The last time I attended a matrimonio civile (civil wedding) at the Palazzo Vecchio was about ten years ago when my friends Tom and Erica came to Florence to get married. I was one of their testimoni (witnesses) because at the time, they were living in Paris and I had just moved to Florence only a month prior.

I used to think that having a car was a bit overrated. They are absolutely necessary in California: you can't go to the grocery store without a car even if it's around the corner. In Florence, I'm completely happy walking around and I'm able to get everywhere I want without any problems. However, when Alessandro took me to a restaurant above Bagno a Ripoli, in a place called Rimaggio, I started to think that having a car would be nice: I'd be able to admire my beloved city from afar as well.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to picking up the local accent. Some people think it's normal while others think it's abnormal. I tend to believe it's normal. If it weren't, why would children who have parents who speak with an accent still pick up the local accent. And some people are just sponges when it comes to learning languages, like Madonna who now has a bit of a British accent.

I haven't been in the US for at least three years to celebrate Independence Day. I always associate this festa (holiday) with having friends and family over for a barbecue, so when my friend Sarah proposed that we have a party, I thought it would be a great idea. The only problem was that because it's not festa here in Italy, our American friends were mostly busy, so we ended up cancelling our barbecue.

Alessandro and I went to Siena last night for the cena della prova generale (dinner for the trials) of the Palio di Siena. I had never been to see the Palio before and was eager to finally see some part of it. I had been to Siena right before the Palio when the campo was filled with dirt, but never with so many people there like in my photo.

It wasn't until I was waiting for my girlfriend in front of Saschall that I realized that I don't often go to an event outside of centro (downtown). I felt like the girls in that Sex and the City episode when they took the ferry out of town to go to a party. It's not that far out of centro, but it's not that close where I could walk to it either. My friend had to take a bus to get there while Alessandro's father drove me since I had lunch at their house, which wasn't too far away.

As someone who lives in Florence, I actually end up not noticing the tourists much. I see large groups of people walking down the street or stopping to look up at something, and I go around them. I don't generally look at them that closely; however, I do notice the locals in Florence instead for some reason. I can always recognize someone who works in a shop or goes to my palestra (gym) when I'm in centro (downtown).

My piazza isn't normally that busy, but this morning when I looked out from the terrazza (terrace) I saw a bunch of actors sitting on the steps in front of the Ospedale degli Innocenti all dressed up. It was raining a little bit, so it looked like they were waiting it out. Later in the afternoon when I had to go out, I took this picture from the first floor window of my building.

Alessandro's car is in the shop again and so a friend of his loaned him his motorino (scooter). I rode on the back of the motorino to go to the movies at Warner Village on Friday. It's been fairly hot in centro (downtown), but once we were out past Le Cascine, the air seemed to be much cooler. It was refreshing until we had to drive back to town because my teeth were chattering.

After many discussions, I have finally signed my contratto di locazione (rental contract) with my new landlord yesterday at my place. I didn't invite my agente immobiliare (real estate agent) because of what happened the last time with the contratto di locazione that I signed.

Sometimes two months seems like a short time, but then they seem like quite a long time. A lot of things have transpired in the two months since Dave and I split up. He went back to the States, found freelance work as a Cocoa programmer, moved into a new apartment in downtown Denver, and reunited with his friends and family.

I don't know what it is about Mondays, but the past few Mondays haven't been the best days of the week for me. Today, I went back to the Camera di Commercio (Chamber of Commerce) to see if the avvocato (lawyer) had anything else to tell me about my contratto di locazione (rental agreement), and I wasn't happy with what he had to say.

Surprisingly, I had never been to a sagra (festival) before in Italy. I have seen the manifesti (posters) up all over town in the summer announcing them throughout Tuscany. I've noticed that a sagra is for a specific type of food, like the one I went to on Saturday that was a sagra del cinghiale (wild boar festival). So, most of the dishes served were made with cinghiale.

I couldn't sleep well last night as I was a little nervous about an interview that I was asked to do with a freelance journalist, Greg Cook, for UK's leading travel and overseas living magazine called A Place in the Sun. He told me that he'd be bringing his own photographer, Richard Parsons, and that made me even more nervous.

I went to the Camera di Commercio (Chamber of Commerce) this morning to see another friend's friend who works in the Ufficio arbitrato (Arbitration office) to have a look at my contratto di locazione (rental agreement) that I signed for my current apartment. I was told that it's not legal to not have a disdetta (notice to leave) on it and that quite possibly, it might be null and void.