San Marco and the Wizard of Oz

The trouble with going so long between blogs is that there is too much tell.

I forgot to tell that I went to mass in Florence's grand cathedral... San Marco del Fiore (St.Mark of the flowers) last Sunday night with a girl I met from Chile. She was going to have an audience with the Pope in a few days, and I was thrilled to be able to go to mass with her, if only as a respectful observer. The structure is sooo huuuuge, that the sound of the voices and organ keeps circling for several seconds after the end of the intentional sound... resonates and resonates, producing a huge, eery sound. We were sitting about 1/5th of the way back, and it wasn't until the people in front of me left that I realized that the huge voice was coming from a little tiny man in a large gold hat...Honestly, he was the size of my little finger nail... and I thought, he's like the Wizard of Oz!!! Not to be disrepectful, but it reminded me of that scene in the movie, when Toto pulls the curtain back and reveals the man behind the voice.

Then went to the opera on Tuesday, and heard La Traviata, done by a fairly young company in an Anglican church. It was lovely.

What else...OH! San Gimignano!!! Breath taking views of the surrounding Tuscan countryside. Absolutely lovely, and worth the tedious, endless bus ride to get there and back to Florence... I met up with a lovely woman from Texas who was staying at the same hostel... we walked around the outer wall and were equally smitten by the beautiful views, then had lunch together at a little place in the Cathedral piazza... delicious crostini. The best thing about staying in hostels is that you do meet people to travel with, and share what you know.

I'll explore Pisa and Lucca for a couple days, then fly back to London for a few days of free galleries before flying back to Canada. Sicily will have to wait for the next trip... though I love Northern Italy so much, think I'll be coming back.