Dear friends and Famiglia,
This was to be a grand update with pics and all, but I am afraid there are no pics for two reasons. One, The past few days have led me to places that don't allow photos to be taken. However, Rachel comes today (yayyyyy) so I assure you there will be plenty of pictures soon, with me in them no doubt! The second reason i cannot get pics to you at the moment is because my computer, along with all of my other belongings are locked in my apartment, safe and sound. I, however, am not with them. And here is my story:
Yesterday was very long. I finally got to Lucca. It turns out it may have been just as well that I missed the train on Saturday morning, as i was informed that this past weekend was a big one for Lucca: They were having a festival, well, convention of the comedy and cartoon sort. I was told it was about the equivalent of a Star Trek Convention. So, pictures of the Basilica with Japanimation characters in front of it may not have been quite what I was looking for. When I did get to Lucca, the only remnants of the gathering were large tents in all the Piazzas, which still sort of ruined my picture taking experience. It was very quiet, though. Two of the places I had planned on visiting were closed for construction, so it was a pretty mellow trip. My favorite part was walking the 2.5 mile walk arount the top of the city wall, also called the rampart. Fall was with me as I walked by beautiful oaks with changing leaves. It was an amazingly gorgeous day, sunny and quite warm for November.
Since i got up so early yesterday, I decided that for last night I would save my appetite for a great dinner and a bottle of wine, seeing as I could sleep in and have a luxuriously lazy day today before Rachel got into town. I got back to Florence around 6 last night and lounged around for a bit. Around nine, I got ready to go. I had everything I needed. I looked at my keys, remembering the thought I had had earlier in the day. You see, My inner door is always locked from the outside. Once it is closed, there is no getting in. I thought to myself as I walked in Lucca how glad I was I had never left my keys inside and how much it would suck if I did.
As I was about to grab the keys, my phone rang. I ran into the bedroom to grab it and realized I was starving and so ready for my wonderful dinner. I answered my phone, grabbed my coat, grabbed my purse and stepped out the door and let it shut. The minute I heard the door click shut, I knew what I had done. I got down on my knees, "No, no, no!" I may have thrown in some other not so pretty words. So, there I was, dressed for dinner, with my purse, THANK GOD, and locked out. On top of it, my cell phone was out of minutes, AGAIN, and I would not be able to get more until this morning. I had no phone and I did not know the number for my landlord. Whoever invented the internet is my hero, as all the info I needed was in an email from my landlord. I ran to the internet train, got the info and was even able to make a local call. "Message Gratuito. I am sorry. The person you are trying to reach cannot take calls. Please try again later."
In Italy, everyone has a cell phone, but but many do not have voicemail. The closest you can get is to choose an option that will have the phone you are trying to reach call you as soon as the line is available. It is likely that Roberto had his phone off, or it died. At this point, it was 9:30pm and I had three options: one, go to dinner, then go to a club and stay until 5 or 6 am and deal with it all in the morning. Two, find a hotel. Three, start crying and call Alex even though he is in the middle of a work crisis and has family in town and is most likely on his way to the factory that is 1.5 hours out of town. I opted for option 3 because, perhaps, I am selfish and I was really hungry. As most of you may know, I am not very nice or rational when I am hungry.
So, Alex, being the wonderful person he is, turned around and drove into the city to help me. He dropped everything, saying this was more important than anything. We used his phone to keep trying the landlord, to no avail. While waiting, we enjoyed a great dinner, and I drank some wine to ease my worries. Once 11pm rolled around, we realized there was no other option than to find a hotel room for me to stay the night. First we went to Hotel Cavour, a beautiful hotel far beyond my means for one night while I had a perfectly good apartment down the street. However, I enjoyed fantasizing about a night as a princess as I did the moonwalk in my Kitson's on the unbeliveably slick marble floors while Alex talked to the guy at the front desk. You guys, the moon walk is really all about what shoes you are wearing. Just call me Mr. Jackson. Now, as we all learned before kids, no documents, no room. Luckily, I was with an Italian, so the lady at the next hotel made an exception. I stayed in a tiny little room right around the corner from my house. Roberto called Alex this morning and arranged a meeting for us at my place at noon.
So, here I am killing some time and giving you my long overdue update!
Winter is officially on its way to Florence. The crisp, clean air is filled with the smell of roasting chestnuts, or should I say chestnuts roasting on an open fire? Christmas preparations are already underway, as they don't have Thanksgiving to worry about. There have also been a ton of great concerts going on in the various churches. On Sunday I went to a tenor and organ concert at the church of Santa Maria de' Ricci. The concert was entitled Ave Maria, so included many different composers version of the aria. My favorite is definitely Schubert's, the one you are probably all most familiar with. The organist also did a solo a Bach's, oh I forget what it is called. The one we all associate with Dracula, you know? It was amazing. I never realized how much work goes into playing the organ! I also went to a concert on Monday night at St. Mark's, where I saw La Boheme. It was a piano recital. The girl was from Japan, and quite famous, but I have her name written in the house, so I cannot recall it. Apparently she is a pretty big deal and donated her night to earn money for AMALA, a charity to help children in India. She played Chopin, Mozart, Listz (Sp?), and Ravel. It was amazing. She did not even use sheet music. She knew it all by heart.
Let's see. I went to the old Medici-Riccardi Palace. It was pretty cool. They have a display entitled Apoxyomenos. That is a title of an old Croation statue they found in a shipwreck. Apoxyomenos refers to an Olympian. This particular statue was most likey that of a wrestler. They had to do a lot of work to restore the statue. It told the whole process from start to finish. The statue was not actually there, just the story. I also visited the private chapel in the palace, with frescoes by Gelozzi. They were beautiful. No pics, though.
Well, I suppose that is all the update I have for you now. When I said that after Siena, my trip would have to be smooth sailing, I guess I was not quite right in light of last night's events. However, things could have been much worse. At least I had money this time! I am anxiously awaiting my return to my apartment where my facewash, toothbrush, and shower are all waiting for me. I could also use a little eye makeup remover for these raccoon eyes!
I hope you are all well and I will write soon.
Love and Tanti Bacci
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