Walking to school in italia.

So last time I showed you a little bit of m neighborhood, my building and my apartment. Now I'm going to show you what I see every morning when I walk to school.

 It is very cold in the morning and even though it is very cold, Italians do not take with them something hot to drink like we do. They drink their tiny caffe in the bar very quickly and take off. Most people in this city are on a mission and are always in a rush. They walk fast everywhere they go even in the summer when it is very hot. 

I get my caffe to go from my favorite barista who also happens to have the best coffee and has good to go cups. This is important because a lot of places have tiny cups that are plastic. Hers are regular cardboard with a lid that has a drinking spout like you would get anywhere at home. But the most important thing is that the coffee is good. It's better than good, it is great and the reason is the special kind they have. They sell it but I know better than to try to get a good cup at home when they are using a 5,000 euro machine to make theirs. 

But it is still relatively small and doesn't last very long and as you know, coffee is important to me. 

So, I walk through some side streets, past some not so great parts but then I get to the market. San Lorenzo market is a place, quite famous I guess that has stalls and stores that sell all of the things Florence is known for. There is also an huge indoor market that sells fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, cheese and a bunch of other foods. In the stalls outside, there are leather goods, scarves, hats, things that say Florence or Italy on them like T-shirts and just a bunch of stuff tourists and locals buy. There are belts and shoes, gloves and ceramics, just everything. 

I walk through part of the market and the men are just getting their stalls set up. They store their goods in garages around the market and carry their stuff back and forth in large carts that they pull. They set up and tear down every day. So I walk through that part and on to this street.

It is crowded with people walking, on bikes, on scooters just a jumble of people and activity but on my way to school there are just a few. There is a nun I pass every day that has probably just been to one of the millions of churches in Florence. 

 I go down a few more streets and end up here on one of the main streets and if I turn my head to the left there is the Duomo. It is huge and central so if I got  lost  when I first got here all I would do is look for the Duomo and I would know where I was and how to get back to the apartment. 

          It is beautiful of course and something of an architectural marvel.

 This is what it looks like without hoards of tourists looking up and walking into each other. It's too early and cold for them right now but in a couple of hours they will be crawling all over this piazza.

I walk a couple more blocks on the main street where there are stores and hotels for the wealthier of the tourists and end up here. 

                                      Piazza della Repubblica

      There is a carousel, a Hard Rock cafe, hotels and this building here.

                                               My school. It is on the 3rd floor.

 This is Gili, the first caffe in Florence or the oldest, I don't remember. It is directly downstairs from school and they have all this seating outside, a piano bar in the summer and the most snotty waiters and baristas all wearing special black suits and looking so smug. I went in a couple times to get coffee but they are just too full of themselves for me to continue. The tourist love it and with good reason. It is a beautiful caffe bar inside and they sell upscale candies and serve you on beautiful china. But for everyday they are a bit too pretentious and I think they really don't care for the students crowding in there when the tourists are the money makers. But yes it is beautiful and the windows are very elegantly decorated, so much so that the tourists take their photos in front of them. 

There are several horse and carriages for rent but this is the nicest one. His carriage is very stylish and clean and he has these 2 matched draft horses. Compare that to the guy down the street who in the summer drives the horses in his dirty white wife beater with sweat stains. That's a class act. 

This charming animal is a wild boar. Wild boar is a favorite here in Florence and I have in fact eaten it twice. I can't say I hated it but I wouldn't order it myself.

He is bronze and a fountain which is another very common thing here in Italy. It is said if you rub his nose you will have good luck. I didn't rub his nose because everybody is rubbing his nose. 

This is just a block down from the school in the heart of downtown. Outside seating even when it's cold. 

Another restaurant with outside seating plus a cart that sells fruit salad in a cup and other snacks and drinks to the tourists. Italians don't really snack that much. The restaurants have indoor seating too but some people still enjoy eating outside even if it's cold. I don't know. 

 This is the flower market that is on the piazza every Thursday. I go there after class to see the many beautiful plants they bring and I have seen many things I have not seen before but still don't know what they are. Most of the vendors don't speak English and my Italian is not good enough for that much conversation. See the graffiti? It is everywhere and it really doesn't seem to matter that much because nobody does anything about it. 

 These are the mailboxes in front of the post office. You drop your mail in there and hope for the best. Sometimes there are big metal bands around them and a sign that says no mail service for an indeterminate time. So you can't mail your stuff and you probably won't get anything delivered either. Then one day, the metal bands are gone and they are back in business. That is Italy.

 This was a rummage sale to raise money for the local clinic that has been here for at least a hundred years and is charity based. 

 Christmas balls, wreaths and trees made out of vines. Probably grape vines.

This is my daily life here  in Firenze. I get up and get ready for school, stop in to get a coffee latte to go, walk to school and sit in class. Then after school I may wander around and see something I haven't seen before or go to the San Lorenzo market to get fruit that I may or may not eat. I go to the grocery store to get a few things or the dollar store to get toilet paper or tissue. When it was warmer I used to wander around for hours looking at or for things like museums I hadn't seen or a place someone had told me about that sounded interesting. I didn't want to just sit in the apartment.

 Now that it is cold and drizzly, I don't really want to be outside as much so just go now when I have something definite to do. This week end my roommates are all gone and I have some studying to do but I might go to Santa Croce which is a church that has tombs of some very special people such as Michelangelo and  a few others. It also is the place that will have a Christmas fair starting next week that I am anxious to see. It is German themed which isn't all that interesting but they will have other countries represented so there is going to be some good food or at least different food and that is why I'm going. Plus the Christmas atmosphere will be nice. They have strung the lights around the city center and are going to turn them on soon. Maybe tonight. 

Ciao for now!!