Market Day in Fiesole

Yesterday we took the #7 bus to Fiesole. The main piazza was having a lovely farmer's market with a few artigiani vendors. Looking back at these photographs I realize that everyone in Italy is an artist: such care is given to the placement and arrangement of items on the tables. (Even the pig's head looks nice.) A treat for all the senses.













And look at this giant pot! Esther, it's a good thing you missed this one - I'm pretty sure Alitalia wouldn't let you carry it on your lap on the flight home!!

Farewell friends

Tonight was the Konrad's last night in Florence so we splurged on a festive dinner at an outdoor restaurant at our local Piazza Savonarola.


Piazza Savonarola is a locals hangout with people of all ages meeting there in the evenings to kick a soccer ball, practice riding a two-wheeler, drink wine from the little bar that opens in the evening hours, or just shoot the breeze. It's just 1 block from our apartment so we stroll over there regularly so that the kids can chase the pigeons or play tag.



Back in the apartment for some more peach-eating.


Lots of boy love: wrestling, fort building and general climbing all over each other.


Grown-up boys at their favorite past-time: computers.

Mercato at Le Cure

It's strawberry season in Italy. And they taste nothing like the strawberries we buy at home. Juicy, red right through to the middle, fragrant and must be eaten right away!


Also, it's peach season. And everything I said about the strawberries is twice as true for the peaches. Unbelievably peach. Perfection. Peachfection, in fact. All anyone wants to do is sit around and eat strawberries and peaches all day. So, mostly we do.


Oh yeah, and plums are here too. Plumfection, I must say. But in italian, they have a much nicer name: suzine. Pronounced like: suit-zeen-ay.


Here is our lovely neighborhood market at Le Cure. Not too big, only locals and here every morning. A bunch of parsley cost me 20 cents! Although not everything is so inexpensive. We splurged on some lovely little clams from the coast - a bag to serve four people was 8 euro. Steamed with a bit of garlic, dark green cloudy olive oil and my 20 cent parsley served over linguini..."Delicioso!" as Dora's backpack would say. It would have served the four of us just fine if 2-year old Eisen didn't insist on prying open all those little shells and eating the tender clams himself!

Festival of Limone

Apparently the little town of Monterosso al Mare has a festival to celebrate lemons.

Even the chicken butcher has a sign in the window welcoming everyone to the lemon party.


We, however, came for the ocean. It has been hot, hot, hot, these days in Florence. Unseasonably so. So we headed for the beach: Cinque Terre.


The sun was still plenty hot at Monterosso, (definitely glad we splurged the 15 euro on the giant beach umbrella and 2 chaises) but the water was perfect!


The kids loved jumping off the rocks and collecting jellyfish from the water. The jellyfish are a pure, clear, gelatinous blob that seem fake and somehow manufactured. In fact, when Jake first brought one to me, I thought that somehow somebody had lost their silicone implant (!). I know, I know, how is that possible? But I swear, it looked just like one.


Quintessential little fishing village. Actually, when I saw this I was remembering the night 22 years ago when we were stranded on this beach for the night because there were no rooms left at the pensioni. Really hard rocks, no sleeping bags, kinda chilly. Ah, youth...

See what a little paint can do? Fake decorative molding.


Okay, I look a little better than I felt. After a long day on the trains and the hot beach we were starving, but of course the restaurants don't start serving until 7pm. It was 5:30. Thank heavens for this bar that had some food. And of course, since it is Italy, "bar food" doesn't mean what it does in the States. I had a delicious fresh pesto lasagna made by the nonna in the kitchen. Fresh pasta, bechamel sauce and the local pesto, which they are known for. Even Gulliver, Eisen, Jake and Addison enjoyed their prosciuto and formaggio sandwiches.


Poor Esther, everywhere she goes people assume she is another gorgeous italian woman and start speaking to her in their rapid italiano. Case in point, at the Copy Store where I needed to buy some supplies for my class, the shopkeeper kept speaking to Esther instead of me, obviously hoping that she would translate the parts that were going over my head. Instead she just smiled back at him, mutely. Rather than taking her for an american, we are pretty sure he just thought she was my "slow" italian friend.


After a long day at Cinque Terre we were so excited to find this empty train compartment that could accomodate 4 grown-ups, 3 kids and one stroller with a sleeping baby, that we crammed inside and collapsed for the 2 hour journey. It wasn't until we arrived in Florence that we realized the surrounding compartments had also been empty.

Hidden

Leave it to Tim to find the one little spot where we can grab some free wireless in our appartamento. Apparently the italians DO use passwords to lock up their wifi, (except for one dude or dudette in our vicinity). However these thick italian walls prevent the waves from traveling indoors. So, if we want to access the virtual world it's the piccola tavola on the terrace.


The Konrads have arrived and Esther is in her element! Her first visit to the mercato in Piazza Ghiberti she was like a kid in a candy store. All the beautiful fresh produce and cheeses - like she died and went to heaven! Her daily trips to the alimentari and supermercato are keeping us well fed!


The Konrads on their first outing by the Uffizi and Palazzo Vecchio.


Today was a long, long trek from our appartamento (near Piazza Savonarola) down to and over the Arno and then up, up, up to Piazzale Michelangelo for the spectacular view of the city. Temperatures in the high 80's and super sunny. Help! Find us some shade!



Ahhh, Dejeuner sul'erbe. Zucchini frittata sandwiches and fresh strawberries and peaches. And some much needed shade. Too bad we were 4 hours too early for the Gregorian Chant concert that was scheduled to perform at this lovely little church atop Piazzale Michelangelo. (Really must stop at the tourist office for a listing of events....)


Florence has some really big doors, and some really small ones too. And in our quest for who can find the smallest door, Gulliver found a hidden one.

The Giro and in giro

The italian cyclist Daniello di Luca was spotted in this bus at the Giro d'Italia when the race ended its stage in Firenze on Friday. As we can see, Tim was not the only excited fan trying to catch a glimpse of this national hero.


Gulliver ponders the life-sized replica of the David in Piazza della Signoria. Eisen asked why the statue of liberty's friend wasn't wearing a shirt.


A stop for a picnic lunch on the back steps of Santa Croce with Jake and Addison.


Eisen listens to Addison explaining some sort of thing that boys talk about.


On your mark, get set, GO!


To the wall and back again!


This little piccolino is always snacking on something.


Mostly in good spirits, Gulliver is acclimating to life in the new city and new apartment very well. Daily doses of gelato seem to help during this period of adjustment.

Siamo Arrivati!

After 3 smooth flights, we safely arrived at our destination: Firenze!


Our appartamento is bright, airy and spacious with a piccolo terrace off the kitchen.


A quick Vespa ride for the piccolini.


Already putting the miles (kilometri) on the new stroller (Gulliver rides on the back).


Cell phone store: so far the BIGGEST challenge for my italian language skills. So many packages, plans, minutes, rates, charges, fees...We definitely didn't cover this vocabulary in my conversation classes! This is our second trip in two days to the TIM store in Piazza Beccharia. Apparently you need to bring a passport to buy a cell phone. TIM has the best coverage (even down in wine cellars they tell me) which is why we bought this brand. Not to mention a great name too!

Getting Ready to Go

As we get ready to leave for Italy, my head is spinning with items to pack, emails to send, syllabi to write, chores to finish up. I feel a bit like this print I made several months back of our little friend Sasha and the world spinning in and around her head.

Stay tuned for posts from the other side of the Atlantic!