Christmas lights all around Florence

Hello December,

My favorite color is Christmas lights.

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.

If we are willing to open our hearts and minds to the spirit of Christmas, we will recognize wonderful things happening around us.

To catch the real meaning of the Spirit of Christmas, we need only drop the last syllable, and it becomes the Spirit of Christ. 

A Tornado-force Wind in Florence

I heard something and I thought I was dreaming, I looked around in the dark, tried to lift my sleepy head. I saw the clock on the bed side table it was still 3am early morning.  I should not go back to sleep, I thought, as I would be late for school at 7am. I heard the sound of the wind blew really hard as if it swirled in front of our bedroom window. The window glasses were shaking and made a lot of noise. My head told me to stay awake but my eyes were too heavy to stay open. I felt asleep again although I remembered I could still hear the sound of the wind, swirled, hurled things up, banged windows and windows’ shutters. Storm, I thought, maybe the school would have to close today due to this hard wind, and I fell asleep again.

A moment later I woke up with eyes open wide when the glasses of our bedroom window shook and made such a loud noise as if they would shatter in no time soon. I heard things fell and the sound of our plastic buckets hit the fence of the balcony. I remembered my laundry clips, many must have been blown away already, I thought. Oh well, a reason to buy new laundry clips. The swirling sound of the wind continued until it was time for us to get up our bed and get ready for school.  It happened that I was scheduled to substitute a Physic teacher who took his personal day on that very day. I was grateful Jos didn’t have to go alone through a hard win that morning.  

Hailstorm in Summer on September 19th, 2014

#somethingnew #fromwhereIstand #wheatherphenomenon - stood on about 10cm thick of hails 

I'm from the tropic, so at first I was scared but then I was quite amused to see that much of ice cubes poured down from the sky with lots of noise on the roofs...in summer! Good thing was that the storm stopped right at the time I had to leave the house for work. It was such a joyful bike ride on the road covered with lots of hail and through some thick fog. I found that day....so amazingly entertaining!!

Dark sky above the city center of Florence. Image courtesy of florensics.wordpress.com

The sky looked completely dark, “Oh no! It’s going to rain!” I said to myself. I had to go to work at 13:30 every day and the fact that the sky was so dark made me a bit reluctant to go out. However, no matter how I felt, I had to get ready and go anyway. A while later, I heard ‘bang bang’ at the backyard. I thought, now what?  It sounded like a neighbor was getting himself busy before the rain comes.  I went quickly to the kitchen window to have a look, but I saw no one outside. And the ‘bang bang’ continued, this time harder and even harder when I stood in my dining room. Then I realized, the sound came from the roof and the attic above my dining room sounded as if it was going to collapse.

Summer BBQ Parties - We Love Food, Fun and Friendship

Sate ayam, nasi pecel....we were so excited when we heard that David would bring pecel, Yawa would make sate ayam complete with spicy peanut sauce, Joni and Erna came with juicy Singapore pork dumplings.  Indonesian Singaporean bbq, again at the house of Yawa and Cyril because they have a nice yard with roof where we can sit outside overlook a stunning view of Florence. Thanks to both Cyril and Yawa who generously open their house for us.

Spring 2014 in Florence

Of all seasons, my favorite is spring! I really hoped to be able to experience another splendid spring here in Florence and Tuscan region. As always I was so happy when I saw all those trees started to blossom. Last year was amazing, for the first time in my life I saw all these beautiful flowers from tulips to daffodils and beautiful blossoms of cherry, apple, apricot, peach and grapes. 

My 3 Favorite Parks in Florence

The outdoors refreshes and energizes! Keep close to nature's heart!

There is pleasure in the pathless woods. In every walk with nature one receives more than he seeks.

The lack of power to take joy in outdoor nature is as real a misfortune as the lack of power to take joy in books.

 

1. Le Cascine

 

open-air market at Le Cascine every Tuesday

The largest park in Florence: wanted by the Medici family as a hunting reserve , It covers an area of 118 hectares between the Arno and Mugnone.

Today it is used by the Florentines for jogging, cycling or rollerblading, or just lying down on a lawn to sunbathe. On Tuesday there is a large open-air market with all kinds of stands.

