week five: sunset on san miniato <3

11 October 2009

Time for mass… I dragged my sore body out of bed in time to make my way across the river to mass at the English church where I sing… and I managed to drag K and M with me :) I love my friends!!! After mass, the three of us took a slow stroll back across the river and into the hubbub of the city… we picked up pastries, let M pick up some stuff from home, and headed back to our flat for brunch…

Having planned this in advance, K and I had all the fixings for omelets and mimosas… so the three of us sat, chatted about our own bucket lists, and tried to figure out how many places in M’s 1000 places to see before you die… not too shabby for 20 years old!!!

After completely gorging ourselves on omelets, pastries, and mimosas, the three of us decided to try to get some schoolwork done, and meet up again an hour or so before sunset… K and I got halfway through our art history assignment and decided to give in to the Sunday laze, and take a nap, Tuscan sun streaming in through the windows, Liszt wafting in from the flat downstairs, and, after-all, we were both so sore from our 5-hr wanderlust the day before…

17.30 came far too quickly… but K and I met up with M and headed back up into the hills to visit San Miniato and Piazza Michelangelo… to watch the sun set over Florence… It was incredible… seeing the sun change from warm yellow to deep orange and pinks to purple and finally the deep star-studded sapphire blue… it would have been incredibly romantic… the three of us giggled over the scene, but, it is truly one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen… and while we were up there, eating our cheap touristy pizza, a couple actually got engaged with the setting of the sun… it was perfectly picturesque, and I felt like I was in some romantic movie… oh wait, no, it’s still just me, here, in Florence, with my friends… haha…

Allora… to get a better view of the twinkling lights over the Arno, M, K, and I climbed the billion stairs up to San Miniato to snatch a few last shots of the setting sun… but, we got distracted… by the church… San Miniato is the most breath-taking church in all of Florence… it is not the most elaborate, it’s actually nothing incredibly spectacular, save its incredible location atop a hill overlooking the city, but the outside is just a ‘normal’ (wow, I am becoming desensitized to this, aren’t I??) renaissance façade of green and white marble, attached to a brown stone building… and the inside is dark, and plain, quite large, with a few frescos, and remains of frescos lining the walls… but down in the old chapel, there is something magical… there is no other way to describe this place… I walk in, and every time, it takes my breath away, and I am completely overwhelmed with awe and wonder… I could spend hours in there and never know it… but tonight, no lights were lit, save the candles near the altar, and not a sound could be heard but our feet crossing the cold marble… it was cold and silent, but I felt so warm and full of light… this is how I will remember Florence… inside this church, in the soft, warm, darkness, with the faint glow of the night sky filtering in from the open doors…