San Miniato al Monte and Piazzale Michelangleo

I wanted to post some of the pictures from last Sunday that didn't make it into the last post. This basilica was truly beautiful and the views were amazing. The pictures don't do it justice. Perched up on the hill, Firenze in the valley below seems so close that you could reach out and touch the duomo.

This week I am finalizing the selection of 4 more student assistants and running some updates on the computers. Once I get the student assistants up and running next week, I will be able to focus more on creating a new book display and do some other marketing via facebook. Really, I would also like to see the the leisure fiction section weeded and updated. I have some books that I plan to sell to a local anglo bookstore for store credit which I then can translate into new purchases. I'm not sure how much these kids plan to read while they are here but I want make sure they have some of the classics at their fingertips instead of the weird donated books that are currently available.

This week I also started Italian classes. Four days a week I head to the New Wing of the study center for an hour and half of intense Italiano. Of course, my previous years of Espanol are helping but they also keep getting in the way as I keep pronouncing everything in Spanish. Ah well. At least I'm learning.

Last night I left work for my evening stroll around the duomo. To change it up, I decided to find Mercado Nuovo before heading home. I walked a few blocks, rounded the corner and there he was -il Porcellino. Tradition says that a rub on the nose will ensure that you will someday return to Firenze. Leaving the mercado I f0und a busy shopping street and was window shopping my way up the street until I realized I was standing on il Ponte Vecchio. One of the most amazing parts of Firenze is how truly small it is. No matter which way you turn you end up stopped in front of some world famous historical sight.

Leaving the Ponte Vecchio, I headed home and stumbled upon a grocery store that is about 5 times closer to my house than the one I had been going to. It's also much cleaner and less crowded! God, I'm so relieved. Anyway, picked up some stuff for dinner and a 3 euro bottle of chianti (which, by the way, is pretty tasty). I also found some beautiful little strawberries and - get this - the international foods section of the store! They have soy sauce, ketchup, taco sauce and tabasco sauce!!! At least I know I can get some form of hot sauce if need be.

Looking forward to Ravenna and its mosaics on Friday and a relaxing Saturday off. Hope to finally get inside Santa Croce at some point this weekend. A domani!