exploring: and so it begins

The angle is a bit awkward but this is the view from our common room/kitchen. One day when we were walking home we heard this man playing accordion outside of the bar below us and I think we all had one of those "Oh right, I'm in Italy" moments. He left soon after we went inside but it was nice hearing the music from our kitchen for a while.

For the only semi-recreational activity that NYU planned for us as part of our orientation we took one of those "Hop On, Hop Off" double-decker buses around the city. Unfortunately it was one of the first days since we had arrived that it was overcast and freezing, but it was nice to see new parts of the city nonetheless. We had an opportunity to get off the bus at Piazzale Michelangelo, which I had been to before but still managed to amaze me with the sweeping views it offers of the city.

This was looking down from Piazzale Michelangelo, on the road that twists and turns back down the mountain. I love how love notes and other public displays of affection (like the love padlock tradition or "lucchetti d'amore") are so popular here; it makes the city feel even more romantic.

One of my roommates' family friends lives outside of Florence and invited us for lunch at her villa. She had a gorgeous view of the city, and had her own garden and patio where her daughter got married. The colors of the stones on the terrace were such vivid colors I thought I'd capture it...figures that even the rocks are prettier here.

In true Italian style the meal was multiple courses and delicious, and she even bought some traditional Florentine desserts for us to try. These here are called cenci, which means "rags" in Italian. They taste somewhat like fortune cookies with lemon and then covered in powdered sugar. We also tried a light and citrusy sheet cake (also covered in powdered sugar) called schiacciata alla fiorentina, which I coincidentally had been seeing around the city and wanting to try. Apparently it's a specialty for Easter, so it only appears in pasticcerie around this time of year up until the holiday.

After lunch we were dropped off in the center of Fiesole, the city right outside Florence and known for its views since it's located so high up in the mountains. We didn't have much daylight left so we decided to visit the monastery for the remainder of the day. We ventured around the grounds and since it was overcast it was fairly empty and everything took on a certain eerie quality. These here are the steps leading up to the monastery.

We walked immediately toward what looked to be the best vantage point, through the lush giardino pubblico that reminded me quite a lot of Pan's Labyrinth for some reason. There was a sort of altar or shrine type structure in the middle, and around it were engraved panels like this covered in moss and mold. I'm not sure what this is of, but I just really liked both the image itself and the colors it had attained over time.

The monastery of San Francesco, complete with cloisters and a strangely placed museum somewhat hidden on the lower floor (and with an equally strange array of objects: Chinese, Etruscan, Roman, Egyptian, etc.). It really had that serene quality that monasteries and other buildings made for devout followers tend to convey.

We went inside the main building and walked up the small staircase to a set of tiny rooms, I think where the monks would study. They seemed more like prison cells to me though, and the combination of the weather and the small windows made it feel both cold and otherworldly.

When we started our descent to the center of Fiesole to take the bus back home, the sun had already almost set. At this point we were all freezing, but the last glimpse of Florence at night and a semi-sunset seen through the clouds made for a nice farewell.