Make up time

Seth comes back from Indianapolis tomorrow! It will be great to have someone to clean out the shower drain ;o) Mom and Dad, too, returned from their cruise yesterday and are spending a few more days in Italy before flying home. I had thought about meeting up with them in Cinque Terre but the combination of threatening weather and quadruple the class workload made me think again. Both my professors doubled the assignments for the week, and I only have half the time to complete them so I can go to Rome for a few days without taking a bag of books with me. Before I get to work (and before I forget), I want to put up a mishmosh of pictures from the past week or two.

We spent a day at the Accademia della Crusca, located in a beautiful Medici villa on the other side of town. It is dedicated to the preservation and study of the Italian language. I'm still not totally sure what they do here, but they were awfully proud of their dictionary. Even more cool is that they had a wheat and bread theme! (After crusca, which is the bran of wheat).

Ponte Vecchio by night

I bought some baccala to try. It is salted cod, very popular in traditional Tuscan cuisine. To prepare, it must be soaked in water for three days. This salty and stiff stage reminded me of the preserved snakes I used to work with in Pfennig's lab. Disgusting.

The Saturday market buzzing yesterday morning.

Particularly creative vandalism

He looks innocent, but he is very mischievous! We usually let him run freely in the bedroom at night, but yesterday when I went in he slipped out without me knowing. When I opened the door to leave he was waiting on the other side, trying to get back in. I guess the freedom was a little too much for him (either that or he knows the treats are in the bedroom!).

Having breakfast together

Home alone...

Seth left yesterday morning for a conference in Indianapolis--which of course he was not looking forward to--and will be away five nights. I haven't been home by myself for longer than a night since living in Chapel Hill, which was over four years ago! Seth was away a bit when I was in Australia, but I always lived with people. What makes it a little weirder, too, is that I don't really know anyone here, besides a couple people from I Tatti. It's not like I can just hop over to a friend's place for a coffee. I try not to think about what would happen if I got in an accident, particularly when I go running by myself. I don't carry identification on me, and I am not documented as living here, so if something were to happen to me, how would anyone know? Seth can't call to check up on me because of the awkward time difference... Spooky... I'll try to stop thinking about it now.

It has only been a day and a half, but it is pretty quiet. It doesn't help that I don't understand the radio and TV. Now I can understand why people who live alone get pets. I'm glad to have Lorenzo because he is great company, though sometimes he is too scatterbrained to maintain a conversation. At least he often shares his banana with me. I should stop rambling and do dishes. After making a full dinner this consists of only a pot, plate, bowl, fork, and spoon. And it is still really early--normally we start eating dinner now. At least I have lots of time to do homework! And chat with Lorenzo!! Where is his banana? I really should stop rambling...

Happy Halloween!

I have been interested in seeing what Italians do for Halloween, which is one of my favorite days of the year. It turns out that they don't do much, especially with back-to-back All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day (Nov. 1st and 2nd). November 1st is actually a public holiday, and if we observed this day in the US it would coincide perfectly with being able to stay up late on Halloween night. Too bad the US isn't a Catholic country.

Living in Australia we were able to accept the fact that the Halloween most familiar to us (dressing up, trick-or-treating, eating/tolerating candy corn, carving pumpkins, etc) is really an American invention. Living outside the US, I am willing to give up these wonderfully fun activities just as long as I can celebrate twice as much when I return! However, I was a little distressed to find that in the past decade or so Australia and apparently also Italy have been affected by American movies and Americans living abroad--little children have been popping up in costume, going around looking for candy. Like Smarties, this Americanization is bittersweet.

Luckily for us, we were invited to a Halloween party last night hosted by Americans. The costumes were a bit lacking, but there were a few stray decorations and some great chicken curry. Seth didn't get his costume ready in time (he wanted to be Perseus), but I managed to throw one together just in time (i.e., I bought from the market a pair of pantyhose to stick on my head and a meter of metal chain to wear as a necklace).

Leonardo's "Lady with an Ermine". At least Tim, the art historian, was able to guess correctly right away!

Besides being a holiday, November 1st also means being able to turn the heat on in our apartment! Another interesting thing about Italy is that energy is so precious that the government somehow restricts what months people can use their air conditioning and heating. It is totally freezing in here--it holds a steady 15 degrees Celsius all day long (about 58 degrees F). As cold as it is, I don't think we will be using the heat much anyways to keep the energy bill down. Actually, I prefer being restricted if it means people don't abuse and over-consume energy to over-heat and over-cool their buildings. In the US I hate having to wear long sleeves when I go into a shop or cafe in the summer because they've cranked up the AC too much. It's so wasteful, not to mention distractingly cold! The same, of course, goes for winter temperatures and too much heating. No wonder Americans have the reputation of being energy hogs.

Mom and Dad

This past week Seth and I had our first guests! Mom and Dad came to spend a few days with us before departing this morning for their cruise around Spain. Finally, we got to make use of our extra bedroom (up until now we have only used it maybe two or three times). I hope they had a good visit, despite some chilly weather, a freezing apartment, and a stormy day in Venice.

From Ponte Vecchio

The best pizza in Florence: Pizzaioulo!

Saturday was the big day at Mercato Sant'Ambrogio

The view of the back of our apartment from the market. You can see our clothes drying from the top floor.

Giant tank to fill your own bottle of wine

Waiting for lunch at Rocco's Trattoria, located inside the market. It was a VERY popular place on a Saturday afternoon!

Dad ate his beans and Mom drank her wine

Caramelized pear

After Mom and Dad took a day trip to Siena on their own, the four of us rented a car and spent three days going to San Marino (a tiny little mountainous country land-locked within Italy) and the coastal town of Rimini, then Venice. Dad was very brave to drive and the rest of us did our best to navigate. It was a bit terrifying at times, but nothing really bad happened so it was deemed a successful drive!

To add extra visual enjoyment to already beautiful locations, it was a treat to experience the road trip in the middle of fall. Being later in the season also kept some of the tourist crowds at bay.

Welcome to the country (Republic) of San Marino, famous for its three towers.

Tower 1

Tower 2

Tower 3

We stayed the night in nearby Rimini, the city that was once a favorite hang-out for Caesar and other ancient Romans, now the resort town where Italians spend their summers.

Dinner at Pic Nic. Pizza was a popular dinner this past week.

Running in the historic center of Rimini the next morning.

Roman ruins

The beach and resorts--both empty, the way I prefer to see them!

Our hotel and cute little rental car (with the postino in the foreground)

Rocky San Marino (and its three towers), visible from Rimini

We made it to Venice in one piece, though it grew rather stormy so we spent a lot of time that afternoon and evening in the chilly rain and wind. At least there were far fewer people out and about compared to when we were there the summer before last, and we appreciated not boiling in the heat and sun.

After spending a good hour or so hunting down our hotel and then having to find a phone to call the proprietor to let us in, Seth and I managed a quick trip to the Frari to soak up some Titian before it closed.

The next morning, running in Venice. The fish market is getting ready.

Two huge sword fishes and something else, freshly caught

We had just enough time in the morning for a quick walk around town and a visit to the fantastic La Scuola Grande di San Rocco--several rooms literally covered floor to ceiling with beautiful and vibrant Tintoretto oil paintings.

Seth snuck a few pictures from San Rocco

Returning to Florence, our last dinner at Il Giova, just around the corner. It's not pizza this time!

Seth had a fancy baccala (dried and salted stewed cod) and I ordered large tortellini with zucchini flowers and truffle oil.

We were sad to see Mom and Dad go this morning. Hope they caught their trains to Savona today alright!