Palazzo Pitti

This weekend we wanted to go to the Boboli Gardens with the kids, but when we got there they were closing in an hour, so we decided to go to the Palazzo Pitti instead. The Palazzo Pitti is where Royalty, the Medici (the most important family in Florence) and even Napoleon used to live. We set off the security alarms a couple of times but all in all the kids behaved pretty well.  The first part was an exhibition on stolen artifacts that have been recovered by the Carabinieri (one of the police groups in Italy).  Then we moved on to the Pallatine Gallery, which was probably the most difficult for the kids, then the Royal apartments, which were a little better, and then the Modern Art Gallery, and then once we were out the kids started running around outside like crazy!!!  I took this picture of Florence from one of the windows.

These are pictures of once we got out of the Palazzo!

Here are some other pics of the weekend.  Isaiah saw on the menu of the restaurant below Hamburger, so he gets all excited and tells me to order one for him, with cheese.  I tell him I am not sure it comes with a bun, he looks at me kind of weird and asks me what do you mean?  Well, things here are not the same.  Hamburger might just mean the meat and not the whole thing.  I ask the waiter and unfortunately I was correct.  No bun, just the meat.  So in Sunday, we had lunch with Dimitri and he recommended a place called the American Diner.  Isaiah had his Bacon Cheeseburger at last.

This is the Ponte Vecchio at night and the other Ponte beside it!  I need to try to get a better pic.

One more picture! Christmas decoration in Florence!

Hair

Isabella has beautiful corn silk hair.  I have been drying her hair with a blow dryer after her baths so she doesn't go to bed with wet hair.  She was hesitant at first and while she still complains she LOVES the end result!  She has the kind of hair I have always wanted.  I barely have to use the brush to dry her hair, her hair is a LOT finer than mine so it dries pretty quickly.  So after we are done, she shows everyone around her hair.   After I dressed her up for Thanksgiving dinner with her dress, tight, shoes etc..  We went down stairs to meet everyone, the first person she started showing off for was for Dimitri, she was twirling her dress around, batting her eyelashes, etc...  So I HAD to take a pic of the two of them!!!

Continuing on with the hair issues.  As some of you may know one of the first things I do when I move anywhere is try to look for a Dominican hair dresser.  Anguilla, I found one.  Greenville, there was a Dominican girl, but she learned in the States so I ended up going to a Colombian, though I have been told by Alex that there is a REAL Dominican hair salon.  Dallas I found one, and now in Italy I tried looking.  I walked into hair salons and ask them if they had a Dominican hair dresser, their answer NO, but anyone can do it.  Yeah, but no thanks.  So after realizing we were going to have dinner at the Four Seasons and knowing my hair was not in a Four Seasons condition, I decided to call a hair salon, make an appointment and see what would happen.  I walk in and I am received by the person that is going to take care of me, she looks African to me, ears pierced like 6 times, two piercings on the lips, even one the back of her neck ( I had to ask her if that one hurt, it looked painful, she said yes by the way and still hurts after 3 weeks. Note for anyone who wants to try that one!).  And her hair is short and afro like. While she is washing my hair she asks me if she is washing to hard, I'm like no, no worries, in my country the scrub a lot harder than this.  So where are you from? she asks.  Dominican Republic. Where? Dominican Republic.  I'm from the Dominican Republic she says.  NO WAY!  And off in Spanish I went! hahaha!  I got what I was looking for without even looking for it.  It's the little things in life that make me happy!!!

One more hair story.  Isaiah. He decided yesterday he wanted me to cut his hair, but not too short.  So I plugged in the razor with the adapter and started.  Thank goodness I started in the back side, because 2 minutes later a popping sound and the razor shuts off, smoke comes out of the razor!  I guess I should have connected a converter to the plug not only an adapter. So I think we will be trying out the local barber shops soon!  Very soon!

Thanksgiving

These are the kiddos ready to go to our Thanksgiving dinner.

Very cute picture of Isabella and Guy.

This is the entrance to the Palazzo, we are waiting for the shuttle to take us to the Four Seasons.  Isaiah is not in a good mood, he decided to wear his cowboy boots, even though I told him the would be tight, well they were tight.  He forgot all about it though once we got to the hotel and Freddy, James and him went crazy playing out in the yard.

Isaiah and Isabella with Domenico, one of the doormen of the Palazzo.

The kids table.

The adults table.  To my right Dimitri, Peter, Beth, Dave, Guy and me.

Week Report

So I haven't been really good at keeping this up to date lately.  But believe it or not, I haven't had a lot of time.  Some of you may be thinking.... but you are not working?  Yes, that is correct but nonetheless I have not had time.  Or, let me put it this way, instead of spending time on the computer, I have used my time else where!  So let's get to the update, last week was an interesting week.  Isabella and I both went to school from 8:15 to 12:00.  She would not let me leave and would cry none stop.  The teachers asked me to help and stay in school until she felt more comfortable.  The first day I was inside the classroom all day and had to follow the class around, anywhere they went, I had to go.  The next day was similar, except there were two hours where I wasn't actually inside the classroom..  and so on and so on, so that by last Friday she was pretty much on her own, even though I was still right outside her door.

