Touristing in Florence - Boboli Gardens

Hey all! Well, I've moved my blog to a site that is easier for me to use and for others to view. If you're new here, you might want to catch up with the old posts - they are listed on the rights side of the screen under "archives."

This week was our first actual week of classes. Miss Whitney had her first photography assignment and we all got to model for her! She had us each pose with our one favorite possesion here in Italy. So we had an exceltic mix of teddy bears, shoes, one very practical Lauren B. posed with her umbrella...


...and here I am with my Captain Morgan's. And my favorite dress. Hey, it's legal here!


My roomate also had her first figure drawing class assignment, so I got to model for her as well! I think I can officially say I modeled in Italy. I'm so excited. Behold the masterpeice:


I really do love that. My first art class was less exciting. Here is Kelly, pre-painting:


And I won't show you the after photos because they all have our horrid, horrid attempt at paintings in the background. I thought I was good at this, too. Damn.


But nothing a night of salsa and mayhem couldn't make up for. Check out Miss Chu! (Center, red.)


Speaking of red - which pair of red heels to buy?!? Oh the options...


Narrowed down to two, but still very very difficult to choose...


But I think we have a winner.


AND they match my new cell phone that I bought here, because my American wouldn't work even though they said it would:


Gorgeous! Now all I need is a shiny burgundy chihuahua and I'll have the whole set up.

And of course, I had to show off my matching emsemble at the first chance possible. Unfortunately, this was the cutest man we found all night:




Not much for the club atmosphere myself, I voted we stay in a watch a movie the next night. He we are, in our living room, gearing up for "Under the Tuscan Sun." Aw!


The next day we headed to the outskirts of Florence to visit the Italian designer's outlet stores. We saw some gorgeous countryside on the way there:


And some nifty old buildings:


When we got there, I found a muppet hiding in the furs.


It sure thought highly of itself.


I fell in love with this one:


And I won't even show you the price tag on that. Oi.

Italy seems riddled with creepy maniquins:


With creepy plastic joints:


Slightly depressed from our lack of funds to buy all the gorgeous clothes we'd gawked at all day, we decided it was time for some comfort food and wine. Here is almost everyone out for a lovely meal! Thanks Lauren for finding this place!


We also found some almost-familiar things downtown:


And yet more creepy maniquins:


Sunday morning, I headed over to the Boboli Gardens. Disclaimer: more history coming. It is an 11 acre park behind the Palazzo Pitti, which is a palace built in the 15th century by a Florentine banker names Luca Pitti and bought a century later by the Medici family (who ruled Tuscany as an unofficial Monarchy for three centuries.) This palace served as their "white house" equivalent. Now, the Palazzo Pitti is an art museum.










More creepy heads!! What is WITH these people? All of the statues are beautifully crafted but dipict far from beautiful characters and scenes. This one is interesting because the way the water has dripped down his face for so long has formed a trail on minerals that looks like tears streaming down his face.


I'm not sure what this is - it was really frustrating to see all this cool stuff because I couldn't read any of the historical markers next to them. But this looked cool, so I took a picture.




And this is just tacky. Italians and their crazy scultptures. Why?


This is the edge of the fort Belvedere. It is now also an art museum. I'm not sure why the passageways have been blocked up.


And I seem to have stumbled upon a Woody Allen film set.


Just kidding - this is still in the Boboli gardens. I have no idea why, in the middle of a renaissance garden filled with old sculptures there is a huge egg.


Check out my fancy in-camera effects! Meter for the egg and open up two stops, and it will glow.


They have one other modern looking sculpture there that I really liked:




And the biggest bathtub in the world.


Weird. There was also a grotto that seems to be carved out of stalactites.. Again, I couldn't read the historial marker so I'm not sure what the deal is, but I could make out the dates and the name Michelangelo. So it's old, and it's artsy.


Ceiling of the grotto:




Having hiked all 11 acres of the gardens, I headed up to the Palazzo Pitti (the garden's are sort of it's backyard):


There was another garden in here that intrigued me, because there was creepy black sculpture inside that you couldn't see until you got all the way up to it.


Inside, there was a pool of black water with sculptures of children in it:


Those prettymuch scared the shit out of me. What is it with these people and their horrifying sculptures?!? I think this grotto was supposed to be dipicting pergatory. WHY would you want a giant ode to pergatory in the middle of your backyard?


So, I decided maybe I was done with that for the day and heading out into the real world. I stopped to take this photo:


And a lady behind me immediately said, "Oh good! You're American! Do you know where there is an internet cafe?" So evidently, only Americans take photos of bicycles in Italy, haha. Other modes of transportation are just asking for it, though:


What is that, a barbie car?? That looks like a toy. It reminds me of those red and yellow flinstones-style cars from when I was little.

Now this is neat: whenever they are doing construction here, they put a mesh covering over the scaffolding that has a picture of a building facade on it so that the construction is not too disruptive to the overall look. The left side of this building is the actual building, and on the right is the mesh covering that sort of continues the look of the architecture. That white square will be a dolce and gabanna ad in a few days, though.


And here is the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge. It is the only bridge that survived WWII and there are ancient shops all along it.






Well, that's all folks! More coming next Saturday! Ya'll come back now, ya here?

Love, Kate

[Travel Info: If you're spending any time in Florence, you will soon learn that directions are given in terms of the Duomo, the large and famous Cathedral downtown. That said, the Boboli Gardens are about a 30 minute walk from the Duomo, across the Arno river. I was unsuccessful at an attempt to take a bus there, but the walk is beautiful and I would recommend it. It is an expansive example of a renaissance garden, which is a very rigid and interesting style. Beautiful vistas of Florence and the surrounding mountains can be seen from the higher end of the garden - a beautiful picnic spot. Tickets are 2 euros, but there are lots of qualifiers and discounts. Check out this page for more information on admission and hours of operation: http://www.firenzemusei.it/00_english/boboli/info_main.html. The garden has a formal layout with main "routes," but give yourself time to get lost in it: there are lots of hidden paths that open onto surprising views, plantings, or statues (which, by the way, is a key trait of renaissance gardens.) The gardens are serve as the "backyard" for the Pitti Palace - I chose to make these two separate trips (and thus have not gotten to the Pitti Palace yet) but if you are short on time you should certainly try to see both of these at the same time. The Pitti Palace was the Medici Family palace during their rule over Tuscany, and is now a large museum with many different exhibits going on at once. Tickets for both the Palace and the Gardens should be 6 euros - although I think some exhibits have an extra admission fee. Check here for hours and other information: http://www.firenzemusei.it/00_english/boboli/info_main.html. The gardens close an hour before sunset and the Palace closes at different times throughout the year.]