Saturday and Sunday

Yesterday was the first day we have had in Firenze with sun! It was such a beautiful day! I woke up fairly early, the same time Maurizio went to work and I started the day like every other morning with my ritual nespresso latte. After watching a bit of Fox and Friends I made my way outdoors. I decided I would add on a mile and run 4 miles around Florence. Before I came back to Italy I had increased my long run to 7 miles but somehow since I find myself back the runs are becoming more challenging. Perhaps because there are more things to factor into my runs, including more hills than the flat streets in Florida. Nonetheless, I set off and actually fully enjoyed those “easy” four miles. You just can’t beat the scenery here in Florence. My route took me from my apartment on Via Pietrapiana, up through Piazza San Ambrogio, through Piazza Massimo d’Azeglio, continued on the bike trails through Piazza Beccaria until finally meeting the Arno which I followed (east) until taking a right to cross the Ponte Giovanni da Verrazzano then followed the Arno west crossing Ponte alle Grazie, then in front of Santa Croce and eventually ended back at Piazza San Ambrogio. The run around the river, which essentially makes a long loop, is absolutely breathtaking. When your running east you have a view of the Tuscan hills and country side, then you turn to come back west and you have the view of three bridges (Ponte di San Niccolò, Ponte alle Grazie, and Ponte Vecchio), the old city center, the oltrarno (literally meaning “beyond the arno”, the south side of the city). It makes the miles go by pretty quickly when you have all this beauty to embrace, you just seem to drift off into your old world and you can lose track of where you really are.
Today, again the sun is out however, its extremely cold and as I am writing this in the park by the fortezza my hands are frozen and I believe soon they will be frost bitten. To keep this from happening, every few sentences I quickly stick my hands in the pockets of my down parka and wait until I have feeling again! This morning I woke up rather late, perhaps this is because I didn’t get to sleep until after 1am because I was partaking in a three- way call between myself, my sister, and my mom. I speak to my sister and my mom every day, thanks to my new computer with ichat and Skype. I am able to do so at minimal costs! So, thanks mom again for the new computer I got for Christmas!!! After I finally went to bed I slept pretty well until I woke up when Maurizio left for work and after counting my inhalations and exhalations a few times I finally drifted away until 1pm this afternoon!!! I blame the late sleeping on not having a functioning clock beside my bed. It’s constantly set at 8. I guess I should just get over my laziness and change the dang battery.
After awakening and having my caffe and corn flakes, I packed a backpack with a picnic blanket, my computer, turkey sandwich, Oscar Wilde’s “The Picture of Dorian Gray”, Barrons “Mastering Italian Grammar”, The Oxford Italian Dictionary, Il Reporter di Firenze Newspaper, and my pepper spray and set out for the park by the Fortezza di Basso. This is one of my favorite parks in Florence. There are rarely ever any tourists and it a nice green space where you can spread out and enjoy some time outdoors. Maurizio and I frequently visit this park especially in the summer for picnics. We have had picnics here with friends in which we cooked hot dogs and played domino’s, Birthday parties, I have had aperativo here with my girlfriend Andrea, and you will often find me here doing what I am doing now and just enjoying some “me” time.

Below see some pictures from the park.