Venice Vindicated (Part I)- Sept 23

This weekend I get to cross the first major city of this trip off my To-Do List: Venice. Although I’ve already been to a ton of places in Italy since I arrived, this is the first major city that I had not already been to, and to be honest my expectations weren’t high. I’ve always heard people say Venice is kinda hot and smelly with not much to do, so although looking forward to seeing it, I was not overly excited. Venice isn’t really that well known for major sights other than Piazza San Marco and I just kinda thought that that was a dirty pigeon-infested square.

However, once I arrived in Venice I was very happily surprised. We woke up early around 6 to grab breakfast and pack a lunch before boarding the bus to Venice. I have now come to understand that we always take the same type of bus to wherever we go. It is absolutely gigantic. Not only can it fit our entire program, but it is about a car’s height taller than all other busses (double deckers excluded).  It’s very comfortable and since there was no one behind me I felt no guilt in reclining my seat and sleeping for most of the ride. Once we arrived on the outskirts of the city, we got off of the bus and walked over a bridge to a boat. We all boarded the boat and set off on a trip around the southern part of Venice. We all ate our lunches on board and after a good 45 minutes or more we arrived on the island of Murano.

Murano is of course famous for glass blowing and we immediately walked in the doors of a factory where we received a demonstration during which a glass blower quickly made a vase followed by a purple rearing horse that only took about two minutes.

After the brief demonstration we walked into the store to see all of the various glass crafts that they make. Many people bought souvenirs, but I settled for pictures. – I might briefly pause the narrative to mention that Al had generously lent me her camera and memory card so that I may take pictures of Venice while I am in between cameras so to speak – Some of the crafts were very intricate and beautiful, but also rather expensive for trinkets. After we left the store we had a little bit of free time before meeting back up, so we walked around Murano and explored other glass making stores. They can truly make anything from animals to vases to candy to an entire orchestra of 1-inch figurines with different instruments. It was fun to look through all the animals ranging from the usual horses, birds, and fish to the more exotic dragons, griffins, and people. We eventually met up and walked back to the boat, which took us back to Venice to check in to our hotel.

After dropping off our things we all met back up and walked to Piazza San Marco. Trying to travel through Venice is an experience in and of itself. The pedestrian roads wind through the city like a labyrinth, cutting in unexpected directions and suddenly ending in a dead end or canal. The bridges and alleys can really start to look the same after a while and the stores don’t help because the all sell the same things: glass and masks. We finally arrived at St Mark’s and had a few minutes to wonder around and take pictures. The pigeons were crazy. When people stopped to feed them (which is not allowed) they swarmed like crazy and climbed all over them. Apparently though the pigeon problem is much better since they banned feeding them a couple of years ago.

Then we met up with a tour guide who took us into Palazzo Ducale (The Doge’s Palace). She gave us a fantastic tour that really helped illuminate Venice’s history and government. Basically Venice was a Republic with a figurehead leader called the Doge. Venice was all about limiting the power of the individual and therefore spent a lot of time talking before they decided anything. This is relevant because all of their ideological and political beliefs are represented in very distinctive ways in the architecture and decorations of the rooms. The seating is arranged specifically to resist giving the illusion of more importance to any one person or group and the paintings of Justice and Peace are explicit examples of Venetian depictions of their city. I really enjoyed the tour. I felt it was the most logical, put-together, and well-demonstrated tour we’ve done so far and was therefore very interesting.

After this tour we had free time. I walked around in a group for a couple hours. We checked in various shops and generally tried to ‘get lost’ in Venice as we had been encouraged to do by our professor. We really enjoyed looking at all of the masks and blown glass for a while. They are all really detailed and pretty. At some point we grabbed a piece of pizza and then continued walking and ‘getting lost’. Well we lost ourselves all the way until we stumbled upon il Ponte di Rialto or the Rialto Bridge which is the famous semi-triangular shaped roofed bridge that I’ve always seen pictures of in Venice.  At that point we turned around to meet back up at St. Marks for a special tour inside the basilica.

We gathered around the square and waited for the rest of the group to assemble at 7:10. People gradually gathered and 7:10 came and passed until it was 7:40 and we still had not gone in. At this point we learned that an unexpected mass had interfered with our night-time tour and we had to wait for it to finish. So wait we did. We waited and waited and waited. Finally at about 8:30 or something we went in. Then we had the pleasure of waiting for another half hour or so in an antechamber outside of the church proper.

While my past self is waiting I’ll take a moment to explain some important historical context for Venice before we get to the church. Venice was first expanded into a proper city-state from the 900s to 1100s. Before that it had been a series of semi-permanent fisherman settlements. The unique geographic position in a lagoon of many islands, though difficult to build on, was perfect for defense and maritime trade. It is also important to note that since Venice is located in the northeastern corner of Italy facing the Adriatic Sea, it has prime access to eastern trade routes (as evidenced by Marco Polo). Venice eventually developed a sort of monopoly over eastern trade, which lead to the increased influence of eastern culture over Venice. However, even with this monopoly and wealth Venice lacked the legitimacy of an ancient city. In order to establish themselves as an important city Venice needed to create a past like that of Rome. They were able to better fulfill their missing history after the sack of Constantinople in 1204 during the Crusades when they brought back artifacts from Roman Constantinople. As a result of all this history some Venetian art and architecture is a hybrid of Ottoman and more Classical styles.

