Day 12

--Remember to Wander. Today was a day for wandering, as I feel like I needed to explore at least some of this beautiful city that I will be residing in for four months. So, with my map, minolta camera, sketchbook, paint, and pen in tow, I went out a-wandering! I saw a few (or a lot) of piazzas, as they are everywhere. Sidenote: a piazza is a public square or sometimes resembling a park, depending on which piazza you are talking about. I made a list of all the places that I ventured to today (see below). It is such a beautiful thing to explore by oneself in such a lovely place.

At the fourth piazza that I visited, I stumbled upon a swap meet! It was huge, and there were so many neat, antique things. I would have bought so many old letters and postcards if I could actually read Italian. I loved it though, and shot a few black and white photos (stay posted!)

Then, I went more downtown and past the Duomo. I bought a panino (the singular form of panini) and sat on the sidewalk next to the Ponte Vecchio. After eating my sandwich, I pulled out my small piece of mat board and some paint. There are many artists painting and by the Uffizi (art museum) as well as along the pathway that I sat on by the Ponte Vecchio. I let myself be inspired, and decided to try to join them for a day. I made this simple painting-sketch combination.

I began to sketch the bridge, which was incomplete for an unfortunate run-in. I was interrupted by a seemingly nice, local, Italian man. You know, I’ve heard that Italian men hit on American girls, but usually thirty is the common & gross age of these Italians. Well, with my luck, I get the geezer. Gross, gross, gross.

Note to self: 60-something year old Italian men can be just as creepy as the 20/30 year old men. Don’t be deceived by the nice grandpa! Sheesh.