12 Ottobre – All Shopping, All the Time (If That's Your Thing)

I've noticed that I haven't been drinking much wine at all. What's wrong with me? It's not a conscientious decision, I just haven't felt much like having alcoholic beverages since I've been over here. When we have group lunches or dinners there always is a bottle of red and a bottle of white on each table but I've just been having water. It's not that I'm not allowed to drink while working, it's perfectly acceptable for the guides to have a glass with a meal in any social setting, just not to where it would compromise one's ability to have a conversation or make decisions of any kind. But aside from three beers the night I went out with the Flying Giacobazzi Brothers I've had a few sips when wine tasting in Torgiano and maybe two glasses in total with all my meals. Just a phase, I suppose. I've been concentrating a lot on getting into my groove with the job.

After breakfast with my mini lecture about the Medici family I took them all out for our morning walkabout in MediciWorld (tm The Hub Unit.) I led my ducklings around Piazza Signoria and Piazza Repubblica, across the Ponte Vecchio and to the Oltrarno neighborhoods surrounding the churches of Santo Spirito and the Carmelites to the Palazzo Pitti and back to the Excelsior. A lovely morning.

They were off on their own to explore the city until five, when we would meet to walk to the Accademia to see the David and the works there. I occupied myself by catching up on my television via computer and eating a giant salad from Boccadama.

I created a couple of monsters, I think. The two ladies from Indiana who were so timid in Sorrento and Rome to go anywhere on their own have flourished. They told me they spent the entire day walking around window shopping. I asked of they bought anything – not yet, they were looking for more economical prices since they were looking in designer store windows. I asked if they had found the Mercato della Paglia or Mercato San Lorenzo – they didn't know them. We were actually only one block away from the Paglia so I steered all of us up that block. I know I had told them and showed them all on the map, but I guess sometimes you have to lead the horses to water. These are the open-air (under umbrellas actually) markets with vendor stalls selling leather goods, scarves, various souvenir textiles for the home. Not cheap and not designer. They are decent quality. I have only bought coin purses and wallets in the leather goods department, and I get all my scarves at San Lorenzo where there are three times as many vendors and lots more selection. This is also where the Porcellino is found – a large brass statue of a wild pig. It's kind of like in Rome where people toss coins in the Trevi Fountain, except here you rub the snout of a boar in hopes of returning to Florence. Exact same thing only a little different.

While the ladies are happy to have the shopping pointed out, the men in the group look a little crestfallen. I assured them we are not stopping to shop, just pointing it out. They still don't look entirely thrilled that they know they will have to return there later. Further up the road is San Lorenzo, one block north of the Duomo complex, which is much larger than the Straw market (Paglia) and open everyday. Some of the ladies wanted to stop and shop and I told them they were certainly welcome to but they would be missing out on their reservation with a large, pale, handsome, naked guy a couple of blocks away. The market was open until seven at night at least, so they could definitely stop in on the way back.

Really, the Accademia doesn't take much time. Most of it is spent gaping at the marvelous statue and everything else is pretty extraneous and not nearly as interesting. For me personally, I like the unfinished “Prisoner” series by Michelangelo as well as one of his Pietas, and the musical instruments from the Renaissance period. Ferdinando de'Medici fancied himself a musician and commissioned instruments for himself and his friends. There were many more sizes of violins, viols, and cellos back then, at least eight, and the amount of brass horns is immeasurable since there was no standardization. Some with crude valve systems, some not, just creating a different tone based on the size of the bell and the length of the brass tubing. Early versions of what came to be clarinets and other reed instruments lost to time and other better working inventiveness, along with harpsichords and dulcimers abound. Even with gaping over The David and studying the instruments and unfinished Michelangelo statues, I spend an hour maximum in there. Plenty of time for the ladies to get to shopping afterward. I only lead them and get them inside. They can choose to stay until the place closes, or they can hightail it after five minutes. I lead back as many as want to come with me, but it's completely at their own speed when they want to leave once they're there. They are all warned before we enter that I will be in the bookshop in 45 minutes and will wait another 15 for anyone that wants to gather up and walk back with me.

Back at the hotel by 7pm and I retired early for the evening. My sinuses are all blocked up and the drainage is starting to turn to phlegm in my throat and chest. I will have to consult with a pharmacist and get medicines in me before this festers and turns into bronchitis or walking pneumonia. That would be most definitely a bad thing. It's happened before at home and I certainly would not want it to happen here. Grrr.