Quiet week in Florence
It has been a quiet week here in Florence. Monday was a holiday, so we only had class on Wednesday, and took a trip to visit two textile companies in Prato. Both produce wool for the fashion industry, and the companies were pretty different - I'm hoping the students will be able to compare the differences during their discussions on the website for the class.
I have mostly been cooking for myself at the apartment. Only two burners on the little stove, but that's enough for me. I bought some beef the other night, but wasn't sure exactly what it was. "Ferri" was one of the words on the label, which is the plural of "ferro" which is Italian for iron. So I asked Beth and our pastor, Ben, what they thought I was eating. Because of the iron, they agreed I was probably eating liver. Ahh! But it didn't look like liver. So I brought the label to the school to ask what they thought I had bought. Turns out that the plural meant "irons" - as in grilling on hot irons. So I was safe - it was just a steak (better than flank steak, but not a ribeye or anything that good).
I've also been keeping up with cleaning the apartment and doing shopping and laundry. The apartment is easy to keep clean and is nicely equipped, compared to some of the previous apartments. All I really had to get was a rug for the bathroom (went to the same place in the department store COIN and got a fuzzy one).
The weather has been cool - high 50s at night and only mid 70s during the day. Rains most days, and the forecast is for more of the same. I'm hoping we will have some sun on Monday for the winery tour, and I'll probably do some short trips today and over the weekend. But the sky can really open up here, and I don't want to get soaked.
I've been taking some random pictures around Florence and will try to process them for the web later today. I have train tickets to Lucca, and so if the weather looks good, I'll have some pictures from there. Need to get my hair cut, too. Today after lunch.