The reason that all is important is because when we finally entered St Mark’s Basilica, the entire inside of the church was an amazing compilation of these two styles… But I’m getting ahead of myself.

After the mass cleared out, we walked into the church in complete darkness. We could barely see the chairs lined up to form pews. We cautiously made our way to the front few rows and sat down. After a minute or so the church was suddenly filled with the rich echoing sounds of an organ playing a Vivaldi piece. As it played the lights began to flicker on slowly, first in the side domes and progressing towards the center. It was like a light show set to Renaissance music. As the lights came on slowly filling out arches and spaces we hadn’t even seen before we were finally able to see the church. 

The walls and ceilings were covered –literally completely covered- with mosaic tiles. Obviously to anyone who is familiar with Italian Churches this is highly irregular. But thing of the walls and ceiling (with 5 domes btw) as completely covered with tiny gold (yes actual gold) mosaic pieces with hundreds of figures and scenes depicted within them in mosaics. Some of these mosaic figures were highly eastern in character while others looked classical or even more Renaissance. The floors were larger mosaic tiles of marble all taken from scores of varieties of marble throughout Byzantium.  It was so beautiful. After the 20 minutes of orchestrations finished with Bach, we all stood up and began to tour around. I didn’t think anything could be more ornate and then I saw the altarpiece: the Pala d’Oro.

This thing is insane. It’s maybe 7x5 feet tall and it depicts tons of biblical figures in little archways. Everything on it s made of gold or gold leaf and completely detailed. Then all over the entire thing of gold there are literally hundreds of gemstones set into it including pearls, emeralds, rubies, sapphires, and amethysts (1,927 in total according to Wikipedia). It’s crazy! The definition or ornate. And SO valuable. Dang.

Let’s just say it was a crazy church. Afterward we were starving and stopped to grab some food on the way back to our hotel where we crashed. 

Alle Cinque Terre - Sept 17

The next day I woke up early. We’re talkin’ 5 am and the sun was still not out. I then got ready and headed to the bus stop near the Villa to catch the first bus into Florence. Once I arrived at Santa Maria Novella (the train station) I headed straight to the ticket booths to buy tickets for Al and myself to the Cinque Terre. Al joined me shortly having walked from her pensione in Florence and we grabbed some pastries and drinks to go before heading to the train platform. We hopped on and took a surprisingly short trip to Pisa (about 20 minutes faster than last time). There we changed platforms and got on the next train heading to La Spezia. Once we got there we unloaded onto an unbelievably crowded platform where we waited for about 30-40 minutes for our final train.

For those of you who don’t know, the Cinque Terre (literally five lands in Italian) is a small series of five little coastal towns in the Liguria region of northwestern Italy. After boarding our last and extremely crowded SRO train, we finally arrived in Monterosso the furthest north of the five towns. We didn’t stay in Monterosso long however and quickly hopped a 2 minute train to the neighboring Vernazza where we planned to spend the day.

We arrived in Vernazza at about 11:00 and wandered around for a while exploring the harbor, the seaside rocks and the various streets of the little town. The basic set up of the town is one short street that leads to a square on the edge of a harbor. There is also a little peninsula of large piled rocks to serve as a breakwater and create the little harbor. It is one of the most beautiful and scenic places in italy with colorful stucco buildings and a church dotting the rocky hillsides and leading straight down into beautiful blue water. It’s the perfect postcard location.

After exploring for a while and taking some pictures we decided it was time for lunch and we found a little restaurant and had pesto and fried calamari (two of the area’s specialties).  It was really nice. Then afterward we walked around briefly before heading down to some rocks on the far side of the harbor where we set up to enjoy some time on the beach.

We set up on this one tall-ish rock from which we could climb down to the water. As soon as we had set everything down and stored all of our belongings in our bag we climbed down into the beautiful clear blue water. It felt great! After the initial challenge of actually getting into the water while navigating slippery rocks and braving the cold, it was really pleasant. It was just cold enough that it was brisk and refreshing, but as soon as you got in it was totally comfortable. We swam around a bit splitting our time between the half submerged rocks, the harbor and some submerged rocks that we could stand on.

After a bit we headed back to our belongings and I went to get my camera to take a picture. In order to get the picture I wanted, I needed to walk over a few feet of slippery underwater rocks. So I began to work my way across the tricky underwater terrain. As you may be able to predict, this did not end well because I stopped paying attention and when my foot slipped I put my hands down to catch myself on some underwater rocks. Unfortunately the very same hands were holding a camera, which I then proceeded to dunk underwater. I quickly dashed back to the rock with our stuff and threw out battery and memory card hoping it could be saved and I left the camera to dry. I also cut my big toe when I fell so it was bleeding and whatnot. It was basically a big giant failure.

For the rest of the day we used Al’s camera and continued to enjoy the beach. When we then headed back later that afternoon. The trip back was a bit smoother than the way there. We caught a train back to La Spezia and luckily arrived right on time to catch a train straight to Florence. Though we didn’t have to change trains, the train we took stopped at many more stops and seemed to be longer. All in all we did about 7 hours of travelling and 6 hours of relaxing touring/beach time, which is pretty impressive for a day trip.

