first day in florence

an image of the duomo, in the main center of florence.


after eating lunch in chiatne, we drove into florence, which is only about six kilometers away. howeverr, it took us a long time to find the hotel at which we had reservations, coupled with the fact that roads in florence are not ideally suited for full size cars (or even compact cars for that matter). so we finally just parked the car (it was very difficult to find a parking space), and lugged our luggage while searching for the hotel on foot. we finally found it, after winding through all kinds of skinny roads, aleft our luggage in the room, and explored the new destination with paola’s dad. we saw most of the major sites (the bapistry and duomo (dome) cathedral (whose name escapes me now, but is the famous main attraction), the uffizi gallery, the main piazzas (squares), point vecchio bridge (which is the oldest bridge in the city, covered with jewelry shops, an historical tradition)). it so happens that every year in florence, there is a youth music festival, which brings in youth orchestras (college students, i figure) from all over europe. it so further happened that the first day that we were in town, they had such a concert at some church or another. (perhaps i should be embarrassed that i cant remember all of the italian place names (i was able to in london), but most of them start with ‘san’ and end with an ‘o’ so that is my rationalization for forgetting (or not caring to remember) all of the names.) what made it especially enticing was that it was free! so after seeing a lot of the sites with paola’s dad, and sitting to talk with him before we leave him for a long time), we stopped by the hotel to clean up, and went to the concert.

the orchestra was called the ‘youth and music orchestra of antwerp.’ the music that they played was the violin concerto by bruch, and something by mussorgsky, which has a recognizable theme, but whose name i forget (there was also a first piece which was very generic, and i thought it to be a little more than time filler; the composer’s name, and the name of the piece i forget, nor do i care to remember). both pieces were pretty good. the violinist shredded through the music with virtuoso talent. the mussorgsky piece was longer than expected, but still very good, although throughout the concert, a descriminating observer could hear the inexperience and immaturity in the orchestra. it was generally good, and free of charge, thus, much worth it.

one intersting episode during the concert was in the audience. becuase we arrived early, we got the best seats (none were assigned), but next to us was a seat that said ‘reserved.’ i never saw anyone come to claim the seat, but apparently the person sitting behind us did (indeed, there was a camera bag there, indicating someone had claimed it). then comes in this big woman in a blue summer dress halfway through the first piece of music that was being performed, plowing thorugh the aisles looking for an empty seat. i knew the reserved seat next to me was not occupied, and i hoped that she would not sit there, but she did. she asked me something in italian, which i didnt understand, and paola did not hear, but i pointed to the ‘reserved’ sign on the seat. she promply sat down. an american man sitting behind us (who happened to be some relation to the violinist performing the concerto) told her in english that the seat was reserved, and that she couldnt sit there, she responded to him in italian, in a manner that seemed to be saying that she was the person for whom the seat was reserved, even raising her voice. the man continued to argue with her, but to no avail, only responding ‘yeah, right’ when she finally sat down and pointed to her chest with her thumb, mumbling something. she then went into her bag and pulled out some sort of leaflet, showing it to him, as if that proved that she was the person who was supposed to sit there. she then mumbled something to me, but i tried to ignore it. however, due to my character, i had to respond with at least a silent smile, indicating that i didnt understand her. she then pulled out the concert programme, and mumbled, ‘bruch’ as if she was there to see bruch’s music. she then handed to me the same leaflet that she showed the man (the one i thought indicated her authority, despite her shabby appearance). i read on the cover that it was an advertising for tours around florence. she seemed to enjoy the concert, even if her presence made me feel uncomfortable. after the fact, i felt a bit guilty (not for prejudging her, for certainly she was not the person for whom the seat was reserved). perhaps when i pointed to the reserved sign on the chair, she thought i was making a hand motion as to offer her the seat, thus making me responsible for her believing that she could sit there. interestingly enough, on our last day in florence, which was friday (recall that this concert was on wednesday), we saw this exact same lady walking the streets near basilico san croce (one place name that i remember) wearing the same dress. having decided at the instant that she sat next to us two nights earlier that she was mad, we crossed the street, lest she recognize us and give us another leaflet.