Thoughts in anticipation of Final Thoughts

Trying to finish Florence: this is my "happy to go home face." Yeah.

Today I went to the Jewish Temple right when it opened, and shared a tour guide with three superior-like orthodox Jewish college girls, who sneered at me, I'm pretty sure, when I told them I wasn't going to attend Shabbat services this Friday. "Well at least my nose isn't classifiable as 'unwieldy'," I yelled back. Just kidding. There was also a Jewish dude from London, who told me he was a Reform Jew, to which I laughed, "I probably SHOULD be reform." Embarrassingly, reform in London is equivalent to a conservative in the US. go figure. i blushed.
But really, I got a lot out of this visit. The synagogue is moorish and beautiful. It was designed by two christian architects, and one jewish, and entirely funded by some Florentine Jew named Levy, an oddball lawyer/investor who left all his money to the temple's maintenance. It is "worthy" of competing in grandeur with other churches in Florence with its grand dome, but because the dome is green (copper), it maintains Jewish separateness/specialness. I also learned that the Jewish ghetto way back when was smack in the center of town, Piazza della Repubblica, when the Medici's welcomed in Jews as an integral money-handling population. Also, Nazi soldiers used the temple as a garage for cars during WWII. There are 1000 jews in florence, whereas before the holocaust there were 2000. There are still bullet holes in the Ark, which were made by German soldiers trying to get in and destroy the torah (which was already taken away for safekeeping). You can still see the water marks from the big flood in 1966.

Then I turned the corner and found a store specializing in hemp clothing and cannabis accessories. Hm.

Oh yeah, thoughts in anticipation of final thoughts. Nope, nothing. I'm suppressing any moment of realization that i'm returning to the real world. But hey, this friday i'm going to Venice!!!!!! Woohoo!!!! Focus on that!!