UPDATE: As of a week later, and after being put in rice the camera has officially been declared dead. :(

I Need a Burger - Sept 12-16

So another week of classes has come and gone. It was pretty good. I’ve really particularly started to like my European Society class and professor. I find all the historical and political interactions in Europe interesting and I really like the way the professor runs class. Before we start our lecture we discuss things that have come up in the news recently. (Each of us is assigned a different newspaper from all over Europe.) This has been really helpful as far as getting to know the current state of everything and then our lectures help to flesh out the background.

So other notable events this week: We had a big group cook out this week that Helen arranged for us. At some point (I think Tuesday) we all met for dinner at the normal time, but instead of going to the normal dining room, we all took the tables outside and lined them up on the lawn in one giant long table. Then we ate a really good dinner as the sun set behind the Villa. 

It was a very nice and scenic way to do dinner. We started off with a course that was like tomato soup mixed with bread to get a semi spongy type tomato soup that was very good. Then for the main course we had some white beans, green beans, and a seasoned grilled chicken leg. The villa even provided us with free wine. Finally, for desert we had these grilled bananas that had been infused with chocolate. It was a really fun dinner and we sat out there for about 2 hours chatting and relaxing. It was definitely neat that we could do that in the middle of the week.

Then on Thursday we headed into the city to meet up for art history class at the Palazzo Vecchio in the Piazza della Signoria by the fake David. I left my room an hour early and ended up on a bus with about 8 others heading to class. The busses however were very crowded and slow that day and it took us almost an hour to get to Florence. Once we arrived we were already late so we quickly walked to the piazza. 

When we arrived we sneakily ducked into the already congregated group as if nothing ever happened. As it turns out almost everyone was late due to awful transport that day, so we only missed a couple minutes of it. We toured the inside of the palace which had some really nicely painted walls and ceilings. One room that stands out had a scenic representation of each of the four elements on 3 of the walls and the ceiling. It also had Olympian gods painted into the scenes. We also saw a statue of a woman (I forget her name) chopping someone’s head off. The tour was overall pretty cool, but since we were all spread out it was difficult  to hear our teacher.

After lunch a group of ten including myself went out to lunch at Hard Rock Café. At this point we’d been in Italy for two weeks and we were starting to really crave good burgers. So we caved and found the Hard Rock Café where we all grossly over paid for burgers, fries, and milkshakes. It was almost 20 Euro, but worth every cent.

The next day I headed into Florence around 6 to meet up with Al, who had just arrived in Florence after seeing Germany and Prague on her opening tour. We met by the Duomo. Then we walked around the city a bit. I tried to help her get her bearings and then we grabbed dinner. We chatted for a bit about her tour and our traveling plans and then began to walk back toward the Duomo. On the way we stopped and rode a carousel because it was there. Then we tried to find gelato and ended up finding the same place that I went with my family last time we were in Florence, Festival del Gelato. 

They have soooooo many flavors there. I tried rose flavored gelato and surprisingly it just tasted like a rose, which was weird. Then I walked Al back to where she is staying and headed home on the bus. 

Pizza a Pisa/A Run to Remember - Sept 10

Today started off very relaxed. I sat in my room doing homework and preparing for the day until noon when hunger and necessity drove me into Sesto. After an ATM shorted me 50 Euro I headed back to the villa and did a bit more work until it was about 3:30 when I headed over to meet up with a group to go to Pisa. In total we had a group of eight as we boarded a bus to Florence. When we arrived at Santa Maria Novella (SMN) station we bought our tickets and celebrated our small victories in navigating the station using Italian. We boarded the train that was thankfully air-conditioned and rode an hour or so to Pisa. On the way I studied some Italian for class so I’d say it was a successful day for homework.

We arrived in Pisa around 5ish or so and immediately set out to see the Tower. It was on the opposite site of town from the train station so we got a nice little tour of what we decided was the average city of Pisa (Little did I know that I would really get the chance to get to know Pisa). Once we arrived we quickly set up camp at a spot and began taking the obligatory pictures holding up the tower. 

Our plan to arrive late in the afternoon/early evening was perfect because not only were there fewer tourists, but we also go the sunset shining on the tower which made the whole scene much more attractive than it would have been with a midday sun.  So we took individual pictures holding up the Tower, then began the combinations of groups and pairs and individual fun shots for at least half an hour. After we were satisfied we walked around a bit and looked at the tower more closely. We also looked around the church next to the tower, which I found to be surprisingly pretty, especially since the sun was setting.

The group then headed to find a place to eat, but we didn’t get very far before we found a nice little restaurant that was reasonably priced with a great view of the tower and a perfect table for eight waiting for us outside.  Almost all of us ended up ordering pizza because it was soooooo good. Definitely the best pizza I’ve had in Italy so far. It was so unbelievably stereotypical that we were eating pizza in front of the Tower of Pisa. 

After a nice leisurely dinner we meandered back through Pisa and stopped for my favorite gelato thus far. I had grapefruit and caramel. They were magnificent! The grapefruit was tart and sweet and light and the caramel was just a really smooth creamy taste that really complimented the grapefruit.

