enfinblue's Bluey (credit to Fifi for the nickname!) Diaryland Diary

"I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart." -Vinc3nt V@n Gogh

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Birthday!

Scroll back one for some special pictures. :)

Oh my goodness. I was up late last night and still I could not sleep past 6 a.m. Doh!

So I will post some more photos.

On my birthday I walked out and enjoyed the sculpture garden in Piazza della Signori@. I sat inside of it, so the perspective is interesting. I think the first picture I took was of the "R@pe of the S@bines."

Then I sat and watched the hoardes of tourists go by. Mr. Vigel@nza Ambi3ntale was trying to prevent tourists from drinking and eating in the sculpture garden.

When I was finally leaving the square, I heard a cheer go up from a crowd of red-capped school children (Italian). They were cheering a bride and groom who were having their photos taken in the garden.

You can see them if you look really carefully at the preceding two photos.

Sitting in the sculpture garden was nice. I mean, who can complain about sitting with C3llini on her birthday? Huh?

And then I walked over to my favourite piazza (Santissima Annunziat@). You may find my photos this time a little bit strange. I wasn't trying to take the most beautiful shots, but rather to notice details I hadn't noticed before. I am telling a story to myself, or at least following the train of my thoughts whilst in Firenze.

Here, I was sitting on the steps of the building across the square from the Ospedale degl! Innocenti. That's the orphan's home designed by Brun3ll3schi, that I've talked about on previous trips. You'll see it in the subsequent photos. There are little ceramic, swaddled babies in the roundels in the porticos.

Anyhow. I was interested to see that at the parallel end of the building across the square from the hospital, workers were working around/on a similar - I don't even know the word - turnstile/drop tray - to the one that unwanted babies were dropped into on the other side of the square for, oh, three centuries. I'll bet that this one was used for food or laundry or something. I don't know!

Two Asian girls sat beside me for a long while as I drew, mostly smoking. You can't see this in the photo, but they were wearing impossibly high heels.

I liked the fact that the square looked a bit grotty on that morning. There were all sorts of very ordinary people walking around. I think there is a service centre nearby for indigent men, because I often see them drinking at the end of the square. Probably the church provides them with food. There is also an insane guy who stands in front of the church sometimes and screams at people. I suppose because it is in Italian, it takes on a poetic air.

On this morning, there were camped out there a whole bunch of the poor black African illegals who roam the streets of Florence selling posters and fake handbags. I must admit that I am not very sympathetic to the Italians on this point. I come from a country of immigrants, after all, with one of the most liberal refugee policies in the world. Immigrants don't make a place worse; they ultimately make it better. And no, they don't take jobs from regular citizens. They take jobs that regular citizens wouldn't want to have anyhow, end up displacing locals into getting more education (always a good thing), and grow an economy in country in both strength and diversity. It just takes time and compassion. One of the delights of my trip was when I saw three Italian undercover police chasing a black man selling posters across the entire square of Santa Mar!a Nov3lla. I mean, it wasn't delightful to see him chased, but I was cheering when he got away. Even with three of them chasing him, the African got away. Of course, I am sure he was running in terror, which is very sad. The ITalians were yelling for him to give them his papers. I do feel for these economic migrants though. I realize that the illegalality of some migration causes its own problems, but if you were desperately poor and your family had no hope of any future, wouldn't you get on a boat to a nearby European country and try to make money? I would. I would. We were all once immigrants, at least on this continent. (And PS I love the way the Italians have no problem with the Filipinos who come to take care of their sick elderly at home, for peanut for wages. Being sarcastic here.) So many people would benefit from a lesson in economics.

Here are some of these Africans camped out in front of the Osp3dale degli Innocenti (the hospital of the innocents). Fitting, no?

Walking back from the square along my favourite street, that extends to the Du0mo, I saw a book in the window of the bookstore two photos below that I really wanted to buy ("Firenze perduta")(Lost Florence). So much of Florence was torn down over the years as city officials recreated the town, and also much of it was bombed and rebuilt during the war. I can't imagine how beautiful it would be if this all hadn't happened, or if the Germans hadn't bombed all of the bridges but the 14th century Pont3 Vecchio.

Ah, well that is war.

Sadly, I must get ready for work.

That evening though, Andrea and I watched an eerie sunset. And yes, I do need a haircut!!! :) Actually, it had been very humid on that day and that's what happens to my hair. Doh!

Ciao, bellas!!

By the way, I find that being forty is incredibly fabulous. Don't you think??

7:49 a.m. - 2010-05-28

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