La Befana and Florence

I've had an overwhelming amount of eventful experiences the past week, more than I even have time to recount, so I can only offer an abbreviated version of each story. Maybe you will appreciate that :)

Last Monday was Martina's 18th birthday. She invited me to a party at her house with all of her school friends. We played Taboo (in Italian of course), ate delicious food, and talked and hung out. I didn't have much communication with people because not many people spoke English, but I was really glad to be able to hang out with Martina and celebrate her special day with her. The next day she left for New York and will be gone until next weekend. I'm very much looking forward to when she comes back.

On Tuesday morning, I woke up early and went to the appointment that temporarily changed my life quite a bit! As I'm sure you have seen from pictures, I dyed my hair brown! It was something I have been thinking about for over a month now, and I'm so glad I have finally done it. I went back and forth for a very long time about whether or not I should make such a drastic change. Several weeks ago when I was in Rome, I almost dyed it with dye from a box, but that was on a whim and I hadn't thought it through much. After I thought about everything that changing my hair color would actually entail, I started to reconsider. I am a blonde. I have been known to be a blonde for my whole life. My nickname is Blondie! People have always loved and commented on my blonde hair, so not having blonde hair anymore would be a huge change. But something inside me felt like I had to do it. I am tired of being scared. I am tired of living on the safe side all the time. I wanted to take a risk, do something out of the norm. I figured dying my hair was a pretty safe risk to take (comparatively), so why not let this be something to teach me how to be bolder and live on the edge a little more. Ya I know... who would've thought dying your hair would be so deep, right? So all that being said, Zoila made an appointment for me, and after convincing the hairstylist that I am not crazy and really would not regret my beautiful blonde hair being turned brown, I went into the salon and came out a brunette!

Before I left for my appointment...

And after!

The night before, Zoila's mom was nice enough to cut my hair (she owned a hair salon for many years), so I also was sporting a new 'do. The whole next day, everyone in the family was so shocked every time they looked at me. Aurelio walked in the house and didn't even know who I was for a second! And later on that night he called me Zoila when I walked past him, thinking that the swish of brown hair in front of his was her instead of me. The kids made comments on how they have a new babysitter now ;-) And I think the grandpa was completely confused when he saw me in the house. It's all been pretty funny. Even for myself, I still get startled every time I see my reflection in a window or mirror! It's such a different look, but I'm enjoying something fresh and new :)

Wednesday, January 6, was the last day of Christmas break for the kids. It's a major holiday here in Italy, almost as big as Christmas. It's called the Day of Epiphany and is celebrated by hanging stockings above the fireplace so that a witch called La Befana can come fill them with candy or coal.

About.com did a better job explaining it than I could, so here is a brief explanation by them of the story of La Befana:

"Italy's traditional celebration includes the tale of a witch known as La Befana who arrives on her broomstick during the night of January 5 and fills the stockings with toys and sweets for the good children and lumps of coal for the bad ones. According to the legend, the night before the Wise Men arrived at the manger they stopped at the shack of an old woman to ask directions. They invited her to come along but she replied that she was too busy. Then a shepherd asked her to join him but again she refused. Later that night, she saw a great light in the sky and decided to join the Wise Men and the shepherd bearing gifts that had belonged to her child who had died. She got lost and never found the manger. Now La Befana flies around on her broomstick each year on the 11th night, bringing gifts to children in hopes that she might find the Baby Jesus. Children hang their stockings on the evening of January 5 awaiting the visit of La Befana."

Thursday morning I woke up to squealing and screeching from the kids. I was in a very deep sleep, but woke up right away (although still in quite a daze) when Cesare and Maria Vittoria ran into my room to show me what the Befana had brought for them. They dumped their stockings - full of candy, chocolate, and goodies - onto my bed and raked through all the gifts with excitement and huge smiles on their faces. I can't imagine a better way to be woken up :) I went back to sleep after they left my room, only to wake up an hour later to Cesare rushing in again to show me his toy Lion that he was so very proud of. And of course, not much after that Maria Vittoria heard and wanted to join in on the fun as well. So the two of them climbed onto my bed to pretend to sleep, until Zoila came in and told them to let me have a little longer to sleep. It was so sweet though. They were so excited to share the day with me that they just couldn't wait any longer for me to get up. I tried to sleep for a few more minutes after that, but I decided to get up so I could spend some time with them. It's not so bad being woken up when it's for such a sweet reason :)

You can't see her face very well...but check out that plastic nose!

