The whirlwind that is Florence

Man, it seems like we haven't stopped since we hit this city.

Yesterday was pretty jam-packed, with a couple of tours filling our day. In the morning, we visited the Palazzo di Cerchi, the study abroad facility that UCA shares with Kent State. A few blocks from the Duomo, a huge basillica that pretty much is used to establish where you are the in city, the centuries-old building once housed the Cerchi family who were a part of the Tuscan aristocracy. (I hope I got that right)

An interesting mix of wooden beams that are hundreds of years old and wireless Internet should make for a pretty interesting study environment.

We accompanied a group of students study under Dr. Charles Bane on a tour of Dante's house as well as a church where his muse is entombed. Pretty awesome to think that a student studying Dante could actually see where he lived . . .

We had lunch in the Piazza Dell Signoria, which faces the Palazzo Vecchio, another home for a prominent Italian family. The afternoon was taken with a bus and walking tour of Florence, which included a drive up to a summer community overlooking Florence. What an amazing view. Too bad we could get off the bus for photos . . .

We came back down into the city, making our way on foot to the Piazza Di Santa Croce, where another beautiful chapel is located. That's when the first rumbling of thunder occurred.

Oddly enough, the rain began when the guide was showing us a spot on a building where the Arno River reached during a flood in 1966.

We ran to the Loggia Del Lanzi, where several of the sculptures are in place, when it REALLY began to rain. Another quick run to the Ufizzi Gallery, where the tour was to end, and it REALLY, REALLY began to rain.

I mean blowing sideways.

Then it hailed.

We got soaked.

Nothing like viewing the works of Titian, Rembrandt and da Vinci (yes, they had a few of the works he actually painted) while dripping on the marble floor.

When the rain finally stopped, we slogged our way back to the hotel, changed clothes and made a mad dash (well, taxi ride, which is a mad dash in itself) for a reception at the school. We were treated to a performance by the UCA choir and some reminiscing by Patsy Minton Newton, who was a Fullbright Scholar and UCA graduate who visited Italy in 1953.

Despite having snacks at the reception, several of us were still hungry and made our way back to the Piazza Della Signoria before continuing to the Piazza Della Repubblica for a meal at yet another great open-air ristorante.

However, not before I took advantage of the rain clouds parting in the early evening hours to take some photos of a replica of Michelangelo's "David" which is in front of the Palazza Vecchio. It's amazing to view the copy; I hope we can find time to visit the real thing, which is housed in the Galleria Dell'Accademia in another part of the city.

At the end of dinner, a long procession came through the plaza from what must have been a huge Catholic church. Hundreds of churchgoers carrying candles marched through the square, in addition to many priests, nuns and altar boys as the Doxology played on speakers throughout the plaza. It was really an interesting site to see, and yet nobody could explain why is was going on! I asked the nearby polizia what it was, and all I got was "processzione," while another officer explained loudly, "Cat-o-leeka."

I guess that's just what you do in Florence.