Upon leaving from the gelato place to catch our train in 20ish minutes, I realized that I did not have my bag. I then realized that it was back all the way across the city at the restaurant. While I didn’t have anything crucial to my life in the bag, we decided it would be best if I retrieved it. So the group split with those who had to wake up early heading onward to the station and and a few awesome friends (Laura, Morgan, and Dede) and me heading back on a rescue mission.

Now, since the Tower and the train station are literally at polar ends of Pisa this was not going to be a trivial jaunt. This was a rescue mission and it was going to be close. The Arno River splits the town in two with two-thirds on the Tower side and one-third on the station side. Since we had already crossed the bridge and walked a bit to get to the gelato place this meant we were going to have to cover the town almost two whole times to get back to the tower and then turn around and return to the station in order to make it on the train in 20 minutes. So we took off.

We ran at first and then decided to just power walk. When we reached the bridge I separated from the rescue team and ran hardcore back to the tower. It was quite a ways. I was getting tired and probably looked really crazy to the Italians.

When I reached the restaurant near the base of the tower I whipped out some Italian to ask the host if he’d found my blue bag. He told me “Si, si I have con-served it for you.” and then led me into the restaurant to retrieve it. I thanked him profusely then ran away like a crazy person. I sprinted back several streets until I met back up with the girls and slowed to a power walk.

For those of you that know me well, I am a power-walking champion. Everyone always complains about my normal pace, but this time I was told to set the pace! Haha! So, with the time in mind I put it into high gear and Morgan and I used our speed walking skills to keep the pace solid while Dede and Laura did a jog-walk-jog thing to keep up. When the train station came into view we were already a minute or two late, so I forewent the walking and bolted into the terminal whipping out my ticket as I ran. I quickly validated it, followed shortly by the others, and then went tearing into the underground passage between platforms.

Meanwhile, on the train our friends anxiously waited to see us on the platform. They were all carefully held in suspense as the time for the train’s departure came and went without motion. Finally after a three or four minute delay they pulled out. Slightly concerned that they hadn’t seen us on the platform they still waited anxiously when suddenly the compartment door slid open to reveal me dripping with sweat and breathing heavily holding a fist raised it triumph. They all expressed various forms of relief as I told them how it happened.

Amongst shouts of “Corre! Corre!” (Run! Run!) We’d sped through the tunnel I was a bit a head and when I saw the sign for Florence I’d through out a turn signal to the people behind me and ran up onto the platform. I’d then held the door and quickly confirmed this was the correct train as the girls hopped on. Then we’d all melted into seats and had 30 seconds of panting and sweating before the doors closed and the train pulled out. It was very intense.

According to Google maps our epic chase through Pisa was 1.8 miles and should take an estimated 35 minutes. I’m proud to say that we effectively cut off more than 10 minutes from that time in order to make the train. Awesome. It was definitely the most I’ve run in a while.

Shortly thereafter the group reunited in two adjacent sets of inward facing seats. We were quite relieved to have made the train back (since the next one would be much later and would have only taken us to Florence not Sesto. So we chatted and cooled off as we all discussed how much fun the day had been and rode the surprisingly short hour-long train back to Florence and then Sesto Fiorentino. As we started to get off in Sesto we realized quickly that we were not at the correct station. So we did a little indecisive straddle of the train, hopping off and back on 3 times before deciding that the station was at least in the correct city. We preferred to be far away in the right city to accidentally riding the train to Bologna that night. Once we got outside and looked at a map we realized we weren’t far at all and after that it was only a 20 minute walk or so back to the Villa.

Siena and San Gimignano - Sept 9

This morning we woke up early and had an early breakfast and packed a bag lunch for our group trip to Siena. I felt much better than I had the previous day so I was definitely up to some site seeing. We all boarded the bus and left by 8. By the time we arrived at the base of the city it was 9:30. We got off the bus at the base of a cool fortress-y wall and began a 10-minute or so walk up into the town. I say up of course, because the city is built on a hill and we were heading towards the peak to see the cathedral.

We arrived at the cathedral and gazed at the intricate carvings of the façade and the distinct stripes of dark and white marble running up the bell tower. My art history professor lectured to us through headphones about the history of Siena and it’s rivalry with Florence and how all this led to the wonderfully ornate cathedral we were seeing. He also talked about the way that in many ways Siena became frozen in time during the early Renaissance due to Florence’s domination and its own preference for isolation.  The cathedral is distinct not only because of its bold stripe pattern, but also because for a church built in Italy, where Renaissance attitudes led to classical Roman-inspired architecture, it remains uniquely gothic. According to our professor it is perhaps one of two Italian gothic churches, and indeed the similarities to French cathedrals I’ve seen were apparent from the flares lining the roof to the stain glass windows. Afterwards we headed inside. It really is a beautiful church. The inside is very ornate and unique.

After the tour of the cathedral we headed nearby to see il Museo d’Opera the organization in charge of funds for the cathedral back in the day. Our professor showed us a painting of the Madonna and child surrounded by saints on a field of gold that is apparently very important to western art history. We looked briefly around other parts of the museum then dispersed throughout the city for an hour of lunch and free time. In my group Morgan and I successfully attempted to piece together knowledge from our previous visits to Siena and found our way to the Piazza del Campo. I looked around and shops and we all ate our packed lunches in the shadow of the massive tower of Palazzo Publicco that looms over the square.

