Tuesday, 3/11/03
How shall I start? I am, of course, in Venezia. Yesterday we left at 7:10 in the morning for Ravenna. I was too exhausted to pull an overnighter and finish my project. I brought it with me. As we drove in the city on the bus we passed some pretty whitish trees. We didn't know what they were, but they had sweet gum-like things on them. Cady and Kate named them spiky ball trees.
We went to the Church of San Vitale. I was blown away by the shimmering mosaics (frescoes don't come close) and the alabaster windows that let the light shine through. The church was round and gorgeous. Afterward I was with Omar, Morgan, and Morgan's sister. We got food at a pizza/sandwich place and sat down in front of a McDonalds, the only place where it's safe to sit without being charged or go to the bathroom without buying something. We had a good laugh when Omar saw a sign advertising a McMexican meal. The burger supposedly has guacamole on it!
We all joked about singing songs without thinking about it, because at 5am on Saturday morning when Omar and I were at the computer, Omar thoughtlessly started singing "Build me up Buttercup." Omar singing doesn't phase me, but his choice of song really cracked me up. I've had that song (one of my very least favorite oldies) stuck in my head on and off since then.
After Ravenna, we came to Venezia and I slept the entire 3 hours. When we got to the coast of the mainland we were all raising our eyebrows at how ultimately ugly it was. It was fully of ugly busy streets, and enormous factories. We got on a boat and could see nothing. I'd been excited about coming to Venice, but wasn't really enjoying myself because I knew I had a ton of work to do. When we got to Lido (the island where our hotel is) we found out that we ought not to validate our 72 hr. boat passes until the next day, so they would be good through Friday. I was glad, because that meant there was nothing to see that night and I could work on my project.
I went to a Chinese restaurant with Carmen and Valerie for dinner. My pineapple chicken and wonton soup were satisfactory, but after seeing Carmen's spring rolls and tasting Valerie's sweet and sour chicken, that was what I wanted. Unfortunately, it wasn't cheap so I won't go again. I worked the rest of the evening (with a glue hunting interlude. I finally found scotch tape at a photo shop and that will have to do). I got a lot of work done, but still have more to do.
This morning we had breakfast at the hotel. I ate a whole lot (a dry oatmeal based cereal, to rolls, one with honey and one with jelly, and my first banana yogurt, as well as good old OJ). I wanted to make sure I minimized my mid-day hunger, so minimizing how much I spent on food.
We got on the boat, couldn't see the main island until we were on the dock, then stepped up to St. Mark's square. It was so foggy that we couldn't even see the lion. Paolo said we were lucky, though; on some days you couldn't even see your own feet. When I was walking up to where the group was gathering, Cady was in front of me and suddenly her leg was up in the air with a pigeon flying! She finally kicked a pigeon, something she's wanted to do since she came to Italy. She also said her mom's theory is that the reason Venice is slowly sinking into the ocean is because of all the pigeon poop.
When we got to the square in front of the church, President Bowen was there! [former Pres. of TAMU] We all took group pictures. It was exciting. We went into St. Mark's and, again, the mosaics were amazing. Behind the altar was the Palad'oro, a golden altar piece. Paolo's father was actually a museum curator in Firenze and when he was a child they lived in the museum. Once the Palad'oro was taken apart int 7 pieces and stored under Paolo's bed. So he feels very acquainted with it, having slept on top of it. They go way back, Paolo and the altar piece.
When Paolo was talking a woman came up to him and snapped, "It is forbidden to speak so fast. You are not a guide. You cannot speak so fast." Paolo was like "Okay, I will try to speak slower. Who are you?" She said, "I am a guide!" and walked off. We all wondered what the heck she was talking about. I think she got her English mixed up and meant that he couldn't speak so loud, since he wasn't a paid guide. Not that he was really even loud. He was just talking above a whisper.
Later, Valerie told me this story. Carmen was admiring the cross shaped candelabra hanging in the center of the church, saying that it would be so pretty if it were all lit up. Valerie answered that Carmen's boyfriend would really like that, since he's black, and that would make it a burning cross. I wonder if anyone besides the KKK has used burning crosses?
Kate is always meeting people with cool accents. There was a Brazilian guy at St. Mark's who lives in New York. She loaned him €.50 because at the postcard desk the man wouldn't take a bill for €.60 worth of postcards. The funny thing was that Kate only had a bill but he accepted it because she was spending more money. Alex, the Brazilian New Yorker, also had with him a Spanish girl and Australian guy who lived in London. We took a picture with them, then they left. Isn't it funny how people can pass in and out of your life just like that?
After St. Mark's, I went with Valerie and Carmen to find the Palazzo Grassi to see the Egyptian exhibit. We found it without much trouble but it took forever to get inside, the line was so long. The museum was pretty neat. It brought to life the Egyptian culture in a way I had never thought about before. It started when Valerie pointed to a ring (I don't remember which Pharaoh it belonged to) and said "Can you believe he was actually wearing it?" All of the sudden he became a man instead of a mere profile with lots of eyeliner. It makes Egyptian culture more interesting, as reality instead of just a legend, but it's also quite scary, since it's so foreign. Any empire scares me at the thought of how people were repressed. And maybe the royal families were repressed as well. It makes me wonder if the Pharaohs really believed they had divinity in them, or if they just felt the burden of trying to live up to that reputation. The people were probably so uneducated that they believed what they were told, or else.
After the museum we were tired and hungry (it was after 3), and we set out to the island where Il Redentore is, to find something to eat then see the church. But we were trying to figure out which church was the one in Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade with the X marks the spot on the floor. After we cruised around town on the ferry, we got off at one church to make sure it wasn't the one. It wasn't, and even more, we had to pay to get in. So we didn't do more than glance through the door.
By then the boat had left so we set out to find food there (that church was Il Gesuati). We walked down narrow alleys, but figured we were in a residential area because we couldn't find any food. We didn't want to eat on the water, of course, because there were only expensive sit down restaurants. Finally, we came to Santa Maria del Salute, which is a beautiful round church. We were at a dead end, with the water surrounding us, so we headed back and on the way we found a sandwich/pizza place. I got the best sandwich I've had in Italy there. It had lettuce, tomato, prosciutto, then sliced hard boiled eggs, and on bread that I think was seasoned with basil. It was so delicious.
We hopped back on the ferry and finally made it to Il Redentore, one of Palladio's beautiful churches. I love it because it was built as a result of a vow that someone made, that if the Lord delivered them from a plague that was sweeping through Italy at the time, they would dedicate that church. It is simple, not gaudy inside like so many other churches, and they hold a procession every July to celebrate that promise.
Next we went to San Giorgio, the other Palladian church. It was really big and beautiful, with the choir stand behind the altar. The choir was in a semicircle, marvelously carved wood. I really wanted postcards of the interior of the church but I couldn't find a gift shop anywhere.
After San Giorgio we hopped across the water back to the tourist stands by St. Mark's and I bought a cute Italian map on a cloth, and looked at a lot of Venetian masks, one of which I am determined to get before I leave. We came back to Lido, went to the grocery store, and came back to the hotel. Now I will work.
Showing posts with label Kate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kate. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
Venting, San Gimignano, and Studio Woes
Wednesday, 3/5/03
I must vent, and hopefully by the time I am finished, Beethoven's 6th will have calmed me down. I have a lost case due on Saturday and don't want to torture myself through one more desk crit, let alone the final embarrassing presentation with guest architects. But what does it matter? I'm hopeless as an architect, hopeless as a designer in general. I'm going to disappoint my family when I graduate by not getting a job due to my lack of talent and work ethic. I've toyed with abstract dreams so much that I've lost grasp on the means to attain them--a stable career. I'm going to be a gypsy, working at J.C. Penney for ten years while jumping from degree to degree, always searching for the knowledge that will enable me to be a believable author--knowledge that will never present itself because while I live this way I have no time to write.
My professor jumps from a very abstract idea of the final project to "we need architectural drawings, dimensions, materials, connections," the latter two of which I know nothing about. Basically, I have to design 3 buildings in 2 days.
When I'm under stress everything bothers me. And there have been other things like going to a horrible torture museum, reading a violent book, and getting sick of all the people I'm with.
Okay, enough said. I'm going to work for at least at least 3 hours now. Beethoven works miracles. I have more cheery music, but when my nerves spaz out at every little thing, I have to go for the highest quality. If I sense any deficiency in technical complexity I get frustrated and annoyed.
You are an idiot. Of course you will get a job, even if it isn't ideal. And you will work very hard these last two years of college, harder than ever before. And you will give up reading and television for writing. I will! At least I hope I will. I'm just going to have to make sure I get some good, solid studios next year.
Today we went to San Gimignano. The frescoes in the Basilica were very graphic in the "Hell" section of the last judgment. That was all we saw as a group. Some of us wandered over to the torture museum. "Wow, that looks really cool!" As soon as I began reading the descriptions of the devices, I questioned whether I should be there, but I paid €5,50 to get in so I was going to go through. Morgan was very nervous but I was composed, as usual. I always distance myself from pain that isn't directly my own. It was a grotesque museum. Morgan and I made an effort to forget about it as soon as we left.
When we got home I read The Bourne Identity for an hour instead of working. At dinner we were all depressed. I apologized to Carmen & Valerie for being so irritable last night. It came up that we went to the torture museum (I had forgotten about it) and Valerie and Carmen wanted to know about it. Stupid idiot that I am, I gave them one example of torture but repeating the words put the image back in my mind, and more vividly. I felt horrible for subjecting them to that knowledge, and myself to the reminder. Needless to say, I have no desire whatsoever to return to a torture museum. After the very depressing dinner, I went downstairs to put The Bourne Identity back on the shelf. That violent book did not help the situation at all.
