After Church

June 22nd

After all the churches I took off on another solitary walk and found a really cheap grocery store! Hallelujah for 18 centimes (cent) water. Unbelievable! But then this is where the real Florentines live, so naturally everything is cheaper. 

Grocery heaven!!! 

I do love this side of the city, as I've mentioned before. Here are a few of the pictures I took walking:

The Vasari Corridor

Old Medieval Street

Another one!

A sea of motor bikes and vespas

The Duomo across the river

Lunch! Cheap groceries = cheap plastic spoons and cheap yoghurt for lunch! Yum!

The Ponte Vecchio/Vasari's Corridor from the Ponte alle Grazie

Patriotism. I think I love the people who hang flags off of their balconies and ancient shutters!

Crossing to the Via De' Benci to head to lecture (very near my beloved Sante Croce!)

Just before arriving at the Piazza di Santa Croce, I came upon another artisan shop. In this beautifully preserved Palazzo where people live in condos, are some well preserved frescoes and a shop where you can make your own perfume for a pretty penny. I was shy to take pictures inside but suffice it to say that it looked very like the fancy toiletries shop by Santa Maria Novella- meaning old fashioned cabinets, jars of labeled herbal perfumes, glass contraptions that heat and mix scents, basically a modern apothecary shop. Expensive for my student budget, but when I'm rich and famous I'd like to go back and make my own perfume :)

 The beautiful courtyard!

This type of fresco, which becomes popular and well established was a cheap way for patrons to have "marble relief sculpture" in their homes and palaces, as hiring sculptor was inordinately expensive.

Next, I headed to our lecture, today on mid-15th century Florentine painting, and then went off again to explore and photograph.

Since coming to the Piazza Santissima Annunziata with Marco last week, I had wanted to come back and take pictures as well as see the interior of the church. It is one of the most religious places in Florence and the inside of the church is spectacular. There was a mass and to be respectful I walked slowly around and decided not to take any pictures. But I did take some more of the frescoes in the courtyard.

The Piazza with the Foundling hospital designed by Brunelleschi on the left (where the rock concert was held).

 I then headed home and stopped to take some pictures of our tour venue tomorrow: San Marco:

And then just some silly ones. This is something you see all over Florence. Men and women in fancy dress on bicycles.

\

 Home, sweet home:

 Oh yeah.... and dinner....:)

Definitely a pattern developing!