March 2, 2008
Yesterday’s Saturday trip was very different from any so far. Instead of an old walled city with lots of museums and churches, we went to Arezzo, a far more modern city not far from Cortona. The only historically significant sights I saw all day were two churches – one that had a huuuge fresco in it by some famous person or other, and the other which was just an incredibly gorgeous Cathedral with impressively tall vaulted ceilings and a gilded altarpiece. The rest of the day we spent doing *what else* shopping, of course. There was a huge antique market spread out over the entire city that we browsed as we wandered. You could find anything there: clothes, books, jewelry, old keys, furniture, bits and pieces of statues, ornate chandeliers, beat-up WWII helmets, designer purses, and even an entire bowl of dolls’ eyeballs. A friend of mine actually bought a hundred-year-old engagement ring there for his fiancée. Lest this market sounds too good to be true let me assure you that the majority of these items were overpriced. While bargaining is a necessary tool in places like that, I’m sure that many of the vendors automatically jacked up their prices for us “stupid Americans.”
Besides the antique market, there was also an entire street full of Italian designer clothing stores, many of which were having huge sales to get rid of their winter leftovers. You can guess where the majority of us girls were all day. Since most of us felt that we hadn't brought nearly enough clothes with us (only enough to completely dress a small country), there was a frenzied amount of shopping going on. Besides, there really is no better feeling than the euphoria of buying insanely expensive Italian clothes after they’ve been marked down to almost nothing. =)
The biggest pain about taking an entire day to wander an Italian city is siesta. Other than coffee shops and the antique market, from one to four-thirty everything else was closed. Most of us took this time to take a break, find a coffee shop, and just relax. Then, once the stores reopened, we hit the streets for our final hour in town. Gelato, my new favorite food group, was also a necessary purchase of the day, eaten while rambling back to meet the buses and discussing Zak’s choice of an engagement ring.
All in all, it was a splendid day. A nice reprieve from seeing city after city of old, older, and olderest monuments. Not that I don't love old monuments, of course! =D
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