I worked pleasantly for a while until Kate came up and talked about Orlando Bloom and how there are supposed to be a lot of cute guys in Canterbury. I went to her room to watch Lord of the Rings and I got a useful bit of work done, too. We had some laughs imitating the dancing at Bilbo's party, but by the council of Elrond we were all ready for bed.
3/6/03
I didn't write something funny that happened yesterday. Marco is hilarious. On the bus after the field trip, he asked what the word in America is for "ringing" a horn. Jen told him that it was to "honk" a horn. He thought that was strange and asked how to spell it. Later, Jen asked him if he'd been to Oregon, and he said, "Oh yes, the red woods and the red necks!" She faked an insult, but he said he was just teasing. It's so funny that even Italians make jokes about red necks.
3/7/03
To sum up the last 24 hours, I was feeling pretty good about the work I did, but Peter completely burst my bubble. He just as well as told me that I didn't care, wasn't working, and was the farthest behind in the class. He was very nice about it, but scared some sense into me. As a result, I developed all 11 roles of film I had (€65) and researched obelisks on the net, coming up with a real metaphor for my key monument. Finally at midnight I went down to the computer lab, had a complaint session with Omar, and generally felt better about my work. I got 4 hours of sleep and feel great. I like my project now, and if I like it, who cares what anyone else thinks? I do want to redeem myself for my lack of production in the past, though.
3/8/03
I am in studio waiting for Peter to get here so we can start the review. I worked steadily all day yesterday and was ready after dinner to show 3 pages to Peter, but I was horribly frazzled due to the computer wasting a bunch of my time crashing. My crit went well. He wasn't exactly complimentary, but said I was on the right track with my key project. I was in a great mood after that.
My mood lessened into the night as I got tired. My drawings for my sharpener and plug were less than satisfactory, but my computer time was at 5am so I had to have drawings to scan. Went to bed at 2:30, got up at 5, worked for three more hours, got back to sleep by 8:30, and got up at 10. I am actually inspired by this project now, and determined to finish it. Peter gave us an extension to send him the final product by the end of spring break.
I must vent, and hopefully by the time I am finished, Beethoven's 6th will have calmed me down. I have a lost case due on Saturday and don't want to torture myself through one more desk crit, let alone the final embarrassing presentation with guest architects. But what does it matter? I'm hopeless as an architect, hopeless as a designer in general. I'm going to disappoint my family when I graduate by not getting a job due to my lack of talent and work ethic. I've toyed with abstract dreams so much that I've lost grasp on the means to attain them--a stable career. I'm going to be a gypsy, working at J.C. Penney for ten years while jumping from degree to degree, always searching for the knowledge that will enable me to be a believable author--knowledge that will never present itself because while I live this way I have no time to write.
My professor jumps from a very abstract idea of the final project to "we need architectural drawings, dimensions, materials, connections," the latter two of which I know nothing about. Basically, I have to design 3 buildings in 2 days.
When I'm under stress everything bothers me. And there have been other things like going to a horrible torture museum, reading a violent book, and getting sick of all the people I'm with.
Okay, enough said. I'm going to work for at least at least 3 hours now. Beethoven works miracles. I have more cheery music, but when my nerves spaz out at every little thing, I have to go for the highest quality. If I sense any deficiency in technical complexity I get frustrated and annoyed.
You are an idiot. Of course you will get a job, even if it isn't ideal. And you will work very hard these last two years of college, harder than ever before. And you will give up reading and television for writing. I will! At least I hope I will. I'm just going to have to make sure I get some good, solid studios next year.
Today we went to San Gimignano. The frescoes in the Basilica were very graphic in the "Hell" section of the last judgment. That was all we saw as a group. Some of us wandered over to the torture museum. "Wow, that looks really cool!" As soon as I began reading the descriptions of the devices, I questioned whether I should be there, but I paid €5,50 to get in so I was going to go through. Morgan was very nervous but I was composed, as usual. I always distance myself from pain that isn't directly my own. It was a grotesque museum. Morgan and I made an effort to forget about it as soon as we left.
When we got home I read The Bourne Identity for an hour instead of working. At dinner we were all depressed. I apologized to Carmen & Valerie for being so irritable last night. It came up that we went to the torture museum (I had forgotten about it) and Valerie and Carmen wanted to know about it. Stupid idiot that I am, I gave them one example of torture but repeating the words put the image back in my mind, and more vividly. I felt horrible for subjecting them to that knowledge, and myself to the reminder. Needless to say, I have no desire whatsoever to return to a torture museum. After the very depressing dinner, I went downstairs to put The Bourne Identity back on the shelf. That violent book did not help the situation at all.
I worked pleasantly for a while until Kate came up and talked about Orlando Bloom and how there are supposed to be a lot of cute guys in Canterbury. I went to her room to watch Lord of the Rings and I got a useful bit of work done, too. We had some laughs imitating the dancing at Bilbo's party, but by the council of Elrond we were all ready for bed.
3/6/03
I didn't write something funny that happened yesterday. Marco is hilarious. On the bus after the field trip, he asked what the word in America is for "ringing" a horn. Jen told him that it was to "honk" a horn. He thought that was strange and asked how to spell it. Later, Jen asked him if he'd been to Oregon, and he said, "Oh yes, the red woods and the red necks!" She faked an insult, but he said he was just teasing. It's so funny that even Italians make jokes about red necks.
3/7/03
To sum up the last 24 hours, I was feeling pretty good about the work I did, but Peter completely burst my bubble. He just as well as told me that I didn't care, wasn't working, and was the farthest behind in the class. He was very nice about it, but scared some sense into me. As a result, I developed all 11 roles of film I had (€65) and researched obelisks on the net, coming up with a real metaphor for my key monument. Finally at midnight I went down to the computer lab, had a complaint session with Omar, and generally felt better about my work. I got 4 hours of sleep and feel great. I like my project now, and if I like it, who cares what anyone else thinks? I do want to redeem myself for my lack of production in the past, though.
3/8/03
I am in studio waiting for Peter to get here so we can start the review. I worked steadily all day yesterday and was ready after dinner to show 3 pages to Peter, but I was horribly frazzled due to the computer wasting a bunch of my time crashing. My crit went well. He wasn't exactly complimentary, but said I was on the right track with my key project. I was in a great mood after that.
My mood lessened into the night as I got tired. My drawings for my sharpener and plug were less than satisfactory, but my computer time was at 5am so I had to have drawings to scan. Went to bed at 2:30, got up at 5, worked for three more hours, got back to sleep by 8:30, and got up at 10. I am actually inspired by this project now, and determined to finish it. Peter gave us an extension to send him the final product by the end of spring break.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
A Murder, and an..ahem..Art Exhibit
Sunday, 3/2/03
What a day, what an eventful day, what a stressful day! I got up at 7am to catch the 8:38 train to Arezzo. It's been raining all day, but it's not cold so it's kind of nice. I went down to breakfast at 8, but here at Santa Chiara breakfast is at 8:30 on Sundays. Luckily Jesus (Hey-Zeus) had already set out the cereal (cereal!) and milk (milk!) so I got some, my first of either since I've been in Italy.
While I was waiting for the train an Italian man introduced himself to me. His name was Guiseppe, and he's been to Massachusetts and New York. When we got on the train I sat by an older couple and their daughter, who were American tourists on their way from Cortona, to Firenze, to Pisa. But something happened. The train didn't go anywhere. People started hanging out the windows trying to figure out what was going on, and suddenly there were two ambulances and a slew of police cars. We thought someone had gotten hit by the train at first, then we heard there was a fight (there were a few Italians who spoke a little English and filled us in best they could). People were getting off the train, getting on again, not knowing what to do. The conductors didn't even come by to let anyone know what was happening.
Finally, we saw the police bring out an Italian woman, a larger woman with dyed red hair, in hand cuffs off the train. It came out--she had taken a policeman's gun and shot two policemen. How the situation started, I haven't a clue. Next we saw the body bags coming from the train to the ambulances. The American man automatically jumped to the conclusion that she must be a terrorist. I think that is B.S. Needless to say, that train wasn't going anywhere. We had to wait for the next Firenze-bound, which was over a hour later.
Anna cheered me up after church with fun questions like what my favorite animal was, and we talked about food. Paola, a sister in the branch, asked me over to her house next Sunday which I am excited about, but also nervous, because she understands English but doesn't speak it as well.
Monday, 3/3/03
When I got home there was no way I was going to go to the Carnivale in Val di Chiana with everyone else. I went to sleep. It turned out however, that it was canceled anyway, because of the rain. So much for the puppet factory, and so much for the actual carnival.
After dinner Peter showed tow 15 min videos by the super studio group from the '60s and '70s, which were weird and a little over my head. He lectured after that, but I wasn't about to stay when I had work to do. I went to Morgan's room and sketched her camcorder plug. She asked me what my goals and dreams were, and I told her about wanting to be a writer. She said, "I think you will be a better writer for majoring in architecture." I nearly jumped for joy. She is the first person I've told that to, whose first reaction wasn't "Why are you majoring in architecture?" I was happy she understood the general concept of how design can apply to anything and that more than anything, this degree stimulates my creativity in a way not found in, say, an English degree.
I forgot to mention that I talked to Britt after dinner about what happened this morning. She heard about it on the radio and apparently just one policeman died. The woman probably had drugs or something guilty on her, so when the man asked for her identification she pulled a gun and shot him. And we think it happened while the train was in progress before Castiglion so it wasn't a local person.
