Tons of Travel: First Stop, Northern Italy

Baptistery, cathedral, tower, and Duomo

It has been a little while since I've blogged. For the past two weeks, we've essentially been constantly traveling with limited wifi/computer access. The first week of travel, from the 14th to the 18th, was our Northern Field Trip, which included visiting Florence, Verona, San Vito di Altivole, and Venice. Our first stop was Florence for the first two days of our trip. The first church we went to was called Basilica di Santa Maria Novella, which was a combination of medieval and Renaissance architecture. The inside was based upon the concept of heaven, hell, and purgatory, and it had some nice stained glass windows. Florence is actually a lot smaller than I thought it was; its like a tenth of the size of Rome. There wasn't as much there as I originally assumed. However, there was still a lot of Renaissance architecture there, and a lot of it we have learned about in our art history classes. It was nice to finally be able to see some of it. The Medici family was the main source of money for most of the architecture built in Florence, and you can tell because their crest is everywhere.

Florence from above

The main attraction in Florence is the Duomo, designed by Michelangelo. The church, tower, dome, and baptistery were all in the same area of town, right by our hotel. The inside was pretty awesome, especially the dome. Its a huge egg shape, and can be seen everywhere in Florence. We went up in the tower, and saw the Dome and the rest of Florence from above. It was beautiful, and it was also really interesting seeing the density of Florence. All of the buildings are fairly low to the ground other than the Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio, and a few other churches. Its really easy to see the important monuments. In the two days we were there, we also saw the Uffizi and Palazzo Vecchio. Palazzo Vecchio is essentially Florence's city hall, and we've learned about both buildings extensively in our classes. We also were able to see all of our Jamie Cooper drawings in real life. We were also able to go to the Galleria all'Academia, which houses the famous David, among other interesting paintings and sculptures. The David was a much larger sculpture than I was expecting, and the level of detail was pretty phenomenal. It was good to finally be able to see it, even if I wasn't able to take a picture.

Cemetary of Santa Croce with Florence in background

Later at night, Florence as a city seemed pretty quiet as a whole. The first night Cait, Clarissa, Rose, Naeemah, Kyle, Justin and I all went to a little bar far from the city center with a friend of Kyle's that lives in Florence. It was called Kitsch American Bar, though apparently not a lot of Americans go there (a bit misleading, if you ask me). They had a pretty cheap aperitivo dinner that was better than any typical bar food I've ever eaten. We also got a free drink with it, and we discovered the existence of Aperol sours (Aperol + blood orange juice), Europe's version of triple sec and orange juice. On our second night, we found a little panini place that sold really unique sandwiches. The first sandwich I had was pumpkin cream and ricotta cheese - absolutely delicious! It was such a strange combination, but it was delicious. The five of us - Clarissa, Kyle, Justin, Cait, and I - all got a different sandwich, twice. We literally ordered ten paninis in total at this place, and used the rest of the guy's bread. It was entertaining, and so delicious. We also had scotch with our director, Romolo, while in Florence to talk about the awful situation going on at Penn State. He gave us some perspective in regards to the situation, and it was actually really comforting talking to him.

We also visited both Santa Croce and the "first" Santa Croce that was all the way on top of a hill away from the city center of Florence. Romolo's wife, Helena, took us up there, and we were able to see the interior of the church and its extensive cemetary. Though it seems a bit morbid to be fascinated by a cemetary, each of the graves, tombs, or whatever were so different, and were clearly individual according to the family. It was really interesting looking through them and being able to understand parts of a person's life even after they've already passed. The cemetary and church also offered a gorgeous view of Florence, which happened to be when the sun was setting.

Museo Castelvecchio

After our few days in Florence, we hopped on a bus to Verona. Once we got there, we all had tickets to the Museo Castelvecchio, which is the only museum in Verona. We weren't really there to see what was in the museum, but to look at the design of the museum itself. The museum had additions that were designed by Carlo Scarpa, which essentially were a juxtaposition to the much older existing structure. Some of the details were pretty cool really, especially since his color and material choice started to blend with the existing building. We spent some time in the museum, and after that, we ended up just wandering around Verona. Verona isn't very large, and we only had a few hours there. We saw their "colosseum," which is essentially very similar in design to Rome's Colosseum, but its of Verona's pink marble and is much smaller. Its concerned the Colosseum's baby sister. We had some of the tourist-y gladiator guys following us, and the one quacked in my face (I know, random, right?) while the others just tried to get us to pose with them. Then Becca, Naeemah and I decided that we wanted to see Juliet's house (Casa di Giulietta), as in from Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet aren't actually real people, but apparently they're based on actual people, and the town of Verona is renowned for bloody family feuds. Shakespeare was truly a genius, I guess.

