Floatin in a green paradiso

Buona Pasqua! I am so behind on my blog and I offer my most deep and profound apologies to my fans (assuming I have fans that is). But this begins a series of "catch up" blogs that will, hopefully bring you up to the present. But no promises. I have to cover the remainder of spring break, the week after spring break in which I ushered around my friends from Ireland (who are studying in Ireland), Dante's house, Pompei, my trip to the Archaelogical Museum of Florence, Indian ethnic Tuesday, the list goes on. But don't worry, I'll stick to the big stuff.

Let's begin with the remainder of spring break, shall we? Well, some of it anyway. The Tuesday after arriving I felt sick so I basically lay in bed doing nothing, only emerging for food. But what else did I do? Laundry. Well, yes, but that's not exciting. Just get to the point you say? Okay, I went to the Boboli Gardens and guess who got in for free? That would be me.

Let me just say, we picked the perfect day to visit the gardens. Not too hot, not too cold, plenty of gorgeous sunshine. The Gardens (located behind the Palazzo Pitti, home of the Medicis and their private playground) are lovely. Crowned by a statue of who we guessed to be Ceres (Roman version of Demeter, goddess of nature, the harvest and the seasons) they stretch forever. Words are silly for this blog so I'll give you a pictoral tour.

entering the gardens: the first view from the bottom

the view from the top of the hill

a bench

one of the paths

an obelisk

no doubt from egypt

they (meaning any italian civilization) were obsessed with bringing these things here

art

me and my friend the kitty

ceres

a lovely torquise something we found

view from next to the torquise "house"

another path

me chillin on a bench

one of the medici grottos

There were so many little paths in the Gardens to take, though it was laid out pretty uniformly, no surprises. One of the interesting sights in the Gardens not pictured was a really old, and I mean old, vinyard but I'm not sure if it still produces or not. But what really fascinated me was the random gigantic stone bathtubs floating around. Some were big enough to bathe Babe the blue ox in and Paul too, if they were willing to squeeze. But, Paul loved that ox of his, so I'm sure he wouldn't have minded snuggling in the bath.

I'll leave you with a picture of me standing under the passageway connecting the Palazzo Vecchio with the Palazzo Vecchio. It was used by the Medicis so they wouldn't have to pass through the crowd to get from home (Pitti) to work (Vecchio) and therefore avoid assasination and interaction with the riff-raff. That, however, is not the focus of the picture. Note what is above my head. Yes. That would be Darth Vader.