Kerry in Florence 2nd Night: Nov. 20, 2005

Hey, this keyboard has American punctuation as well as our letter layout! This should be much faster. The computer keyboard seems to be different in every country and even within countries.

Today was Sunday. I had ViaMichelin.com directions for the Church, so after breakfast (nice breakfast room downstairs) I got on a bus and found the address. That's it in the picture below. You can see the reflection of the street behind me in the glass door to the church, so you can get an idea of the neighborhood. Firenze 2nd Branch meets on the second floor of a 5-story building in a decent area NE of the oldest part of the city. It's only got a few classrooms, and the chapel seems about twice the size of our living room: three little chairs on the right side of the aisle, four on the left.

I just now had the strangest experience - some teenage boy came into the Internet Point where I am and came up to me and started begging. The girl working here came and kicked him out. I didn't even get a chance to speak to him. It felt wierd. There are beggars everywhere. I've given a few of them some coins. I'm sure most of them are legit here, which gets to me even more.

So in this branch are several Americans, mostly college-age girls over here on 3-4 month study abroad programs or being a nanny. One of them actually taught us an English-speaking Sunday School class. In Relief Society, there were only about six of us when it started, but there were 10 when it finished, plus the missionaries who came in to translate for me. They say they have all the programs of the Church here, so I asked how many Young Women. They said six.

I met this interesting good-looking American couple. He's an artist painting here, has long curly hair, and looks like Jesus. His wife is really pretty in a very natural sort of way. She looked a little weak, and we found out she's expecting and having morning sickness. She had to run out. Here's his website: www.diediker.com If you see a picture with 3 ladies in a red dress called "ketchup," that's his wife.

After church a lady heated up some rolls with chocolate chips (they put choc chips in yogurt and everything else here) and I had one. Good thing, too, because that was the last food I had until I got back from Pisa. I was getting pretty hungry!

I caught a bus to the train station and waited in line to buy a ticket to Pisa. They have lots of vending machines that sell the tix, but I haven't figured them out yet. Tonight I asked a tall Chinese girl to teach me how to do it so I don't have to stand in the line any more.

I got on the train (no reservations for local trains on Sunday) and sat by a window facing front. Soon I was surrounded by African men yakking away. At first I couldn't tell what language it was, because they still have the African inflections. They were speaking Italian but they sounded African to me!

The train (of course) stopped at every little town, taking 1 1/2 hours instead of the fast train, which I should have taken, which is only 1 hour. Oh well. It also went through the seediest part of every town, but every so often you'd get a glimpse of a castle on top of a hill or an old church. Welcome to second-world Italy!

In Pisa, I found that the bus number to the Leaning Tower that was listed in Rick Steves was no longer right. So I just started asking, and hopped on some other bus and was there in ten minutes. I immediately went to buy a ticket for the top. You must get a ticket with an assigned time. My time was 4:30, an hour away. I figured that was ideal, because it gave me time to look around the Cathedral and read up in my guidebook and be on the top of the tower just at sunset. And I was! It was SO COOL with the sun going down and watching the mountains in the distance and talking to people from all over. I went to the very top, on the 8th level. That's the picture at the top of this post.

On the 7th level there are 7 huge bells, all like our liberty bell. While I was standing by them, this announcement came on in lots of different languages, saying the bells were about to start ringing. It's a good thing they make the announcement, so no one falls off the tower in fright at the huge giant clanging sound! It was SO loud!

The church there is also quite unusual, in a style called "Pisan Romanesque." It was started around the year 1050, I think, and it's covered in white marble with grey horizontal marble stripes. It was built with the fabulous wealth plundered from Moslem sites in Corsica, I think. It almost looks Byzantine, but of course the city of Pisa was a great sea power rivaling Venice, and it traded with Byzantium.

I took a different bus back to the train station. Train was (of course) not on the track it said on the big board, so I had to scoot under the tracks to come up at the right track.

I got seated and in a minute a really lost-looking but well-dressed young punk guy came and sat across from me. He had on a ribbed sweater and an puffy orange vest and fancy jeans (very expensive over here) and an eyebrow piercing and a tongue stud. Of course I tried to talk to him. He spoke a little English and I spoke a little Italian. He's 24 and from Tuscany, but he wouldn't tell me what he does for work. He said it was too hard to tell in English. Maybe he's a drug dealer.

Anyway, soon we were surrounded by African men again. I ignored it for half an hour, and then I moved. I have found that native Italian people like you and me will all sit in one car, while immigrants will all sit in another, if there is room. My goodness. Europe used to think America was bad with race problems, and now they are having their own. I wish them well.

Back in Florence, I looked up another hotel the Air France wants to put my group into in June. It's very nice but right near the train station; good for bag hauling but bad for atmosphere and noise. I like the one I'm in tonight; I think I'll ask for it again.

I finally had some pizza for supper. It was very thin and had eggplant on it. It was about 14" across, but the crust was so thin I ate the whole thing. My time is gone; it's almost 10 PM. I must send before this computer turns off.

Love,

Mom