Shakespeare in Giardino!

Shakespeare in the gardens!

Over 30 children, Shakespeare dialogue, and swords...and nobody died!!!

Every morning this week, all four of us have braved the hot Florentine sun to teach the next generation of actors. The best part? Our setting for the week were the gardens behind the Corsini Palace.

This garden is even complete with about 100 adorable, leaf-munching turtles.

While the setting was beautiful, the work was definitely difficult. Our students ranged in age from 6 to 15. And, of course, their skills and attention spans varied wildly as well. Several of our students were made to run military-style through the gardens (and their peers) carrying swords above their heads shouting "I will respect my sword!" There were many times when we all thought of duct taping kids to trees. By the end of the week, though...we actually had some semi-decent sword fighters.

Beatrice kicking Benedick's butt!

Othello and Desdemona

But don't worry, Desdemona wins this version.

All in all, we were quite proud of our kids!  We celebrated their success with wine, fruit, cheese and bread.

And even though we worked ourselves to the bone this week, we still snuck a little adventure in. Indeed, friends. We visited Florence' s only Ethiopian-Peruvian restaurant. In fact, it might be the WORLD'S only Ethiopian-Peruvian restaurant. We are this.

This plate was full of delicious, unidentifiable, spicy meats and veggies and sauces. It fed 5 people. And we washed down the Ethiopian food with Peruvian beer!! Perfecto!

To top of our sensational week, I made the jump and treated myself to a beautiful Italian leather trench coat.

So now, our Florentine adventure comes to a pause. We leave this evening for the mountains around Pistoia to spend a week at Paul Newman's Dynamo camp for terminally ill children. We will be in an astoundingly beautiful location giving our best to make deserving kids smile. Look for updates soon!!