Up this morning to tour the Duomo of Milan. From the outside it looks pretty impressive, but when you get up onto the roof, my god. It's an amazing opportunity to explore gothic architecture (and I am in _love_with gothic architecture). We got to the first landing and saw the buttresses and I was in heaven, in spite of the sweltering heat. Each corbel is decorated slightly differently, each buttress has slightly different nature patterns dependent on the desires of the carver. There are something like 2200 carved statues of saints, apostles, prophets, and other figures all over the church. It was amazing. Had it not been so bloody hot, I could easily have spent well more time up there. SM and I ventured into the Cathedral itself to check it out, and in spite of ... read more

July 12 Woke up this morning - cold isn't really gettin any better, I'm afraid. Ah well. If I don't get to sing in the competition I won't be particularly devastated, I've got to admit. The stress here is starting to wear on everyone. This morning some of us went on a really great walking tour of Venice and while it wasn't quite as informative as I would have liked there were some really interesting tidbits, such as the fact that while everyone believes that the city is built on poles shoved into the water, that's only sort of true. There are actually islands not far under the surface, about 120 to make up the city, and it's into those that the pilings are driven. As well, the system of cisterns in which the city used ... read more

This morning we left the hotel, all excited and anticipating the day that lay ahead. Mostly because this was our winery tour day. We had been told that the tasting would involve pairing wines with various foods from the region. The bus travelled up some long, winding roads, and stopped us outside a gate on a hillside. We had arrived at the Castello de Verrazano. We walked through the gates and were in some little piece of heaven. Butterflies floated past to lang on lavender and lemon trees. Bees buzzed around a central fountain, while the red and white roses climbed taller than most of us. The Castello itself is built in traditional Tuscan style and was absolutely gorgeous to look at and walk through. The gentleman (Gino) giving us the tour was smart, funny, and ... read more

Got into Florence right on time last night, about 7 p.m. Texted one of the tour organisers to find out whether my choir was still at dinner - they were just finishing up, so I waited for them at the hotel. They staggered in, slowly, jet-lagged and tired (they only got into Italy yesterday... after travelling for 20 hours or so). They greeted me, and the vast majority promptly went off to bed. I uploaded photos while watching the Spain vs. Germany game in the hotel lobby. I wasn't entirely sure who I was cheering for in that one - since I don't have any particular attachment to either country (although I have discovered that, when applicable, I usually cheer for the European team... Although my usual 'anyone but Italy' cheering philosophy reigns there, too... Don't ... read more

Today I had planned on going to Pompeii. That was before I realized that I'd much rather have a slow, steady day than one rushes to catch a train bright and bloody early, wander around, and then take another three hours to get back to Rome (yup, takes three hours, roughly, one way). So to make up for yesterday, I spent the morning at the Castel Sant'Angelo, wandering around, generally being amazed by the different levels and differences in architecture that you can see from various places. It's amazing how much I can pick out now without needing a guide. It was very interesting to learn all the uses it's had. Trying to find my way back to the Pantheon today, I stumbled entirely by accident on the Piazza Navonna. Pretty, but I actually had to ... read more