Thanksgiving week; despite a slow start with two of the last Italian classes I'll have here and two cancelled classes, I've had a good week so far. As I mentioned in my last post (very recently added, so check it if you haven't), I went to Rome! It still feels great to say it -- I went to a city that everyone hears about with thousands of years of history, that I never would have expected to be able to visit. I'm still in awe.
Despite a lack of Thanksgiving celebration in Italy (it is kind of American by nature), our school gave us Wednesday through Friday off. As such, half our group decided to take a trip to Amsterdam. While I'm sure they are enjoying their time in whatever way they can while there, I decided not to join them. I hope to hear stories from their trip, but I wanted to have some fun on my own. I got back from Venice and planned a stay in Rome for a night. As the others were packing their bags I now had my own luggage to pack!
Wednesday morning called for an early start: in order to make the most of my time in Rome I suffered through a 5AM alarm clock to reach a 6:40 train. the 4-hour trip wasn't too bad; I spent half of it asleep and half of it reading and ended up in the train station before I knew it. Well, that's a lie, but it still wasn't bad.
My hostel was only a few streets from the train station, so I took a map to find my way. A very friendly British gentleman showed me the hostel and, though the hostel was closed for a few hours for cleaning, invited me to drop my bag for the day. I did this happily and went outside to get lost.
I've discovered over the past month or two that getting lost is the best way to visit a city. By doing so, one can discover the roads that get one somewhere or nowhere. one may have to circle a place a few times or backtrack upon reaching the outskirts of the city, but it ultimately makes you open your eyes and learn the city when you travel without a plan or map. It is in this way that I stumbled upon the Trevi Fountain; a famous tourist attraction, it is nonetheless an astounding sight and a relaxing fountain to sit beside. In keeping with legend, I threw money into the fountain over my shoulder, allegedly securing the fate that I will return to Rome again. I hope it comes true.
Wandering through the city without aim is astounding. without meaning to, I found the pantheon, the Vittorio Emanuele II Monument "Il Vittoriano" (colloquially referred to as the "wedding cake" because of its strange appearance), the Column of Marcus Aurelius, Piazza Navona, Chiesa del Gesu, many palaces, and the various buildings that now house museums, offices, and dwellings. Before long I found the main road to the Vatican City. I walked this way until I reached the Tiber. After admiring the bridge for a few minutes I continued on, walking down Mussolini's Via della Conciliazione into the city. Walking into another country has never been easier.
I walked around the obelisk and into line to go to St. Peter's Basilica. The church (as I'm sure you can expect, given my other descriptions) is amazing. Giant statues, brilliant frescoes, an ornate apse, an under-the-floor crypt slightly visible through various decorated grates, and of course the monuments and relics typical of these places greeted me inside. After exploring for a while, I decided to climb the dome. 551 steps brought me to the top, from where I could see (despite the crowds of people there with me) all of the city. It's a gorgeous sight.
Leaving the basilica I continued my aimless wandering. The weather had changed to rain, but I nonetheless continued to get lost with the intention of making the most of my time there. After getting back to Il Vittoriano I followed the Via dei Fori Imperiali to the Ancient Roman Forum ruins (which I saw from the outside, as they had already closed -- but it was still an amazing site) and the Colosseum. I also only saw this building from the outside for the fact that it had already closed, but the same opinion applies here. the ancient construction is breathtaking from beneath, and quite amazing even from a distance.
I continued my walking, going back to the Roman Forum and then up to the Pantheon, this time with the intention of going inside. The building from almost two thousand years ago still stands in excellent condition, displaying the perfectly designed dome with the oculus open to the sky. rain fell into the center of the building, where it escaped through a drain system. The building contains more decoration (as always) and the tombs of Raphael and Vittorio Emanuele II (the man who unified Italy in 1861, if you didn't know). The columns and fountain outside are quite a nice sight as well.
That night was quite fun. After returning to the hostel I shared the evening with the other guests, people who were visiting from Australia, Turkey, Poland, Spain, Portugal, and Brazil -- though I imagine there were more that I didn't meet. We enjoyed a fun night in town and a friendly, relaxed breakfast the next morning before I headed out to explore the piazzas.
