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| At the Airport - Oct 30 |
And what a
departure it was – pretty much non-stop working, visiting, cleaning, and
packing.
There were a
few departures of note in the last week. My colleagues at work threw me a very
stylish farewell party Friday afternoon, complete with a chocolate slab cake
(my favourite), Brio, homemade biscotti, Italian music and videos, and my boss
brought in a giant wood-mounted poster from il Palio di Siena for decoration. I
was thoroughly impressed and very happy – just the kind of send-off I wanted.
To keep them top of mind for the next year, my colleagues gave me two guide
books for Florence and Tuscany, handy references and night time reading to be
sure. I left the office at 6:30pm
exhausted, stressed, and a bit relieved to be finished the week.
Friday night
was spent with David and Geoffrey eating pizza, drinking lots of vino, and
watching Funny Girl – an iconic movie one of us had not seen before. It was a
late night, but oh so much fun.
Michael M. helped moved several boxes into my locker on
Saturday afternoon, but there was still time for a coffee on Church St. Saturday night was spent at Bannock, the new
O&B restaurant in the Bay on Queen St, celebrating 3 early birthdays
occurring in November: mine, Buzz D’s, and David K’s. The food was great, the vino flowed freely,
and we closed the place down around 11:30pm
Sunday (Day
0) seems a bit of a blur now, but with Geoffrey’s help in the last hour, I
managed to finish everything and lock the apartment door only 10 minutes past
the original departure time. Left to my own devices, I think I’d still be there
cleaning and packing! But we made it to the airport, said arrivederci, and I
was soon on a plane to Frankfurt, Germany, then onwards to Firenze.
Once in
Firenze, I found my apartment, moved in, and started setting up my life
here. I’ve been scouting the
neighbourhood at every opportunity, buying things I need from the local market
and supermarket, cooking my meals, and exploring everything Firenze has to
offer (which is a lot!). I’m taking advantage of the superb weather to walk the
streets (no, not that kind of street walking!) and absorb the language and
culture. Everything just feels right, so
I guess this is where I’m meant to be.
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| Where I'm living in Firenze |