We walked further into Verona, mostly through the shopping streets. We also saw the Piazza Erbe on the way, which is one of the larger piazze in Verona, and it has a pretty cool looking clock tower. Just down the road, there was Juliet's house. It was small, and started with an archway that had writings from people who have visited, most of them wishing for love, relationships, etc. The actual house was a museum, but we didn't really have enough time or money to go in. You could see her balcony, which was really quite small, and a statue of Juliet. The rumor/legend is that if you hold her right hand and touch her boob, you'll have good luck in life and love. Of course, being tourists and silly, we all did it and took pictures. There was also a door behind the statue (can be seen in the picture) that was covered in locks, all from couples who have "locked their love" in Juliet's house. Very cheesy, but also very cute. There was also a gift shop that was filled with Romeo and Juliet merchandise. All of it was very cheesy, but it was fun to look. It was fun to see Verona, even if it was only for a little bit. I've always wondered if the scenery in plays and stories we read was actually anything like the actual place. In this case, it seemed to be. Later, we went to a place called Hippopotamus (ippopatami) which sold essentially what I would consider American food. I got some nice curly fries (missed these so much!) and a burger. Rachel and some of the boys all got crowns with their pizza, so for the rest of the day we were all having fun crowning people.

Before going to Venice, we made a stop in San Vito in Altivole, which is where the Brion Cemetary is. The actual cemetary itself was pretty ordinary, but Carlo Scarpa designed an addition in the back which is what we were there to see. He is also buried there because the town is where he grew up. Scarpa is very good with interesting and unique architectural details, like rolling stone doors and movable windows. Even the graves themselves (of the people who asked him to design it) were designed, even down to the Murano glass tiling and lettering all throughout the tomb. It was interesting to see something that can be so depressing transformed into something that can be experienced in a different way. I've also never seen an Italian town that wasn't a main tourist attraction. Altivole was kind of the opposite though - it was essentially a ghost town. It was a really small town, and there was no one around at all. The main attraction of the town seemed to be the cemetary. Big difference than in Rome.

Piazza San Marco

After an hour or so of bus travel, we arrived in Venice, our final destination for our Northern Field Trip. We had to take a tram over the water to get into the actual city, as there is no vehicular traffic in the city of Venice. It was really interesting seeing all of the canals, gondolas, and water taxis (yes, that's what they're called) all around in the everyday life of the city. Venice was very confusing to navigate because of the waterways, but we got around. The only piazza in the entire city is Piazza San Marco, while the rest of the open spaces are designated as Campo or other titles. Most of the buildings in Venice are very horizontal instead of vertical because of the type of soil in Venice, and they are all constructed so the individual members have room to move because of the instability of the soil. It was really interesting being in Venice because it is a truly different city than anywhere else we've been in Italy, and its one of the more famous tourist destinations that you hear about and see.

Murano - a glassblower's studio

There aren't a lot of people who live in Venice; most are tourists visiting or the rich coming to go shopping. A lot of the stores are very expensive items, like clothing and glassware. Venice is especially known for Venetian masks, usually handmade out of porcelain or papier mache right in Venice, and glassblowing, made at their own island dedicated to glassblowing called Murano. We went searching for a real Venetian mask, apparently those with a stamp or sticker on the back, and finally found some. They're all really beautiful, and it would be awesome to visit Venice for Carnivale when people are actually wearing them.
We also visited Murano, which is about a 15-minute water taxi ride to the island. We passed by Venice's only cemetary, as they have trouble with traditional burials because of the soil. Murano was a very small island, but we were able to see one of the shops still making glass in their shop. It was really amazing watching them mold the glass, and watching how many times they have to heat and cool it to get it to the shape they want. It was truly awesome to watch, especially since some of the pieces only took them minutes to make.

The rest of our time in Venice included us visiting Romolo's favorite pizza place, where I had pizza carbonara, which is just ham and egg. It was pretty delicious, almost like breakfast pizza. Most of Friday, our last day in Venice, was spent shopping and preparing for the our next week of traveling - to Dublin and London. We took a train out of Venice around 6pm that night to Bergamo, and 12 hours later, finally, a plane to Dublin.

I will be blogging later about Dublin and London, as this post is already extremely long. I think I'll also talk about the possible collapse of the euro and European Union, but we'll get to that later. I have a lot to talk about, and very little time as we now have tons of assignments due in the next two weeks. I'll eventually get to it, I promise. Its only 17 (almost 16 in Rome time) days left until I'm back in America. Ciao for now, everyone.

