Florence- Day 3: The Light in the Piazza

"The god who created the hills around Florence was an artist. No! He was a jeweler, engraver, sculptor, bronze founder and painter: He was a Florentine."

-Anatole France

After exhausting myself seeing my fill of art, Brittany and I picked up the key to the hostel from Stacy and headed back to our beloved Ciao Hostel. We got there and what started out as a "rest my eyes" turned into a full-fledged nap for both of us. Eventually I woke and and woke Brittany up so that we could make it to the Piazzale Michelangiolo for sunset. After power-walking a little and climbing a lot of stairs we made it there and got some great pictures. And I know I've said this a billion times, but my camera just couldn't possibly Florence's beauty.

I had to be back at the hostel at 9:30 so I could claim my shifts for work for next semester so after the sunset Brittany and I headed back, stopping for pizza and a sandwich on the way. The front desk woman had waited for us so that we could use the computer at the front desk and once we got there she left, leaving us to turn it off. We were in the lobby alone when a drunk man from across the street apparently saw us there and wanted to come over and say hi. Luckily for us, the door was locked but that didn't stop Brittany from hiding behind the desk.

Once he had gone and I had my shifts claimed for ICS we decided to go to the train station to get tickets for our train to Venice tomorrow. We got there and found out that there were only three tickets left, which was a lot better than there only being two left. We snatched those up right away and headed back to the hostel to attempt to pack all the things we bought into our suitcases. Oh, the challenges of traveling in Europe.

Florence- Day 3: Shopping, Church, and Art Museums

"All Art Has Been Contemporary"

Sign outside Uffizi

On our second day full day in Florence Stacy was feeling a little worse for the wear, so the Wolf Pack was down to two for the market that morning. Stacy also spent most the day with her roommate because they wanted to catch up considering they have not seen each other since summer.

On the way to San Lorenzo market that morning I once again stopped for some pastries to fuel my shopping. And I did a lot of shopping. I got a leather journal for myself, as well as a myriad of things for other people back in the US. I almost splurged to the extreme and got myself a leather jacket but I could not justify it. Had I had an enabler there who knows how many leather jackets I would be arriving home with.

Church of Santa Croce- final resting place of Michelangelo and Galileo

After spending too much time and money in the market Brittany and I headed over to Church of Santa Croce. It was five euro to go and Brittany wasn’t feeling it so I flew solo. The church itself was nice and had many tombs and people buried there, including Michelangelo and Galileo. I enjoyed seeing these as well as the people buried within the floor of the church (I don’t know what the proper term for those are). These were extremely old, dating back to the fifteenth century. Can’t find stuff that old in the US which is one of the reasons I love Europe. After walking through the church I walked in the courtyard which was so beautiful too, just what you would expect. I just loved it!

Galileo

Michelangelo's Tomb

The three women represent (from left) painting, sculpture and architecture with his bust on the top.

Various other people buried in the floor

As I mentioned before, I had a reservation at the Uffizi Art Museum at 1 o’clock so I had to get there. I have been thoroughly spoiled with art museums, considering the last one that I went to was the Louvre and I grew up going to the Art Institute of Chicago. The Uffizi was good and I enjoyed it, but after a while to the untrained eye (my eye) all Renaissance paintings with Biblical subjects start to look the same. I did see Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus and Primavera, which were nice, although I think that you can get the idea just buy seeing the prints of Birth of Venus that everyone has seen everywhere since birth. I glad a spent part of my time in Florence at the Uffizi though.

I got out of the museum and got myself some lunch which consisted of a kebab and a diet coke. I met up with Brittany on the shore of the Arno River in a little piece of sand. We stayed there a couple of minutes and then took a walk back into the centre of town. Britt got a panini and then we walked to the Galleria dell Accademia, where I had another reservation to see Michelangelo’s David. In the US you make reservations for dinner, in Italy you make reservations for art museums.

