View from the Top / Happy Independence Day!!

Ciao my loyal blog readers (mom),

I'm updating this beautiful Fourth of July with a brief celebratory wish of much happiness and independence-ness your way!

In the spirit of Independence, I bucked the trend and did not gluttonize with hot dogs and low-grade beer. (Side note: is gluttonize even a word? It should be.) No, no classy me spent a most relaxing day at St. James church for service, getting free espresso with my charm and wiles (aka charity case), made a new friend--shout out to Becca!-- explored the Uffizi Gallery with my **new** Amici degli Uffizi card, which grants me instant, free access to many galleries in Florence, and traveled to Fiesole, Italia with my roommate and newly found friends.

Needless to say, there were many highs today; nay, highs beyond highs--dare I say, "TOPS." So TOPS that I needed an inhaler to adjust to the altitude. So TOPS that I felt lightheaded and became, as my dad would say, "woosy." So TOPS that I felt my 2,3-BPG levels increasing to help my hemeglobin unload O2 to my tissues. So TOPS...that okay, you get it. Thus without further adieu let me expatiate upon my View from the Top kind of day.

TOPS

1. Finding St. James Episcopal Church and seeing a true miracle: I was early to service. Yes, if you felt a slight chill just now, that was hell freezing over.

2. Making a new friend/sister in Christ and being invited to an Independence Day Soiree in the outskirts of Firenze.

3. Seeing Boticelli's "Venus" and "La Primavera," Leonardo da Vinci's "Adoration of the Magi," and Caravaggio's Medusa shield in person. (And much more!) Also, piggybacking an Asian tour group, thus receiving a top description of every exhibit.

4. Meeting up with my new friend and her roommate to travel to Fiesole--literally the classy "hills" of Florence. The view was incredible, and I was able to see Florence from an amazing aerial shot. We had a fancy schmancy dinner up there replete with risotto, pasta, and great zucchini mousse, and loitered at the top of Fiesole to catch the 10:30 pm fireworks show occurring in Florence below. One word: Meraviglioso!

The Pits
Absolutely nothing.

It was an amazing Fourth of July day, and I most certainly will edit this post with photos and little vignettes of my journey. But for now, my legs are growing numb from squatting on the ground to type on this computer (my apartment has way more chairs than tables/desks); so as to avoid varicose veins, I will end this post here and continue on the morrow!

Ciao for now and hope your day is unfolding in a TOPS kind of way!!

**EDITS: Taste of Fiesole**

Fiesole Facts:

• Founded in the 9th or 8th Century BC
• Member of the Etruscan confederacy and first mentioned as a town in 283 BC
• Invaded by Romans
• Later invaded by Florence
• Now a get-a-way and depot of lavish villas for rich Florentines

At the restaurant La Aurora overlooking Firenze; I ordered the clawfish risotto with browned onions. E' delicioso!

After ascending the hills of Fiesole--a whopping 8 km (5 miles) above Firenze

Silhouettes of Asian tourist shadow play nearby the Palazzo Comunale

Arrivederci, i miei amici!