Genève, Suisse: le vin, fromage, et chocolat

It's been a long week, and only another day until I'll be traveling for two straight weeks. This week we've mainly been doing work to make our lives a little bit easier when we come back. I finally have a working battery and battery board in my computer, and I may actually bring it with me to our Northern Field Trip and Dublin. We'll see.

Jet d'eau and waterfront

Last weekend, we went to Geneva, Switzerland, which is in western Switzerland, right on the French border. We ended up leaving Friday morning because of some reservation issues. We got there around 4pm, and checked into our hotel, Hotel Capitole. It was right near the train station, and our room was actually very nice. We had a real bathtub, not to mention a minibar and tea. After we got settled in, we headed over to the United Nations Building, even though we weren't able to go inside. Its really quite inspiring, to see all of the flags of the world in front of one building, signifying their union. There is debate as to how useful the U.N. is, but its still inspiring anyway. After we walked along the waterfront, we decided to find some dinner. On the waterfront, there is a huge jet of water (Jet d'eau) that is approximately 140 meters high, but changes according to the wind. Its a really beautiful site. We found a small cafe near the cathedral that served fondue, which is pretty much the reason why we decided on that restaurant (and it wasn't 40+ swiss francs like most of them). We had cheese fondue and omelettes. They were delicious, and the fondue was amazing. I've never actually had fondue, but I suppose having Swiss fondue as my first will give me unreal expectations. It was at this restaurant that we discovered chocolat chaud suchard, which is Swiss hot chocolate. Friday night, we mainly walked around the area around the cathedral to see everything lit up at night.

Saint-Pierre Cathedral

Saturday morning, we started the day with breakfast at our hotel. We had croissants, fruit, Swiss hot chocolate, creamy cheese with rolls, and even eggs and bacon. It was delicious. We headed over to the cathedral area early to see the museum, archeological site underneath the cathedral, and the cathedral and towers. We went into the museum first, which was all about the history of Protestantism, Calvinism, and Lutheranism. Geneva is one of the more prominent Protestant capitals of Europe. The museum was very interactive with a complimentary audioguide and talking portraits of Calvin and Luther on the wall. It was very informative, and I usually don't enjoy museums. After that, we went into the archeological site, essentially the crypt, of the cathedral. What was most fascinating about the cathedral was how many parts it had, and how it had changed so much over the centuries. In the archeological site, you can see three different plans, all different churches built in different centuries. Even the existing cathedral has a Gothic spire, Romanesque nave, and neo-Greco Roman portico on the back. It was very intriguing. You could even see the layers of earth signifying when there was human life and what was built when. There was also a pile of human bones which was a bit unnerving.

North Tower

We went into the cathedral next, which had some pretty impressive stained glass. The cathedral in Prague is still my favorite, though. We went into both the North and South towers. We able to see the bell in the bell tower, and we were able to see the timber construction as well. On the top of the North Tower, we could see most of Geneva. It was beautiful. We could also see the Alps in the background. Unfortunately the clouds didn't clear until we were already back down on the ground, but it was still pretty awesome.
Next, we went to the Reformation Wall, which signified Swiss history in religion and in unification. The United States made the wall. The Mayflower was engraved there. It was pretty impressive. After that, we just walked around. There was some type of protest going on, though we still don't know what it was for. In Switzerland, the trees were actually fall colors and losing their leaves. Its the first time in Europe that I've really seen this, especially not in Rome. Switzerland has some nice parks, which we're not used to in Rome at all.

Playing large chess

In the park, we found large chess boards that people were using to play chess. It reminded us of Harry Potter. It was interesting though, and we had some fun with the large chess pieces. We wandered around the area for a while and saw the opera house in Switzerland. We also wandered around the city going to several chocolate stores, and of course, we tried several types of chocolate. Swiss chocolate is amazing. Its much smoother, and its just delicious. I got some in the shape of a mouse and its cheese. Its adorable. We also went into a store dedicated to the Bible and they were selling Christmas things. I bought a German advent calendar there. Its cute and miniature. We also saw the Russian church, which is known for its gold onion domes and excessive decoration. We could even see the Jet d'eau from the church. You could see it from most of the places in Geneva. We went down to the waterfront, which was full of swans. They're not nice birds, but they're very pretty. There were all of these boats docked, and you could see the Alps from the lake as well. We didn't go all the way up to the jet, as we would have been soaked. We did go close to it, and were able to see the lake, jet, and mountains.

Waterfront at sunset

After buying some more chocolate and souvenirs, we went to dinner right by our hotel. We had more fondue (of course), this time with bacon in it. We also had white wine with it, which was a very good choice. For dessert, I had sorbet framboise (raspberry sorbet) even though I was really much too full to be eating more food. Our waiter was really sweet, and even offered to take our picture. Clarissa and I were doing pretty well with speaking French, at least when it came to ordering most things. Swiss French is different, but its close enough to be able to get by with some knowledge. The food in Switzerland is so good, and I believe its because they produce very good milk. Probably the reason why Swiss chocolate is so creamy and sweet.