That doesn't change the tragedy of the occurrence, though. When I went to Morgan's room I told them (Morgan, Kate, Omar, and Marie) what happened. Kate and Omar said that at Cafe Ignorante this morning they saw it on the news, that everyone in the cafe stopped what they were doing and watched it. They, of course, didn't know what was going on because it was in Italian. Peter was there and they asked him to translate, but he was on his cell phone so he just said, "Oh, somebody got shot. It's nowhere near here."
So, back in Morgan's room the conversation took a twist. Morgan and Dixie decided to draw her boobies. They were making fun of what flat chests they have. Then Kate came in and drew hers, with a very exaggerated hourglass figure. They came up with the idea for everyone to add to it, but laughed at what the cleaning ladies would think if they saw elementary pornography on their wardrobe doors (we've seen many more explicit things in the art museums). Idalia joined us and drew a ridiculous picture of herself. I figured I might as well do it too, so I drew a one line profile of my body, including my stomach pudge, and labeled it "Mountainous Horizon". Kate was "Mt. Vesuvius" and Dixie was "Mosquito Bites". When I came upstairs I told Cady and Karin that if they went to Dixie, Morgan, and Kate's room, to be prepared to draw their boobies. They decided that now was a good time, so we all went back down. Cady labeled hers "Swamp Thing".
What an activity for a Sunday night!
What a day, what an eventful day, what a stressful day! I got up at 7am to catch the 8:38 train to Arezzo. It's been raining all day, but it's not cold so it's kind of nice. I went down to breakfast at 8, but here at Santa Chiara breakfast is at 8:30 on Sundays. Luckily Jesus (Hey-Zeus) had already set out the cereal (cereal!) and milk (milk!) so I got some, my first of either since I've been in Italy.
While I was waiting for the train an Italian man introduced himself to me. His name was Guiseppe, and he's been to Massachusetts and New York. When we got on the train I sat by an older couple and their daughter, who were American tourists on their way from Cortona, to Firenze, to Pisa. But something happened. The train didn't go anywhere. People started hanging out the windows trying to figure out what was going on, and suddenly there were two ambulances and a slew of police cars. We thought someone had gotten hit by the train at first, then we heard there was a fight (there were a few Italians who spoke a little English and filled us in best they could). People were getting off the train, getting on again, not knowing what to do. The conductors didn't even come by to let anyone know what was happening.
Finally, we saw the police bring out an Italian woman, a larger woman with dyed red hair, in hand cuffs off the train. It came out--she had taken a policeman's gun and shot two policemen. How the situation started, I haven't a clue. Next we saw the body bags coming from the train to the ambulances. The American man automatically jumped to the conclusion that she must be a terrorist. I think that is B.S. Needless to say, that train wasn't going anywhere. We had to wait for the next Firenze-bound, which was over a hour later.
Anna cheered me up after church with fun questions like what my favorite animal was, and we talked about food. Paola, a sister in the branch, asked me over to her house next Sunday which I am excited about, but also nervous, because she understands English but doesn't speak it as well.
Monday, 3/3/03
When I got home there was no way I was going to go to the Carnivale in Val di Chiana with everyone else. I went to sleep. It turned out however, that it was canceled anyway, because of the rain. So much for the puppet factory, and so much for the actual carnival.
After dinner Peter showed tow 15 min videos by the super studio group from the '60s and '70s, which were weird and a little over my head. He lectured after that, but I wasn't about to stay when I had work to do. I went to Morgan's room and sketched her camcorder plug. She asked me what my goals and dreams were, and I told her about wanting to be a writer. She said, "I think you will be a better writer for majoring in architecture." I nearly jumped for joy. She is the first person I've told that to, whose first reaction wasn't "Why are you majoring in architecture?" I was happy she understood the general concept of how design can apply to anything and that more than anything, this degree stimulates my creativity in a way not found in, say, an English degree.
I forgot to mention that I talked to Britt after dinner about what happened this morning. She heard about it on the radio and apparently just one policeman died. The woman probably had drugs or something guilty on her, so when the man asked for her identification she pulled a gun and shot him. And we think it happened while the train was in progress before Castiglion so it wasn't a local person.
That doesn't change the tragedy of the occurrence, though. When I went to Morgan's room I told them (Morgan, Kate, Omar, and Marie) what happened. Kate and Omar said that at Cafe Ignorante this morning they saw it on the news, that everyone in the cafe stopped what they were doing and watched it. They, of course, didn't know what was going on because it was in Italian. Peter was there and they asked him to translate, but he was on his cell phone so he just said, "Oh, somebody got shot. It's nowhere near here."
So, back in Morgan's room the conversation took a twist. Morgan and Dixie decided to draw her boobies. They were making fun of what flat chests they have. Then Kate came in and drew hers, with a very exaggerated hourglass figure. They came up with the idea for everyone to add to it, but laughed at what the cleaning ladies would think if they saw elementary pornography on their wardrobe doors (we've seen many more explicit things in the art museums). Idalia joined us and drew a ridiculous picture of herself. I figured I might as well do it too, so I drew a one line profile of my body, including my stomach pudge, and labeled it "Mountainous Horizon". Kate was "Mt. Vesuvius" and Dixie was "Mosquito Bites". When I came upstairs I told Cady and Karin that if they went to Dixie, Morgan, and Kate's room, to be prepared to draw their boobies. They decided that now was a good time, so we all went back down. Cady labeled hers "Swamp Thing".
What an activity for a Sunday night!
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Roma #2: The Vatican and other adventures
Thursday, 2/20/03
I didn't finish writing last night because I knew I would have a little time on the bus today. One thing we did that I forgot to write about yesterday was go to the prison where Peter and Paul were both kept before they were killed. It was a chamber first, then a hole under it (the cell) that was only about six feet high. It was extremely claustrophobic. It really impressed me because the New Testament is all about the good news of the Gospel. When I see what conditions they had to bear and still they wrote of Jesus Christ and hope, it makes their words all the more real to me.
Right now we are on a bus tour of Rome, looking at post war architecture so I must switch between writing and listening to Peter talk. We are back in the bus now from visiting a memorial for a group of Jewish people who the Germans took into a cave and blew up (during WWII, of course). Kate and I were studying pine cones at the top of the hill and when we came back down the group wasn't there. I couldn't freak out as Kate did, because I knew that if they had left they would realize very soon that we weren't there. But Kate was really scared and tried talking to a man who didn't speak English and he communicated to her that they had left in the direction of the Catacombs. We walked in that direction, and voila! the bus was parked a little further around the bend than we thought. The group was just sitting there waiting for us. So here we are.
Back to yesterday: It was a long walk from the hotel to the Vatican and I have become a rubbernecker, looking at magazine stands for that Il Signore degli Anelli (Lord of the Rings) magazine. It finally payed off. I caught the corner of it passing by and somehow recognized it. I shouted for Kate and luckily there were two left, one for me and one for her. So now I can stop looking for a book in Italian to take home. I love the English language and even if I knew Italian, English literature wouldn't be the same through translation.
When we got the Vatican we went to the museums, which the Sistine Chapel is part of. There is a large courtyard at the beginning with the most fascinating modern sculpture of a giant sphere (the most perfect shape) but with chunks taken out of it, like pieces of the layers of an onion. I didn't get to look at it up close; Marco talked forever before we went into the museum and I thought it would be rude to wander.
The interesting thing about the Vatican museums is that in addition to Christian art they have a huge collection of Roman art and contemporary art. The first part that really impressed me was a relatively small octagonal courtyard (after a hall of Roman busts) with a fountain in the middle that was so mossy and plant grown that it looked like the water was shooting out of the greenery itself. There were roman copies of original Greek statues in each corner (the Greek ones are long gone). The only one I remember by name is Apollo [Apollo Belvedere. In retrospect, the Laocoon group is also there].
Now I am sitting in front of a spherical monument at a Fascist Sports Center by Mussolini (if the people were busy with sports after work, they wouldn't lounge in cafes as much, plotting how to liberate themselves). I think it is wonderful that the Italians respect the history of their Fascist architecture enough not to tear it down. I guess they learned their lesson from the Christians destroying so much Roman stuff. The sphere is at least 12 feet from the ground and a group of people just pushed Maari up to the top. It must feel a lot more stable up there than it looks, because she is jumping around and trying to get someone else to come up with her.
A while later... We just visited an auditorium, actually 3 auditoriums linked together (3 beetle shapes above a common foyer) by Renzo Piano. It was very impressive. I loved staring at the acoustical ceilings; each auditorium has a different kind. We had the weirdest looking tour guide. He looked almost like he had stepped out of the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. He had long sideburns and his hair was poofy with what looked like the whipped topping finish on a dessert (a swirl coming to a point) on the right side of his forehead. Except his hair was the typical Italian dark brown. He spoke very nice English.
We are sitting in front of the Colosseum being disappointed. We got here ten minutes too late to get in. But we saw a group of Polish soccer fans who sang songs, and a man dressed up as a Roman soldier working in the square joined them.
Now I am back in my hotel and can finally finish this entry. It's shortly after six, and I have no idea what I'm going to do this evening. After the Renzo Piano building the bus dropped us off back at the Piazza del Popolo, where we dispersed. We were going to visit a firm but Peter's friend is sick so we had the rest of the afternoon off. Marie, Kate, and I were on our way to the Colosseum for quite a while, in and out of shops and things. I love the street musicians here. There was one group with an accordion, bass violin, clarinet, an tambourine. I always want to give money to them, but there are so many that I would be broke.
