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Published: November 28th 2006
il Duomo
we lie in it's shadow, indeedfirst to the matter to catch everybody up on what i've been up too. well let's just say i've been a busy little beaver.
The Northern Italy trip with my professors was amazing. I consider myself very lucky not to be stuck in a group following an umbrella or fake flower, not that they don't know there stuff, but my professors have the ablity to connect what we learn about to what we see.
First we went to Florence. Immediatly after dropping off our bags at our hotel (which had some pretty scary stairs) we started out on orientation tours of Florence, mainly to let us know where everything was so we wouldn't get so lost. I went with Dr. Moran, who at every available opportunity told a gruesome story. First we went to il Duomo. This is the major church in Florence. Historically it is also very important. After the Pantheon came the Middle Ages where most technology was lost, including the technique to build a dome. so in the lat 1100s Florence wanting to distinguish themselves set out to build a church with one on top. Today we have Santa Maria dei Fiori complete with the dome.
However, it wasn't until 100 years after the start of building the church that the dome was finally put up. The Florentines begun the church without the knowledge to finish it. So the church was exposed to the elements for 50 years, just waiting for someone to figure out how to complete it. Once completed, the Florentines claimed that "the area was in the shadow of the dome" which indeed was true. In front of Duomo is the Baptistry where every Florentine is baptised, including my Italian professor. Next we walked down the street to il Palazzo Vecchio "Old Building", site of many brutal killings, and also the power behind the Republic. Florence prided itself in the fact that it was a republic, the only other republic being Venice. In front of this building stood the original "David" by Michelangelo. Down the street is the Uffizi Museum which we passed by on our way to the Ponte Vecchio "Old Bridge" (the Italians like the familiar). This bridge is the only one in Florence to have survived the Germans in WW2. The rest of the bridges were blew up in an attempt to slow down the on coming Americans. However, the
story goes that Hilter stoped the destruction of this bridge because it was the most beautiful in all of Florence, an artist's initative i guess. And so concluded our orientation tour.
Next we went to the Uffizi Museum, the best Renaissance Muesum in existance, to fulfill our Art & Architecture requirement. While there we saw: Giotto's "Madonna and Child Enthroned," Lippi's "Madonna and Child with Two Angels," Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus" and "Primavera," da Vinci's "Annunciation," Bellini's "Sacred Allegory," Michelangelo's "Holy Family with Young Saint John ("Doni Tondo")," Carvaggio's "Medusa" and "Bacchus." As well as an entire exhibit on the life works of da Vinci.
The next day we spilt up into groups again, and once more I went with Dr. Moran. First on our stop was il Museo dei Bargello. (On the way there we saw the house and parish church of Dante.) At this museum we saw Donatello's "David" and the entries for the Baptistry Doors by Ghiberti, who won, and Brunelleschi's. There was a contest to redo the doors of the Baptistry in front of the Duomo. They are amazing bronze reliefs of Jesus' life. However, the panels on display at the Bargello dipict
Palazzo Vecchio and David
ok, so the statue on the left is only a copy of the David, but this is where it originally stood the Sacrifice of Issac. After the museum, we went to the Medici Chapels. This is the family that was, well like the Sherwoods in Panhandle, or the Hollywood stars of America, only they had money, fame, and power, and on a bigger scale. They controled the church and state, and because of this were often the aim of many knives. After lunch we went to the Academia Gallery which houses the "David" by Michelanglo. Everywhere in Florence there are Davids. The Florentines viewed themselves as the underdog in the world, yet they are the birth place of the Renaissance, and therefore use the biblical hero David for their mascot. This is similar to Rome's La Lupa, which a sad fact that Dr. Flusche told me yesterday, La Lupa is not as old as was originally though. They now think that it is from the Middle Ages. It is made of bronze and is believed to be casted in the same way as the bells of the churches of Rome that were cast at that time. The rest of the day, we shopped around and ugh, I climbed to the top of Duomo. It was worse than the Effiel Tower!!! Still,
the Uffizi
the tower in the background is the same one from the Palazzo Vecchio the view was amazing!!!