After lunch and gelato we took a tour of the Palazzo, which was (and still is) the city hall of Siena. There are some important frescoes inside that depicted proper and improper ways to govern as well as another Madonna with child and one of a Sienese warrior. After this tour we walked back through Siena to our bus where we all happily sat as we proceeded to a nearby hill town, San Gimignano.

San Gimignano is a Tuscan hill town that I’m sure everyone has seen on a postcard before. It is built on a tall hill with lookout towers and a wall to watch the surrounding agricultural landscape for bandits or invading cities. We were given a couple hours here to explore and relax before meeting back up to return to Sesto. I left with a group of three others and we walked along the main street stopping to look in shops and take pictures. Eventually we stopped to get something to drink and sat while we cooled off. Afterward we returned to the bus and headed home.

Studies Abroad - Sept 5-8

We had our first week of classes this week and on the whole I think it will be a cool and relevant semester. My first class is Italy in China. This class happens only once a week for 3 hours and it’s basically an anthropology class that studies the interactions of Italy and China primarily through observations of Chinese immigrants in Italy. It applies very directly to my major and 6 miles away there is a population of 30,000 Chinese immigrants in the largest concentration in Italy. My next class is European Society where we learn about Europe and the European Union through political science and sociological lenses. It should be cool to learn about the development and state of relations within Europe.  And so far I’ve really liked the lectures. Then I have an art history class that focuses on Florentine Renaissance art. It also has weekly excursions into Florence where we get to see first hand the artwork we’re studying. The course emphasizes the political and cultural implications of art rather than a more theoretical or aesthetic approach, which I think I’m going to like. And of course finally, I take Italian. Hopefully I’ll be getting better at the language. On the whole I think this semester is going to be very different. Literally all of my classes are directly relevant to the city around me and the culture I'm living in. It's almost anthropological. I think and hope that it will make it more real and dynamic. 

This week was basically filled with a lot of syllabi, some homework and various excursions around Sesto. On Wednesday night after dinner I took a train into the city with a few other students and went to the Duomo where we watched a little parade where a bunch of kids brought little lanterns and walked around in a parade. It was a nice way to spend an evening.

The main outing that really needs talking about is my trip into Florence on Thursday for art history class. We headed out early and got to the Medici Palace by 9:30. Our professor started the tour inside by showing us the private Medici chapel. It was a small, but beautifully ornate room painted richly with a fresco of the procession of the three kings that was impressively detailed and complex. Among those in the procession there were likenesses of the Medici. The room contrasted strongly with the relatively simple and clean look of the outer halls and rooms. Basically the chapel became the one private place where the powerful Medici family could act like kings without upsetting a people opposed to that sort of power. Even the outside of the building is very plain and fortress-like in order to convey power without throwing it in everyone’s face. The chapel was very cool and it truly was fit for a king. We then briefly toured through other rooms of the house, but the main lesson came from the chapel where we were shown the political implications of the art.

After that we headed to the San Lorenzo church across the street that essentially served as the Medici’s private church. There we learned a lot about how classical architecture influenced the architecture and aesthetic of the Renaissance. In class our professor told us about how the Renaissance began when the people developed a sense that the Romans and Greeks had lived in a classical and better golden age and aspired to return to that time, thus creating the idea of a middle or medieval age. It led to a period that emphasized innovation and tradition in unique ways, which led to a slightly different, but still very classical style.

After class I wondered around the Duomo area for a while. I checked in stores and wandered the streets basically just biding my time. After an hour or so my professor’s next class ended and I met up with Laura, Luigi, and Hillary to go to the Uffizi. We started heading to the best of our knowledge towards the Arno where we knew the Uffizi was. Shortly after we passed through The Piazza with the replica of David and found a Pizzeria where the cast of the Jersey Shore worked during their stay in Florence. So we decided it was as good a place as any and we grabbed some pizzas to go. When we got to the museum we used our student cards to avoid the line and get in for free (awesome!!!). The other three had an assignment to find a painting of a historical (non-biblical) event to write about.  This actually proved to be a challenge since 98 percent of the Uffizi is portraits and either mythological or biblical art. Eventually after lots of walking we left and headed back to Sesto for the day.
Other important note. When I woke up this (Thurs) morning I felt terrible! Wednesday night I felt a bit of sickness coming on and then when I woke up the next day...BAM. My throat was sooooo sore I didn't want to function as a human. I still went to Florence and did the art stuff but I was pushing through some sickness. It got better for the middle of the day, but when I got back to the villa I was running a fever and achy and had chills. Bad stuff. So basically I rolled around in bed after 3 on Thursday. Not great. But right before I went to bed my throat started feeling better and my lymph nodes seemed less swollen so I have hope for our day trip tomorrow. 

the Garden's Secrets - Sept 4

Today was Sunday and for the first day in a while we had no plans. Everyone slept in then woke up for a late brunch around 10:30. After hanging out for a few hours I headed outside and began to explore the grounds. I found Laura and she came with me. While we explored the gardens it began to rain the tiniest bit, but it was cool and refreshing. First we found a lily pond with some cool looking green, yellow, and black frogs.

