Living in tokyo.: 05/27/08

A beautiful Day in the hills of Florence

A beautiful day in the hills surrounding Firenze. Gorgeous weather. Everyone here thinks it's horribly hot and humid but not for those of us who live in Tokyo. We had our date with Ann who we met at Ognissanti church the other night. We met her at Garage Europa as we planned. I was really looking forward to our big florentine steak. We took the elevator in the garage to the third floor and got in her car-a very retro Citroen. They call it a due cavalli (two horses) in Italy. Very cool. It was our first trip in a car in Italy and to top it off, we get a really cool car. It was about a 40 minute ride up the northern hills of Florence. Spectacular scenery all the way up. We started to see Florence in the distance as we got higher and higher. It was in the middle of the day so the pictures aren't very good. We got to the restaurant. Ann has been going there for years and years so some of the staff knew her. We ordered steak, two orders of spinach, two orders of tuna,onion and bean salad and two orders of fries. I thought it was way too much food but we ate it all. The steak was thick, almost rare and totally delicious. I think it even beats Iowa's steaks. We had a nice meal and a nice chat. Ann, has a very interesting life having lived in Florence for six months every year since the 80s. We had a wonderful yogurt fruit pie and then coffee. Our best meal yet. We haven't eaten much meat here so it was nice to get some food on my bones. We paid our bill which was under 100 euro so it wasn't so bad and then headed down the hill. We stopped by an amazing hotel to see the view from there. I asked for a price list pretending that maybe I would like to stay there sometime. I often do that so I don't feel bad about looking around the hotel. It was amazing. Maybe we will go back up for dinner some time. We then went to a huge park on the way back to the garage. We just drove through it. HUGE. I noticed a nice pool as well. Maybe have to try that out this summer.
We got back to the garage parked the car and then had a little cool drink at a near by bar. Jonathan and I walked home. He was headed for the gym and I was going to go home to do my homework but then I noticed a poster for a concert which was to take place in about 45 minutes. It was the Drake University Concert Choir! Drake is in Des Moines only 40 minutes from my hometown. I decided to just wait on the steps and study until the concert started. Before I went in I looked at the poster again and realized I knew the conductor, Aimee Beckmann-Collier. She was getting her doctorate when I was in Iowa City. I knew her name very well when I saw it but I had to think a bit before I realized all we had done together. In 1987 I organized the Iowa Choral Symposium. Aimee was my main clinician. A small world.
The concert was FANTASTIC!!! I cried during almost the entire thing! It was truly maybe the best concert I've ever been to. She is an amazing conductor. Italian audiences are great. They yell, and moan and stand and applaud after many of the pieces. I loved the spirit tonight. It was in a beautiful, small church very near where Dante met his love, Beatrice. I talked to Aimee after the concert and she remembered me-at least she said she did anyway. As I was walking out the church and the entire choir was standing around in the street. I told them that they practically changed my life with their music. They were very appreciative. They are off to Austria tomorrow. They should have a beautiful train ride through the Alps. What a great day!