My first destination on day two was Piazza del Popolo. Spacious and bright, the piazza contains an obelisk in the center (Romans loved the power suggested by other ancent cultures, Egyptian included) flanked by four small lion fountains and a palace to the North. I did not go this way, though, as my next stop was the Spanish Steps, where I would have been pick-pocketed had I not been watching my bag as a friendly man came up to me and wove me a bracelet, his friend watching from a distance and waiting for me to let my guard down. I avoided trouble, though, and went back down the steps and past the ship-shaped fountain at the bottom to Piazza Barberini and Bernini's Triton Fountain, the Quattro Fontane (which appears as four fountains at the corners of each building at an intersection), and the Piazza della Repubblica. This last piazza was marked by a brilliant fountain, the Fountain of the Naiads, that features a large spout of water coming from Glaucus in the center and four smaller spouts from naiads and horses around him. This is a brilliant fountin and one of my favorite surprise works from this trip.
I finished the trip with a visit to Santa Maria della Vittoria, a beautiful church that's one of the hidden gems of Rome, the front garden at Palazzo Barberini, and the Baths of Diocletian. I then returned to the train station to board my train back to Florence, wrote on the train, and returned to cook dinner.
With four of my friends here in Florence (two who hadn't gone anywhere and two who had just returned from Paris and London), we decided to cook our own Thanksgiving dinner. We made chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green beans, dinner rolls, wine, and a chocolate chip cookie cake. It was a glorious feast and we were all quite full by the end of the evening, leading to a quiet night in. All in all, it's been a wonderful vacation thus far!
25 November 2011
More to Say! So Much More...
So another two weeks have gone by before I took the time to write another update. It's been a busy few weeks, so I'll try to remember everything that's been happening.
The aforementioned Lucca trip was quite fun. We wandered through the town (similar to Florence and such, but much less urban) and saw a few nice churches, then we wandered along the top of the wall! The city's wall, easily five or six times my height, circles the perimeter of Lucca and is wide enough for vehicles to drive across it without disturbing the rows of trees that line the road. It was a gorgeous walk! Following that we wandered back into the city (now from the far side) until we reached the National Comic Museum. It was an entertaining visit with plenty of comics from Italy and even France. Next time I get to Lucca I may rent a bicycle to ride around the wall.
The next day I went to Milan with Florence For Fun, a local tour group for students. We saw the Duomo, gorgeous and ornate and one of the biggest in the world. We spent some free time wandering around the city and then went to La Scala Opera House. It was a gorgeous theatre which we looked in on from the private boxes. After that we went to the opera museum, largely comprised of photos and trinkets from prominent opera singers. From there we headed to the fashion district to see the streets reserved for the best designers, from Gucci to Armani to Dolce & Gabbana and more. It's a very high-profile district, and it was quite nice to wander the streets. We finished with a visit to an older part of the city and the long bus ride back.
Tuesday we went to the gardens at the Stibbert villa in the northern part of town. we wandered through the garden to find a nice table to sit at and... oh yeah, celebrate my birthday! Our professor brought cookies, chocolate, wine, and bread while we discussed Dante's Divine Comedy (which makes for a wonderful afternoon) and then a break to play Calzio (real football -- ahem, soccer) in the park. It was quite a great day, followed by a nice quiet night in with everybody, enjoying my birthday.
Wednesday brought us into the Santa Croce Basilica, the one we walk past daily and of which we frequently sit at the steps to watch people. This old Franciscan church was designed for the common people of Florence, allowing everybody to attend mass despite wealth or poverty. It's a gorgeous church and the burial place of such great people as Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, and Rossini. For the poor of the 16th century, this must have been an amazing opportunity. We finished of that day with some VIP treatment at a nearby dance club in honor of my birthday, so the celebration continued!
Thursday was refreshing, bringing me up to Fiesole for the third time, this time with class. We hiked to the place of Leonardo da Vinci's test flights for his flying machines and discussed Petrarch over a picnic much like Tuesday's. We watched the sunset while listening to love poems by Petrarch and came back to town.
