Blogs from Verona, Veneto, Italy, Europe - page 10

After 13 hours of travel, and only a few hours of napping on the train, we made it to Verona! What a fairytale we are in!!! After Schwandorf we took a train to Munich. From Munich to Verona was the most beautiful landscape you could imagine! We traveled through the Swiss and Italian Alps. The mountains look similar to those of the Sierras in California—they are steep and more jagged, but have huge chunks of rock just like the Sierras at home. Thhe main difference here is that there are beautiful green fields that are mixed in with the rock. The towns are formed in little fields, and people farm on the steep hills. Bright green hills at the base of the mountains are dotted with white houses and red roofs. It is more than beautiful! ... read more

Geo: 45.442, 10.9955Ah, I'd forgotten how much I love Verona! Steven and I had gone to Verona in 1998, but hadn't been since, and it was just wonderful!We parked near the Arena, and as we came in through the city walls, there were people everywhere – there was a festival for school children on, and kids everywhere! We immediately went to the Roman Arena – I think it really caught the imagination of the kids to be in a building that was over 2000 years old, and not particularly changed in that time. We climbed up to the top seats, and watched the teams setting up for the operas that will be held here this summer (we've bought Rita and Elio tickets to Aida here in the next couple of weeks, whilst we are in Tuscany). ... read more

It's a love story, baby... Today, we had class in our regular place in the Venice Jewish Center and discussed an article by Benjamin Ravid that discussed the so-called "Myth of Venice, the idea that Jews loved la Serenissima (the Venetian Republic) because the government treated them exceptionally well and the seemingly contradictory idea about the "lachrymose" history of the Jews that view Jewish history as an endless succession of misery and persecution. We analyzed the importance of the Jews for the 16th century Venetian economy and how their unique position as money-lenders, second-hand goods dealers, and (occasionally) physicians guaranteed a certain amount of safety through their necessary function within Venetian society. I found most interesting how religious faith so often trumps material reality. For example, even though in nearby communities of Norther... read more

Well we had our first day of class today, History 3444 (History of the Renaissance and Reformation). Our professor's name is Tony Marotta. He looks like the old man from Disney's movie "Up" ... but taller, and skinier. He has the sickest combover I have every seen on a man his age... I mean seriously that thing is good. Though his accent is clearly Italian, Chicago is his native town. He also speaks Polish (his wife is from Poland and they met in Canada), Italian, English and a little French and German. When he teaches he literally jumps all over the place, there is no systematic flow, but hey. I think we covered 1000 years of history the first day of class. Regardless, the subject material is intriguing and it will correlate well with our trips ... read more

Today a few of us decided to take the train up to Verona, which is about an hour and a half from Bologna in Veneto instead of Emilia-Romagna. Verona is where Romeo and Juliet took place and it is absolutely beautiful. It's a very small and manageable city, and with the purchase of a map we were able to navigate the city easily. upon arriving there at the train station it is necessary to take a bus into the center. Luckily, Verona is small enough that you can sort of guess where you need to stop--because none of the buses announce the stops, and only stop at stops when people push the buttons or where soemone is waiting to get on. So we sort of guestimated when to get off, but ended up in front of ... read more