We enjoyed our last day of Christmas vacation. As a tradition here in Italy, most children get to actually see the Befana someplace when she comes (kind of like when we see Santa Clause in the mall). On Wednesday afternoon, the Befana came into the center of Foligno to pass out candy and stockings to all the children - or at least to those who had parents who were willing to push, stomp, and shove others out of the way to get a stocking. There wasn't quite enough to go around for everyone, but luckily the kids were content to walk away with some balloons and a piece of pizza. The event was very festive though, and the whole main square was complete with balloons, decorations, and tons of people and children everywhere. In fact, we even got to see the Befana walk through! As any witch would, she hunched over and walked slowly through the piazza, clutching the arm of a tall man next to her. But Maria Vittoria is not a dumb six year old. The Befana's plastic nose with strings across the cheeks to attach it to the ears did not fool her! As much as we tried to convince her that it was the real Befana, Maria Vittoria knew it was a fake, and was not happy about it!

So on Thursday, Zoila set up a genius situation for Maria Vittoria and Cesare to meet the real Befana. In the late afternoon, the whole family set out for Patrizia and Leo's house in Castagnola to await the coming of.... La Befana. We hung around, snacked on prosciutto and bread, and sang karaoke for awhile, until we heard a strange noise outside. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at each other with wide eyes. Ding, ding. Ding, ding. There was a soft bell ringing outside. We all scampered around, some near the door, some away from the door, but all the time making sure the kids were completely convinced that this was her. We peeked out the front door and saw a dark figure hiding in the shadows. She let out a loud cackle and we all ran towards her. It was the Befana!! Her large witch hat covered her face, so we couldn't see her eyes. In one hand, she held a large broomstick made from real sticks and branches and in the other, she had a bag with several goodies in it. The kids ran up to her, hoping for some stockings, but we didn't let them get too close. The witch talked to them in a screechy cackly voice and told them she had brought them each a stocking with surprises in it. Maria Vittoria cried out in surprise, "It's Aunt Patrizia! I know her voice!"

The Befana put her head down so the brim of her hat was covering her face even more and turned around to reach into her bag. She quickly reached in and drew out a huge stocking for each of the kids, along with a car set for Cesare and a crown and princess set for Maria Vittoria. She hurried off, to make sure she reached the other children's houses in time, and we all rushed back into the house.

A few minutes later, Patrizia returned from the grocery store ;-) She couldn't believe that the Befana had actually come to visit! Maria Vittoria was still not so convinced that it hadn't been her aunt, but as we were discussing it and laughing about it, we heard another sound outside. It was another little bell ringing, but this time from the opposite side of the house. We ran outside, out the back door this time, with Patrizia leading the way. She looked around for a second and then ran back in with another stocking in her hand... The Befana had thought our back door was the door to another house, so she left another stocking!! A minute later, Uncle Leo slipped in the front door and laughed with the kids as they opened a stocking with coal and toilet paper rolls. Good thing it wasn't supposed to be for them! We all laughed together and enjoyed the unexpected second visit from the Befana. Maria Vittoria giggled that she had once thought the Befana was her aunt.

Friday was the kids' first day back in school after over two weeks. I think Zoila and I both felt a little relief at finally getting back to a routine again and having the kids doing something to keep them occupied instead of bored and too rowdy at home. That evening I went to a pub with Andrea and our friend Shaila, and a couple of their other friends. We had a really fun time, but I didn't stay out too late because I had a full day ahead of me the next day to be spent in Florence with the family. When I told Shaila that I was going to Florence and planning on staying the night there after the family returned home, she gave me the contact information of one of her friends there and told me he would be happy to show me around.

We left around 10 am on Saturday for Florence. I sat in the middle seat in the back of the car, right between the kids' car seats, but luckily the two hour car drive went pretty quickly. On the way, we drove through the area where Under the Tuscan Sun was filmed, and Zoila pointed out that the town it was filmed in is on the border of Tuscany, almost in Umbria. So much for it being the "Tuscan" sun ;-) We've got the same thing an hour away here in Umbria! She also told me that the movie romanticizes village life, which doesn't really exist so much in Italy anymore. Of course, people still live in rural areas and have farms and vineyards and are close to their neighbors, but it's still the 21st century and you can see evidence of that anywhere in the country. I can't really remember how the movie portrays Italy, because it's been awhile since I've seen it, but when I see it again I'll make sure to let you know how accurate it is or not.

