It’s agosto and that means many Italians are on vacation.  Signs like this are all over Italy and all over Florence:

It tells us that the business is closed from the 5 to the 21st of agosto, “closed for the holiday.”

Other signs of the times are the fashions.

Per i uomini:

And, per le donne:

I never, ever tire of my walk to school.  At this time of day, the city is waking up, coming to life, and I have the streets more or less to myself, along with all the workers and trucks delivering goods to the stores.  It will be a completely different story on my walk home after school.  The hordes of tourists will have descended, like a plague of locusts.

I have the distinct privilege of walking past the revered Orsan Michele on a daily basis.  I get so accustomed to the delights of Florentine architecture that I often don’t even notice this storied church/granary.  That’s a shame!

Today I stopped and enjoyed the facade, against the bright blue sky.  It’s a beauty!

Further down the Por Santa Maria, I encountered this straight up and down cherry picker.  Apparently some work will be done along the cornice or roof of this palazzo.

You can get dizzy taking pictures like these!

And then I get to school and enjoy (usually) class, and at the break (pausa), while everyone else is running to a local bar for a cappucino or something, I wander the halls of my school’s palazzo.  There are fun views from many places.

For example, there is this striking view of il Duomo!

And il duomo is like, hey! look at me!  I’m big and I’m here!

And my school’s palazzo is old and full of crazy little spaces.  Today I found a new bathroom, and this was the view I was confronted with!  Another day, another delight!