With the weekend ahead of us, we took a trip into Venice. The city is gorgeous! the roadways are narrow and tall as there are no cars in the city. Instead, transportation occurs along the waterways in private boats, taxis, water buses, and of course the traditional gondolas. We spent the first night wandering the city, getting lost while visiting piazzas and artisan workshops and talking to a particularly kind mask maker. We visited the basilica and then went back to our hotel for the night, allowing us to wake early and take a water bus to the basilica to explore the inside and see the brilliant gold-covered ceiling. As always, it was a gorgeous church to visit.
Though I'm still a week behind, I will leave you here. My next update, describing my solo trip to Rome, should prove to be quite long and detailed.
The aforementioned Lucca trip was quite fun. We wandered through the town (similar to Florence and such, but much less urban) and saw a few nice churches, then we wandered along the top of the wall! The city's wall, easily five or six times my height, circles the perimeter of Lucca and is wide enough for vehicles to drive across it without disturbing the rows of trees that line the road. It was a gorgeous walk! Following that we wandered back into the city (now from the far side) until we reached the National Comic Museum. It was an entertaining visit with plenty of comics from Italy and even France. Next time I get to Lucca I may rent a bicycle to ride around the wall.
The next day I went to Milan with Florence For Fun, a local tour group for students. We saw the Duomo, gorgeous and ornate and one of the biggest in the world. We spent some free time wandering around the city and then went to La Scala Opera House. It was a gorgeous theatre which we looked in on from the private boxes. After that we went to the opera museum, largely comprised of photos and trinkets from prominent opera singers. From there we headed to the fashion district to see the streets reserved for the best designers, from Gucci to Armani to Dolce & Gabbana and more. It's a very high-profile district, and it was quite nice to wander the streets. We finished with a visit to an older part of the city and the long bus ride back.
Tuesday we went to the gardens at the Stibbert villa in the northern part of town. we wandered through the garden to find a nice table to sit at and... oh yeah, celebrate my birthday! Our professor brought cookies, chocolate, wine, and bread while we discussed Dante's Divine Comedy (which makes for a wonderful afternoon) and then a break to play Calzio (real football -- ahem, soccer) in the park. It was quite a great day, followed by a nice quiet night in with everybody, enjoying my birthday.
Wednesday brought us into the Santa Croce Basilica, the one we walk past daily and of which we frequently sit at the steps to watch people. This old Franciscan church was designed for the common people of Florence, allowing everybody to attend mass despite wealth or poverty. It's a gorgeous church and the burial place of such great people as Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli, and Rossini. For the poor of the 16th century, this must have been an amazing opportunity. We finished of that day with some VIP treatment at a nearby dance club in honor of my birthday, so the celebration continued!
Thursday was refreshing, bringing me up to Fiesole for the third time, this time with class. We hiked to the place of Leonardo da Vinci's test flights for his flying machines and discussed Petrarch over a picnic much like Tuesday's. We watched the sunset while listening to love poems by Petrarch and came back to town.
With the weekend ahead of us, we took a trip into Venice. The city is gorgeous! the roadways are narrow and tall as there are no cars in the city. Instead, transportation occurs along the waterways in private boats, taxis, water buses, and of course the traditional gondolas. We spent the first night wandering the city, getting lost while visiting piazzas and artisan workshops and talking to a particularly kind mask maker. We visited the basilica and then went back to our hotel for the night, allowing us to wake early and take a water bus to the basilica to explore the inside and see the brilliant gold-covered ceiling. As always, it was a gorgeous church to visit.
Though I'm still a week behind, I will leave you here. My next update, describing my solo trip to Rome, should prove to be quite long and detailed.
11 November 2011
Another few weeks
I guess I need another one of these posts sooner or later. Between the tour of Palazzo Vecchio's secret passageways, the trip to Torrigiani garden, Palazzo Davanzati, and a weekend visiting Fiesole and Pisa, it's been a pretty eventful few weeks. I'll try to mention most of it, but feel free to ask me if you're curious about any of the trips and I'll gladly tell you all I can remember!
