day nineteen; july 12th
Had a good sleep in to refresh myself after yesterday. Surprisingly I’m not sore in any muscles, but my hip is very swollen. I’ve been having a lot of trouble with my access to the internet and with Uni starting in Australia soon I need to make sure I can access any lectures and so on however it cuts out all the time and basically is nothing like what the man who loaned me the apartment said it would be, surprise surprise. Another surprise, some shops don’t open until after lunch and then they open for one hour before closing for two hours so they can have a “siesta.” Siesta is in inverted commas because you can see them inside smoking or eating, not the actual meaning of the word: napping! So after finding out the shops wouldn’t be open until after 12, I came back to the apartment so I could talk to Mum and Dad.
Went out again to the phone shop and sorted it all out, here’s hoping it works, and then to the post office. Interesting stuff! I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to take portraits for my assignment. It was very awkward and difficult to try and get photos of people looking into my camera without them knowing! I just couldn’t build up the nerve to ask them because it would to them seem like a very weird request. Had a quick dinner at home and then went out again for some night photography. On my way home I walked past a church just off the main road that leads onto the Ponte Vecchio from the Uffizi side of the river. There were a lot of people at the entrance so naturally my curiosity took over and I went to take a look. What I found was awesome in the greatest sense of the word. Inside the church a full string orchestra was playing. After waiting for the current piece to finish I walked in and sat down with what must have been over one hundred people. They had created a stage for the orchestra and where marble floor space would be in the daytime, placed out chairs for people to sit on. The atmosphere was amazing: very dim lighting and with all the tombs and chapels off to the side and high ceilings, the setting couldn’t have been more perfect. Added on top of the fact that the orchestra was playing very dramatic pieces, it made me tingly! So I left there feeling very lucky to have come across such an event, something you wouldn’t experience back home, nor many other places in the world. Walked back home and now off to bed!
