

The isle of bizzare canned and jarred meat and fishy-things. Note the very Italian jarred tuna fillets (which I got for Seth for his birthday and were very good) and pop-top tripe.

This Saturday was the last day of the art exhibit at the Palazzo Vecchio--Damien Hirst's For the Love of God, a platinum cast of a human skull, encrusted in diamonds, including a gigantic pink diamond in the forehead. In total, over 1000 carats. Since it was the last day, it was open for free until 2am, but when Seth and I went at 9:30pm there was nearly no line, so we went through three times (3min allotted per visit). Twice would have been enough but Seth really liked the waiting room (Francesco de Medici's Studiolo), so we went one more time. By this point the guards started to recognize us. As a piece of art it wasn't very original, but as a whole (and being a girl) I was impressed to see so many diamonds packed together so nicely.

(Internet photo)

Sunday we finally made it out to the Pitti Palace, though we only had time to wander through the Palatine Galley. It was much bigger than we had anticipated! We spent about 3 1/2 hours wandering its magnificent rooms. Here is the view of the Boboli Gardens, which we will have to cover the next time around.

Yesterday we went to Santo Spirito (though it closed early, before we had a chance to see anything, so the visit doesn't count), then wandered through Palazzo Davanzati, and finally the Museum of Orsanmichele. We were in luck because we thought the museum was still closed for restoration, but when we poked our heads into the church there was a sign saying the museum was open one day a week now, and today was the day ... and also a special free day!

The museum consisted of the original statues that sit in the niches surrounding the exterior of the church (except for Donatello's St. George, which is housed in the Bargello). These three here (along with Donatello's St. George) are the most famous: Ghiberti's St. John the Baptist (left), Verrocchio's Doubting Thomas, and Gianbologna's St. Luke.