Adventure Wednesday!

Yesterday was a very important day in Italy, Women's Day!  Or should I say, Festa Fella Donna!  Each class I went into the professor greeted us by saying happy women's day and asking us if we had received any flowers and even though my classes at 90% girls, no one had received any.  My Italian professor took it one step furthur by explaining the origin of the yellow flowers that were being carried and sold all over the city.  She brought in the bouquet that she had been given and explained that the yellow flower looked and seemed delicate but it was actually very strong, LIKE A WOMAN!  Yesterday was also important in Florence because Fat Tuesday is celebrated all throughout the streets and in bars and cafes.  While walking to aperitivo, Anna and I witnessed women dressed up was witches, clowns, and just wearing crazy mix-matched clothing and wigs!  We also saw several children dressed up in Halloween costumes since Fat Tuesday marks the final day of the celebration of Carnivale in Italy.

Aperitivo wasn't nearly as crowded as it was last week but Anna and I still weren't able to find a table.  We made our way over to the bar but neither of us was sure what to order.  We had the bartender (who also doubles as our waiter at Ganzo every day for lunch) make what ever he wanted.  He made Anna a mojito and he made me a fruity concoction.  When I asked him what the drink was called he replied, "Whats your name?" and then he exclaimed, "AHHH MELLLIIIIIISSSSAAAA!" (with grand hand gestures pointing to the drink) So apparently I had a drink named after me! Too bad I have no idea what he put in it!  The food for aperitivo was pretty good but more or less the same food we have been getting every time.

Today is my dreaded day of class.  I only have one class and its at 9am so you would think I would go to class and then be happy to have the entire rest of the day in front of me when I get out at 11:30; unfortunately that's not the case, it makes me hate the entire rest of the day.  This Wednesday I was planning on being extra difficult since Monday my professor emailed the class and explained that he would not be making it to class on Wednesday and that there would be a sub-professor.  As I said in my other post, I don't like the idea of this subbing business, but this news was exciting since the syllabus says that when he is absent we watch Almost Famous.  AKA one of my favorite movies of all time.  Too bad the rest of his email entailed reminding the class that Wednesday was going to be a field trip to a publishing house.  (Field trip with a sub, REALLY?!)  So I pull myself out of bed and head to the wind tunnel, oops I mean meeting point of the Duomo and wait for the rest of the class.  Almost everyone is present so we begin our walk which we are told is around the corner, yet we walk up and down the same four blocks, four times before the sub-professor decides to call the publishers.  They give her directions so we actually find the building but surprise, she doesn't know the number of the suit so we begin our guessing game up four flights of stairs to finding the right suite.  We finally find it and its a room the size of my kitchen crammed with books, computers, and stuffy Italian women.  The class crowded into an even smaller room with the owner and editor in chief of the publishing company which would normally be a dream come true for me, but they only spoke Italian.  The class stood around for an hour listening to the publisher speak then my sub translate; it was like living in a bad documentary.  Finally the "field trip" ended and we were all released from class early(HORRAY) so I ran home and crawled back into bed to sooth my bad mood.

I got out of bed an hour later and showered instantly feeling better.  Anna and I decided to walk to Ganzo for a late lunch and then went to Museo Zoologicalo.  The museum was on the other side of the river so it was a little bit of a hike but we had the whole day ahead of us so we decided to try it!  The entrance to the museum was really strange since it was all in Italian and the signs said the ticket office was on the second floor but there was nothing there.  We continued up the stairs another two flights until we finally found the ticket office and the entrance.  The tour started with sea creatures like squid, jellyfish, etc.  The next room was bugs, spiders, and butterflies.  Then we moved onto mammals which was so cool.  They literally had every animal I've ever seen and a ton that I had never seen.  The only bad thing was that I didn't know what all the animals were since all of their titles were in Italian.  Anna and I walked around taking pictures and laughing at all the crazy faces the animals were frozen in.  The creepy part of the museum came when we walked into the organ section.  Each room in the section had different parts of the body and broke down the insides and outsides of everything, PLUS there where human bodies in the center of the room being ripped open.  Everything looked pretty fake so it wasn't a big deal, that is until we couldn't seem to find a way out so we were trapped in a maze of body parts.  Finally we found another living being and followed him to the exit. 

After leaving the stuffed animal exhibit we walked through the Oltarno section of Florence, since we have never been there before, on our way to the 'graffiti bridge'.  Three bridges down from the Ponte Vecchio is the last bridge in Florence which has a slight water fall and an open area which is concrete and open for Florentine's to express themselves with graffiti.  It was such a nice day, we were hoping to see someone in the act but we were the only ones down there. 

The sun starting setting so we walked back down past the Ponte Vecchio toward Piazza Michelangelo.  The piazza on top of a hill so we had quite the journey ahead of us.  The steps seemed to go on forever but we finally reached the top and the walk was well worth it.  We had seem the view from the piazza before but seeing it as sunset was just so much more beautiful.  There were people lounging all over the steps and the piazza just chatting, laughing, sketching the view, and listening to the live music.  We enjoyed the view for a while until it started getting chilly and the crowds started thinning out. 

For dinner, I cooked gnocchi in a four cheese sauce and sauteed zucchini.  Everything came out great and we enjoyed the meal with some Santa Cristina wine and some whole wheat bread.  We all lounged around and just chatted for a while after dinner, letting our lovely dinner settle.  After cleaning up, Anna and I settled into bed and watched Mulan!  Such a great day in a fabulous city!