After my lovely trip to Bologna, I headed back to Florence. I met a sweet woman on the train and we talked for over 30 minutes in Italian. These are the moments when I feel proudest of what I have accomplished. I was staying at a hostel called Archi Rossi which had free breakfast (eggs and bacon!), free dinner, free internet, and free walking tours. What a deal! I met some really nice people from Canada, Australia, Italy, and the States. The first time I came to Florence back in 2001 with my friends Katie and Jeremy it wasn't my favorite of all the cities I visited. But this time, since I had already seen The David, Uffizi, Duomo, Accademia etc, I could just take in Florence on another level. I did take advantage of the free walking tour and enjoyed learning more about the Medici family and their power in Florence as well as all of the old buildings. We visited Dante's church and Vivoli, the oldest Gelateria in Florence. The tour was great and afterwards I went with some friends to the Piazza Michaelangelo, possibly my favorite place in Florence. It has sweeping views of the mountains, rivers, bridges, cathedrals and more. It was a gorgeous sunny day and I loved it so much that I spent over 2 hours just sitting and enjoying the space and view. One night the whole hostel went out to dinner to this little trattoria and after eating so much pasta and bread I was desperate for some meat. So in honor of my husband Merritt, I ordered ribs (his favorite). This was the best meal I had in Florence, these ribs where unbelievably juicy and with just a hint of rosemary and a tiny bit of oil. What amazes me most about Italian cooking is how simple it can be yet taste out of this world.
The rest of my days in Florence were mainly spent studying with my friend Sera, that I met in Lucca the second day I was here. She is studying here and is a wonderful influence on me. We get together and study every day, her reviewing notes from class and me writing my diary in Italian. It has been a great way to practice sentence structure and learning new verbs. So even though I have not been in school here, I have definitely been practicing! Sera and I managed to find a great park in the heart of Florence where we watched kids play against the backdrop of orange and yellow trees, a perfect sunny cool day. Another one of my favorite spots in Florence is the Mercato Centrale. Here, Sera and I would meet and eat pork sandwiches with a drizzle of olive oil and a few picante tomatoes, makes my mouth water just thinking about it!~ This ancient eatery within the Mercato dates back to the late 1800's and they know how to serve up every Italian delicacy. The Mercato has every kind of food imaginable...porcini mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh pecorino cheese, prosciutto, veggies, oils, vinegars, wines, the list goes on and on. We even had one butcher bring out a turkey to let me meet it!
My final days in Florence I upgraded to a private room in a shared apartment. Both other roommates spoke fluent Italian so I had some wonderful lunch and dinner conversations with them. Sometimes I feel like I have so much more to learn because learning a new language is never ending. However, I know that I can speak to people and understand people in Italian and I know that all of my hard work has paid off. Now, only time will tell where this language takes me..... ciao Italia
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