After a few days out in the country, I headed back to Florence, taking the train. My host mom was clearly anxious about me taking the train by myself, despite my reassurances of "I flew from Canada to here, by myself, not speaking Italian at all, and managed it". (Note: I almost didn't make my flight out of Rome due to not checking in at the right place and not having a proper ticket, but I didn't mention this to my host mom.) She still asked a random stranger going the same direction to let me know of the stop. That was probably for the best as our train was early and so I would've missed it. This is also why I don't have a photo from the trip.
I was picked up in Florence by my host sister and her dad, and after dropping my bag off at home, we walked into the centre to go to the Museum Galilei. Couldn't take photos inside, but I did get these of the zodiac calendar outside:
It was a science museum, so showed telescopes, globes, models of the human body, and many more fascinating things for someone with a twin love of math and history. I liked watching north America grow through the ages, and seeing incredibly detailed, incredibly complex, but incredibly wrong, models of the solar system. Favourites also include seeing a visual of an Archemedes screw, a chemistry table so the rich scientist could do experiments while on the road, and the fingers of Galileo's right hand.
I spent the next week walking around town, getting lost, taking in the sights, and hanging out at home. I even learned how to make Tiramisu, which is not as difficult as I thought it was. The last (and only) time I made Tiramisu in Canada was a disaster. I had the wrong equipment and wrong ingredients, and was just taking it way too seriously. Making it with Nonna Anna was fun, though I'm sure I was driving her crazy much of the time ( Nonna - "now, lightly, gently, fold the egg whites in". Me - nodding head enthusiastically, and attacking the bowl with my spatula). Anyhow, I love Tiramisu, in all it's raw egg glory.
Before Christmas, the cathedral was a bit too busy to get to see easily, so I went back one day to see below it, where there are the remains of the first church built there, and the successive enlargements. It was sort of creepy at times, with a very low roof as you walk past the tombs of various bishops.
One night, my host sister, her dad, and I went to the Bronzino exhibit at a gallery. It was after 10 pm, yet there was at least a dozen of us in each room. Luckily for me, like in many places, there were English translations of the explanations of each painting. I didn't think it would be a good idea to take photos inside, so here are some Bronzino works from the internet:
It's amazing to think of how many incredible pieces he made in his lifetime.
In my wanderings around Florence, I came across this church:
It didn't look like much from the outside, but it was actually quite large. It was also incredibly beautiful, and asked for no entrance fee, only putting out discreet donation boxes requesting help with the upkeep.
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