Santa Maria Novella

Thursday is art day. I went to bed earlier than normal last night and woke up an hour later than normal this morning. I felt great after having all that sleep. After enjoying breakfast and catching up on some of my reading homework, 11 o'clock came around and all of us we sitting in our Art and Architecture class. Claudia told us today we would be visiting the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella.

In class we discussed more of Giotto's work and compared him to the other artists of his era. We also learned about how to look at a painting and be able to draw the scheme of the painting. We then looked at pictures of various other artists we would be seeing at the church. Class today only lasted about an hour-and-a-half which made us all happy as two hours is a little much for us.

We were to meet Claudia at the front of the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella at 3 pm. Allyson, Betsy, Ania, and I wanted to go down early to do a little shopping and look at some shoes. We had gone back to Villa Bonelli after class but pretty much took a little bathroom break and headed out again.

The four of us stopped off at this little pastry place that sells pizza by the slice and pastries. We all got a little bit of something for lunch and decided to walk down to San Domenico while we ate our food and then catch the bus the rest of the way. Everywhere you look is a gorgeous view and when hanging out with these three girls I always have a good time. We were singing and dancing along the street, trying not to get hit by passing cars or scooters, and just having a grand old time. While we waited at the bus stop pasted San Domenico we sang a whole bunch of different songs. "Goodbye Earl" was a particular favorite of the afternoon for us as well as many snippets from various oldies songs. I had a great time.

We road the bus all the way to the Stazione where we then walked across the street to this shoe store, Peluso. We looked around but weren't really interested or there the shoes we liked were not in our size. We then just wandered around as we had a good half-hour, forty-five minutes before we had to be in front of Santa Maria Novella. Betsy had to go to the bathroom so we found this little eatery so she could go. I bought Ania and I a Coke Zero while Allyson had a delightful pastry that she shared a little with us. We then headed to Santa Maria Novella and met up with Claudia.

It was 2.50 euro to get into the church and we weren't allowed to take pictures. There are amazing frescoes and paintings in the church. We paid close attention to Giotto's crucifix as well as Maccacio's Trinity painting. We were supposed to look at Brunelleschi's crucifix but that particular chapel inside Santa Maria Novella was under repairs so we were unable to do so. On the bright side, there were postcards for purchase off to the side. I purchased 5 postcards and two prayer cards. One postcard was of Brunelleschi's crucifix so I was able to see it at least.

After our on-site class, a few of us walked along the route of the #7 bus. I bought a few things that I'm going to give as gifts so there will be no description, sorry. We then hopped the bus back as we were having dinner early tonight, 6:30 instead of 7, because La Reggia was having a big shindig and wanted us out of there before the others arrived.

Dinner was delicious as usual. The pasta we had tonight was cheesy with meat in it. It reminded my of macaroni and cheese but tastes sooooo much better. Our second course was chicken and roasted potatoes. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm!!!!! Dessert was chocolate and strawberry gelato which was just what I wanted. The mix of the chocolate and strawberry flavors is very tasty.

I'm calling it a night as we have to leave early tomorrow to go to Assisi. The weather says sun with a high of 14 degrees Celsius which is around 58F. Ciao, amici miei.