United Nations building

 Before our train on Sunday morning, we headed out to the United Nations building again to see it in daylight. It feels pretty cool standing there in front of the sign and in front of all of those flags. You don't realize how many countries are a part of the U.N. until you see all of those flags. We also walked around and saw a lot of cool modern architecture. Most of the buildings in Switzerland seem to be very clean and modern looking. There isn't the variety there is in Rome. We also saw an architectural district called the "Smurf" houses (pictured below) that were really quite eccentric. They all had crazy colors and designs. They had very irregular details, like curtains and railings, and odd-shaped windows and walls. They were really intriguing to look at, and I can see where they get their name from. I'd love to live there, so I get the feeling they're expensive despite the fact that they look so odd.

"Smurf" houses

 They all had little porches and eclectic little cubbyholes. Whoever designed these complexes must have designed every little detail down to the windowsills. Its pretty incredible, really. We never get to that level of development in our projects.
We essentially had to leave Switzerland after looking at the Smurf houses. We did spent the rest of our Swiss francs on chocolate and wine at a grocery store in the train station, though. Good spend if you ask me. Swiss currency is very pretty looking. Its colorful, not to mention the 10 franc note has Le Corbusier on it. Us architecture nerds thought that was cool, and each of us kept one. On the train back, we actually witnessed someone's bag getting stolen. It was frightening. There was a man who got on the train (they don't check your ticket until you're already moving usually) with no bags, who seemed to be checking everyone out by our observations. Then we hear the woman behind us screaming "My bag! My bag!" and see her running out of the train. I saw a guy running, that she seemed to be chasing. Apparently he just took her bag from right under her chair when she wasn't watching. I don't think she did give it back; I don't think there was anything the people at the train station could do. It truly was frightening though; I didn't really believe that could happen until I saw that. Other than that, our train ride home was long and a bit delayed. We got home and essentially had to work on homework.

Back in Rome, we've been doing a lot of work for both studio and analysis to prepare for our upcoming travels. Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, has been booted out thanks to the European Union threatening to remove both Italy and Greece from the Union. Currently Italy has no formal government and has about twelve political parties all vying for a majority. Just today we saw a huge protest on Via del Corso and right outside of where Berlusconi lives (which I'd like to add is right next to our studio, real safe, I know). Italians really hate him. I'm not even really sure what type of government Italy is formally considered. They still have Fascist and Communist parties here (though not formally called that). It'll be interesting to see what happens in the next month that we're here.

Well, we have basically a month left here in Europe. As of Monday, we'll be in Florence, Verona, and Venice. As of Saturday, I will be flying to Dublin for a week, with a day and a half in London. I'm very excited. It'll be nice to be back home too, especially with everything thats currently happening at Penn State. I kinda wish I was there right now, especially for the candlelit vigil for the Sandusky victims and to be able to see Joe Paterno on his last days as head coach.
We also have a mold infestation on the first floor of our complex. There's a ton of black mold in all of the bathrooms, and no one realized what it was until everyone started getting sick. We have a bit on our floor too, but its nothing compared to what they have. Hopefully they'll take it out soon, or it will at least be safe by the time everyone returns from traveling. We also had no water at all on Wednesday until later at night because of a pipe problem in Trastevere. Talk about a bad day all around.
Well, that's all for now. Hopefully a lot of blogging to come. Ciao for new, a presto. Traveling, here I come.

Mac is Back!

My Macbook has been healed - at least partially. It seems that not only is the battery in poor condition, but the i/o board on my computer also died. Essentially, the part of my computer that supplies power from the charger to the battery fried. That's been replaced, and a battery replacement is needed in the near future. However, I can now use my computer. Yay!

To anyone thinking of visiting Rome with a Macbook, or those of you who will be studying abroad here in the future, the place to go for purchasing accessories and for Mac repairs is definitely Flaminia Computer. They're all very nice, and they speak good English as well. They're very experienced; the guy told me everything I need to do to be able to keep my computer's battery situation in check. They're all the way down Via Flaminia, past Piazza del Popolo, so they definitely aren't close, but if you have a studio deadline or just really want a functioning computer, they're the people to call. Just my advice for everyone.

A blog post about actual Roman experiences will be appearing shortly. This weekend I go to Switzerland with Clarissa and Rachel! After that, we have a week of classes, and then our Northern Field Trip to Florence, Verona, and Venice, Dublin for Thanksgiving, and Paris in December. Sounds like a fun time to me. :)

Ciao for now!