The next day we packed up and were on our way to Venice. Now that is one bus ride I never want to repeat. Have I mentioned that I hate buses?! Venice of course was wonderful, just like it always is. This time when i was there, it wasn't raining! I actually saw sun light...amazing. We walked from our hotel which was by the Santa Lucia Train Station, across the Rialto, and to St. Mark's Square. Last time I didn't spend much time in St. Mark's because we knew we would be coming back. It is a wonderful experience, and in every sence of the word wonderful too!! I walked among the pigeions, which was pretty cool, until i tried to feed them and they attacked me. AHHHH!!!! No it was still pretty cool. While Dr. Flusche was trying to talk to my small group about St. Mark's Basilica the birds were divebombing her. Yeah, it was funny and indeed i did laugh, but she was talking about the theft of St. Mark's body and how it is not deffinate that the relics in the church are indeed his, the birds dove at her in
seemingly deffiance that this was not the truth.
After walking around the church and then going up into the balcony/choir loft, I took some of the girls shopping, supposedly because I knew where all of the good shopping was, but hey, it is Venice and EVERYBODY gets lost there. It is fun.
The next day we returned to St. Mark's Square but this time we went to see the Doge's Palace. I wish I had a guide book and a full day to look through this amazing place, but as I was following Dr. Hatlie, who is deffinatly not an art historian, we didn't really delve into the art that covered nearly every surface of this place. We did however go through the dungeons and weapons room which Leo would have absolutely loved. I'm only sorry that I couldn't take pictures.
Soon after finishing going through the palace we once again hopped onto the bus and headed for Assisi. There is not much to really say about Assisi. It is a beautiful little city. There is A LOT of rain, i was hoping for snow. I did see the Basilica of St. Francis which was spectacular. Being
the Palazzo Vecchio
this is only part of the view from the top of the Duomo there was a moving experience.
We got back on Monday evening and then had 2 days of classes. Less than 48 hours of getting back, I was off again to London, which was maybe the best weekend I've had yet. It was so wonderful to be able to relax. We stayed at Liz's uncle's flat that was just a short distance from Waterloo station. From our bedroom window we could see Big Ben and the Eye of London. It was just like Peter Pan, only slightly modernized, and we are a tad bit older. Thanksgiving Day we slept in and finally roused ourselves enough to go out and buy food for breakfast. Scrambled eggs and bacon. It was like being back at home. After watching a movie we once again ventured out to buy some more food. This time there was more planning. I had a whole entire kitchen at my disposal, so we cooked us up a storm and made a wonderful Thanksgiving meal. We roasted a chicken, I improvised on the greenbean cassarole, mashed potatoes, and made stuffing. It was simply amazing. I still love Italian food, but not everyday of the week.
Friday we got
up, ok, so we slept in a bit too, but we were out of the flat by noon and from there we ventured into the city. We walked to the Thames River and from there we could see Big Ben and the Eye of London looming in the distance, as well as an estravagant building or two. After seeing Ben up close and personal we went to Westminister Abbey, and looked at it as we ate our sandwiches for lunch. Next we went to Buckinham Palace and St. James Park. The rest of the day we spent just walking around. There are so many pretty places in London. Yet, it was so annoying to actually have to walk for 20 minutes at a time to find something else. In Rome everything is pretty close together and no one really lives in the inner city. In London this is not true. We walked down streets that could have been in Mary Poppins. Yet, it was really cool to see all of the Christmas decorations light up at 5 when the sun went down. We headed back to the flat around 6, but we had unknowingly made our way to Notting Hill,
which is basically a REALLY LONG ways away from Waterloo. So we got back to the flat around 7:30 and then we started to make tacos. All i could think was that Grandpa would be proud of me.
The next day, Saturday, we did homework and relaxed even more. It was raining pretty hard outside, so i don't feel so bad for not doing anything. But i have reasoned with myself. I'll deffinately come back when my husband can afford to let me do whatever I want. That night I went to a little Catholic church I managed to find not too far away from the flat. Rachel, Colleen, and I were the only ones there that were under the age of 50. I'm not being patronizing or anything, but they were so cute. The priest was talking about royalty, and i swear he looked at us the entire time and was probably thinking that those young American girls didn't know what he was talking about. That was the funnest mass I have been to in a long time. Those old people said their prayers so fast that I don't think even Leo could keep up. Of course they
were all speaking with an accent, which screwed me up, because I couldn't remember how i really spoke. Colleen has the habit of picking up accents, so when we walked out of church I could barely understand her.
So I know this was a really long entry, and i'm sorry, but i did have to catch up on a lot!!!! So I am nearly finished with my Rome semester. While I'm really excited that i'll be going home soon, I am also sad that I'm leaving Rome. I just haven't spent enough time there, but then again there are no regrets about everything else I have done.
We are in the midst of a lot of work though. There are papers to write, paintings to study, and tests to prepare for. So wish me good luck and keep me in your prayers, cause I'm going to need it.
I love you all and miss you! Leah
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