At this moment I really don't feel like writing about myself. I want escapism, but there isn't anything on TV, I have no novels, and Valerie and Carmen are gone so I can't see if they want to go to an English Cinema. So I thought, now would be a great time to whiz out a little cheesy fiction. But no one has any notebook paper! I can't write fiction in here, because the space is too precious, and it involves a lot of scribbling and crossing out.
So, I am going to start journal games. But first I must finish yesterday. After the courtyard at the Vatican museums we came to a long, barrel vaulted hall full of sculpture. I don't remember anything. In order to study any of them I would have had to study all. But I loved the mood of the room, off-white sculptures with a bluish ceiling. After that was a room with huge maps on the walls. Then we went through the frescoes, one of which was Raphael's "School of Athens". We passed a lot of contemporary art. One was a painting of St. Peter's, but Bernini's piazza was so lopsided. I wonder if they did it on purpose. Finally, we came to the Sistine Chapel. A lot of people were disappointed: one, because it was so small; two, because it was jam packed with people; and three, because no one was giving it the reverence due to any chapel. There was too much painting for me to be in awe. I like details. That is why I have a poster of the fingers of God and Adam.
After the chapel everything was pretty much down hill. Another twenty minute maze of halls, and we were off to St. Peter's!
This building is the single thing that made my heart beat faster about coming to Italy, and it lived up to my expectations. First of all, it is twice as big as Florence Cathedral. The size is nothing in itself, but the quality of the space seemed to expand with the size. The first thing I looked at as I entered was Michelangelo's "Pieta" on the right. I had already loved it from the postcards, but they are nothing to the real thing. There was a glass wall between us and the statue and I could feel Mary's utter loneliness as she cradled her son. Cady says she looks resigned, but I also see in her serenity of countenance a river of emotion on the verge of bursting out. It's like those feelings that are so painful that you can't cry, you only sit with a blank look on your face. That statue was one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen.
There was so much to see in St. Peter's. There were three dead saints that looked like they had been bronzed. I didn't linger at those. The sculptures were all wonderful, though I wasn't particularly interested in the Popes. There were visible sun rays coming through several windows. Carmen and Valerie stood where the sun from one window touched the ground, and I took a picture of them. They radiated; it was like the light would carry them right through the window. I think it was partially those sun rays that gave the church such a heavenly feel. Then there was Peter's statue.
It was a bronze statue and I gathered that it is good luck to touch his feet, so his feet were so worn down I couldn't believe it. And his tomb was there, of course, marked with a huge structure of Bernini's behind it [the Baldacchino]. When we left the crypt below (I was with Kate by this time) we came outside to the ticket box to climb the dome. We payed €4 to climb the dome (it was €5 to take the elevator, what wusses). My legs were about to burst by the time we made it to the top. It was fun on the inside of the drum, but there was a fence around so it was hard to take good pictures. Then we discovered more steps up to the lantern. That was the best. I got good shots of the whole city. I am so glad I didn't climb Florence Duomo because then I wouldn't have wanted to do it all over again at St. Peter's. The spiral staircases were scary and frustrating, but it was so worth it.
We had to rush to the Piazza del Popolo to meet Peter and were 25 minutes late. He took us to a Bernini Chapel next to it [Santa Maria del Popolo--Bernini only designed the facade], up the hill, past the French Architectural Academy, then down the Spanish Steps. By then it was dark; Peter talks a lot. Kate and I then made our way back to the Pantheon and had McDonalds on the steps of the fountain in the middle of the piazza. Aren't we sad? It's not that we crave American food, it's because I don't want to pay a lot, and don't want to waste time. Today was even worse. We were shoveling pizza down our throats while trying to get to the Colosseum in time.
I love Rome. I wish I could spend more time here to actually learn my way around the city. The traffic is great; you just have to step out and go. The motorcycles and cars at stop lights look they are line up for a race. And I love the feeling that the more I see here, there is still more to see. What there is to see is more astounding than anything in Florence.
Now for the journal games: Kate made a list of all the good love lines in songs she could think of. I am in a romantic mood so I'll do the same.
[you're not seeing this, boohoo!]
Maybe I'm not in such a romantic mood now. If I think of any more songs I'll write them, but now I'm going to dinner.
I didn't finish writing last night because I knew I would have a little time on the bus today. One thing we did that I forgot to write about yesterday was go to the prison where Peter and Paul were both kept before they were killed. It was a chamber first, then a hole under it (the cell) that was only about six feet high. It was extremely claustrophobic. It really impressed me because the New Testament is all about the good news of the Gospel. When I see what conditions they had to bear and still they wrote of Jesus Christ and hope, it makes their words all the more real to me.
Right now we are on a bus tour of Rome, looking at post war architecture so I must switch between writing and listening to Peter talk. We are back in the bus now from visiting a memorial for a group of Jewish people who the Germans took into a cave and blew up (during WWII, of course). Kate and I were studying pine cones at the top of the hill and when we came back down the group wasn't there. I couldn't freak out as Kate did, because I knew that if they had left they would realize very soon that we weren't there. But Kate was really scared and tried talking to a man who didn't speak English and he communicated to her that they had left in the direction of the Catacombs. We walked in that direction, and voila! the bus was parked a little further around the bend than we thought. The group was just sitting there waiting for us. So here we are.
Back to yesterday: It was a long walk from the hotel to the Vatican and I have become a rubbernecker, looking at magazine stands for that Il Signore degli Anelli (Lord of the Rings) magazine. It finally payed off. I caught the corner of it passing by and somehow recognized it. I shouted for Kate and luckily there were two left, one for me and one for her. So now I can stop looking for a book in Italian to take home. I love the English language and even if I knew Italian, English literature wouldn't be the same through translation.
When we got the Vatican we went to the museums, which the Sistine Chapel is part of. There is a large courtyard at the beginning with the most fascinating modern sculpture of a giant sphere (the most perfect shape) but with chunks taken out of it, like pieces of the layers of an onion. I didn't get to look at it up close; Marco talked forever before we went into the museum and I thought it would be rude to wander.
The interesting thing about the Vatican museums is that in addition to Christian art they have a huge collection of Roman art and contemporary art. The first part that really impressed me was a relatively small octagonal courtyard (after a hall of Roman busts) with a fountain in the middle that was so mossy and plant grown that it looked like the water was shooting out of the greenery itself. There were roman copies of original Greek statues in each corner (the Greek ones are long gone). The only one I remember by name is Apollo [Apollo Belvedere. In retrospect, the Laocoon group is also there].
Now I am sitting in front of a spherical monument at a Fascist Sports Center by Mussolini (if the people were busy with sports after work, they wouldn't lounge in cafes as much, plotting how to liberate themselves). I think it is wonderful that the Italians respect the history of their Fascist architecture enough not to tear it down. I guess they learned their lesson from the Christians destroying so much Roman stuff. The sphere is at least 12 feet from the ground and a group of people just pushed Maari up to the top. It must feel a lot more stable up there than it looks, because she is jumping around and trying to get someone else to come up with her.
A while later... We just visited an auditorium, actually 3 auditoriums linked together (3 beetle shapes above a common foyer) by Renzo Piano. It was very impressive. I loved staring at the acoustical ceilings; each auditorium has a different kind. We had the weirdest looking tour guide. He looked almost like he had stepped out of the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. He had long sideburns and his hair was poofy with what looked like the whipped topping finish on a dessert (a swirl coming to a point) on the right side of his forehead. Except his hair was the typical Italian dark brown. He spoke very nice English.
We are sitting in front of the Colosseum being disappointed. We got here ten minutes too late to get in. But we saw a group of Polish soccer fans who sang songs, and a man dressed up as a Roman soldier working in the square joined them.
Now I am back in my hotel and can finally finish this entry. It's shortly after six, and I have no idea what I'm going to do this evening. After the Renzo Piano building the bus dropped us off back at the Piazza del Popolo, where we dispersed. We were going to visit a firm but Peter's friend is sick so we had the rest of the afternoon off. Marie, Kate, and I were on our way to the Colosseum for quite a while, in and out of shops and things. I love the street musicians here. There was one group with an accordion, bass violin, clarinet, an tambourine. I always want to give money to them, but there are so many that I would be broke.
At this moment I really don't feel like writing about myself. I want escapism, but there isn't anything on TV, I have no novels, and Valerie and Carmen are gone so I can't see if they want to go to an English Cinema. So I thought, now would be a great time to whiz out a little cheesy fiction. But no one has any notebook paper! I can't write fiction in here, because the space is too precious, and it involves a lot of scribbling and crossing out.
So, I am going to start journal games. But first I must finish yesterday. After the courtyard at the Vatican museums we came to a long, barrel vaulted hall full of sculpture. I don't remember anything. In order to study any of them I would have had to study all. But I loved the mood of the room, off-white sculptures with a bluish ceiling. After that was a room with huge maps on the walls. Then we went through the frescoes, one of which was Raphael's "School of Athens". We passed a lot of contemporary art. One was a painting of St. Peter's, but Bernini's piazza was so lopsided. I wonder if they did it on purpose. Finally, we came to the Sistine Chapel. A lot of people were disappointed: one, because it was so small; two, because it was jam packed with people; and three, because no one was giving it the reverence due to any chapel. There was too much painting for me to be in awe. I like details. That is why I have a poster of the fingers of God and Adam.
After the chapel everything was pretty much down hill. Another twenty minute maze of halls, and we were off to St. Peter's!
