GLORY GLORY!

I’m gonna save the best for later. Let’s start at the very beginning. I was awoken by Julie’s alarm clock at 6 this morning. I ended up going back to sleep, but still frustrating. But alas, I did my morning routine (I’m out of Florentine peaches, so off to the market tomorrow). My art class was meeting at the duomo so I had to leave a little bit earlier than I usually would. Good thing to, because no matter how many times I have walked through the Piazza dei duomo, I got lost on the way.

Typical.

But I got there in time, and I am so glad I did. No matter how many times I walked through the Piazza dei duomo, I did not notice everything that was pointed out to me today. For example on the bell tower, there are three levels of marble reliefs carved on the side. The first level is reliefs of humans in their different guilds of the time. Adam and Eve also had a relief because they were the world’s first workers. Once they were forced to leave Eden humans were forced to work. The next level is the female representations of the church. The next level is reliefs of the prophets, and finally the last level is the sky, which is God in all his glory. It creates quite a hierarchy that I had not noticed even once.

Next we looked at the doors to the Baptistery. FUN FACT! Most cathedrals have separate baptisteries because people were not allowed to enter unless they were baptized. The doors are a piece of carved bronze, and gilded with gold. The doors are divided into 28 square sections. 20 of these are old testament stories, and 8 are symbols indicating the vices of the church.

Next we headed to the Museum of the duomo. It was so sooo cool. It held all the original statues that adorned the outside of the duomo. Some of the carving is so real that you just feel overwhelmed with emotion when you see it.

My favorite was the wooden statue of Mary Magdalene. She sat in the baptistery because she was the ultimate example of redemption and God’s forgiveness.

After my class that left me stunned, LAUNDRY TIME! I used the washer for the first time AND hung them on a clothes line. I felt like Cinderella. It was fun!
Now, I was getting so riled up about this apartment drama, that I took a walk. A long walk! 2 hour walk! We had a meeting scheduled with the administrators at 6 if Julie decided she didn’t want to move. Julie got out of class at 5:30, and I ended up on a bench outside of the office building at 5:30, so I was basically prepared to go talk to them one on one if I needed to. (I was EXTREMELY anti-non-moving-Julie). AAANNNNND SHE MOVED!
She is out of my everyday life! HOORAY!

I met Brittney on the steps of the Santa Croce and we ended up people watching and talking for almost 2 hours. It was so relaxing! I felt so much better! Eventually we faced the facts that I had to go hang up my laundry, and Brittney had to grab some stuff. Julie was there. I ended up helping her carry a load to her new apartment. This is going to be best for everyone I hope.

Tonight Brittney and I met our friend Lily for dinner at a new restaurant. We got some pear ravioli for the table because we were all curious. DEEEE-LISH! SO GOOD! Sadly my entrée wasn’t quite as good. It was gnocchi with fish and vegetables. Sounds good in conception, right? Right. There first two bites were outstanding, then it just saltier and saltier with each passing bite. We will definitely be going back there because the restaurant was adorable! The menus has onion peels modgepodged (sp?) onto a board in the shape of a flower on the cover. Everything was so cool about it! Just a little happy with the salt. Everyone elses food was good, so I think its just not their strongest meal.

We finished off the night with Lily and Brittney getting gelato, and I finished the night with a Pelligrino con arranciata (orange) in hand.
Any travel suggestions for this weekend? I’ll take votes A) Siena, B) Rome, C) Cinque Terre, D) orrrr something else?