 I then climbed a pile of stones to get a look over the back wall and saw that there were farms and orchards all behind the villa that presumably is where our food comes from. I also turned around and was pleasantly surprised to find a little maze in our garden that Laura and I quickly worked our way into and out of. It was a bit unkempt with some weeds growing and a few broken patches of hedge, but on the whole it was a very cool “Secret Garden” or Narnia moment which I enjoyed.

We explored back further and found a volleyball-type court. And then worked our way to the back wall. As we walked around we kept finding things like a random old stone statue of a dog, a set of ancient stone table and chairs, a old fountain of a mans algae-covered face on a wall with water pouring out into a stone basin and a old gnarled tree that we could fit inside of through a gaping hole. It was a very good garden.

Later I went to a café and read for a while. The rest of the day pretty much consisted of hanging around the villa and preparing for class in the morning. The weather was much calmer today. As opposed to the relentless sun, it was pretty cloudy and even rained a bit. The cooling off was actually a very nice relief.

At about 11:45 as we were about to fall asleep a fireworks show begun outside. Really near and REALLY loud. Like shake the room loud. We couldn’t see them really from our window so it was kinda annoying to have to wait for them to stop (about half an hour later). But other people had a really fantastic view apparently so that’s cool.

Florence for Beginners - Sept 3

We started off this morning with a group trip to Firenze. We all boarded a bus in front of the villa that took us to an old church called San Miniato on the hills to the south of Florence. From there we had magnificent views of the city with the dome of the Duomo dominating the skyline. 

We walked up some stairs to the striking image of a medieval church will an intricate two-toned, white and green marble façade silhouetted by the low morning sun.

 

As we listened to Professor Rebecchini discuss the church and its history I walked around trying to get some cool pictures. We went inside and saw more of the beautiful church. The low sun streamed through the windows in a beautiful way that made every wall, pillar and arch a perfect subject for pictures. I think I took over 100 and have since narrowed it down to about 50. But the dramatic light inspired me to get fancy with my pictures and I’m excited to have begun a collection of much more inspired pictures that I usually have on trips. We also saw a wedding at the church while we were there.

After that we walked down toward the city and crossed the Arno via the Ponte Vecchio. After we crossed the bridge we began to drift apart until we were in small groups all over the city. My group of myself and 6 girls (a statistic representative of the program at large) wondered around past all the popular sites in the Duomo area. We saw the Baptistery, the Duomo, San Lorenzo church, the Medici Palace, the piazza with the David replica and Santa Maria Novella. We also walked for a bit through the street market near San Lorenzo. I have my eye on quite a few things once the tourist season ends and prices go down. After a several hours of walking around my group decided to head back to Sesto. We took the bus back and all went inside to chill at the villa for the rest of the day.

Administration & Exploration - Sept 2

 So I woke up today to a rather startling and hopelessly loud buzzing sound coming from the wall of our room. I then covered my ears for like 7 minutes until we figured out how to make it stop. Apparently the pull cord in our shower makes an evil sound. So we don’t touch it now. Since I’m up I might as well take this chance to write about my room which I was somewhat less than descriptive about yesterday. So it is on like a third or fourth story level in the back corner of the villa. Unlike many other bedrooms here it looks like this one may have actually been designed to be a bedroom (albeit a smallish one for the richness of the people who built this place). When  you come in there are three beds, 2 dressers and a wardrobe for hanging clothes. We also have drawers under our beds, so that even with three to this room there is plenty of space for everything.  We also have our own bathroom which is a luxury that (so far) we alone have. Most people share with bathrooms in their hall. We also have a ceiling fan that some people don’t have and a magnificent view of Italian rooftops and some statues and a courtyard. On the whole I think I’m pretty lucky with my rooming situation.

The Villa Corsi-Salviati where I’m staying is not in Florence proper, but rather a small town called Sesto Fiorentino six Roman miles outside of Florence city center. The villa belongs to the Giucciardini family and was built back in 1480.

Much of the inside has been modernized and retro-fitted to accommodate students which leads to rooms that once belonged to the kitchen staff or served as living rooms.  The inside walls of many rooms are covered in beautiful frescoes while the outside is ornately decorated with scores of marble, stone, iron, and bronze statues as well as a beautiful garden surrounded by a 10 foot tall wall of alternating stone pillars and iron bars.

After waking up I operated in British time for a bit and was, therefore, late for breakfast. After a rushed breakfast I headed with all the other 60 or so students to a room where we were given an introduction to the program, the villa, and the area in general. We also met our teachers who introduced themselves and their classes. After this meeting we reassembled to go through an hour or so of extensive paperwork. I won’t bore you or myself by recounting the details but let’s just say I am now really familiar with my name and the address of this villa.

After this meeting a large group went to Helen’s office to pick up phones. I got a phone for 20 Euro and will use a pay as you go plan. Then we went to lunch.

Lunch get’s its own paragraph because it was that great. We started with a tomato soup and it was THE BEST SOUP I HAVE EVER HAD. It was even better than the butternut squash soup we usually have around the holidays. I had to full bowls and every bite was amazing. It was somehow sooooo superior to normal tomato soup. I must find out how it is done. We also had some roast beefish stuff, seasoned eggplant, and delicious fried potato pieces.