This building is the single thing that made my heart beat faster about coming to Italy, and it lived up to my expectations. First of all, it is twice as big as Florence Cathedral. The size is nothing in itself, but the quality of the space seemed to expand with the size. The first thing I looked at as I entered was Michelangelo's "Pieta" on the right. I had already loved it from the postcards, but they are nothing to the real thing. There was a glass wall between us and the statue and I could feel Mary's utter loneliness as she cradled her son. Cady says she looks resigned, but I also see in her serenity of countenance a river of emotion on the verge of bursting out. It's like those feelings that are so painful that you can't cry, you only sit with a blank look on your face. That statue was one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen.
There was so much to see in St. Peter's. There were three dead saints that looked like they had been bronzed. I didn't linger at those. The sculptures were all wonderful, though I wasn't particularly interested in the Popes. There were visible sun rays coming through several windows. Carmen and Valerie stood where the sun from one window touched the ground, and I took a picture of them. They radiated; it was like the light would carry them right through the window. I think it was partially those sun rays that gave the church such a heavenly feel. Then there was Peter's statue.
It was a bronze statue and I gathered that it is good luck to touch his feet, so his feet were so worn down I couldn't believe it. And his tomb was there, of course, marked with a huge structure of Bernini's behind it [the Baldacchino]. When we left the crypt below (I was with Kate by this time) we came outside to the ticket box to climb the dome. We payed €4 to climb the dome (it was €5 to take the elevator, what wusses). My legs were about to burst by the time we made it to the top. It was fun on the inside of the drum, but there was a fence around so it was hard to take good pictures. Then we discovered more steps up to the lantern. That was the best. I got good shots of the whole city. I am so glad I didn't climb Florence Duomo because then I wouldn't have wanted to do it all over again at St. Peter's. The spiral staircases were scary and frustrating, but it was so worth it.
We had to rush to the Piazza del Popolo to meet Peter and were 25 minutes late. He took us to a Bernini Chapel next to it [Santa Maria del Popolo--Bernini only designed the facade], up the hill, past the French Architectural Academy, then down the Spanish Steps. By then it was dark; Peter talks a lot. Kate and I then made our way back to the Pantheon and had McDonalds on the steps of the fountain in the middle of the piazza. Aren't we sad? It's not that we crave American food, it's because I don't want to pay a lot, and don't want to waste time. Today was even worse. We were shoveling pizza down our throats while trying to get to the Colosseum in time.
I love Rome. I wish I could spend more time here to actually learn my way around the city. The traffic is great; you just have to step out and go. The motorcycles and cars at stop lights look they are line up for a race. And I love the feeling that the more I see here, there is still more to see. What there is to see is more astounding than anything in Florence.
Now for the journal games: Kate made a list of all the good love lines in songs she could think of. I am in a romantic mood so I'll do the same.
[you're not seeing this, boohoo!]
Maybe I'm not in such a romantic mood now. If I think of any more songs I'll write them, but now I'm going to dinner.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Roma!
Wednesday, 2/19/03
I am pooped! This is the reason I didn't write last night, and it'll be a struggle now. To finish up pre-Rome: I regret to say that I hardly remember Monday. Oh yes, I had my first mixed media class and it was frustrating. I guess I'm just not very good at abstract design. It went okay, though. After lunch I finally started compiling my magazine cutouts in studio, but still don't have a lot of substantial work done.
I had only about 15 pages of I Capture the Castle left before dinner, and I was in agony. I told Karin that if I hadn't read the book before, I wouldn't have come down for dinner. After dinner Kate came into out room wanting to use the secret door and she grabbed my book and ran off! Before I could put my shoes on and run out after her she was back in, had circled out the secret door to the fourth floor, then back down the regular stairs. I ran out with her and we explored the entirety of secret passageways. Then I walked on the catwalk from Sean & Eric's window to Andrea & Rory's balcony. It was a little scary, but I did it because the boys said that Dixie had stolen all their food from their outside windowsill (we call them refrigerators) via the catwalk as a joke.
I finally finished I Capture the Castle an hour after I was supposed to and the ending still broke my heart, even though it was my third time reading it. I can't express how wonderful that book is.
I actually fit everything I needed for Rome and Pompeii in my normal backpack. Good thing too, for I haven't any other. So when we got to Rome we walked by the Colosseum but didn't go in, then through the Roman Forum which was awesome. Morgan and I stopped for a few seconds to take pictures and when we looked up the group had vanished! We ran up two exits at the other side, up to the Wedding Cake [Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II], and back to the Arch for about 20 minutes. Then Morgan called Omar's cell phone, and the group was still in the same place they'd been before! They had just moved into a corner for a few minutes. We felt pretty stupid, but it was funny.
We walked through the square of the Capitoline Museums [Campidoglio] with the statue of Marcus Aurelius (not destroyed, because the Christians had mistaken him for Constantine) then to the Pantheon. The Pantheon is always our landmark to get back to the hotel.
In our free time in the afternoon a lot of us planned on going out to the catacombs but we were slow in getting our plans together to get a taxi, so by the time we would've gotten there it would be closed (it turned out that it was closed on Tuesdays anyway). So then we were going to see the Colosseum inside (this whole time we were losing people from our group, and gaining some. It was confusing). But apparently we couldn't read maps, because by the time we figured out where we were, we were on the other side of the forum and it was getting dark. We went to the museums instead. They were really neat, with paintings, frescoes, and sculptures. I am desperately in love with sculpture, particularly Bernini and Michelangelo. Cady got a beautiful Bernini book at the museum. I am going to have to search for it on e-bay some time. Bernini: the Sculptor of the Roman Baroque, by Rudolf Wittkower.
When we got home in the evening Valerie and I watched Ghost in French. I didn't have the energy for anything else.
I am pooped! This is the reason I didn't write last night, and it'll be a struggle now. To finish up pre-Rome: I regret to say that I hardly remember Monday. Oh yes, I had my first mixed media class and it was frustrating. I guess I'm just not very good at abstract design. It went okay, though. After lunch I finally started compiling my magazine cutouts in studio, but still don't have a lot of substantial work done.
I had only about 15 pages of I Capture the Castle left before dinner, and I was in agony. I told Karin that if I hadn't read the book before, I wouldn't have come down for dinner. After dinner Kate came into out room wanting to use the secret door and she grabbed my book and ran off! Before I could put my shoes on and run out after her she was back in, had circled out the secret door to the fourth floor, then back down the regular stairs. I ran out with her and we explored the entirety of secret passageways. Then I walked on the catwalk from Sean & Eric's window to Andrea & Rory's balcony. It was a little scary, but I did it because the boys said that Dixie had stolen all their food from their outside windowsill (we call them refrigerators) via the catwalk as a joke.
I finally finished I Capture the Castle an hour after I was supposed to and the ending still broke my heart, even though it was my third time reading it. I can't express how wonderful that book is.
I actually fit everything I needed for Rome and Pompeii in my normal backpack. Good thing too, for I haven't any other. So when we got to Rome we walked by the Colosseum but didn't go in, then through the Roman Forum which was awesome. Morgan and I stopped for a few seconds to take pictures and when we looked up the group had vanished! We ran up two exits at the other side, up to the Wedding Cake [Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele II], and back to the Arch for about 20 minutes. Then Morgan called Omar's cell phone, and the group was still in the same place they'd been before! They had just moved into a corner for a few minutes. We felt pretty stupid, but it was funny.
We walked through the square of the Capitoline Museums [Campidoglio] with the statue of Marcus Aurelius (not destroyed, because the Christians had mistaken him for Constantine) then to the Pantheon. The Pantheon is always our landmark to get back to the hotel.
In our free time in the afternoon a lot of us planned on going out to the catacombs but we were slow in getting our plans together to get a taxi, so by the time we would've gotten there it would be closed (it turned out that it was closed on Tuesdays anyway). So then we were going to see the Colosseum inside (this whole time we were losing people from our group, and gaining some. It was confusing). But apparently we couldn't read maps, because by the time we figured out where we were, we were on the other side of the forum and it was getting dark. We went to the museums instead. They were really neat, with paintings, frescoes, and sculptures. I am desperately in love with sculpture, particularly Bernini and Michelangelo. Cady got a beautiful Bernini book at the museum. I am going to have to search for it on e-bay some time. Bernini: the Sculptor of the Roman Baroque, by Rudolf Wittkower.
When we got home in the evening Valerie and I watched Ghost in French. I didn't have the energy for anything else.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
A Trip to Siena
Wednesday, 2/12/03
Yesterday was an interesting day. I slept in, took a cold shower because the hot was out, then went to class at 11. Marco lectured on Rome because we are going there next week. After lunch we had a meeting about the arts classes, finally. I am in mixed media, which includes watercolor, thank goodness, after I spent €50 on the supplies. I took a little nap then, as usual. I missed the group of architecture students going up the hill, but I caught up with Kate and Morgan who were also running late. We went to Santa Chiara, moved out desks to go to our new studio (we moved from the town library to a new place), and moved tons of towels, sheets, and furniture from one room to the second floor of Santa Chiara. That building sure is beautiful but the dust is terrible. I had to wash my mouth out over and over again afterward and I could still taste it!
Our new studio has a great view, though I don't know if we are going to be in it more than a week since we are supposedly moving into Santa Chiara the week after our Rome trip. But maybe the studio is in the south wing, which will still not be open. After dinner all I did was work on my crappy drawings. I am really getting anti-inspiration as far as studio goes. I'm scared about next year because I haven't had a decent studio in a year. I am glad we used balsa wood in my beginning 105 class because I really haven't built any models since then.
So today! We went to Siena. First we went to a basilica, then to the gigantic fan shaped square there. That is what Siena is known for. The Palazzo Pubblico (Town Hall) is on the square and it was really neat inside, with a museum of completely painted walls and vaulted ceilings. Next we went to the Duomo which was also completely painted. It actually had ribbed vaulted ceilings (I think they were groin vaults, but I'm uncertain).
Next we went to the single standing facade next to the Cathedral (apparently the church to go with it was never built, or something) [Actually, they ran out of money while building the facade. What was to be the transept of the church became the nave of the existing church, cutting its size down to about a third of what it would have been]. Through a museum, then we climbed up two teeny tiny spiral stone staircases (the steps were about 2 ft wide, very scary to climb) up to the top of the facade. We had views of the entire city, but it was bitterly cold with the wind up there. And the ledges weren't quite high enough to make me feel comfortable with the height. It was really cool, though.
We were on our own after that. Kate and I went to a pizza place on the square, then browsed around shops (the ones that were open during siesta) all afternoon. The most interesting were the bookstores, the first real bookstores I've been in in Italy. I was debating whether or not to get a Jane Austen novel in Italian, but decided it wouldn't be worth it because one of the reasons I love her so much is because of her use of the English language. We found a book about all the films filmed in Tuscany, which included La Vita E Bella, A Room With a View, Gladiator, and many others. Then Kate found a travel guide to Texas. It was such a joke! It recommended learning Spanish before coming to Texas and listed a bunch of "Texas phrases."
The rest of the afternoon we looked through magazine stands for a magazine on The Two Towers. Kate saw it in Milan last weekend and regretted not getting it. We never found it.
Yesterday was an interesting day. I slept in, took a cold shower because the hot was out, then went to class at 11. Marco lectured on Rome because we are going there next week. After lunch we had a meeting about the arts classes, finally. I am in mixed media, which includes watercolor, thank goodness, after I spent €50 on the supplies. I took a little nap then, as usual. I missed the group of architecture students going up the hill, but I caught up with Kate and Morgan who were also running late. We went to Santa Chiara, moved out desks to go to our new studio (we moved from the town library to a new place), and moved tons of towels, sheets, and furniture from one room to the second floor of Santa Chiara. That building sure is beautiful but the dust is terrible. I had to wash my mouth out over and over again afterward and I could still taste it!
Our new studio has a great view, though I don't know if we are going to be in it more than a week since we are supposedly moving into Santa Chiara the week after our Rome trip. But maybe the studio is in the south wing, which will still not be open. After dinner all I did was work on my crappy drawings. I am really getting anti-inspiration as far as studio goes. I'm scared about next year because I haven't had a decent studio in a year. I am glad we used balsa wood in my beginning 105 class because I really haven't built any models since then.
So today! We went to Siena. First we went to a basilica, then to the gigantic fan shaped square there. That is what Siena is known for. The Palazzo Pubblico (Town Hall) is on the square and it was really neat inside, with a museum of completely painted walls and vaulted ceilings. Next we went to the Duomo which was also completely painted. It actually had ribbed vaulted ceilings (I think they were groin vaults, but I'm uncertain).
Next we went to the single standing facade next to the Cathedral (apparently the church to go with it was never built, or something) [Actually, they ran out of money while building the facade. What was to be the transept of the church became the nave of the existing church, cutting its size down to about a third of what it would have been]. Through a museum, then we climbed up two teeny tiny spiral stone staircases (the steps were about 2 ft wide, very scary to climb) up to the top of the facade. We had views of the entire city, but it was bitterly cold with the wind up there. And the ledges weren't quite high enough to make me feel comfortable with the height. It was really cool, though.
We were on our own after that. Kate and I went to a pizza place on the square, then browsed around shops (the ones that were open during siesta) all afternoon. The most interesting were the bookstores, the first real bookstores I've been in in Italy. I was debating whether or not to get a Jane Austen novel in Italian, but decided it wouldn't be worth it because one of the reasons I love her so much is because of her use of the English language. We found a book about all the films filmed in Tuscany, which included La Vita E Bella, A Room With a View, Gladiator, and many others. Then Kate found a travel guide to Texas. It was such a joke! It recommended learning Spanish before coming to Texas and listed a bunch of "Texas phrases."
The rest of the afternoon we looked through magazine stands for a magazine on The Two Towers. Kate saw it in Milan last weekend and regretted not getting it. We never found it.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Life in Castiglion Fio, a trip to Pisa, and a Pride & Prejudice Party
Thursday 2/6/03
I got almost 8 hours of sleep last night but nevertheless, I still went back to bed after breakfast. Then we met Paolo at the town hall at 11 and toured the local art gallery. I sketched, but didn't take pictures. We came back for lunch which, for a change, was tuna salad instead of meat and potatoes. After a course of pasta, of course.
We had a meeting after lunch to discuss the Santa Chiara situation and we are now scheduled to move in the last day of February. We took a tour of it today, and it is gorgeous. The courtyard has a breathtaking view. Then we had studio and Peter demonstrated to us how to watercolor. I am going to try tomorrow. We then met officially with the Mayor of Castiglion Fiorentino in the town hall. I ate all my junk food while reading Persuasion in the 30 minutes we had between that and dinner. Tomorrow I am going to the Co-op to get some major grape juice because seeing wine makes me crave it. We had good chicken for dinner. I have also become very grateful for the fruit afterward.
A lot of people went out tonight, and several played a crazy card game and got drunk downstairs in the bar.
Sunday, 2/9/03
I am in a very somber mood at the moment. I just went up to the roof to get away and it was very nice but a breeze was blowing just too cool for comfort, and there was no where to sit outside the path of the wind. I don't mind being here, but I don't want my roommates to think I just sit in bed all day when I don't have anything else to do. I still haven't found out where church is, so I just have to make the most of the Sabbath on my own.
Now, to catch up on the rest of the weekend. What did I do on Friday? I slept in, for one. After lunch Karin and I attempted to get our train tickets to Pisa from the ticket machine, but it didn't work. Then we wen to the Co-op and I got apple juice, because I guess Italians use all their grapes for wine. I also got a cake thing for breakfast on Saturday, and some chocolate. They are both gone now.
Friday afternoon I couldn't find anything as a watercolor subject in my room and I didn't want to go outside so I was going to do a storyboard type thing for a scene in my story. I couldn't draw anything remotely to be identified with fire in pencil though, so Karin and I went to the Tobacci and I got some cheap colored pencils. She got markers. My storyboard didn't turn out too well because I just can't draw things worth anything that I'm not looking at. It's a beginning, though. I even wrote a little bit. It's terrible, but at least I got my ideas on paper in two mediums. Visualizing my stories helps me to think more creatively about them and will, I think, improve my writing.
The next morning Karin and I got up for the 6:54 train to Pisa. We ran to the station worrying that we wouldn't be able to get our tickets (we had talked to someone and straightened out the problem with the machine) but it worked fine and we had five minutes to spare. It took us 2 1/2 hours to get there, with changing trains in Florence. We took the early train because we thought there would be more to do in Pisa than there really was. We planned on meeting someone in front of the tower at noon and so we just wasted the morning in the drab, uninteresting town. But she didn't show up. So, using Karin's "Let's Go" book we hunted for a little sandwich place to eat. It wasn't there. There was only a broken down plant shop. So much for travel guides.
We crossed the Arno again (which, being near the mouth, was very dirty and un-beautiful) for the third time to make our way back to the restaurants that we knew were near the chapel/tower/baptistery complex. After grabbing a sandwich we got our tickets to the Piazza del Duomo. It was €8,50 for everything but the tower. We went to a museum first where we saw models of the buildings, statues from them, and all kinds of other artifacts. Then we went to the Baptistery because the Duomo was closed for lunch. The Battistero was absolutely beautiful, round with two stacks of arches around the inside, but I won't attempt to describe it further. We climbed to the third level inside the roof, which I didn't know you could do, and realized that we were as high as the leaning tower. My legs were shaking with fatigue by the time we got down, so we decided not to pay the extra €15 for the tower. It sure is amazing from the outside, though. It looks so much more unsettling in real life than in pictures. No matter how long I stared at it, every time I came out of another building, it struck me again. It just looks so wrong. It really looks like it's going to fall over.
After the baptistery we went into the Camposanto (cemetery), a beautiful rectangular building with a courtyard in the center. The frescoes on the walls were burned in WWII so the walls were just blank, but the statues and marble grave tiles were gorgeous, as well as the marble walls that divided the hall from the courtyard. The walls were intricate, looked like they should have stained glass windows in them, but they didn't. The interior, if you could call it interior, was very much linked with the inner courtyard.
The Duomo itself was more beautiful than either the Duomo at Florence, or Santa Croce. The walls were all painted, there was a double row of arches in the side isles with vaults, and the ceiling, though flat, had a gold square pattern on it. We went to one more museum after that but all it was was an attempt to reconstruct the ruined frescoes. It would have been interesting if there was enough left of them to able to tell what they were depicting. After that museum we were out of Pisa. So, let it be known that there is only one site worth visiting in Pisa and it only takes half a day.
So the question after Pisa was, "Where to now?" We didn't want to go back to Castiglion early so we could either hang out in Firenze or stop in a town called Lucca. Lucca won because we won't have another chance to go there, even though the way the trains worked out, we could only spend an hour there.
The cool thing about Lucca was that, unlike many Tuscan towns, it isn't on a hill, but has a thick wall and a moat around it. The wall is 4km in perimeter and is wide enough for a small road and jogging paths on either side of it. The inner side just has a steep slope of grass going down where the wall itself is visible from the outer rim. Karin and I walked up the wall, down on the inside, and went into the town. We saw hardly anyone until, suddenly, the streets were packed with people shopping. What the heck was going on? We had no idea the town even had that many people, and why were they all shopping at once? So we made our way to the center of town, the Piazza Amfiteatro, which really was dead. It was a square that really wasn't square, but oval, with all the surrounding buildings touching, except for the four arches which accessed the piazza.
