A few things first, the pronunciation of this character's name is this:
"SEE-MOAN-AY" and is the Italian version of Simon, spelled with an extra E at the end. Everyone I know has confused it with the female name Simone, so please don't do the same. It is set in the Renaissance, as you already know. Have fun, and avoid the Bands of Hope! (you'll know later what that means!)
Entry 1
The first glimpse we got of Florence was the wall in the evening. It was at least 5 miles long, 40 ft. high, with at least 70 guard towers, maybe three more. Because we arrived in the evening, we had to stay outside the city walls until the curfew ended.
"Yep, them poor [i]perduti left out on the streets are sent to a jail cell and have to pay a fine!" the bartender said, smacking the table in a fit of passion. "Me old son Tommaso--"
This was when we all made our way up to bed, when his wife came in to scold him. In the early morning we joined the farmers and their donkeys, the first to enter the city. One of our companions lost a few coins to one of the pick pockets who took advantage of the chaos. Of all the cities I've been to, Florence is different. For one thing, its Clean! Of course, animal traffic had its visible marks on the city streets, but besides that, it's all very clean. If one of the houses does not keep up on their side of the city officials will fine them. Mama is nervous about this. She's worried we'll be fined for being unable to clean our side of the street.
Papa went off to talk to a fancy aristocrat in his fancy villa on one of the hills around the city. Our relative's house was packed with family members, so we moved to the city outskirts to an inn. We got the worst rooms that night. They were on ground floor, with no furniture but the large straw mattress on the floor.
The next day we moved into another inn, closer to the city center. The windows were large, the rooms were heated, and the beds were stuffed with featherdown. There was even food, though it was uncooked, things like cheese and bread with some milk. A family member came to visit, Marco Rodrigo Tommaso, and he chatted idly with us for a long while. He taught us all about the 4 different quarters of Florence, Santo Spirito, Santa Croce, Santa Maria Novella, San Gianni. He also mentioned some of the sub-divisions of the 4 quarters. They were things like Red Lion, Dragone, the rest I forget.
This afternoon Papa let us loose. My cousins and I raced around the streets, stealing food from the small trattorias (cafe stands) and chasing the farmer's chickens. After being scolded horribly by one of the farmers, I scurried off to the inn, for it was getting dark.
The next afternoon we had a business lunch with a colleague of Papa's, who had an apartment on sale. The food was basic, but the portions were HUGE! My little brother Alberto ate too much and spent the rest of the night in the entryway with Mama and Papa, vomiting into a small bucket provided by the maid.
The next night we went to another restaurant with a very, very rich friend, one who owns a large villa. The food here was spiced and cooked, and, because it was Sunday, they had huge portions of beef, goat, pork, which melted in our mouths and made Alberto drool. The guest, a very dull meat merchant, told us all about the animals entering the city. 30,000 pigs each year, 70,000 goats, 20,000 sheep and 40,000 calves and oxen. The only thing which did interest me was that on special holidays, they bring to the city foods from faraway places like the Middle East and Russia!
Papa wants me to become an apprentice. I plan on checking out the many clustered rooftops. They'll never get me alive.
Gender:
Points: 890
Reviews: 46