This morning at 9AM we had a meeting with the proprietari (owners) at our new apartment. When we arrived, there were two operai (workers) inside finishing up a few things. We waited for the proprietari to arrive to go through the apartment and ask them questions about a few things.

From one day to the next, the Piazza Santa Croce is transformed. Yesterday I saw them unloading the trucks and today the mercato (market) was open for business. For the past two years that we have been in Florence, this mercato di Natale tedesco (German Christmas market) has marked the beginning of the Christmas season. For some strange reason, the colder weather seems to come with them too.

At 3PM on Sunday, we wanted to finally go to our new apartment and move in a few suitcases. I sent the proprietario (owner) an SMS to let him know what we were going to do today just in case there was a problem. I called to get a taxi about ten times and no one would come to our area because of the maratona, which had its finish line in Piazza Santa Croce.

I received a telephone call yesterday from my agente immobiliare (real estate agent) to say that we can meet today at 3PM to sign the contratto (contract). We had planned to meet three other times this week and each one fell through. I wasn't completely certain our meeting today was going to happen until I arrived at the agenzia immobiliare (real estate agency).

This year, my friend Sara invited us to celebrate Ringraziamento (Thanksgiving) with her husband and friends. She called me yesterday to coordinate what she wanted me to bring and what time to arrive. I spent all day shopping and cooking a few things for our dinner tonight.

I get emails once in a while from people who read my blog. I'm always flattered that people take the time to write me, so I happily respond. I received an email from a guy who wanted to know if I knew Simone at Il Canapone because he saw that I mentioned the restaurant on my blog. It turns out that his girlfriend was dong an internship at Simone's restaurant and was going to APICIUS where Simone teaches as well.

I admire all of the local artists who sit out in many of the piazze in Florence to sell their work. They are usually there every day of the week from March until November. Some of them even stick around during the cold winter months as long as it doesn't rain. Not only do I admire their talent, but I also admire them for doing what they love and making a living at it.

I happened on this picture the other day and it caught my eye. Not only because it was an old picture of Santa Croce, but because the statue of Dante has been moved from where it is shown in the picture. The Dante statue is now located at the top of the steps toward the left corner of the church when you face it.

Seeing as though we had agreed last Saturday on the new apartment and signed the proposta di locazione (rental agreement/proposal) on Monday, I thought that we'd have the contratto (contract) to sign before the end of this week and receive the chiavi (keys) so we could begin our trasloco (move) this weekend.

I received a call yesterday afternoon from my new bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena. The woman who was in charge of opening my account, Mariella, told me that everything was ready for me to sign whenever I wanted to come by the bank again. Because the bank was going to close in less than an hour and I didn't want to rush down there, I told her that I'd come by today and I did. I was in a hurry this morning, but I rushed downtown to sign my contratto (contract) before the bank closed for lunch.

For the past few weeks, the city has been working on via Ghibellina. There have been many manifestazioni (rallys) because the workmen are digging up all the old stones from the street and dumping them in a truck to be hauled away some where. One woman who lives on via Ghibellina (as the story I was told goes) followed the truck and found out that they were just disposing of them completely. Their plan is to replace the old stones with asfalto (asphalt).

When I lived in Florence from 1997 to 1999, I had two different conti correnti (checking accounts): one at Banca Toscana and one at Banca di Napoli. I don't remember why I switched banks, but it was a big mistake. When I closed my account at Banca Toscana, I remember them taking money out before they gave me the balance. Then, with Banca di Napoli, I left my account open for a year after I left and when I came back, I owed them money to close it.

For most of the day yesterday, I was a little stressed about our new apartment because we didn't sign the proposta di locazione (rental agreement/proposal). The proprietario (owner) and I did shake on it, but nothing is as sure as a signed proposta di locazione.

The 20th apartment we visited ended up being the perfect one for us. I had actually visited it on Thursday and fell in love with it. When I made an appointment for Dave to come back and visit it, my agente immobiliare (real estate agent) asked the proprietaria (owner) to hold it for us until then. I was happy that she agreed since I knew that anyone else who saw it would have wanted it.

This morning I went to the Teatro del Sale to attend a book discussion group. I received an email from Jeff Shapiro, the author of "Renato's Luck," in which he said that he was coming to Florence to talk about his novel with this book discussion group, and he welcomed me to come along.

I am literally exhausted now having walked around the entire city twice today to look at five different apartments. My entire day was filled with one appointment after another. What's odd is that it only takes a few minutes to view an apartment, but the walking to and from is what takes up so much time.

Early this morning, I received a phone call from the agenzia immobiliare (real estate agency) saying that they wanted to move our appointment to 11:45AM instead of 12:30PM today. I was also told that the other girl in the office wasn't going to show me, but rather the proprietario (owner) of the agenzia immobiliare. I felt a little nervous about that last part because I had seen him, but hadn't yet met him. And, I was thinking about what my friend said and reminded myself to keep an open mind.

The milanese (girl from Milan) gave me an idea last week when she talked about all the agenzie immobiliari (real estate agencies) that she was in contact with. I had seen some interesting apartments on a website and I asked my friend if she knew this particular agenzia immobiliare. She said that she didn't like the guy who owns the agenzia immobiliare and suggested that I not go there. I told my agente (real estate agent) #2 about what my friend said and she told me that I should go anyway.

This evening, Dave and I went to the Florence International Theatre Company (FITC)'s first production, "Net Worth" written and performed by Bari Hochwald at the Be Bop Music Club. Bari is a professional actress who moved to Florence a little over a year ago and is the co-artistic director of FITC along with Aaron Craig.

Ever since about June this year, my macellaio (butcher) has been only working in the mornings and by the time I get there at about noon, he's gone. I kept going to the same macelleria (butcher shop), but didn't feel like I was treated as well by the other macellai who work there. They rarely smiled at me and weren't all that energized to come to help me. Sometimes I'd feel so discouraged that I'd just walk away.

After three and a half hours of looking at different apartments, talking with other agents, and trying to keep warm, I'm exhausted. I met up with my agente #2 today for an appointment at 2PM and didn't get home until almost 6PM. I had to leave the house right after lunch because our meeting point was near Piazza Santissima Annunziata.

It's already risky going to the mercato (market) on an empty stomach. All the colorful fruits, leafy vegetables, rosy red meats, perky cheeses, and pristine stacks of fresh pasta look even more delicious when I walk by the banconi (counters). I end up lugging more items home on the days when my stomach is growling. Today, there was an additional risk that I didn't count on: I checked out Brian and Claudia's website, Mestolando.