With some time on my hands yesterday after le mie lezione italiane (omg I am even driving myself crazy with this shit!! just ignore me; it’s more fun to practice my Italian in writing my posts than in doing l’ escercizi nello mio libro), I skedaddled on over to Piazza della Republica where we the public were serenaded by a lovely opera singer and her guitar player.  I tried to film it on my iphone, but it was dead.  After enjoying her singing for a while, I went into this department store:

And found my way to the top floor where they have a terrace with incredible panoramic views of la citta.

See what I mean?!

That Duomo hovers over the city of Florence, reminding me of a very large and very Renaissancey looking space ship.  A visitor from the past.

But, at any rate, I just wish Florence were more picturesque.  It is such a shame that she is not.  Ha ha.

Here are some more shots from the terrace.  It is quite a place to view the city.

The sky seemed to be feeling all operatic, just like the singer in the Piazza.

The Rinascente is notable for a couple of other reasons as well.  It’s a decent department store, though quite small.  But, it has the most amazing Christmas lights.

While strolling through the city on my way back to my hood, the Santa Croce neighborhood, I passed this ambitious and talented street artist at work.

And when I came near to Santa Croce, the church was highlighted by the late afternoon sun in a very agreeable fashion.

Looking good, Santa Croce!

(Note to self: nothing is making me pay attention to the ending of Italian words and matching adjectives and nouns like trying to write these posts.  La mia professoressa will be mighty happy when I show her how hard I worked this weekend!  Such a teacher pleaser, am I!  It has always be thus. It’s always been the one place I respect authority!)