I was very on the fence about going to see David; there were two replicas in Florence that I could go to without paying and so far works like The Mona Lisa, Venus di Milo, and The Birth of Venus did not live up to the hype. I called my father and he said that he had gone to see David while in Florence decades ago and encouraged me to go. He also talked about the four unfinished Michelangelo’s that are there that he remembered and had stuck with him.

Turns out it was absolutely amazing! The replicas and pictures don’t exude anything like the original. First of all, it was very tall (24 feet), as you can see in the illegal photo I took of it (I’m such a rebel when it comes to art museums). Also, there are skylights above David which shed natural light on him and make him glow. And if those weren’t amazing enough, he is just so beautiful. Not only do you have the perfectly sculpted body, but his facial expression is so emotional. Unlike the triumphant expression that you usually see with David after he kills Goliath, this David is more pensive. After days of trying to put into words what I think the face shows I have decided to interpret it as this: David has just killed Goliath, but he is almost remorseful, contemplating if it is ever right to kill another person and debating if what he did was right.

David himself

"I saw the angel in the marble and I carved until I set him free."

-Michelangelo

In the museum there were also four unfinished statues by Michelangelo, called the Four Prisoners, and an unfinished Pieta, meant to be Mary cradling a dying Jesus. The first unfinished Prisoner I saw was my favourite; it honestly looked like someone was trying to escape from the block of marble. It’s also interesting to see how a block of marble is transformed to a masterpiece like David.

Photo Source: Life 2.0, life2point0.com

Florence- Day 2

Shopping and eating- La Dolce Vida

On our first full day in Florence we got up and walked to the market, stopping for pastries on the way. As you can see, the day was off to a good start.

Apparently San Lorenzo Market in Florence is the biggest outdoor market in Europe; I would believe it. They sold everything there, from scarves to ties, meat to leather. The only problem with the market was its seductive nature. You could go in swearing that you won’t buy anything and come out with three new scarves and eight rings. I probably spent more than I should, but since I haggled for most things I like to think it was like getting them on sale.

The market was also a great place to pick up guys if very forward foreign men are your type. We got a lot of compliments, including “good price for blue eyes.” We even got called The Spice Girls once.

After we had our fun in the market we got lunch at a small restaurant where we could eat out side; its our usual. After having more bruschetta and a sandwich we headed over to the Boboli Gardens to witness the views of Florence. Unfortunately, before we could fully take in the gardens it started raining so we sought shelter with a group of seven year old Italian students. We did pay to get in the gardens and when the rain seemed to be lightening up we set out again to explore them. We climbed a hill and the views were so amazing. Frau Curry, Brittany, and I even took some self-timer shots with Florence in the background.

After having our fill of Boboli Gardens we headed back into the heart of the city. I had read about the Uffizi, an art museum in Florence and one of the best in the world, and wanted to see if I could get in. Turns out that the line to get in was over an hour long, so instead I opted to just get a reservation for one o’clock the next day.

It was still kinda rainy so we tried to find a nice rainy day activity, which turned out to be more eating. There was a nice chocolate shop in the Piazza della Signoria which was also mentioned in 1000 Places to See Before You Die, Caffe Rivoire, so we thought that we would splurge and give it a shot. They are famous for their hot chocolate so Stacy and I ordered to of those and enjoyed while taking in the views of Piazza della Signoria.

That's Amore

After enjoying our chocolate it was off to the Ciao Hostel to freshen up for dinner. The plan was to get dinner and then head up to the Piazzale Michelangiolo for sunset but we ended up having a very long dinner and missed the sunset. Dinner was great and we just took our time eating our pizza, drinking our wine, and chatting away. We even tried lemoncello after dinner, which I still maintains tasted like Crystal Light and rubbing alcohol. I do not understand why it is so popular.

We couldn’t let the girl talk stop just because we were done with dinner and had been sitting at that table for a couple solid hours, so we headed up to the Piazzale Michelangiolo to catch the night views of the city. