Gelato with the bambine!

Today we were very good in church and so we had some gelato -- here are the photos of our delicious outing. Olivia waits expectantly for her ice cream; Olivia devours gelato; Emilia demonstrates proper gelato-eating technique to Isabella; birds-eye view of Sophia taking a sip of water. For the rest of the day, we decided to hang out at home (it was too hot for the park, really) and to play with finger paints and these markers that let you draw on the window. It was lots of fun. It was a bit surprising, though, to suddenly realize that I'm entering a new era. Now that many of my friends have kids, there's no avoiding the fact that we're the adults. Olivia came up to talk to Emilia today, wiggling around to try to get our attention. We were sitting on a lounge chair, in sundresses, with our hair pulled back in a more utilitarian than fashionable manner. As Emilia reminded Olivia not to interrupt and I inspected the finger paint on my knees, I suddenly realized that this was a familiar scene -- but now, instead of being the antsy four-year-old, I was the 'adult' chatting! Luckily, I then got to splash around in the kiddie pool and play with play-doh and laugh with my friends about silly things, and I remembered that I'm still under 30. Whew.

Lazy Saturday, Caserta style

I have completely enjoyed and appreciated the amazing art and sites and cities I've been able to visit in the past month. But relaxing with friends is still my idea of the perfect vacation. Today was wonderful -- good friends, delicious summer food, sultry weather and three funny children. Here are the promised photos of the belle bambine -- Olivia after her first swim lesson, looking like a small orange burrito in front of her mom, Emilia; and the twins Isabella and Sophia engrossed with playdoh on the porch. After Olivia's swim lesson at the American base, we went grocery shopping in what seemed like a small slice of the US -- prices in dollars, American brands, the ability to return items. It was surreal. I wonder how they get everything here. Are we really using our tax dollars to airlift fruit loops and Oscar Meyer wieners to American families stationed overseas? I wonder whose job it is to take care of the Ore Ida french fries shipment each month...

In the afternoon we had a delicious lunch and joined the girls for their siesta (yay!) because Mom, Dad and Kate had all stayed up too late the night before. For the rest of the afternoon we played on the swings, enjoyed dripping sparkles all over the house from some bangles I brought from India, played with Play-doh, and otherwise relaxed and had fun. It was so great to unwind and chat with friends big and small. Tomorrow, it's off to church and then the park -- a stunning expanse in front of an 18th century castle. If we are good in Church, there might even be a trip to the gelateria. (I plan to be perfectly well-behaved.) I can already tell it will be a great day.

In lovely Caserta, a Casa Woods

The Italian train service staff were on strike today, but they graciously scheduled the strike in advance so that you knew which trains were running before you bought your ticket. Thanks to this clever and thoughtful approach, I made it to Caserta today only 15 minutes behind schedule. It is so nice to be among friends, and not only because I feel safe walking around barefoot for the first time in 15 days or so. Emilia and Frederick live about 40 minutes from Naples. They are both FANTASTIC cooks and they have three charming daughters -- Olivia, who is 4 and much taller than last year, and the twins Isabella and Sophia, who now have a mop of black hair and a significantly larger vocabulary. I have yet to spring the finger paints and play-doh on them, mainly because I was afraid to be tossed out of the house before nightfall, but I hope we can get into messy fun things tomorrow. I will also take some photos to share how adorable they are. I almost fell over laughing today -- Isabella and Sophia use the (clean) bidet as a mini-sink to wash up before dinnertime. There is nothing funnier than seeing this brilliant American approach to European plumbing, especially by such small citizens. I think the soap they were using was bigger than their heads! I'll try to catch them with a photo tomorrow,

Last night in Bangkok! Er, Florence

Today was a tourist day. I met my professor this morning to discuss my thesis, and she gave me a much more manageable framework that I had envisioned. It seems I had confused 'masters thesis' with 'dissertation.' She is a lovely person, too, so it was really nice to see her here. No, I don't think any school people are reading the blog, so I am not sucking up. She suggested that, rather than continue to fight Italian bureaucracy, I should just go see some great works at the Palazzo Pitti that are completely unrelated to my thesis. I wandered around enjoying Titians, Raphaels and many, many Andrea del Sarto pieces in the former Medici palace. This was after a great lunch. In the evening, I shopped for toys for the kiddies, presents for family, and then I finally caved and bought a bikini. They are super cheap here, and very pretty, and the gelato has not totally wrecked my waistline yet.

Notable things today: an hour ago, a man actually invited me to his apartment for a rather explicit reason within five minutes of conversation. Honestly. Our chat went from Scheggia to something else entirely at warp speed. He really meant it, at least, if I was willing to go along with it. These guys are BRAZEN. Yes, he was cute. No, I didn't go.

I accidentally bought a gelato with raw eggs in it. I am allergic to raw eggs. I had to THROW IT AWAY!!! WHERE WERE YOU PEOPLE WHEN I NEEDED YOU? THIS IS A TRAVESTY! LOST GELATO!!!!