I'll start with Palazzo Vecchio - the Old Palace. when it was constructed (which happened in parts, a bit at a time) there was a need for potential escape routes. As such, these passageways were built into the walls. On our tour we got to visit them and see the secret rooms contained therein. Up the passageways we found secret rooms - one for Cosimo and one for Francesco - as well as Francesco's studiolo, a place where he studied alchemy and adorned the walls and ceiling with paintings representing the elements, the seasons, the humors, the sexes, and other such patterns and thought. It's a gorgeous room, really. Also, the paintings covered secret compartments in the room, each with some simple riddle explaining what was located within. Anyway, beyond that we went into the ceiling and saw the construction that went into the huge ceiling and that has lasted for almost half a millennium.
Torrigiani Garden was absolutely gorgeous. We got a tour from the Torrigiani son who is in charge of the garden, and he was the best tour guide we've had so far. He was really funny and his English was strained but he was really relaxed at the same time. We walked along the paths to see more elemental symbolism and a tower in the center. The garden itself is private, so entry is only permitted by prearranged tours such as ours, and even they were only recently started. There was also a lot of symbolism about the garden as an enclosed place and as a spiritual center, so feel free to ask me about it sometime. I won't bore you with it right now; there's more to talk about!
Palazzo Davanzati was a fairly typical palace museum visit. The palace is maintained in a condition similar to that in which it was originally designed - we saw the bedrooms, sitting rooms, kitchen (on the top floor), and any other rooms one would expect. It was a fairly strict staff - we were not allowed to take photographs, so I do not have any visuals for this one. We also got in trouble once or twice, but we still had fun.
Last weekend turned into a busy weekend of travel that was planned on short notice. On Saturday I went with Amanda, Ian, and Eric to Fiesole (the Etruscan city just north of here and a 1.20 euro, 20-minute bus ride each way) to explore something outside Florence. It turned into a great day: the rain held off, we saw the town of Florence from high above, got some wonderful photos of the clouds, and went for a lovely hike. We explored the woods of Fiesole where Leonardo da Vinci tested his flying machine (though we didn't actually find the location) and a few of the old mining caves (which were apparently restricted, but we only saw those signs on our way out... oops). We had a wonderful hike and a great time out in the woods away from civilization, then came back and relaxed in town for a spell until the bus arrived.
Sunday's trip took me and Amanda to Pisa with an 8AM departure... I guess I survived it more or less. We left the train station and promptly got lost in the city, crossing the Arno (which is much cleaner than our part of the Arno... I'm pretty jealous), finding a beautiful park, and ending up outside the walls on the opposite side of the town from the duomo and the leaning tower. That gave us a lovely walk straight across town on the directions of a confused-looking girl and to the famous tower. However, 15 euros seemed a bit steep for a walk up the tower, so we settled for observing it from the outside. We did, however, wander inside the duomo, which was quite pretty. After that we went back to the park to sit and enjoy the sun and then went to the river to sit and enjoy the sun! From there we returned to Florence to find that people were still asleep at 3PM.
Well, there's the extent of my excitement up to Sunday the 6th. Monday was a fairly quiet day, marked primarily by a tour of a few artisan workshops (Taddei for some beautiful leather boxes and change purses and I Mosaici Di Lastrucci for mosaic-esque works done by filing and piecing together stone to create beautiful art that looks like an oil painting - look them up!). Tuesday held a trip to the Uffizi gallery (finally!) to see the famous paintings and sculptures of Florentine artists. Wednesday was quiet, with a small field trip to a pastry and coffee shop across from my apartment (what a surprise! but it was actually delicious) and to the open-air market (where I should start shopping for fresh produce and meat if I get the chance and a list...), followed by a work day at the British Institute Library, where I was actually able to get ahead on some of my homework. Yesterday we went to the Boboli Gardens again to read some of Dante's Inferno and discuss it, then to Piazzale Michelangiolo to continue after the garden closed (though we just barely missed the sunset up there). Today was a trip to Lucca for me, Ian, Professor Tom Kealy, and his son Joe, which I'll probably tell you about another time (but walking on the old wall was really fun, and I'll probably go back there again).
That's all for now, but I'm going to Milan tomorrow (at 8AM, again...) so I'll have more stories next time I remember to update!
