Week one not a weak one

In fact, this week has been grossly over-charged and under-slept. As much as I love down-time and over-sleep, I also enjoy the first sentence's life-structure.

Noticings:
Hippies do not exist in Chicago or Florence.
Words, such as "kee-yaw", "gawwwwww", "uh", and "um", are dead giveaways of my heritage and non-european descent.
People here walk differently.
Ponte Vecchio is made for "small people".
Pastries, Gelatto, and Leather are three things which Florence does a lot of and does exceptionally well.
Two Cappuccino's a day is more than fine, thank you!
Not being able to speak italian pretty much equals not speaking at all (its embarrassing!)
Not speaking much is nice.
When two to five people in a clustered group each have a broken umbrella, it is likely that they were naive tourists and purchased them from African street vendors.
When two to five people are in a clustered group, it is likely that they are in the mob, or naive tourists.

HIGHLIGHTS!:

New Orleans! Wedding, Jazz, Laughter, Dancing, Beignets, the Misadventures of Flapjack, flight an hour late!

Chicago! Flight left on time (and without me), fly next day, hotel in Loop, walking, Bean, Renzo Piano museum addition <3, Modern Art!, pictures, architecture, Ralph Lauren Burger!?!?

Long sleepless flight across the Atlantic Ocean (which witnessed the birth of my great grandfather), from Sicily to Louisiana. Grazi, Big Papa Russo, for fleeing the mob. I also imagined my falling to death, mid-flight, and then imagined what i'd imagine, were that to occur. It's pretty difficult, ya'll.

Rome to Florence! Ruins. Ruins. Ruins. Ruining and ruined ruins lie along the train's route, unattended and nonchalantly juxtaposed with any ol' architecture. In the foreground red poppies like dotted guide-lines, edged the trackside, appearing larger and just a little more vibrant than the terra cotta roofs in the background.

FIRENZE!

Day 1:
Baggage lost, 4 day old outfit, apartment from 15th century, world's tiniest bed (cat bed, i think), pink grapefruit and cream gelatto, italian leather oxfords, getting lost and finding again (THIS was the best part), Happenings upon jails, 12th century building. Here, vehicles hustle and people shuffle.

Day 2: Still no baggage, italian cell phone, school packet, Michaelangelo's tomb, too many extraordinary sculptures, snuck in photographs, bone shrines! And the best, THE BEST, happened at >>>Palazzo Davanzati (thus begins my detailed account):

Palazzo Davanzati:


Built in 1578, this Medieval stone beauty made me giggle and gape. YEAH! GIGGLE AND GAPE! It is what I want for thesis inspiration, and can only hope to find more like it. No cameras were allowed, but I did some mean sections, plans, details and perspectives. Upon entering, there is a 25' archway with 3" thick wooden doors with an exponential amount of 6" long nails with 1" diameter heads, hammered into the door, and hammered back down where they extended too far out the back side. The "cortilia", or courtyard, was about 40' square, and around 60' tall, and was surrounded by four identically planned floors. It used to be open to the sky, so there were drain fixtures sticking straight out from each balcony walkway, and when looking down from above, they all pointed towards the DETAILED drain which forms somewhat of an X in its draining technique through a slightly 4 plane sloped stone floor. Nothing was spared from the rigor of detailing, including the horse rings outside where there were ringed divots carved into the stone allowed the rings to stay flush with the facade. The bathrooms, located in the same place on the second, third and fourth floors, were polygonal, as they only needed room for a hole, the stoop of which (where you put your bum) was covered by a very heavy-looking slab of iron and a circular tea-pot lid and knob. This space was 18' high and had an unreachably high tiny window. Another thing which struck me is the glass pattern of the windows. It is comparable to that of the windows in Maison de Verre in Paris. The cistern had a well accessible from each floor and a metal pitcher tied with a rope, which reached from the height of the fourth floor ceiling. Also extending from the fourth floor, a drain pipe went down to the first floor, and looked more like an umbilical leech than a functional apparatus. Something which I did not capture in drawings was the ironwork attached to the building facade, It was horizontal bars extending the entire width at each floor, with hooks and then rings. I thought it was for hanging banners, but Tom (Professor) noted that it was for hanging that, and for drying clothes. How practical, and doubly beautiful. The building could change clothes, suiting it for the season's latest fashions and weather. But think about it honestly. It was/is smart.

Pictures will be posted soon. I know blogs without pictures can drag on.

Tomorrow, I am getting my luggage back, having a bottle of wine, and settling in. It is time to move from boudin to salami in edibles and in brains.