After lunch I headed with my friends Laura and Ali and several new friends/classmates to the nearby market called Esselunga. There we did some necessary errands like fetching shampoo and turning in emergency insurance forms. We dropped our things off at the villa then Laura, Ali, and I headed into the center of Sesto to do some more errands at an electronic appliance store, a copy shop, and a café. Ali and I who both have Italian experience got a chance to put our language use to the test as we navigated through the stores.  We found Sesto to be a really nice small, but modern and convenient town. Though the town has many medieval buildings the stores and conveniences were all up to par.

We got back just in time for dinner and had left over soup (!!!!) and followed it up with some Pasta Pomodoro (tomato) which was basically penne pasta with a really good tomato sauce. After dinner I headed into town with my roommates Luigi and Jin. We walked around with no particular goal, but to get to know the town. We grabbed some gelato at a nearby place. I had nutella and strawberry(very good). Then we headed to a bar where we each got a glass of wine and sat outside by the street and chatted. It was a very nice and Italian evening. After drinks we headed toward Piazza Vittorio Veneto where they were beginning a local comedy. They first started with a video and Luigi and I tried to practice our Italian to a fair degree of success. As the play began it started to sprinkle and we feared it would rain, but it resided quickly.  The show finally started with an opera-ish song sung by a woman in a maid costume. She was good, but unfortunately shortly after her song another woman had technical difficulties with her mic and the show was stalled for a while. We waited for as long as we could stand (literally since when we arrived there was standing room only) then headed back to the villa for the night.

Sidewalk Hell: The First Frenzy in Firenze - Sept 1

The next morning started out with a bang Uncle Tim and I woke up and left the house at 7:45 once we took the bus to the Tube and got on the train we realized that we actually meant to arrive at the airport at 7:45 and were therefore an hour behind schedule. We sat there completely at the mercy of London’s Underground system hoping to make it in time. When we arrived at London City Airport we ran in and I made it. Then the flight was delayed by 15 minutes so I grabbed a quick pastry. I boarded the plane, which was small and required us to walk on to the tarmac, and found to my surprise that I had a row to myself and that the seats were actually nice and comfy. I slept most of the 1.75 hour trip to Firenze Peretola and felt very well rested and content as I watched the French/Italian seaside and mountains slide past beneath me. This peace however was not to last.

My state of peace was quickly followed by a hellish nightmare.  I experienced no more than minor annoyance as I left the plane and cool British atmosphere behind to endure the baking Italian sun. So still feeling good I headed through customs and found my baggage waiting for me in the baggage claim.  Then I began to put my Italian experience to use for the first time asking 3 people how to find the shuttle to Santa Maria Novella train station in Florence. I got on the shuttle, paid 5 Euro for my ticket and sat down. After the 20 or so minute bus ride I got to the train station and once again successfully used my Italian to purchase a ticket and then locate the correct bus stop for busses 2 and 28.

At this point things were starting to get hot. The shuttle to the station was warm and the station and running around therein had me working up a sweat. The sun was quite warm while I waited for my bus, but I only waited a 5 or so minutes and then got on Bus 2 feeling very proud of myself. I was satisfied with my use and understanding of Italian to get to the correct bus and was assured I would shortly reach my destination. Oh how wrong I was.

I asked the bus driver to take me to bus stop Gramsci 9 (gram-shee no-vay). He was a bit unsure, but when I clarified that it was in Sesto Fiorentino (the small town just outside of Florence where I’m staying) he seemed to know what I referred to. As I sat on the bus people watching Italians, I began to sweat in earnest. The bus was not air-conditioned and it was truly hot outside, 35˚C in fact (95˚F). So I was hot. I fanned myself with some papers from my bag and it gave marginal relief for .2 seconds. As I sat on the bus for half an hour or so I became very toasty. I finally saw a stop that said Via Gramsci (the street the Villa is on) I quickly disembarked and watched the bus drive away.

I couldn’t tell where I was on the street so I picked a random direction and walked a 100 yards or so. Then I was like, “I don’t see it” so I walked back to the previous spot and continued past for perhaps another hundred yards. I was of course on the side of the street with no shade. Deciding this was wrong I headed back to the bus stop to stare at it. I noted it said Gramsci 01. I knew I was heading to Gramsci 09, but didn’t really register that there might be a problem. At this point I had already walked further than a football field in the hot sun without making progress. Keep in mind that the whole time I carried with me three bags and a back pack; my arms were already sore.  I then asked a lady where I might find the Villa I was heading to and she wasn’t sure, but pointed vaguely toward the direction I had originally headed. I then resumed in that direction.

While my past self is walking down the streets let me tell you a little about Italian sidewalks in the town of Sesto Fiorentino, or better yet, let me tell you about the small area outside the curb on Italian streets. This “sidewalk” area, as we will call it since I have no better name for it is no more than 5 feet wide at it’s biggest point. After another few hundred yards the sidewalk began to narrow until it was perhaps 3 feet wide. I switched so that I pushed one bag ahead while carrying the other 2 behind me so that I could fit. As I continued further the sidewalks began to switch between cobblestone (not good for rolling bags), crazy ripped up pavement (worse for rolling bags, and curbs everywhere (-_-). 

