the language of food.

DAY SIX
As agreed, at eight fifteen this morning I walked into Tarah, Christina, Savannah, and Danielle's room for today's wake up call.  I first went to Christina and told her that her attractive cooking teacher and the also attractive Forno man were fighting over her in the kitchen... nothing.  I saw a flutter of recognition from Tarah in the corner and absolutely none from Savannah.  Danielle was up, but offered no moral support as I attempted to wake Christina up again, who covered her face with the blanket.  I took this as a sign that I should leave before I get hurt (slapped).

I got ready for the day, covering my shoulders and knees in case the Galleria Della'Accademia and the Medici Chapel enforce those rules.  I still wanted to look good for David, of course!  When everyone was all dressed, we first headed to the Forno to buy our daily bread from our bread man and then went to the market to do our shopping for the next couple of days because it is not open on Sundays.  And Sunday, apparently, is our new "cooking only day."  The market was crazy crowded with locals getting their weekend shopping done so it was more difficult maneuvering and getting your turn in.  Interesting fact about Italy: lines don't exist... people just clump together and you have to be assertive.  I knew I had to learn to be assertive at some point (too nice problems), apparently Italy is the place to do it!  Anyway, I bought more Salame tipo di Milano (which I now order correctly because of the nice deli lady who is teaching me Italian), some cherries, and more Parmesan for our next group meal.  "Vorrei dieci fette delle Salame tipo di Milano!"  Once you learn how to speak the language of food, Italian will probably come more naturally.

We brought the food back to the apartment, made sandwiches for lunch, and left again for David!  Along the way, there was some type of dog walking show, where we saw so many adorable puppies!  We have been seeing puppies everywhere, and this just was the icing on the cake because now we got to see them all at once!  It was legit.  It is so nice having our museum passes because we truly get into these public museums FOR FREE and get to SKIP the lines!  It is such a great deal considering one visit to my David costs about eleven euro.  We are definitely need to take advantage of that pass... it is a steal!  So we practically walked straight into the Galleria Della'Accademia, ignored all the fluff, and strode right up to David.  It was amazing.  It is hard to explain why it was so amazing, but there was so much detail, especially on the hands.  There were veins, realistic looking veins in his huge bear hands, and each curl on his head was defined incredibly.  You truly do gasp when you see him because he is so massive and beautiful.  I don't know how Michelangelo did it... and apparently he was just handed a random slab of marble and he just created this masterpiece!  I could have stared at him forever.  If he were alive today to see how many people a day pay to see his work.

My Piece of Leather

After David, we headed toward the Medici Chapel when we decided to shop at the Mercato Centrale (Central Market) before.  The stuff in the markets is so awesome; scarves, leather goods, jewelry, shoes, etc!  The neat thing about the markets is how you can bargain with the vendors to get a lower and more reasonable price for items.  Sometimes it is difficult to tell if things are real, but I heard from a local that they may up the prices, but that they would never sell you a fake anything.  So... hopefully that snippet of advice is true because I bought a small leather purse for eighteen euro!  The original price said thirty-five euro and since I am HORRIBLE at bartering with people, I had Tarah help me out a bit.  If it hadn't been for her I would I spent way too much!  But I do love it and I think that it is perfect!

It's exactly what it looks like...

The goods in the market surrounds an interior market where you can buy meets, cheeses, dried fruits, and pasta.  It was so much fun to look at all the different pastas and taste test free samples of cheeses and salamis.  Of course I couldn't resist buying a little to try out, and the prices were way more competitive than those of "our" market and I definitely speak food.  We walked around for a bit, tried some dried kiwi and limoncello, saw trippe (which apparently is a delicacy here in Italy, but I will tell you right now you probably might get scared because it is actually cow intestines), and even saw a whole dead rooster... It was different.  I don't know if I speak that kind of food... I do know though that we will definitely be back at that market for round 2, 3, 4, you get the idea! We DO NOT have a problem spending money on food!  Looking at all that food made us hungry, so we pulled out our packed sandwiches and had a feast on the move!

We then walked in the direction of the Officina Profumo Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella (an old pharmacy), where we instantly were perplexed.  It was almost like it was a department store counter, where they sold perfumes, but there was also a Tea Shop, random bottles of liqueur, and herbal medicines for sale.  What we did learn about this building was that in the 1200s different herbs were mixed and sold there by Monks until it started becoming a historical landmark and the Italian government eventually bought it.  It was very beautiful inside and it did not look at all like a modern farmacia, so it was really neat.     

At this point are feet were exhausted, so we sat down on a bench and watched the pigeons.  Pigeons are gross and that is all I learn from pigeon watching.  We then walked toward the Medici Chapel, which was beautiful!  It was a large-domed structure right near the Mercato Centrale, which housed many of the tombs of the Medici family. Although it was under construction, the colors in the dome were so different than any other chapel I'd ever seen.  There were dark greens and mahogany colors, with dark grey accents; all in laid marble and semi-precious stones.  The roof was painted as well.  Originally people disapproved of the style of the chapel, but now it represents the time period, and personally, I thought it was gorgeous.  Along the walls were eight arches where the sarcophagi of the Medicis were supposed to be, but only two remained.  The rest of the family's remains were in the crypt below the chapel.  And of course, as a FUA student, the entrance was free, so we did not feel ripped off when we left after only a short period of time!

What time is it?  Daily gelato time!  We tried out a new gelato place called Bellamia right outside the chapel that was delicious!  I got hazelnut and raspberry, and I honestly think it was the best gelato I have tasted yet!  They seem to just keep getting better!  We started heading back to the apartment after we practically swallowed the gelato whole and came across a car show featuring old Mercedes, Ferraris, and Rolls-Royce's.  This was pretty cool, but the best part was when we continued on and found this random Pinocchio shop!  It was different and so funny because there was a "face-in-hole" Pinocchio that we all took advantage of.  When we got back to the apartment, we all took naps, which may or may not have been one of the best naps of my life... I don't even remember falling asleep.

While Tarah and Christina left to go eat dinner at Gusta Pizza, Savannah, Danielle, and I made dinner together!  It was very delicious since we pretty much just made it up.  We cooked up some chicken with onions, garlic, and red wine and put them in homemade crepes with shredded provolone.  It turned out so well!

We are now getting ready to go to a karaoke bar called the The Old Stove!  Who knows... maybe I will uncover a new talent?  Doubt it... I DO NOT speak the language of karaoke, only the language of food!

Ciao!