Art in Hiding

Okay, don't worry -- in two days, I'm off to see Frederick, Emilia and the three adorable Woods children, so I will stop talking about art soon. Today was all about art in hiding. I went to Santa Trinita to look at a Madonna and Child by Scheggia. I have now taken to carrying pictures of what I'm looking for so that I can be very clear (when you ask an Italian guard, "Where is the Madonna and Child by Scheggia?" they say, "There are many Madonnas and Child here. Did you know that Scheggia is Masaccio's younger brother?" "Yes." "Oh. Well, I don't know where it is." This in Italian, broken on my side.) The sweet older guard and the church warden told me that the piece I wanted was upstairs, safe from robbery. I explained that I was not a robber. They laughed, and went upstairs to fetch the painting. They actually CARRIED IT DOWNSTAIRS LIKE A LAPTOP! Just grabbing the edge of one side! I couldn't believe it. I was afraid they'd drop it. But all was well, and I took a good look, and they then insisted that I take photos. With flash. Rather different from your usual museum experience.

One hidden picture found, I left for Arezzo, where the Museum staff had told me (per telephone) that the piece I wanted wasn't available because it was 'behind the walls.' I thought this was a way of saying 'in storage' so that I would understand (I am constantly playing Taboo here -- "May I have a utensil that opens wine bottles? Do you sell things for the feet that are not shoes? If there are eggs in this, are they cooked ones?" I should really learn more words.) But no! It turns out that ALL the art is literally behind some walls. They installed a new exhibition on these temporary walls built literally in front of the permanent collection! So there is absolutely no way to see anything behind the walls for two months! Crazy. Well, such is life! The woman in the bookshop explained, "only four people a day ever come to see the permanent collection. We didn't think they'd mind."

PS -- had a delicious lunch at my favorite lunch place -- an outpost of a local vineyard. This did not disappoint. They make these amazing open faced sandwiches (prosciutto and melon, salami and fig, chicken and garlicky cheese and tomato, salty cheese with carrot, apple, jicama and olive oil). Mmmm. Life is good.

More art, more come-ons, and more gelato.

The promised photos -- the beautiful sunset from Piazzale Michelangelo; me, in said repaired glasses, with some nice Greek kids, watching the sunset; Donatello's moving Penitent Magdalene; some modern Florentines dressed like 15th century Florentines for no apparent reason.

This morning was GREAT. One of the museums I would like to visit, Museo Stibbert, responded to my request to see some pieces that aren't on public view and so I raced over before they could change their minds. The director, Charles Fuchs, showed me and another guest around the villa-cum-museum that houses the collection of Frederick Stibbert, who was phenomenally interested in armor. They have the largest collection of Japanese armor outside of Japan. After ooh-ing and aah-ing over the amazing pieces, I saw the small items that affect my paper, and then headed for ANOTHER museum. The Accademia, where they house Michelangelo’s David, had a two hour line! At least I queued next to an interesting couple from California -- they kindly held my place while I ran for a gelato.

In the evening, I went for a walk around the piazzas and managed to run into Marco, Mr. I'll-make-you-a-cappuccino-at-my-house. After introducing me to another gelato place (yes, I have a problem), Marco offered me 1.) a foot rub, and 2.) a second chance to see his house since he 'had to shower.' I passed, but not before discovering that we were in the same restaurant at the same time on Saturday! Florence is a VERY small place. Marco finally understood that I would not join him a casa sua, so I sat in the piazza to read when a fifty+ year old man sat down to chat. At first, I was annoyed -- but then I thought I'd practice my Italian. We chatted for 25 minutes or so (I honestly didn't know that I knew that much Italian!) before he invited me on a date. I of course claimed that I'm getting married in March. You're all invited.

Art. And then some more art.

Today was another busy day of art-viewing. It is perhaps at this point in the trip that many of you are happy not to actually be here with me. The other people in the hostel are completely dismayed at the amount of time I spend in museums -- but I'm breaking things up with two gelato stops a day, so it is the perfect week, in my opinion. This morning I went to the Palazzo Davanzati, a house-museum that has been closed to the public since 1995 (except for their ground floor, which is open on Fridays). Palazzo Davanzati happens to hold five works by Scheggia and so they were kind enough to let me in anyway. It is always so humbling and wonderful to be in a room by yourself with a work you admire, with no milling crowds to bump you or look at you - and the guards always seem almost flattered that you'd go through the effort to view their inaccessible collection. It was a great morning. I finished the day doing more Scheggia research and then headed to the Cathedral museum, where they have sculptures by Donatello and Michelangelo, as well as the original panels from the Gates of Paradise. AMAZING. After all that art, my feet hurt, but I still climbed the hill to the Piazzale Michelangelo to see the sun set over Florence. Unfortunately, I sat in melted ice cream or spilled soda or something, and also got hit on by a very scruffy looking young man. These incidents nearly ruined the lovely, romantic view. But Kerri bequeathed me sink-size packets of Tide before she went home, so now I'm clean and tired and happy and looking forward to more time, and more art, in Florence. I took decent photos of the view, I hope to add them tomorrow!

PS -- It was SO HOT in India that my GLASSES MELTED. I went to the optometrist because the lenses fell out of my frames. He asked me if I'd left them on a stove or on the dashboard in the sun. When I explained that they were safely in my bag, in a case, for four weeks, but that I'd been in India, he said, "How hot WAS it?" I am super-impressed with myself for not melting or dying in the heat. You can choose to be impressed or not, at your discretion.