February 19

Behold. The cold, icy tomb of Machiavelli himself. He is buried within Santa Croce--a church in the eastern part of Florence that was once the home-base of the Franciscan order and St. Francis of Assisi. We toured Santa Croce today in my Renaissance Civilization and Culture class. I chose this photo because I, in fact, am feeling cold and icy today. It was a chilly day in Florence--we could see our breath as we toured inside the church this morning--and our apartment was down heat and hot water. Talk about a triple whammy. I cannot sing the praises of a good pair of SmartWool brand socks enough! What will this apartment throw at us next?! All major appliances and utilities have been down at some point in the past five weeks. I believe we are due for a fire...