This morning we enjoyed a cup of cappuccino from our favorite vendor at the central market and picked up fruit and ham. We wandered back home expecting a visit from our apartment’s owner. He arrived, a trim man with a mustache, dressed in well designed clothes. We spent ten minutes conversing in really bad sign language. I think he said, “Phone if you want clean towels.”
Sometimes life makes no sense, and in Italy it makes no sense at all. Logical sense that is. Life here is more melodic, more emotional, richer in tones and deeper in some intangible way that soothes all that is ragged within us. Florence holds us in her  embrace and we lose ourselves in her beauty, as if time is standing still.
The peaches we purchased are ripe and juicy, the apples tart and crisp. Eating from the market is like visiting the Garden of Eden for lunch.
I spent an hour working on a manuscript and then we headed over to the Palazzo Strozzi. It was to be an easy day of people watching. We sat in the courtyard of the palazzo, sipped our second cappuccino and relaxed. Piet read the International Tribune and took photos for me. I wrote in my new notebook purchased yesterday at the Uffizi with a Botticelli print of Venus on the cover. It feels magical.
I marvel at the architecture of the three story palace and try to render it into words, but they don’t seem to work today. The top floor has an inner balcony that stretches tall the way around. It would so much fun to write a story set here.
Tour groups flow in and out. People stop for snacks and conversation. The mood is warm and inviting. Six beautiful, long haired Italian woman sit next to us, with fresh faces and innocent eyes that remind me of the Renaissance paintings I looked at in the Uffizi. They chat in rapid Italian.
We wander over to the Accademia which houses Michelangelo’s David. It’s the next museum we want to visit. (I’m still mulling over whether art changes the world, or whether the world changes art.) We were thinking of buying tickets for another day, but changed our minds when we read the sign.
Tonight we will read books and tomorrow we have a cooking class. Va bene (It’s good).