Last week we found a Judo class for Isaiah!  I have been getting familiar with the bus routes, so I decided that instead of taking a taxi the first time and feeling comfortable with how to get there, we (Isaiah, Isabella and myself) could do it by taking the bus the first time.  So we get on the bus.  Not many seats on this bus so we are all standing, even Isabella.  To all you Dominicans, if you think the OMSA drivers or Carro Publico drivers are bad drivers, you aint seen nothing yet.  I mean there is a big difference, Italian bus drivers stay in their lanes and follow certain order, but when they mean stop, they mean STOP.  No warning, no deceleration, just a full on STOP.  So to Isaiah, Isabella and myself which happen to be standing, not a pleasant experience.  Well, to continue on with my story, people get on, people get off, I still cant see our stop until 1/2 hour later, I finally see it.  But see, we were finally seated! And being seated helps me recuperate from my motion sickness.  We arrive at our stop, doors open,  Isaiah, Isabella and me hustle up, gather up all our junk and try to get off the bus.  Didn't make it.  No waiting, even if you have two kids, a folded up stroller and two backpacks.  They don't care.  You didn't make it in time, he had the door open, you didn't go through it.  Not the drivers fault.  So I have Isaiah go up and quickly tell him to stop, I really wanted to yell at him, but thought it might be RUDE!  The driver tells Isaiah that he will be coming around back again!  Needless, to say I didn't not go around and do it again, we went home, bought Spizzico pizza on the way home and decided to try it the next day!  We made it fine the next day.  While Isaiah observed the Judo lessons, Isabella was closely looking at a small group of little girls 4 to 5 years old that were on their way to a dance class. She asked to go in and see and Isaiah went with her.  She came out and looked at me, I asked her if she wanted to dance, she said yes.  So I told her to go ahead and go in.  She went in all by herself took off her shoes and started dancing!  She followed everything the teacher said and had a blast!  If only school were that easy! Isaiah had his first Judo lesson yesterday, he loved it.  At one point he was put up against a boy that the teacher was testing for an orange belt (one belt higher than Isaiah) and Isaiah beat him.  He said it was really easy.  He was very proud of himself.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  Of course not a celebrated holiday in Italy, but we are going to have dinner with Dave (Director of Sales) and his family, Dimitri (Sales Executive) and Peter (Consultant) at the Four Seasons.  We are all looking forward to it.  The kids specially.

Weekend

 We went to the Plaza Santa Maria Novella.  The church in the back is well.... Santa Maria Novella!  It has beautiful frescoes inside and the outside is amazing as well.

 We came here because Isabella and Isaiah love

chasing pigeons.   You can see it in these pictures though, but they spent pretty much all of one hour chasing after pigeons.  Or as Guy calls them rats that fly.  There was also a group of middle easterners playing soccer and let Isaiah kick the ball a couple of times.  Very nice dudes.

The rest of the time, they spent it playing around with their Dad. It was a gray day, but not too cold.  So Isaiah ended up one sweaty monkey!

Here is Isabellie posing.  

 My picture with them didnt come out as cute.

If you look closely at his head you will see he has a slight Mohawk, it's his new thing, every morning after he takes a shower he spikes his hair up with his hands, no gel, so by the end of the day you can barely see it.  Today he told me he is only going to do it on the Friday and the weekends, I think the nuns might have told him something!

Isaiah took this picture.

So obviously Isabella had to take a picture.  As you can see by Isaiah almost sleeping, it took awhile and two bad shots, but she finally made it!