So Lucca has an oval center, with a ring of buildings surrounding it, then circular streets and plan, a moat around that, with a wall around that, then the newer part of the city surrounding, and on top of that, the beautiful night silhouette of mountains all the way around. We walked to the opposite side of town and then circled back on top of the wall We went by the garden district which was very pretty, though we could hardly see because it was dark. All this in one hour!
I forgot to mention that in Pisa we saw a nun riding a bicycle! I wanted to take a picture but I thought it would be rude.
Monday, 2/10/03
To finish up yesterday, I sketched a key for my studio project then attempted to watercolor it. Ate dinner and was going to finish my painting, but I found out that Kate was having a Pride & Prejudice party. So we pulled all three of their beds together and me, Kate, Morgan, Dixie, and Cady started watching P&P on Morgan's laptop. We only meant to watch the first half but part 4 was on the first DVD and I thought that would be a better stopping place than right after she rejects him. But the ending of part 4 is so wonderful that Morgan insisted on watching the rest. Kate and I practically have the movie memorized but the others hadn't seen it. So I didn't get to bed until after 3. I slept in, went to lunch, and went to studio to build a model of my key. After dinner I was going to improve my project but Morgan wanted to watch P&P again so much that we did, this time with Marie. We were sensible though, and only watched parts 1 and 2. Morgan is in love with Colin Firth now. It is quite hilarious. Buona notte.
I got almost 8 hours of sleep last night but nevertheless, I still went back to bed after breakfast. Then we met Paolo at the town hall at 11 and toured the local art gallery. I sketched, but didn't take pictures. We came back for lunch which, for a change, was tuna salad instead of meat and potatoes. After a course of pasta, of course.
We had a meeting after lunch to discuss the Santa Chiara situation and we are now scheduled to move in the last day of February. We took a tour of it today, and it is gorgeous. The courtyard has a breathtaking view. Then we had studio and Peter demonstrated to us how to watercolor. I am going to try tomorrow. We then met officially with the Mayor of Castiglion Fiorentino in the town hall. I ate all my junk food while reading Persuasion in the 30 minutes we had between that and dinner. Tomorrow I am going to the Co-op to get some major grape juice because seeing wine makes me crave it. We had good chicken for dinner. I have also become very grateful for the fruit afterward.
A lot of people went out tonight, and several played a crazy card game and got drunk downstairs in the bar.
Sunday, 2/9/03
I am in a very somber mood at the moment. I just went up to the roof to get away and it was very nice but a breeze was blowing just too cool for comfort, and there was no where to sit outside the path of the wind. I don't mind being here, but I don't want my roommates to think I just sit in bed all day when I don't have anything else to do. I still haven't found out where church is, so I just have to make the most of the Sabbath on my own.
Now, to catch up on the rest of the weekend. What did I do on Friday? I slept in, for one. After lunch Karin and I attempted to get our train tickets to Pisa from the ticket machine, but it didn't work. Then we wen to the Co-op and I got apple juice, because I guess Italians use all their grapes for wine. I also got a cake thing for breakfast on Saturday, and some chocolate. They are both gone now.
Friday afternoon I couldn't find anything as a watercolor subject in my room and I didn't want to go outside so I was going to do a storyboard type thing for a scene in my story. I couldn't draw anything remotely to be identified with fire in pencil though, so Karin and I went to the Tobacci and I got some cheap colored pencils. She got markers. My storyboard didn't turn out too well because I just can't draw things worth anything that I'm not looking at. It's a beginning, though. I even wrote a little bit. It's terrible, but at least I got my ideas on paper in two mediums. Visualizing my stories helps me to think more creatively about them and will, I think, improve my writing.
The next morning Karin and I got up for the 6:54 train to Pisa. We ran to the station worrying that we wouldn't be able to get our tickets (we had talked to someone and straightened out the problem with the machine) but it worked fine and we had five minutes to spare. It took us 2 1/2 hours to get there, with changing trains in Florence. We took the early train because we thought there would be more to do in Pisa than there really was. We planned on meeting someone in front of the tower at noon and so we just wasted the morning in the drab, uninteresting town. But she didn't show up. So, using Karin's "Let's Go" book we hunted for a little sandwich place to eat. It wasn't there. There was only a broken down plant shop. So much for travel guides.
We crossed the Arno again (which, being near the mouth, was very dirty and un-beautiful) for the third time to make our way back to the restaurants that we knew were near the chapel/tower/baptistery complex. After grabbing a sandwich we got our tickets to the Piazza del Duomo. It was €8,50 for everything but the tower. We went to a museum first where we saw models of the buildings, statues from them, and all kinds of other artifacts. Then we went to the Baptistery because the Duomo was closed for lunch. The Battistero was absolutely beautiful, round with two stacks of arches around the inside, but I won't attempt to describe it further. We climbed to the third level inside the roof, which I didn't know you could do, and realized that we were as high as the leaning tower. My legs were shaking with fatigue by the time we got down, so we decided not to pay the extra €15 for the tower. It sure is amazing from the outside, though. It looks so much more unsettling in real life than in pictures. No matter how long I stared at it, every time I came out of another building, it struck me again. It just looks so wrong. It really looks like it's going to fall over.
After the baptistery we went into the Camposanto (cemetery), a beautiful rectangular building with a courtyard in the center. The frescoes on the walls were burned in WWII so the walls were just blank, but the statues and marble grave tiles were gorgeous, as well as the marble walls that divided the hall from the courtyard. The walls were intricate, looked like they should have stained glass windows in them, but they didn't. The interior, if you could call it interior, was very much linked with the inner courtyard.
The Duomo itself was more beautiful than either the Duomo at Florence, or Santa Croce. The walls were all painted, there was a double row of arches in the side isles with vaults, and the ceiling, though flat, had a gold square pattern on it. We went to one more museum after that but all it was was an attempt to reconstruct the ruined frescoes. It would have been interesting if there was enough left of them to able to tell what they were depicting. After that museum we were out of Pisa. So, let it be known that there is only one site worth visiting in Pisa and it only takes half a day.
So the question after Pisa was, "Where to now?" We didn't want to go back to Castiglion early so we could either hang out in Firenze or stop in a town called Lucca. Lucca won because we won't have another chance to go there, even though the way the trains worked out, we could only spend an hour there.
The cool thing about Lucca was that, unlike many Tuscan towns, it isn't on a hill, but has a thick wall and a moat around it. The wall is 4km in perimeter and is wide enough for a small road and jogging paths on either side of it. The inner side just has a steep slope of grass going down where the wall itself is visible from the outer rim. Karin and I walked up the wall, down on the inside, and went into the town. We saw hardly anyone until, suddenly, the streets were packed with people shopping. What the heck was going on? We had no idea the town even had that many people, and why were they all shopping at once? So we made our way to the center of town, the Piazza Amfiteatro, which really was dead. It was a square that really wasn't square, but oval, with all the surrounding buildings touching, except for the four arches which accessed the piazza.
So Lucca has an oval center, with a ring of buildings surrounding it, then circular streets and plan, a moat around that, with a wall around that, then the newer part of the city surrounding, and on top of that, the beautiful night silhouette of mountains all the way around. We walked to the opposite side of town and then circled back on top of the wall We went by the garden district which was very pretty, though we could hardly see because it was dark. All this in one hour!
I forgot to mention that in Pisa we saw a nun riding a bicycle! I wanted to take a picture but I thought it would be rude.
Monday, 2/10/03
To finish up yesterday, I sketched a key for my studio project then attempted to watercolor it. Ate dinner and was going to finish my painting, but I found out that Kate was having a Pride & Prejudice party. So we pulled all three of their beds together and me, Kate, Morgan, Dixie, and Cady started watching P&P on Morgan's laptop. We only meant to watch the first half but part 4 was on the first DVD and I thought that would be a better stopping place than right after she rejects him. But the ending of part 4 is so wonderful that Morgan insisted on watching the rest. Kate and I practically have the movie memorized but the others hadn't seen it. So I didn't get to bed until after 3. I slept in, went to lunch, and went to studio to build a model of my key. After dinner I was going to improve my project but Morgan wanted to watch P&P again so much that we did, this time with Marie. We were sensible though, and only watched parts 1 and 2. Morgan is in love with Colin Firth now. It is quite hilarious. Buona notte.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Arezzo and Colle di Val D'Elsa
Monday, 2/3/03
I am on the bus home from today's trip, so now I am virtually 3 days behind. It is just so hard to take my eyes off the Italian landscape. Saturday morning we went to Arezzo. I was with Kate and Morgan and at first we just walked the streets looking at antiques tables. It was market day. There was anything from china to silver, to doors, furniture, chandeliers, keys, paintings, furs, etc. Next we actually went shopping. I wasn't too excited because I didn't want to spend money, but it was actually a lot of fun. Kate, Morgan, and I ended up all getting the same denim skirt [I still wear that skirt, by the way]. Then we ate lunch at a pizza place (very good spinach pizza) and wandered around town, missed the 2 o'clock train, and had the richest, most divine ice cream ever. We went back home at 4, and while I was laying down for my nap Cady found out that the space shuttle Columbia crashed. What a shocker! After watching the news I got my pre-dinner 2 hour nap.
