Last day in Florence

This morning I got up realizing I didn't really have any sort of plan for the day. It was kinda nice, but at the same time I didn't know what I was going to do all day. I ate some breakfast, and then Shandra advised me to go down to the information center to check on todays events. I thought seeing and opera, or some type of theater performance might be fun, so I checked the theater section for anything going on tonight. I saw only one thing, an opera being performed tonight at 9 in a little English church across the river. I called the number under the advertisement, and reserved a seat for the night's performance. They informed me that the price of the ticket would be 25 euros, and I could pay at the door. I expected it to be a little more than 25 euros, but I guess that's a good thing.

I hung around the little town of Fiesole until the bus into town finally arrived, and then spend the rest of the day in Florence. When I got there I realized I'd mostly done just about everything I'd wanted to do in terms of tourist sites already, so I just walked around off the beaten path looking at little shops along the way. After a while though, even that started getting a little monotonous. I was mostly just walking in a huge circle, and aside from some beautiful views, and a couple cool shops that were way too expensive for the likes of me, it was kinda boring. I moved around through some of the old churches, and finished reading Dante's Inferno (which was actually pretty cool because I got to sit there next to Dante Allegeri's house while doing it). But for most of the day, I was looking for something interesting/inexpensive to do. At one point, I had climbed up onto one of the old churches and rested myself on a little shelf between two statues. I had intended to curl up there and fall asleep for a bit, but then I noticed a large group of teenagers clustering around me. They were all dressed up, the girls in matching dresses, and the guys in nice slacks and vests. "Do you speak english?" Asked one of the girls. "Yeah, I do" I replied over my shoulder. "Where are you from?" She nudged again. "California." I gave a quick smile and then tried to regain my comfortable position. "Ooh Cali!" They all giggled to each other. I sat up and asked where they all came from. "Georgia" they said, and then another one of them took back control of the group. "We need to rehearse!" She snapped. They gathered around in a big huddle, and someone gave a starting note. The very familiar "For the longest time" began in an accapella version which took me back to my own years of high school choir. I don't know what it is about that song, but it seems like every high school choir in the world knows it and not one of them are ever taught it. I remembered my own harmony line within the tune, and I was fighting the temptation to start singing it. Just at that point a man who so easily could have been Ron Woods entered the group. He was way overdressed, frantically handing out music folders, and pulling the couple class clowns and stragglers into the group. With as much dignity as he could muster in his flustered state, he quieted down the group, and began warming them up. So many memories came like a typhoon back to the forefront of my mind, of times with the Woods' on school choir trips. This choir was so much like we were. They were so unconcerned with the performance they were about to begin, they were in Italy, and they probably had so much personal drama and inside jokes right now to worry about. A couple of them (there are all ways a couple of them) were trying so hard to study their parts, and prepare themselves for the performance. They sneered at the class clowns, and rebuked the group for not being serious. I had the best time watching them, because I could almost pick out each person and tell you the name of that person in my high school choir more than 4 years ago. I even saw myself. The one who was trying so hard to balance between goofing off with the guys, but being respectful of the director, and trying to impress the girl who was pissed off at the rest of the group for goofing off. There I was 4 years ago, but standing right in front of me at a church in Florence. I watched them all sing for a bit, and followed them over to their performance inside the Duomo. They were certainly good, and they sounded even better inside the giant Duomo. I stayed there just until the end of the service, and then I left. I got some dinner at a cafe in the City Center, and then walked across the bridge to the church I was supposed to see the opera at. When I got there, I looked at the seating chart. It wasn't exactly what I had expected. It was really more of a local church amateur performance sort of thing. There was just a piano in an auditorium, which was not very big at all. I decided I'd really rather not spend 25 euros to see a local amateur rendition of an Italian Opera. I'm not really that big a fan of Opera, I really just wanted to go for the experience of seeing an Italian Opera in Italy. However, this probably really wasn't going to be all that good. Not so much the Italian Opera experience, so I decided not to pay the money to go see it. Instead, I hung around the square in city center and listened to the live music, and then watched some football (soccer) with the Galloways later.

Tomorrow I'm going to Venice. I'm a little behind in my schedule (by about 2 days) as it stands right now. So I'm gunna try to catch those days up, or at least not let anymore days slip by. So pray for that if you could, and if anyone who's giving me a place to stay is reading this, please note that. I want to stay as close to schedule as possible. I have a bit of a deadline to get home to. Wandering from the schedule means I may have to skip countries, and I don't want to do that.
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