"The David" and Cinque Terra

Beware...the following may be longwinded, overwhelming, and altogether exciting. I have had an amazing weekend full of good food, amazing sights, physical activity, and the Lord's provision. It began with another trip to Florence to see Michelangelo's The David and the Medicci tombs, which were partly designed by Michelangelo himself. Wow! If I would not have already had an interest in art, this would have hooked me. Now, it just threw me deeper into wanting to understand more. We viewed several of his other works that seem to be unfinished: sculptures that he never completely carved out from the marble that they're in. However, Paolo mentioned that, to artist, these things are complete because they were never supposed to escape from the marble and the author's mind. As for The David, how do I begin? The statue, first of all, is much larger than life. No one had ever mentioned to me that this super life-like, and super intricate piece was almost three and a half times as tall as my friend Bart who is 6'3. The detail and study of the human anatomy is incredible. Every vein and ripple of muscle, every tendon and wrinkle in the knuckles...it's all there. Even the things that are disproportional were intentional. Just in case no one ever mentions it in a textbook, his right second toe is longer than all the others! Michelangelo was genius in his sculptures, but his career also began when he was very young since he worked as an apprentice. After the Academy Museum tour, we saw more of Michelangelo's work in the Medicci family tombs. He created two piece, each with a male and female figure, to serve as monuments for the catacombs. One displays a disfigured woman called "night" with an opposing male figure appropriately named "day. Opposite them, are dawn and dusk. The ornate and incredible catacombs inside hold incredible paintings with the brightest blue color always reserved for Mary in the spiritual tales through paintings.
We had two hours before our train to La Spezia, so Joy and I decided to get some untourist-like sightseeing done. We found this incredible leather book/journal store and the Lord granted me one of my favorite memories yet. Rita, who owns the store with her husband, used to work at the biblioteque (library) in Florence. When they shut in down for the restoration, they lost their jobs and had to find work making leather pieces and rebinding old books. The store that burst forth has been opened for 20 years now and they have to work 12 hour days just to keep up. It is hard work, but she wrote me a letter in the back of one of the journals that she handmade the leather and paper for saying that she loves creating things for people who will cherish them. She branded the Florentine emblem on my journal right in front of me before we captured the story in a picture. As if I was not already overjoyed, we then were granted another connection. My dear friend, Jennifer K., lived and worked in Florence last summer. We finally found the bakery/pastry shop where she spent time with a famous Italian chocolatier who published some of his recipes in a city book. We walked in five minutes before they closed, just in time to meet Piere and the girl workers. I flashed my picture of Jennifer and the next thing that I knew, we were greeted with smiles, two free cookbooks, and a free lunch. More pictures followed before we walked out saying "Wow"!
The saga continued on Friday night when we made it safely to La Spezia to eat a local favorite called "franata". Let's just say that this dish of deep fried tortilla-like pieces made from chick-peas will probably never find its way into my appetite again. My first hostel stay proved to be better than I expected. Our hosts in Bosia kept a really clean place and we were able to stay there for two nights at about 18 euro a night. It was clean and the town was really quaint. Saturday, one of my greatest dreams came true: we hiked Cinque Terra. Starting at 7:20 in the morning, we made our way through Italy's famous "five lands" which took about 5 hours total. Riomaggiore to Manarola hosts a "walk of love" that's easy walking which leads to the town of Corneglia by the way of a picteresque stroll. Cornneglia's path to Vernazza, on the other hand, is a different story. It was enough motivation to keep going, though, when we could get a glimpse of the colorful little town peaking out over the rocky cliffs over the sea. Vernazza, my favorite town for things to see, had a band playing by the cove and offered us hungry hikers some of its best pesto and "pomodoro" (tomato) focaccia bread. Last, came the hike to Monteroosso, which is apparently the hardest. Lots of people from our group didn't face all of the hikes, but Joy and I were determined to conquer the whole thing. The challenge was well worth it and we rewarded ourselves with an afternoon on the beach, watching the waves and licking our cones full of super sweet gelato.

We traveled by 5 modes of transporation to get home today, interrupting the trip only long enough to take goofy pictures of us "holding up" the leaning tower of Pisa. I bought a couple of souvenirs, devoured a Mediterranean filafle wrap (so good!) and then slept the whole way home. So, after all of the amazing memories and just a few almost missed buses and moments of need...we are back. Tonight. everyone's excited about dinner because the mayor of the town will be in attendance. I'm sure it will be nice to have him there, but really we're thrilled that the "mamas" in the kitchen will showcase their greatest culinary skills for this important figure.