Christmas @ Sacro Cuore

It's Christmas time and here in Florence the ground is covered with snow, the Christmas trees decorate homes and the Piazzas and the celebration has begun. It's also time for me to get back to my blog, I have left it abandoned too long. It will be part of my New Year's resolution. Next Tuesday is Isabella's Christmas play so look for an update! Isaiah's poem was a lot longer, but I decided to edit it down for all of you! Enjoy.

Mercato Centrale

The Mercato Centrale is a MUST in Florence!  It is in the Borgo San Lorenzo area and has been around since the 1800's.  You can buy anything from fruits, nuts, pasta, salami, fish, cheese, olive oil.... you name it.  There are also several restaurants inside.  Erica and I almost ate there once but it really smelled like a butcher shop, so we passed and went to a restaurant right outside which was great and very budget friendly, unlike most of the restaurants in Florence!

I try to go every several weeks, more than anything for the experience and getting very fresh vegetables and fruits.

I took these pictures a couple of weeks ago and have been meaning to post them for awhile...

One great thing about this market is that no one is haggling you or trying to get your attention, you sometimes have to actually say excuse me several times before they stop doing what ever it is they were doing and pay attention, once they do though, they are very nice and helpful!

Singing Class

So a little bit of history before I do some esplainin about the title line... The first Opera ever written is said to be called "Dafne".  It was written in the Palazzo Tornabuoni by Jacopo Peri in the 1500's.  It was also performed for the first time in the Palazzo in what is called the "Opera Suite".  Ok, so enough history.... The Palazzo is hosting Amanda McBroom, http://www.amcbroom.com/ see here for more info... anyway, she is a great singer, song writer and teacher.  The Palazzo asked her to give signing lessons to the Members and well, while I am NOT a member!  I happen to be the wife of the Dir. of Marketing, and there was barely an open spot where they squeezed me in!  It was probably the most embarrassing moment in my life, I can truly say I was brought COMPLETELY OUT of my comfort zone!  I sang with her and Mary, both are so talented it is unreal!  We sang Amazing Grace and then The Rose, the song she wrote and that Bette Midler made famous.  I was nervous through out the whole time and still probably 15 minutes later!!!  While it was wonderful,  it was also very hard for this shy girl to put it out there!  I wasn't too bad, I actually got some praises.  Oh, so the room we where in, it has amazing acoustics, which is why the classes took place inside that particular suite and probably why "Dafne" was performed there as well.

FESTA Theater - Florence Song

This is one of the songs the sang and the basis of the course.

FESTA Theater - Florence

Isaiah participated in a Theater class that was based on an idea from Paul from the music group Peter, Paul & Mary.  The group shows kids to stand up to bullying and to basically not judge a book by its cover.  This is a skit they put together. 

Italian Class

So I went for two weeks to an advanced Italian class.  The classes where 4 hours a day from 9 to 1.  The first two hours were grammar and the following two were conversation.  I learned a lot, lots of phrases and words that were very new to me, and mostly I learned what my weakness are and what I need to continue to improve on.  We were a really small group, sometimes 5 sometimes just 3.  So it was very personalized and we got to talk and make all sorts of mistakes to later on be corrected on.  The two students I mostly spent all my time with were a Professor at a school in Princeton, highly educated in literature, German and history in general.  The other student was a 21 year old from Oxford, studying French and Italian and wanting to do PhD studies in Medieval Literature... Both played various (more than 3) musical instruments.... I felt a little small!!!

Grammar time was probably the hardest for me, since I don't know any rules or tenses in any language, not Spanish, not English and least of all Italian....  but I worked my way through it.  Conversation was very entertaining, we spoke about many things, we read and we had a final project which was to choose one topic related to Italy and speak for 15 min. or more.  The professor chose "I Promessi Sposi" by Manzoni, English title is "The Betrothed", so I was able to learn a lot from it, without even reading it.  It is a book that is read by all Italians in school and is considered to be one of the most important.  The Oxford student spoke of the Palio in Sienna, or the Horse race they have in the Piazza at Siena and I spoke about the huge flood they had in Florence the 4th of Nov, 1966.  If you have been in Florence you may have noticed some plaques on the walls, the plaques say that the water reached this point, some points being more than 5 mt. from the floor, for those of you that have not been in Florence yet, when you come..... keep your eyes open!

Anyway, here are two pictures, the one in the top is the one of the classroom and the one on the bottom is from the view of the window.

Walk to the supermarket

When we returned form our Easter break there was pretty much just pasta and some pomodori pelati in the kitchen, so I took a walk to the supermarket and remembered that I had just purchased a new camera!  So I thought I would share with you what my walk looked like.  The walk is about 10 minutes, or maybe a bit more, not sure, but its a beautiful walk. 

First thing I see is the Chiesa di San Frediano in Cestello.  Another beautiful church in Florence and about a 2 minute walk from my house.  Inside its very light, not dark and not that I know a lot about architecture, but the sign before entering tells you that is a Baroque structure and the facade is unfinished.  Inside you see a lot of decoration on the columns and altars, so while I may not know a lot about it, you can definitely see what they mean once you are inside.

This is the oltr'arno view of La Chiesa di Ognissanti (or the Church of all Saints).  It's actually across from the River, but on my walk I get a gorgeous view of the Church and the Piazza.  The Church is supposed to be gorgeous, I have not yet been, its on my to do list!   Inside the Church is a fresco by Ghirlandaio called Last Super, which Leonardo da Vinci was very familiar with before he made his own. 

These are the walls that contain the historic center of Florence. We live inside the walls, but the supermarket is outside.  Isaiah loves the fact that we live inside the "historical center" as he always calls it.

So I had to show this, because we love it!  Its a motorino with its own hood!  Love it!

 

This is a monument to those who died in a war, not sure which one, guessing World war II.  I liked the sculpture, a headless angel, basically it could be any angel!  My uneducated interpretation of art!

A beautiful facade.  

Clothes hanging out dry!  I had mine hanging out to dry at the same time!  

Arrived!  The supermarket is called Esselunga, that's why it has a LONG s.  Cause thats what Esse lunga means. 

Well, that was it!, I thought of taking pictures inside, but even though it was a Wednesday morning it was PACKED with people! Maybe next time! 

Hope you enjoyed the walk with me!

Love, Natsha