The movie is about a woman who moves to Italy to have a second chance; she buys an old house in the Tuscan countryside and fixes it up. It portrays Italy as a romantic and spiritual place. Arriving in Florence by train through the Tuscan wineries and rolling hills brought on a strange sense of nostalgia ; false memories of events I haven't lived through, yet have made an impression on me. After visiting Florence there is no wonder why it is attractive to so many.
We stayed in an Italian woman's childhood home through a website we sometimes use for accommodation called Air Bnb. The website has listings for places all over the world in people's homes or space for rent, and it usually has some pretty cheap options. We were thankful to find a room in Florence that didn't break our budget, since it is a very expensive city.
When we got to Beatrice's apartment, who we had communicated with over email through the help of google translate, we had an interesting time trying to sort out the details with her. But, she was very sweet and made small jokes as she tried to explain how to use the ancient appliances in her house for cooking and laundry and orient us to our surroundings (She herself didn't live in the house, it was a rental only and we shared it with a group of Asian tourists).
We mostly spent our time in Florence walking around the old centre and admiring the beautiful detail on the outside of the churches and royal buildings. We also visited the museum of science that featured inventions from Galeleo. It was amazing to see how far technology has come in a relatively short time, and it was also very cute to see Steve get excited about certain mathematic theories and grand inventions.
After spending around 10 hours each day walking, the highlight of our second day was going to the grocery store and buying some food to cook. It was the first time that we had a full kitchen to make use of, and we were happy to eat something other than McDonald's and fast food-- something that is unavoidable when you need to keep meals on the cheap.
We bought our dinner and headed to the apartment and climbed into the elevator. By this time my feet were aching and I was hot. The groceries felt really heavy in my hands and I had to pee. I was dancing around the elevator uncomfortably when Steve's curiosity piqued up. The land lady had told us not to touch the inward swinging door in the elevator while it was in use, so naturally Steve decided to open it while we were going up to see what would happen. Before I could stop him the alarm rang and the elevator slammed to a halt.
He looked at me. We didn't exchange words. My look of death was so sullen and fierce that he shrank back and put up his hands. When he finally caught his breath he said "I'm sorry! I just had to push it!"
I didn't reply. Only stared.
"Ummmm....what should we do?"
I shrugged.
"Maybe someone will find us?"
I shrugged again.
We stood there. In awkward silence. The grocery bags were pulling on our arms, reminding me of the delicious food we were so close to preparing. It made me even more aggravated.
Just as Steve was about to start climbing into the elevator shaft, the magic of the universe kicked in and saved his butt. The lift started moving up. With a sigh of relief, Steve said, "I knew it would start again."
I just sighed. After using the bathroom and eating dinner, I found my words again.
The rest of our adventures in Florence are not much to read about, but were very relaxing and romantic for us.We walked hand in hand, and enjoyed eachothers company as we took in beautiful sights. One of the highlights of Florence is the famous bridge that still has a few medieval houses built into it-- they were built buy people who wanted to avoid paying land taxes. It was a very picturesque bridge filled with buskers, vendors, and tourists.
By the time we left Tuscany I was still feeling full from fresh pasta and Lemoncellos, and thought of my sister and the times we enjoyed living vicariously through Diane Lane. It made me realize how much we love living life with others at home. Although it was amazing to see the rolling hillside, I wouldn't trade 20 Tuscany's for a night on the couch in Pajamas with my sister watching movies.
Beautiful house bridge:
Scooters everywhere!
Cool cathedral:
Galileo museum
One of the first electric motors ever:
Galileos finger! A little morbid we thought:
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