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Published: November 22nd 2008
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I was caught off guardI would like to start off this blog entry by saying "Thank you" to all you following my blog. I have recieved many wonderful messages of encouagement from you and am truly thankful. Please continue to keep reading and sending messages, I love hearing from all of you!
Halloween came and went in Perugia without much notice. Halloween in Italy is not that big of a thing, but anything that somewhat reminds me of home is kind of a big deal. My roommates and I wanted to have a pumpkin carving night, but they were really expensive at the grocery store. One of my roommates, Jackie, and I decided to share a pumpkin and we each carved a side. Walking from the Coop, the grocery store, back home we got some funny looks while we carried our 20lb pumpkin. Also we were given some funny looks because Lacey was feeling the need for Popsicles so she bought some and then we ate them on the way home. She was even nice and offered one to a guy on the minimetro, but he said no.
Once we got home we picked out our patterns and started to design our pumpkin!
Carrying Home
we have to go up a series of escallators from the Minimetro...we carried the pumpkin in my bag. First we had to scoop out the guts. Neither of us were too keen about doing this, but we managed ok. We then drew on our designs and started carving. It took us quite a long time because we didn't really have proper carving tools...considering we had a paring knife and serrated butter knives. All ended well and Jackie ended up with a wonderful Kitty and I carved a nice Jayhawk.
On Monday nights Rock Castle holds Karaoke Night and Jackie has been begging me to go with her and sing. One week Lacey, Katie, Jackie and I decided to go and we had a blast! Jackie and I didn't waste any time and picked out our first song right away..or she did. I really didn't know the first one she picked out, but we sang three more songs after that. We sang the classics like BonJovi, Survivor, and Oasis.
For those of you who don't know, we have a cat that wanders into our apartment often, whenever the door or windows are open. He came over one night and Jackie decided to take pictures of him...on our table. I do not condone the gatto on our table,
Popsicles!
we ate these in public, which also got us some stares. but they baby him. I did let him watch TV with me one night though. I posted some pictures of him so you all can check him out.
Orvieto—On October 31, 2008 (Halloween) Lindsay and I went to Orvieto, Itlay. Yes, her name is Lindsey too! We decided to go just for a day trip to see, primarily, the Duomo. The Orvieto Duomo is on the cover of our Survey of Renaissance Art textbook, so we decided to make a trip to go see it in person. We left late morning and were worried about the weather, because it had been raining lately and it was looking kind of cloudy. Luckily we had pretty decent weather until later that afternoon. When we arrived in Orvieto we had to take the funicular up the hill from the train station. The funicular is like a little tram on a rail that goes up to the hill-top town. Orvieto is a typical Renaissance Italy town; it is located at the top of a high hill surrounded by a city wall for protection. Now the town has expanded at the bottom of the hill, but most of the tourist attractions are in the
old town. After the funicular ride we saw a statue. We guessed it was dedicated to all ** Next we saw the Giardini Comunali di Orviet (the public park) that was near the old city wall, where we could look out over the Umbrian countryside. The park had this peculiar cement ring in it that looked like it had no purpose, but I was abnormally fascinated with it. There was also decretive shrubbery and flowers. This area of the park was the location of the old fortress and still had the foundations and towers from the previous castle.
In order to get to the Duomo we decided to walk around the entire old town and just make a loop. We thought we would be able to see a lot of the town and get a feel for it, but almost everything was closed; shops, restaurants, etc. I don’t know if it was because it was a holiday weekend or if it was because we were there during La Pausa. We did see a church and the Palazzo di Popolo, where the Pope stayed during the Renaissance years when he was sent away from Rome. In this piazza we saw the
only café that was open in this area, we were kind of amazed. We decided to head towards the Duomo next, hoping there would be something open near the tourist area; we were hungry! There were some stores open. Many of them sold pottery that is made locally. Before we ate we decided to look at the Duomo. This Duomo, like all the others I have seen, is huge! The decorations are intricate and the marble façade and bronze relief doors were amazing to see! I have taken a couple of close ups of the inlayed gold pieces, so check out how intricate the details are. Inside the Duomo is kind of bare. The frescos that were painted there have started to flake off unfortunately. But we did get to see a fresco of the Virgin Mary by Pierro della Francesca, who we studied in class.
After the Duomo we went to one of the only opened restaurants and ate some pizza. Then bought some postcards and finished walking around the Piazza del Duomo. In Orvieto there is an underground city, which we did not go in. Also there is the Papal Well, which was dug when the Pope
lived in Orvieteo. After walking around the piazza for a last time, it started to rain and it was kind of later in the afternoon, so we decided to go home a bit early. We thought we were lucky that the train was 15 minutes late, so we could catch the earlier train back to Perugia, but the train kept getting later and later, by the time it finally arrived, we had already waited 1.5 hours and it was past the time of the train we originally planned to take! It took about 4 hours to get home when it should have taken about 1.5 hours. Once we finally did arrive in Perugia Lindsay and I ran to her apartment in the rain to gather her things. That night we decided to revisit our childhood and have a sleepover at my place, so we stayed up and watched Harry Potter, because it was Halloween after all!
Spoleto--
I went to Spoleto with my History of Early Christianity class on November 7, 2008. We left Perugia around 10 am and arrived in Spoleto around 11:30. We saw the amphitheater that was a replication of one built by the Etruscans. The
original theater is actually under the current one, but too much stone had previously been removed for other civic projects. In Spoleto first we saw a crypt in the church of San Costanza. The crypt was actually the original church before Christianity was legalized, and then the upper church was later added. There are still original frescos in the crypt and there is now a replica of the sarcophagus of Saint Costanza. I thought it was real until my teacher knocked on it and then I realized it was plastic. It looks real though! Next we viewed the side of the church where the original foundations were for the Etruscan church and then we saw an arch that was from the same time period. Next we walked through the center of town and saw a small vegetable market what I think was another church, but since we didn’t go inside it was hard to tell. But the façade was beautiful—there was a large clock and a fountain. Surprisingly there were many sun dials around the town; I have uploaded a picture, so you can see one. After walking through the center we walked toward the Duomo.
The Duomo was
Looking Pretty Happy
as disgusting as pumpkin guts are Jackie looks pretty happy kind of hidden and I wasn’t expecting anything then all of a sudden we turned the corner and there it was lying in an open square. Like all of the Duomos in Italy this one was beautifully decorated with intricate carving and gold leaf inlay. Our teacher discussed some of the symbolism on the front of the church then we ventured inside to see the apsidal chapels and the frescos that remained from the construction. He also showed us where the original floor remained! I think I am kind of getting used to walking in places that people have been walking for several hundred years! We walked toward the castle next, we didn’t go all the way up to the top, but my teacher wanted to show us the Ponte delle Torri -the bridge of Towers. This bridge is fantastic! I can’t believe it is still standing! We walked half way across then went to lunch. I ate with a group in a restaurant. They always give us so much time for lunch on these trips, I guess that is the Italians for you, they like their long lunch time. Lunch is actually the big family meal of the day;
that is why they have La Pausa.
After lunch we just had one more stop to make at the last church before heading back to Perugia. The last church we went and saw was on the edge of Spoleto and we had to walk through a cemetery to enter it. The cemetery was pretty cool in itself because it was full of mausoleums and colorful flowers. The church is one of the oldest in Italy and has even survived a fire. I don’t think they use it much anymore because there isn’t much inside. The frescos and the design of the building were interesting to see though.
We drove back to Perugia around 2:30 and everyone was really tired; I think everyone fell asleep because when we got back the entire bus was silent. Over all it was a pretty good trip and Spoleto is a nice little town.
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