Around noon we pulled into the city center of Florence, parked our car on the street, and entered a tall apartment building where Zoila and Aurelio's friends live. We talked and visited until lunch was ready, while the kids played with the friends' adorable 6 year old Vieri, and then sat down to yet another wonderful meal of pasta with radish. Everywhere I have been, the food has been good, so you can only imagine that it was delicious here as well. And on top of that, our host is a wine expert, so we had some very good quality wine to accompany our meal, and lots of it! I was stuffed and exhausted after our meal, and not surprisingly ended up falling asleep on the couch. When I woke up, Cesare crawled into my lap and gave me a huge hug :)

Everyone got ready and we went out for a walk through the city. Walking with three little kids, strollers, stuffed animals, and two husbands never makes for a very fast walk, so we slowly took our time and enjoyed the views on the way. As we walked along the Arno River, Zoila's friends pointed out places that I should visit, like Piazzale Michelangelo and Ponte Vecchio. We stopped by a famous church and then headed into the direct center of the city to see Piazza Uffizi and the Duomo. It was strange walking in a place that I remember quite clearly being in three years ago. I recognized almost everything I saw, but at the same time it seemed so different and I felt like I was looking at it with a very different perspective now. What I remember more prominently than anything else from my last visit to Florence was the people. Before visiting, I had always dreamed of going to or living in Florence someday. But when I saw it for the first time, I was totally turned off by the amount of tourists that were there. The city was so jam packed with loud Americans, Asians with bucket hats, and carts with useless tourist trinkets that I could barely stand it. I left Florence thinking that it was a nice city, but it was completely overrun by people and tourists. Visiting in January, however, is a much different experience than visiting in May, the peak of tourist season. The city wasn't quite in full Christmas spirit, as many of the decorations were starting to come down, but there were still a few remains, leaving a cheery and cozy atmosphere about the city.

I loved it. There were still tons of people, but this time I felt like they were all Italians, rather than tourists. Or maybe I just happen to notice the Italians more now since I live among them... I don't know, but I do know that the weather was great, the lights were beautiful, the shopping was fantastic, and I absolutely loved getting to experience it all with my Italian family :)

The kids decided they wanted gelato, so we rounded a corner and went down a back street to a gelato shop. The line was out the door and curved around the street outside. I have no idea why this place was so popular, but people certainly seemed to like it! I was still so full that I could hardly bear the thought of more food, but I couldn't pass up the most famous gelato in the city, so Zoila and I shared a small cup. It was just the perfect amount :)

I walked with the whole group a little further through town until it was time to part ways. They headed back to the friends' house and I ventured out on my own to find my hostel. Fortunately, Florence is a much smaller city than Rome, so everything is very close and is always within walking distance. Plus, there is no underground public transport system, so the mess of the metro station is avoided and replaced by casual and low-stress sightseeing as you walk! Unlike Rome, I easily found my hostel, the Luna Rossa, located right next to the train station, and checked in without any complications. The clerk showed me to my room on the fifth floor.

The fifth floor was the top floor and as we walked through the hallway of the fifth floor, the clerk stopped suddenly in front of a bright pink door that I hadn't even noticed (I think in the back of my mind I expected it to be a closet or something of that sort). He led me up a narrow passageway of stairs to my own private room at the very top. There was a double bed, a computer with internet and TV, a sink, and the best part of all, an absolutely beautiful view of the city and the Duomo. This was a hostel! When I booked a single room for myself, I had no idea that this was the kind of amenities and perks I would get with it. Last time I went to a hostel, I slept in a twin bunk bed with a bunch of other people in the room and had to pay for a towel and soap. Everything in this hostel was provided for me and even though it didn't have the nicest furniture or the newest looking rooms, I loved it because it had exactly everything I needed.

I had contacted Shaila's friend, Edoardo, early that afternoon and planned to meet up with him at 8:00. I rested for a bit in my hostel and then headed out to meet him. I waited for awhile, not knowing who to look for since I had never met him before and didn't even know what he looked like. After a few minutes, a tall and very Italian-looking guy came up and asked me if I was Sarah. I responded yes, and then he asked me if I have ever been on a motorcycle before.

Have you ever seen the Lizzie McGuire movie? If so, you have a pretty good idea of what the rest of the evening was like for me. I hopped on the back of Edoardo's motorcycle and we took off, zipping through Florence and zooming through the streets, seeing the city the right way - the way Italians do :) We rode passed the Duomo, saw the Ponte Vecchio, whirled through the piazzas, and made our way all the way up to the famous lookout point of Piazzale Michelangelo to experience an incredible panoramic view of the entire city.

I spent most of my teenage years in complete envy of Lizzie McGuire's life and luck. It's about time I get to have my own unbelievable adventure ;-)

It turns out that Edoardo is a photographer, so we experimented with different photography techniques taking pictures of the city below. It was a fantastic view and I'm really glad I had someone there to help me capture a decent picture of it!

For dinner we went over to Edoardo's friends' house and I had a authentic Italian food, specially prepared the college student way ;-) There was a lot of people living in the house and hanging out over there that night, so I got to meet a lot of different people my age. After dinner, we headed to two different pubs in town. One of them had live jazz music, books everywhere, and comfy couches to sit on, just like a coffee shop in the U.S., and I loved it. Sadly, it closed early so we had to relocated to another place that Edoardo knows well.

The next morning, I woke up to the sound of chimes and bells ringing outside my room and the sunlight pouring in through the windows. It was a beautiful morning. I took my time getting ready and blasted my music that I could listen to through the TV. I was excited, energized, and ready for another eventful day in a beautiful city. I didn't have a specific agenda, but figured I would take some time to walk around and take in the city, in the daylight. Camera in hand, I revisited some of the places I had been to the previous day and tried to plan my agenda for the rest of my day.

There was one thing I knew I could not leave without doing: I had to see the statue of David. And not the replica in Piazza Uffizi. I needed to see the real one, the original. I had so looked forward to seeing the famous statue for months before I came to Florence last time, but it just so happened that the one day I was able to spend in the city was the one day of the week that the Galleria Accademia is closed, so I did not get a chance to see it. It was very disappointing.

I expressed my burning desire to see Michaelangelo's masterpiece to Edoardo and his friends only to merit this response: "If Florence was Disneyland, David would be Mickey Mouse." Apparently everyone who comes to Florence has one main thing on their agenda and that is to see David. He is the symbol, the icon for the historical city, and the people who live there are just a tad sick of it. I think they get quite enough talk about him on an every day basis ;-)

Either way, I was still convinced I had to see "Mickey Mouse," so on Sunday morning, after stopping at a cafe to get a coffee and a pastry, I visited the Galleria Accademia to fulfill my dream of the past four years.

David was magnificent. I had trouble finding him at first and ended up touring the complete opposite side of the museum before I found the main room where the massive sculpture is displayed. But when I rounded the corner and entered the room, I literally stopped in my tracks to take in the magnificence of what I was seeing. Maybe it's cliche, maybe it's typical, but it's astounding and it took my breath away.

The statue was at the end of a longer hallway that perfectly drew all attention and eyes immediately to the masterpiece as soon as one walked through it. The closer I got, the more I realized how huge this statue was. I had known it was bigger than life-size, but I had never realized how completely massive it was. The statue was posed in splendor and grace and absolutely epitomized everything I have ever heard about it. I walked around and around and then sat down for a good ten minutes, just gazing at the perfection and elegance of Michaelangelo's work. Definitely worth it.

I considered going to the Uffizi Gallery next to see some famous paintings, but I got distracted on the streets by a very exciting word on all the windows: Saldi. After January 6, pretty much everything goes on sale, and I mean everything. There are stores with every item marked as 50% off. It's fantastic! So I hit up H&M and a few other shops and got a couple cheap new items for my wardrobe.

A little later in the afternoon, I met up with Edoardo again and we visited Boboli Gardens, the gardens of Palazzo Pitti. They were beautiful as well, and it was exciting getting to see some different parts of the city that I hadn't seen before. We both brought our cameras and had lots of fun doing photo shoots in the gardens. I've got a ton of pictures from it now!

Around 5:00, we said goodbye and I set out for the train station. I walked through the streets, got some pizza for dinner, stopped at my hostel to pick up my bag, bought my ticket at the train station, and was sitting on my train at 6:00, fifteen minutes before it was supposed to leave. Oh how I love Florence :)

I realized as I was coming home that I did not feel the same relief and exhaustion that I usually feel upon coming home from Rome. I felt fine and like had had a simple, normal day... nothing stressful or exhausting. What a huge difference from all the other times I've come home! I very much appreciate the convenience of a smaller city! It was a beautiful place and I cannot wait to go back again someday! :)