The Top 3 Cathedrals in Florence

Il Duomo - Basilica Santa Maria del Fiore, Basilica di Santa Croce and Basilica di Santa Maria Novella

1. The Duomo - Il Basilica Santa Maria del Fiore

The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (English: Basilica of Saint Mary of the Flower) is the main church of Florence, Italy. Il Duomo di Firenze, as it is ordinarily called, was begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to the design of Arnolfo di Cambio and completed structurally in 1436 with the dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi. The exterior of the basilica is faced with polychrome marble panels in various shades of green and pink bordered by white and has an elaborate 19th-century Gothic Revival façade by Emilio De Fabris.

Top 10 Main Landmarks in Florence, Italy

1. Statue of David

David is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture created between 1501 and 1504, by the Italian artist Michelangelo. It is a 5.17-metre (17.0 ft) marble statue of a standing male nude. The statue represents the Biblical hero David, a favoured subject in the art of Florence.Originally commissioned as one of a series of statues of prophets to be positioned along the roofline of the east end of Florence Cathedral, the statue was placed instead in a public square, outside the Palazzo della Signoria, the seat of civic government in Florence, where it was unveiled on 8 September 1504.

Top 12 Piazzas in Florence

Here are the top 12 piazzas (squares) in Florence :

1. Piazza del Duomo

Piazza del Duomo

Piazza del Duomo as you can see from the top of Giotto's bell tower (campanile), the building with white roof is the  Baptistery, located right in front of the Duomo / Il Basilica Santa Maria del Fiore 

Piazza del Duomo is located in the heart of the historic centre of Florence. It is one of the most visited places in the Europe and the world; here we can find the Florence Cathedral with the Cupola del Brunelleschi, the Giotto's Campanile, the Florence Baptistry, the Loggia del Bigallo, the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, and the Arcivescovile and Canonici's palace. The west zone of this square is called San Giovanni square.

2. Piazza della Repubblica

Piazza della Repubblica

It is a square in the centre of Florence, location of the cultural cafes and bourgeois palaces. Among the square's cafes, the Giubbe Rosse cafe has long been a meeting place for famous artists and writers, notably those of Futurism.

3. Piazza della Signoria

It is the focal point of the origin and of the history of the Florentine Republic and still maintains its reputation as the political hub of the city. The impressive 14th century Palazzo Vecchio is still preeminent with its crenellated tower. The square is also shared with the Loggia della Signoria, the Uffizi Gallery, the Palace of the Tribunale della Mercanzia (now the Bureau of Agriculture), and the Uguccioni Palace (16th century, with a facade by Raphael). Located in front of the Palazzo Vecchio is the Palace of the Assicurazioni Generali.

Cafés Curfew

Sitting in a nice café on one of the busiest roads in Florence, we were up to la apericena, a late after dinner served in buffet style at a price of a glass of drink. It was Gallery Art Bar on Via dei Benci 30. While we were eating and drinking this guy came in, he was happened to be a singer who regularly performed live music there.  We greeted each other, a little introduction before he finally set for more talks.

Aperativo buffet at Gallery Art Bar.

I noted three things he mentioned :

1. Business has been slowing down a week before Christmas which was quite obvious. It was Saturday night at 8PM and we were the only customers they had;

2. Due to so many complaints from the neighborhood about people getting drunk and caused chaos, liquors or drinks with alcohol can be sold before 9PM only;  

3. The latest law regulation strictly obligated all cafés / bars to close their venues at 10PM, with an exception of one restaurant / bar located across the road, simply because they had more security guards who will drag drunk people away from their venue, or presumably, they had more money to ‘pay’ to the authorities.

Double Rainbow

I was just arrived home from school that Tuesday afternoon, after I taught Jewelry-making club. As I biked home I saw the sky was dark above Florence but there was sun rays brightly shone through thick dark clouds ahead of me. When I arrived home the sky was darker. 

The double rainbow as seen from our balcony on November 19th, 2013.

A Big Lunch, New Friends and the Donkeys

It has been a while since the last time we met up together. Everyone was busy with different activities and many people traveled during the summer holiday from June to August. We still stayed in touch and as soon as we found out that many have come back from the holiday, we decided to quickly have a small gathering before the cold season start. 

Annual German Christmas Market

The Florence Christmas Markets are very popular, especially the German Christmas Market or Heidelberger Weihnachtsmarkt (a little bit of a mouthful!) which takes place on the Piazza Santa Croce, in front of the stunning Santa Croce Basilica. Christmas markets are a very popular tradition in Germany and the idea originated in Northern Europe. Luckily for us here in Florence, the organisers of the Heidelberger market decided to bring the market here in 2003 and they have been coming ever since!