Il Palio!

Today we had a chance to walk around Florence at a relaxed pace. First of all, we had the opportunity to enjoy a very clean and refreshed city beacuse it rained yesterday. In fact, we had both thunder and lightning. It was also a lot cooler which made it perfect walking weather. Secondly, our walk was a lot more relaxed because there weren't any people on the streets. The majority of Florentine's have gone off to the country-side or the beach to celebrater their holiday. August 16th happens to be anational holiday in Italy, the Ascencion of the Virgin Mary. The stores close and it is not filled with tourists, so it is a perfect time to take in the city. During our walk we reached one of the main entrances to Florence, that was originally part of the fortress wall which surrounded the city. It was ginaormous, with huge iron gates that remain open for traffic to make its way through as it is on one of the main streets. We also walked along the Arno River in both directions and we were able to enjoy the sounds of the falling water, we were also happy to discovere that there are fish and geese on the Arno.

On the way back to the apartment, we picked up some provisions for our Il Palio party. If you're wondering what Il Palio is, it's a biannual celebration in the name of the Virgin Mary who ascended to heaven. It has been in practice since the Middle Ages. It is amazing, they cover the famous Siena square with almost a foot of dirt and ten of the 17 districts are chosen to race in July and in August. There is a very intricate ceremony before-hand which involves full Medieval costumes, drummers, a parade and even flag performance/presentations by every district. It is a horse race, but more than anything it is a competition between the 17 districts or "contrade" in Siena. Each is represented by an animal on their flag. This year the caterpillar or "bruco" won. It was a lot of fun to watch, but it took the jockeys basically one hour to line up. After two false starts, the race finally started, all 90 seconds of it. While Pox would've enjoed watching the race in person, we had already made our visit to Siena just last week, and if you read the post, the ticket prices are steep and it gets very crowded. It's ok, maybe next time. Instead, we watched it on the television and had a full spread of goodies.

(ALL THE PHOTOS ON THIS POST ARE CINDY'S)

Special Announcements:

Happy Birthday Elaine Joy Escala (formerly Ebilane)! Yay, you can have cake for two!
Happy Baby Shower Jason and Elaine!