Isabellie in uniform

Today was Isabella's second day at school.  She started on Monday, but unfortunately Isaiah and I got a cold, not a good one.  So lets go back to Monday.  When we got to the school, we dropped off Isaiah and then went to Isabella's side, I walked her in to her room and she was actually very excited, she immediately sat down and began to draw on a piece of paper.  I spent some time talking with her teacher, getting to know each other and in the meanwhile checking in on Isabella.  At one point she was talking the ear off of one of the little boys, but he obviously had no clue as to what she was saying, in fact I'm guessing it wasn't too coherent anyway!  After a little while I went to say goodbye to her, told her I was going to go for a walk and then I would pick her up.  She said goodbye, gave me a kiss and waved me goodbye.  I couldn't believe it!  I thought she was going to be a lot more difficult.  Since her precious Pachy (teacher in Cap Cana) wasn't going to be there I was sure she was not going to want anything to do with it. So I made a couple of errands and two hours later went to pick her up.  She was talkative, saying she had a good time, she drew, she talked but she didnt get to read!  I promised her that she would get to read the next day.  Little did I know!  So to continue the story, I had heard that "This is it", the Michael Jackson movie of the last footage of his rehearsals was playing IN ENGLISH at a movie theater close to the Palazzo.  We all went, us, the Purpora's and Dimitri.  It would have been an amazing tour and while it was great to watch and revisit his songs it was also very sad to know that all the hard work we were watching were not shared with the millions of people that it was meant to be shared with and also of course that the talented, music and dance genius we were watching was no more.  In Isaiah's words:  "To bad I didn't get to meet him before he died."  Well when we got home, both Isaiah and I had fevers.  That night things worsened for both of us, while our fevers disappeared our coughs and general yucky feeling worsened.  That morning the kids did not go to school, in fact they were pretty much left to do what they wanted, cause I was in bed feeling awful.  At one point the joined me until Guy came home for lunch, only to find as all in bed with two sick people, so he left to get the sick people some soup!  The next day wednesday, while Isaiah was doing a lot better, I still wasn't so they didn't go to school again.  Today was another day, I woke up feeling great (well, sleepy, but that isn't unusual) and both kids were off to school.  Since Isabella had had such a wonderful day on Monday, one of her teachers and I decided that I was going to leave her until noon.  When I went to pick her up, she jumped for joy and was crying of the excitement to see me.  The teacher says she didn't have a good day, she kept expecting me to show up and was very clingy and crying a lot.  So tomorrow, we are back to square one.

I did get my cell phone today! So for anyone who would like to call me someday the number is 011393346863890.

So that is the story of our last couple of days.  Below is a picture of Isabellie in her uniform.

Ponte Vecchio in the early morning

The Ponte Vecchio is always a charming and beautiful place.  My favorite moment of the bridge is undoubtedly in the morning before the stores have opened. It has a magical feel to it. And oh yeah, its not full of people so you can actually walk through and not have to say excuse me 10 times!!!  If you look close at the pictures above in the background you can see de Duomo or better yet, Brunelleschi cupola. 

Viale Michelangelo

So the kids school is in Viale Michelangelo and this is what the sidewalks look like.  How gorgeous! It's a beautiful street.

I took this pictures specially for my Mom, I know she would love the leaves and the fall colors.  

Saturday's outting.

I had mentioned to Isaiah the David and everytime he would see a naked statue he would ask me if that was the David. As some of you know, there are a lot of naked statues in Florence, so finally today he got to see a David. I told him some day we'll go to see the real one.

If you take a picture of Isaiah, you have to take one of Isabella, she wont leave you alone until you do!

Ataf.

Talking the bus after picking Isaiah up at school. We got off at the Ponte Vecchio stop. Previously, Isabella and I had the opportunity to walk in the early morning on Ponte Vecchio and its gorgeous. Most of the stores when the close up shops have these awesome antique doors, I have to remember to take a picture. Its beautiful. Some where already open but the majority where still closed.

Walking.

Walking to pick up Isaiah at school.

Isaiah with his sports uniform in front of the road that takes you up to the school.

Perfect Excercise for Arms.

So today was Isaiah's second day at school! This time he spent the whole day, until 4:15pm. He came back home with notebooks and a diary (where they write all homework and important information). He says he had fun. I asked his teacher when I went to pick him up and she reassured me he was great. Mother Carol, also said them same, he was playing with the kids, ate a good lunch (never have guessed!) and well, seemed happy. He was very talkative on the ride back, explaining how he had to write an Italian poem down on a piece of paper.... "but mamma, I didn't make it up, I copied it, I still don't know Italian, ok." Yes, gordo, I am so happy for you. What a great attitude.

When Isabella and I dropped Isaiah off at school I decided to walk back to the house. Not a bad walk, it took us 25 minutes, it would have probably taken less if Isabella didn't require to be carried all the time! I didn't know how else to carry her! On my shoulders, on my left hip, on my right hip, on the front, on the back! Needless to say my arms were getting a great exercise! We got back home and then were getting ready to leave again to go on a walking tour with part of the Tornabouni team. The tour was about 2 hours and they showed us were shops and markets, butcher, restaurants, clothing stores, get anything you need stores, went inside St. Maria Novella, one of the beautiful churches in Florence, which has Frescoes from Ghirlandaio, a work that was paid by the Tornabouni's. The Palazzo Tornabouni also has frescoes from Ghirlandaio. Anyway, Isabella came with me on the tour ofcourse and guess where she ended up? Yes, in my arms, on my shoulders, on my hips, where ever I could place her! More exercise for my arms!

So guess what I did once we went to pick up Isaiah and after the carousel ride????? If you guessed buy a stroller...... YOU WERE RIGHT! The cheapest one I could find! She was so happy to see it and I was so happy she was so happy! Their was happines all around and my arms breathed a sigh of relief.

Carousel ride on Piazza della Repubblica

Because they have been so great, I decided to treat them to a couple of carousel rides.

Guys fixing a road.

Thought this was cool. HUGE chunks of rocks and they use a big hammer to pound them in.