First day in Florence.

Where do I begin? I am in Florence. I have had 4 glasses of Prosecco. I have 5 energetic students.  Debra and Ivano Zamperla are running the show, feeding us, wining us, sending us out on tours of this beyond believable city, where Michelangelo and DaVinci walked. We have walked a gazillion miles and climbed a gazillion steps (and it's only day 1). We are staying in the Oltrarno district, the other side of the Arno River where the locals and the artisans live, in a villa built the 1300's, subdivided into I don't know how many apartments. We each have our private bathrooms and kitchens. Our studio for the next few days is a high ceilinged sunny room, where a model will pose for us later today, after our second trek through the city.

The first map below is Florence during the Renaissance, the second is now. We are in the lower left hand neighborhood, the Palazzo San Niccolo, underneath the graffiti.

Yesterday, Saturday, was our first day together as a group. We toured the city, the came home to rest our feet, share some Prosecco, have dinner while I did a demo in pastels.

This morning we hit the Accademia to see "David" and do a little more touring, then this afternoon, our model shows up, we'll work until 7 p.m. Then out to dinner.

We are in heaven. Of course, at breakfast we dreamed about purchasing property and starting an artists' colony.