A Few of Our Favorite Things

January has meant getting back to our daily life, which is often full of our favorite things in Florence.

We walk everywhere, but enjoy finding the ways that Florentines get around their city.

Electric cars, able to squeeze into streets once made for horses, are some of our favorite things in Florence. (And sometimes, we can find electric cars "fueling up" at electric fueling stations!)

 

Grom is a favorite gelato place, and this small, neighborhood Centro market is a block from our home and our favorite place to go for groceries when open markets are closed for the day.

To get to downtown, we walk past this favorite Loggia. It was once located in the original, Jewish district (now Piazza de la Republica), dismantled and built again near our home, here in Piazza Ciompi.

Preserved fresco paintings are a favorite thing for us in Florence,



as is this terrace on the top floor of the Uffizi gallery. 





From here, we have a close-up view of the coat of arms around the Pallazo Vechio,





and a table inside, or outside, at our favorite cafe.



Josephine and Sophia have discovered favorite, Italian-made dolls, and Carla has found a favorite view of the Duomo from this street.

One of Joe's favorite sights in Florence is the laundry, still hung on the outside of windows to dry. The Jewish synogogue in Florence, located just across the park from our home, is considered a favorite in all of Europe. (It is beautiful, inside and out!)

One day in January, Sophia began to doodle some favorite things that she left back in Seattle. If you look carefully, you might recognize...

                     ...one of her favorite grandmas, a Husky fan, or, a soccer player and one of her favorite, Leschi neighbors.

We're learning this year that there are many things to love about Italy, and, there are many things we miss while living here. And that, at least for Sophia and Josephine,




...there's no place like home.

 

Buon Anno

Happy New Year from Florence!



We celebrated the coming of 2011 by walking through the streets of our neighborhood to Piazza Della Signoria for a live performance by the Florence Orchestra.



We often hear classical music when we walk through Florence. From outside small recital halls and inside large churches, even from street corners, we hear beautiful music, sung and played by trained musicians. (Here, the musicians play among the sculptures of the Loggia, and the random whistles of fireworks and blasts of cherry bombs!)



We were back in Rome for the weekend of Epiphany, and discovered St Peter's square full of visitors.




Guests had arrived from the Philippines to visit the Christ child,



the Pope was outside of his papal apartment, extending blessings in every language,

while medieval knights raised flags and led a colorful procession down the streets of Rome.

This New Year, Sophia and Josephine earned their Italian drivers liscences,

and will join their cousin, Luca, and other, Italian drivers on the autostrada this Spring.

 



This New Year, we've skated a bit,

 


















and taught cousin Eva to skate a bit.




We've vistted the leather factory in Florence,

 


and learned how to make pretty handbags like this.



We've helped Joe celebrate another year of life, and remember that last year, Joe wished for a year full of adventure in a land far away from home...




 Which makes us wonder what Joe wished for this year.....?

Buon Anno! May all of your wishes for the New Year come true!!

The Louvre

The Louvre was originally built as a fortess in the 12th century and housed many kings and monarchs. At the time of the French Revolution, the palace became a place for the national art collection. By 1889, and after new palace construction and large acquisitions of art, The Louve became solely a museum for art.

The Louvre Pyramid was built in 1989, at the bicentennial of the Revolution. We entered the museum here by taking an escalator inside the Pyramid to the lower level.

Art in the Louvre was breathtaking.

The palace itself was amazing, like the ceiling of this room. And, of coarse, each room was full with  overwhelming, collections of artworks.

There was a lot to see. Sophia decided to choose certain pieces and spend her time sketching them,

 

while Josephine roamed from room to room with a camera. Josephine discovered all kinds of beautiful women in paintings, including the crowning of this Josephine, and
                                           


 these two, twin-like sisters!



Napoleon is all over the Louvre, and special Napoleon "apartment" rooms have retained their original stuccos and elegant furnishings of gold, bronze, silk and velvet.  We wanted to stay here for tea, dinner or to just write a postcard!

Sophia and Josephine thought they might race these two to the finish line.

The finish line for all of us was the wonderful book shop, where Josephine read aloud from a few favorites.

By the end of our days, it was dark, snowy and cold in Paris, just like it was here outside the Musee d' Orsay, making it all the more special to have warm and beautiful places like the museums to spend our hours in Paris.