I won’t bore you with anymore agonizing details, but let’s say that a mile later I saw some landmarks that I had read about previously. At one point I walked past the Villa by a couple blocks asked directions and was directed to Via Corsi Salviati  (a street) as opposed to the Villa Corsi-Salviati. I ended up walking around a couple more blocks and finally after asking for directions several more times seeing some street signs and house numbers, I made it to the front door. By the end I was stopping every 50 feet or so to settle my heart rate and catch my breath. I had to sit down several times as well (please remember the 95˚ and the 1 pastry I had eaten 6+ hours before and zero water). I almost passed out on the street within two hours of Florence! <-(sarcastic exclamation mark).  So that part was truly truly awful. I finally stumbled through the front doors and met with the Villa manager Helen who had icy cold water bottles with little chunks of ice. (I couldn’t drink fast enough).

I sat in a daze as things were explained to me and kinda heard stuff. Then Rosita another in-charge Villa person copied my passport, then Amy an RA type person showed me up my room through a maze of hallways and stairs (up and down). I got to my room and like sat for I don’t know how long until I started to like see and notice things again. 

My first conscious thought about the Villa was, “Wow, that’s an awesome view.” as I looked out my window. Shortly thereafter I met Luigi one of my roommates from Michigan.  We chatted for a bit about where we’re from etc and I told him my horrifying story. A few minutes later we met Jin who goes to Duke, but has been off for two years serving in the Korean military. We figured out beds and drawers then I went downstairs to retrieve my bags. After only a bit of confusion as I tried to find a way downstairs I grabbed them, went up and unpacked (mostly). I then sat on the bed for like 2 hours until I gathered the strength to do things. Then I went and found Laura and Ali, my friends from school, in their room and hung out with them until dinner at 6:30.

Fun Fact: Dinner is AWESOME. We have a chef named Bruno who cooks the most amazing meals ever from fresh ingredients gathered from farms near the villa. We started with a soup that was brothy and had rice, celery, onions, Italian spices and herbs. It was an awesome salty/savoury soup that was so delicious. I thought it was our dinner. Then I was surprised as plates of chicken covered in some sort of gravy-like sauce emerged with more plates of sliced seasoned potatoes. !!!!!! SO GOOD. I also had salad, bread, and olive oil. But the meal was heaven. It almost (almost) made up for the previous torture. After dinner I walked around the garden with some friends (old and new) and explored the Villa some more.

Later I left with a little group and we walked a couple blocks to find some gelato. We were surprised to see a little fair with bumper cars, swinging chairs, and other cool little carnival rides and stands. We were all too tired to stay and enjoy the fair so we headed back to the Villa and got some much needed rest. 

Modern London - Aug 31

Today we started out by renting bikes from a Barclay’s bike stand. Note to future self:  These are bikes those you rent on the street with a credit card and then pull out of a little stall. Then you ride them to another stall elsewhere in the city and park them. It is very convenient when you don’t want to backtrack or keep up with your bike.

First we peddled to Hyde Park and rode through a bit of it to get to a little café. By the time we got there it was near 12:00 or 12:30 so we went ahead and grabbed some food to eat. After that we walked through a bit of the park including along the Serpentine and part of the rose garden then we hopped on a bus for a short bit. Once we got off (on Picadilly?) we walked through a market where we’d been the previous day and bought some macaroons at Ladurée. The shop was cool. It was pretty tiny and looked like a cave made of gold. And the macaroons, which I had never had, were delicious. I had vanilla and coffee.

Then we picked up more bikes. We went through Leadenhall Market and then proceeded to bike through So-Ho, the business district, and London City. I had never heard of London City as a separate entity from greater London so I got some neat info there. We then returned the bikes at a spot near St. Paul’s Cathedral and walked across the Millennium Bridge to Tate Modern Museum. We started by heading straight to the top to get some caffeine and snacks in their café. We sat by a window that overlooked a huge section of the Thames. We had an excellent view of the Millennium Bridge, Tower Bridge, St. Paul’s, the Gherkin and several other buildings. I had some chocolate cake and while we ate Aunt Jill and Uncle Tim continued the architecture lesson that we’d begun on the bike ride. I got an overview of Art-Deco, Brutalism, and Modernist as well as the older styles seen around London.

At Tate Modern Aunt Jill began my education in modern art, which I knew little about. We went through cubism, surrealism, pop art, and impressionism. I saw works by Matisse, Andy Warhol, Picasso, and about a bajillion others. I learned quite a bit, I hope I can remember it all.

Afterward we biked a bit more and found our way to South Bank. (An area with several theatres along the river. We went to the roof of one theatre and had drinks with Guido. Then we proceeded below to do watch a show with three female dancers/movers/gymnasts/lifters.  Basically they walked around making faces and climbing on each others’ bodies. Some things were cool, but most were okay.  As we were leaving Aunt Jill and I ran into this fountain that was basically a four-square court made with watery walls that turn off and on. We ran in while one wall was off and then changed squares as different walls went down before we finally hopped out. We were only a little wet. ‘Twas fun.

After that we walked across the river and took the Tube to South Kensington where we exited for Lates, a late night all adult thing at the Science Museum. They had a ton of cool events and shows and things, but most of them were too crowded to do. The one activity we did was watch a show called Punk Science where two guys bantered with the audience and occasionally described theories about the end of the universe. I thought it was a bit worthless as they only actually told us about 3 facts in the entire 40 min show. We then did a few experimenty game type things before calling it a night.