I'll start with Palazzo Vecchio - the Old Palace. when it was constructed (which happened in parts, a bit at a time) there was a need for potential escape routes. As such, these passageways were built into the walls. On our tour we got to visit them and see the secret rooms contained therein. Up the passageways we found secret rooms - one for Cosimo and one for Francesco - as well as Francesco's studiolo, a place where he studied alchemy and adorned the walls and ceiling with paintings representing the elements, the seasons, the humors, the sexes, and other such patterns and thought. It's a gorgeous room, really. Also, the paintings covered secret compartments in the room, each with some simple riddle explaining what was located within. Anyway, beyond that we went into the ceiling and saw the construction that went into the huge ceiling and that has lasted for almost half a millennium.
Torrigiani Garden was absolutely gorgeous. We got a tour from the Torrigiani son who is in charge of the garden, and he was the best tour guide we've had so far. He was really funny and his English was strained but he was really relaxed at the same time. We walked along the paths to see more elemental symbolism and a tower in the center. The garden itself is private, so entry is only permitted by prearranged tours such as ours, and even they were only recently started. There was also a lot of symbolism about the garden as an enclosed place and as a spiritual center, so feel free to ask me about it sometime. I won't bore you with it right now; there's more to talk about!
Palazzo Davanzati was a fairly typical palace museum visit. The palace is maintained in a condition similar to that in which it was originally designed - we saw the bedrooms, sitting rooms, kitchen (on the top floor), and any other rooms one would expect. It was a fairly strict staff - we were not allowed to take photographs, so I do not have any visuals for this one. We also got in trouble once or twice, but we still had fun.
Last weekend turned into a busy weekend of travel that was planned on short notice. On Saturday I went with Amanda, Ian, and Eric to Fiesole (the Etruscan city just north of here and a 1.20 euro, 20-minute bus ride each way) to explore something outside Florence. It turned into a great day: the rain held off, we saw the town of Florence from high above, got some wonderful photos of the clouds, and went for a lovely hike. We explored the woods of Fiesole where Leonardo da Vinci tested his flying machine (though we didn't actually find the location) and a few of the old mining caves (which were apparently restricted, but we only saw those signs on our way out... oops). We had a wonderful hike and a great time out in the woods away from civilization, then came back and relaxed in town for a spell until the bus arrived.
Sunday's trip took me and Amanda to Pisa with an 8AM departure... I guess I survived it more or less. We left the train station and promptly got lost in the city, crossing the Arno (which is much cleaner than our part of the Arno... I'm pretty jealous), finding a beautiful park, and ending up outside the walls on the opposite side of the town from the duomo and the leaning tower. That gave us a lovely walk straight across town on the directions of a confused-looking girl and to the famous tower. However, 15 euros seemed a bit steep for a walk up the tower, so we settled for observing it from the outside. We did, however, wander inside the duomo, which was quite pretty. After that we went back to the park to sit and enjoy the sun and then went to the river to sit and enjoy the sun! From there we returned to Florence to find that people were still asleep at 3PM.
Well, there's the extent of my excitement up to Sunday the 6th. Monday was a fairly quiet day, marked primarily by a tour of a few artisan workshops (Taddei for some beautiful leather boxes and change purses and I Mosaici Di Lastrucci for mosaic-esque works done by filing and piecing together stone to create beautiful art that looks like an oil painting - look them up!). Tuesday held a trip to the Uffizi gallery (finally!) to see the famous paintings and sculptures of Florentine artists. Wednesday was quiet, with a small field trip to a pastry and coffee shop across from my apartment (what a surprise! but it was actually delicious) and to the open-air market (where I should start shopping for fresh produce and meat if I get the chance and a list...), followed by a work day at the British Institute Library, where I was actually able to get ahead on some of my homework. Yesterday we went to the Boboli Gardens again to read some of Dante's Inferno and discuss it, then to Piazzale Michelangiolo to continue after the garden closed (though we just barely missed the sunset up there). Today was a trip to Lucca for me, Ian, Professor Tom Kealy, and his son Joe, which I'll probably tell you about another time (but walking on the old wall was really fun, and I'll probably go back there again).
That's all for now, but I'm going to Milan tomorrow (at 8AM, again...) so I'll have more stories next time I remember to update!
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