This morning us architecture students knew the bus was leaving at 8, but we had no idea where to. We went to the outskirts of Florence where there actually was a settlement of modern apartments--'60s and '70s. They were concrete, but the craftsmanship was still very detailed. Then we visited a church, a beautiful organic looking church with a curved roof and finger-like pillars inside [San Giovanni Battista church]. Kate, Morgan and I ate McDonald's for lunch at a mall. I think we will not crave American food again for a long time. The mall was neat--all the shops were closed for lunch, but the escalators are long shallow ramps instead of stairs.
Last we went to another medieval town outside Siena called Colle di Val D'Elsa. The interesting thing about it was that, unlike Castiglion Fiorentino, the old town is not sloping up the hill. There are some extremely steep streets up to the top and the old town sits flat on the top. In a way, it had an even more medieval feel than Castiglion because there are no tourists there. There were lots of mysterious streets and dark tunnels--my imagination ran wild. I loved it! We came back, went to the Co-op (grocery), and went to dinner.
I am alone in the hall now and it is 1:13, I only got 5 hours of sleep last night (I woke up so late that I got hyper last night--I ran up our secret staircase but got scared so I ran back down and accidentally banged on someone else's door), and I will only get 6 1/2 tonight. Buono notte.
Tuesday, 2/4/03
Today has been a good day. I woke up at 8, took a shower, ate breakfast, then went to bed again and slept until my 11 o'clock class. I really like Marco's lectures. He is very entertaining and he focuses more on the cultural implications of art than the details of the art itself. Then we had lunch. During studio I sketched an Etruscan carving of a dragon's head several times from different angles. I really like my dragon. I love dragons!
After dinner. I started reading Persuasion, then got so excited about it that I couldn't read it anymore. [what the..?]
I am on the bus home from today's trip, so now I am virtually 3 days behind. It is just so hard to take my eyes off the Italian landscape. Saturday morning we went to Arezzo. I was with Kate and Morgan and at first we just walked the streets looking at antiques tables. It was market day. There was anything from china to silver, to doors, furniture, chandeliers, keys, paintings, furs, etc. Next we actually went shopping. I wasn't too excited because I didn't want to spend money, but it was actually a lot of fun. Kate, Morgan, and I ended up all getting the same denim skirt [I still wear that skirt, by the way]. Then we ate lunch at a pizza place (very good spinach pizza) and wandered around town, missed the 2 o'clock train, and had the richest, most divine ice cream ever. We went back home at 4, and while I was laying down for my nap Cady found out that the space shuttle Columbia crashed. What a shocker! After watching the news I got my pre-dinner 2 hour nap.
This morning us architecture students knew the bus was leaving at 8, but we had no idea where to. We went to the outskirts of Florence where there actually was a settlement of modern apartments--'60s and '70s. They were concrete, but the craftsmanship was still very detailed. Then we visited a church, a beautiful organic looking church with a curved roof and finger-like pillars inside [San Giovanni Battista church]. Kate, Morgan and I ate McDonald's for lunch at a mall. I think we will not crave American food again for a long time. The mall was neat--all the shops were closed for lunch, but the escalators are long shallow ramps instead of stairs.
Last we went to another medieval town outside Siena called Colle di Val D'Elsa. The interesting thing about it was that, unlike Castiglion Fiorentino, the old town is not sloping up the hill. There are some extremely steep streets up to the top and the old town sits flat on the top. In a way, it had an even more medieval feel than Castiglion because there are no tourists there. There were lots of mysterious streets and dark tunnels--my imagination ran wild. I loved it! We came back, went to the Co-op (grocery), and went to dinner.
I am alone in the hall now and it is 1:13, I only got 5 hours of sleep last night (I woke up so late that I got hyper last night--I ran up our secret staircase but got scared so I ran back down and accidentally banged on someone else's door), and I will only get 6 1/2 tonight. Buono notte.
Tuesday, 2/4/03
Today has been a good day. I woke up at 8, took a shower, ate breakfast, then went to bed again and slept until my 11 o'clock class. I really like Marco's lectures. He is very entertaining and he focuses more on the cultural implications of art than the details of the art itself. Then we had lunch. During studio I sketched an Etruscan carving of a dragon's head several times from different angles. I really like my dragon. I love dragons!
After dinner. I started reading Persuasion, then got so excited about it that I couldn't read it anymore. [what the..?]
Friday, January 21, 2011
Intro to Firenze
Saturday, 2/1/03
I'm going to try to never miss a day again. If I can stay awake, this will be an extremely long entry. Yesterday we went to Florence and today we went to Arezzo. And it is so important to get everything out because every day here is going to be so jam packed with memories that I won't be able to remember them for long.
Thursday night people came in at 2 in the morning and woke me up. I couldn't get to sleep for another four hours. That might have been because I took an allergy pill, not realizing that it was non-drowsy, and it had the hyper effect on me. Cady came in and said that when they got back Dixie jumped up and got in the shower thinking it was 6:30 in the morning! Then Kate came out and said something like, "What is going on? My hair is still wet!" because she had washed it before she went to bed. She told me the story again at breakfast and it was even funnier the second time.
While I was awake in bed I started thinking about the story I developed over the summer. Everything about it became so much more vivid and detailed after seeing with real eyes these glorious Italian buildings and landscapes.
So I went to Florence on four hours of sleep and for the first time in my life, sleep deprivation didn't destroy my day. It was an hour long bus ride to Firenze. First we went to a Benedictine church [San Miniato al Monte] on the hill away from the city, where we could see the whole cityscape. We toured the church and Marco gave us a lecture on the history of Firenze. Modern architecture in Florence means less than 500 years old. And Firenze is actually a relatively new city. It was founded by the Romans, not the Tuscans. The Roman wall is still around part of the city. The Arno is beautiful. We next went by the Santa Croce squere where that pivotal scene in A Room With a View was filmed. We saw the Bargello, the Palazzo Vecchio, the Loggia de Lanzi, and the financial district where the Peruzzi family house is. We ate lunch (pasta, pork, salad again), only we had ice cream for dessert. After lunch Peter took the architecture students to Brunelleschi's Hospital of the Innocents, then back to Santa Croce where we actually went inside. We walked by the Duomo, but only got to see the back. I really really really want to go inside next week. It was so big. More tomorrow.
Sunday, 2/2/03
On the way back from Firenze, I still didn't sleep on the train. I took an hour long nap after we got back before dinner and I wanted to sleep through dinner too, but I knew if I didn't eat I would be too hungry at the concert and I was not going to miss the concert. So was a little but of a zombie during dinner. The concert was divine. It was an orchestra from all over Tuscany and they were amazing. First they played a really fun Schubert piece, then a Mozart violin concerto with a guest violinist. She was Asian and only 19 or 20 and she was wonderful. Then they ended with Beethoven's 8th symphony, which was really good too, but I can understand why it isn't one of the most famous. It isn't as singable, or memorable. The concert hall is beautiful, too. Red velvet curtains, white walls, painted to look like they have carvings. The shadow work is perfect. All right, it is already time for bed so I'll have to write about Arezzo tomorrow.
I'm going to try to never miss a day again. If I can stay awake, this will be an extremely long entry. Yesterday we went to Florence and today we went to Arezzo. And it is so important to get everything out because every day here is going to be so jam packed with memories that I won't be able to remember them for long.
Thursday night people came in at 2 in the morning and woke me up. I couldn't get to sleep for another four hours. That might have been because I took an allergy pill, not realizing that it was non-drowsy, and it had the hyper effect on me. Cady came in and said that when they got back Dixie jumped up and got in the shower thinking it was 6:30 in the morning! Then Kate came out and said something like, "What is going on? My hair is still wet!" because she had washed it before she went to bed. She told me the story again at breakfast and it was even funnier the second time.
While I was awake in bed I started thinking about the story I developed over the summer. Everything about it became so much more vivid and detailed after seeing with real eyes these glorious Italian buildings and landscapes.
So I went to Florence on four hours of sleep and for the first time in my life, sleep deprivation didn't destroy my day. It was an hour long bus ride to Firenze. First we went to a Benedictine church [San Miniato al Monte] on the hill away from the city, where we could see the whole cityscape. We toured the church and Marco gave us a lecture on the history of Firenze. Modern architecture in Florence means less than 500 years old. And Firenze is actually a relatively new city. It was founded by the Romans, not the Tuscans. The Roman wall is still around part of the city. The Arno is beautiful. We next went by the Santa Croce squere where that pivotal scene in A Room With a View was filmed. We saw the Bargello, the Palazzo Vecchio, the Loggia de Lanzi, and the financial district where the Peruzzi family house is. We ate lunch (pasta, pork, salad again), only we had ice cream for dessert. After lunch Peter took the architecture students to Brunelleschi's Hospital of the Innocents, then back to Santa Croce where we actually went inside. We walked by the Duomo, but only got to see the back. I really really really want to go inside next week. It was so big. More tomorrow.
Sunday, 2/2/03
On the way back from Firenze, I still didn't sleep on the train. I took an hour long nap after we got back before dinner and I wanted to sleep through dinner too, but I knew if I didn't eat I would be too hungry at the concert and I was not going to miss the concert. So was a little but of a zombie during dinner. The concert was divine. It was an orchestra from all over Tuscany and they were amazing. First they played a really fun Schubert piece, then a Mozart violin concerto with a guest violinist. She was Asian and only 19 or 20 and she was wonderful. Then they ended with Beethoven's 8th symphony, which was really good too, but I can understand why it isn't one of the most famous. It isn't as singable, or memorable. The concert hall is beautiful, too. Red velvet curtains, white walls, painted to look like they have carvings. The shadow work is perfect. All right, it is already time for bed so I'll have to write about Arezzo tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)