Picasso in Florence?

Today was a day full of adventures. In the morning, my Women and the Arts in Italy class went on a field trip to the Palazzo Davanzati. The whole point of the field trip was to see how women lived (domestically) and the rooms were beautifully decorated with lace, tapestries, frescoes, etc. Here's a picture of the outside...

What stuck with me the most is related to the picture below. It may just look like a hole in the ground, but these holes were actually once over a porch. So why is there a giant hole in the floor? The people living in the house would throw stones and other materials down onto the porch if someone was there. That would definately get me to go away!

After my field trip with class, I decided to go exploring with my friend Hollace. We ate at the restaurant directly across the street from my apartment where I had the best risotto of my life, which the restaurant calls "risotto alla fiorentina" (risotto in meat sauce with peas). All I can say is WOW! The Italians make some really good food. The restaurant uses cute maps of Florence as placemats so after we were done, we started to take one off the table (they're paper). One of the waiters said "no!" so we thought we had done something wrong, but he brought us both new maps. I have a feeling we will become very friendly with him, as it is probably my favorite restaurant so far.

Anyways, from there we went to the Palazzo Strozzi to see the Picasso exhibit. There were a ton of Italian school groups there, so it was very crowded. Nevertheless, the exhibit was enjoyable and even had work from other Spanish artists such as Dalí. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but at least I got to capture the outside of the building and the Picasso banners!

From there, we tried to go to the Boboli gardens, but we were told the last entry was two minutes before we got there, so we were turned away. Luckily it wasn't too far of a walk, so we decided to walk around the Palazzo Pitti a bit (where the gardens are) and then head back over the Ponte Vecchio. Of course, we had to stop for gelato and take touristy pictures!!

It started to rain, which started to melt our gelato...

So Hollace and I took cover under a random jewelry store! 

It's still rainy and cold out now, so I'm in for the night after enjoying some nice spinach filled ravioli. 

Ciao for now!