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Published: February 25th 2008
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Awesome weekend! Friday morning, all 60 of us met in the Tiz lobby at 6am to board the busses to Siena. Let's just say, I don't know anyone that's a morning person. We arrived in Siena, a city in the province of Tuscany, around 10am, and we walked to our first stop: la Basilica di San Domenico. I was not impressed at all with the Basilica; it is very plain, but it does have a relic of St. Catherine of Siena, her head to be exact. Wierd I know, but this relic makes the Basilica famous. St. Catherine was very loved by Siena, her hometown. She was martyred in Rome for refusing to renounce Christianity after first being tortured on a spiked wheel. This is why she is always accompanied by a spiked wheel in paintings and other pieces of art. Next, we visited the Duomo, or Cathedral, of Siena. It's HUGE! To describe it...it looks like something right out of Beetlejuice. Everything is black and white striped. I don't know what they were thinking. On a positive note though, the facade of the Duomo is gorgeous, as well as the Piccolomini Library inside. The San Giovanni Baptistery followed. This is
wher eI gave my on-site oral presentation for my Art History Class. I talked about the history, design, and iconography of the Baptismal Font designed by Lorenzo Ghiberti in 1416, focusing on the two famous guilded bronze reliefs by Ghiberti ("Baptism of Christ") and Donatello ("Feast of Herod"). It's really cool to study something and then go see it in person and talke about it. That's what I love the most about studying in Rome. Everything we're studying is pretty much located in the country! Moving on, we made our way to Piazza del Campo where we saw the Fonte Gaia designed by Jacopo della Quercia in 1409 and the Palazzo Pubblico. The Piazza is really eye-catching because it was constructed in a semicircular concave shape. We ordered a pizza for lunch and ate it out in the Piazza where the sun was beating down on us, keeping us warm. Margherita pizza=DELICIOUSNESS! We entered the Palazzo Pubblico, the old government building of Siena which now functions as a museum, and listened to two of our classmates give presentations on Simone Martini's "Maesta" and Ambrogio Lorenzetti's frescoes on Good and Bad Government--both Amazing pieces of artwork. Afterwards Jess, Bridge, Micki and
I bought panforte, a Sienese specialty which I can only describe as a gooey fruitcake. I didn't like it, but then again I don't like a lot of things. Next stop, Firenze!
The train ride from Siena to Florence cost 5 euro and took about 2 hours--a nice nap. We stayed at the Ostello Archi Rossi--our first Hostel experience . It was so cool! The hostel walls are covered in drawings, painting, comments, and signatures of momentos from previous customers. Everything was very clean and safe. We also got free breakfast and an hour of internet included with the 18 euro a night price. Very cheap. Best of all, the hostel is located right in the town center and a 5 minute walk from the train station. For dinner, we went to a restaurant called "Trattoria Anita" on Via del Parlascio. I ordered spaghetti and a bruschetta appetizer--EXCELLENT! I could eat spaghetti for every meal..haha. We also ordered house wine-vino rosso della casa-and they gave us table water all for only 11 euro. We loved that place! For desert we got gelato from "Grom:il Gelato come una volta". As always, amazing. Saturday was a full day. At 10am we
joined a free walking tour of Florence that was offered by the hostel. We toured all of the city's major monuments including: la Piazza della Signoria where the Palazzo Vecchio, Loggia della Signoria, and Fountain of Neptune are located; la Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence's main Cathedral; the San Giovanni Baptistery with the famous East and South doors by Lorenzo Ghiberti; la Chiesa di Santa Maria Novella and la Chiesa di Santa Croce. When the tour finished, we decided to enter the Galleria dell'Accademia to see the famous "David" sculpture by Michelangelo. That was totally with the entrance fee. Michelangelo's "David" is ironically much more like the giant due to his sheer size. The sight of this statue is incredible. He is absolutely PERFECT! In interesting fact--the Galleria dell'Accademia was built specifically to hold the "David." Imagine creating a sculpture so beautiful and so important that a city builds an entire museum just to hold it. WOW...go Michelangelo! After lunch, we toured the other side of Florence, known as the Oltrarno because it is on the other side of the Arno River. We crossed the river at Ponte Vecchio and gazed at the glowing shop windows filled with
gorgeous gold jewelry. This is what the Ponte Vecchio is famous for. Ironically, it used to be the site of an old meat market where they threw refuge into the river. EWW! On the other side of the river we climbed what seemed like never-ending stairs and hills to reach Piazzale Michelangelo and the Chiesa di San Miniato al Monte, both offering a terrific view of the entire city of Florence below. The point was to watch the sunset and listen to the monks chant, BUT it was a cloudy, gross day with no sunset, and the monks never chanted. So we pretty much just got a good workout. We stopped for dinner at a small restaurant near the river. I almost ordered Tripe, which I thought was a fist, but luckily Jess talked me out of it. Later, I learned that tripe is not a fish but is a compilation of cow intestines. Ugh...I would have died. lol. For mass the next morning, we trekked back across the river to la Chiesa di Santa Maria del Carmine, a beautiful church where the Brancacci Chapel is located. Tha Brancacci Chapel is famous for Masaccio's painting of the "Expulsion of Adam
and Eve." We pratically ran to the train and took an express train back to Rome. After editing the 168 pictures I took over the weekend of Siena and Florence, I got a formaggio e spinagi calzone for dinner and finished the evening with a Baci McFlurry from mcDonalds--SO GOOD! "I'm Lovin' it!" Only one day of rest, than off to Northern Italy until Next Sunday. What a life!
The Past Week's Activities
It was a pretty crazy week. I spent most of my time doing work and preparing presentations, so I was only able to take on walk the whole week. Jess and I went to Villa Borghese to explore the whole park. It's beautiful! And so green. The ducks were so cute. I may have gone a little overboard with the duck pictures, but I just couldn't get enough of them. We didn't have much time, so we only stopped at one place on the way back: la Chiesa di San Silvestro. San Silvestro is a church that holds masses in English. Father Mark recommened it to us. San Silvestro is run by the British, while Santa Susana, not far away, is run by Americans. Both are
in the vacinity of Piazza Barberrini. We'll probably go mass at San Silvestro next Sunday. That's all for now...until next week...PACE!
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