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Published: March 31st 2008
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This weekend was an experience! SMC traveled to Siena on two charter buses. We left from the hotel at 6:00AM. After hearing horror stories from last semester returnees about girls getting left behind and some having to chase the bus, I made sure I was down in the lobby promptly at 5:45AM...The caffè aren't even open to get a cappaccino!! 😉 The bus ride was about 3 hours (a good little nap).
When we got to Siena, we split up into three tour groups. First, we visited the Basilica of San Domenico. It is an old gothic style (art history!! yay) church famous for the preservation of Saint Catherine of Siena's skull. The remains of St. Catherine's head is located on a marble altar. I'm not going to lie...It was pretty creepy! The rest of her body remains in Rome. We then set off for the center of Siena.
The Duomo was impressive. At Siena's high point, the city took on many ambitious projects, including the construction of this famous cathedral.
Next on the stop was The Baptistery. The Baptistery is behind the apse of the Duomo. Sammi gave her art history presentation on the Baptismal Font. She
did wonderful!! A+ Created by Donatello and Ghiberti, the bronze panels at the base of the font displayed the beautiful Biblical stories of John the Baptist.
We also visited the Duccio museum. Here we were able to see works of art that we studied in art history. It was really neat being able to see these pieces face to face!
My favorite place in Siena was Piazza del Campo. Located in this piazza is the symbol of Siena, Palazzo Pubblico (a museum). Piazza del Campo is a huge shell-like space with a slight down hill in the direction of Palazzo Pubblico.
On Friday, the sun was shining. Sam, Bridget, Jess, and I decided to go to a Piazzeria after our tours, and we bought the biggest pizza ever imagined!...I mean this thing was HUGE!!! (pizza in italy is great!) We found a cozy little spot on the red bricks and made ourselves a picnic with delicious food. We then found it necessary to sample the famous Panaforte of Siena (a cake/candy with almonds, raisins, chocolate, and more goodies).
We met the rest of SMC at the bus at 3:30PM to get our bags. A group of
9 then set out to the train station to begin our travels to Florence. We successfully purchased tickets, caught the train, and arrived in Florence with no problems! Tally 1 up! Next task: Find hostel…Surprisingly, we found it without a problem.
The hostel was unique. Sam, Jess, Bridget, and I received our keys and was told that we got FREE breakfast with our stay. We liked the sound of that…4 happy girls. Trekking up to our 8 bed, all-girl room we scoped out our surroundings. Drawings of this and that filled 3 stories of white plastered walls. My eyes spotted “PLAY LIKE A CHAMPION TODAY”. Previous Notre Dame students drew the sign along with their names and year. Again…like a said in an earlier post: SMALL WORLD. Walking up a bit further, Sammi pointed out a SMC post! Drew by girls from the class of ’06. 😉 We felt at home! Our room was decent. It would do.
Friday night, we ate at a cute little restaurant called Trattoria Anita. It reminded me of mom!! <3 I CIBI ERANO SQUISTI!!!—The food was delicious! We celebrated our successful arrival to Florence with a bottle of red wine. Our waiter
loved us because we knew how to speak Italian. Go us! 😉 After dinner we ate at the best gelateria in Florence (thanks to Jess’s Go Europe book—and Joel)
Saturday we walked for 9 hours straight! At this moment my legs are still sore!!!! We visited Piazza Della Signoria, Basilica di Santa Croce, The Duomo, Battistero di San Giovanni, Basilica di San Lorenzo, Santa Maria Novella, Accademia Galleries- THE DAVID!!, Ponte Vecchio, The Church of San Miniato Al Monte, e Piazzale Michelangelo.
The David was my favorite! It is massive, and absolutely beautiful. Michelangelo is my hero! 😉 I literally stood there looking up at this statue for about 15 minutes, walked around it, and was still amazed.
In the early evening, we hiked up about 300 steps...NO JOKE! to Piazzale Michelangelo. At this point, we could see all of Florence. It was a spectacular view! The Church of San Miniato Al Monte is also located on this hill. We wanted to go listen to the monks chant, but for some reason they didn't come out of the church to chant on this particular day. SO...we sat on a ledge and watched the sun set over Florence.
Sunday morning, we got up, ate breakfast, and then went to church at Santa Maria del Carmine. We saw the Adam and Eve painting done by Masaccio...I'm learning so much in art history!! 😉 After church, we caught the next train home to Rome. It took us 1 hour and 30 minutes to get back! (We accidentally bought the speedy train ticket) haha...
And that was our weekend...and our adventures in Florence!
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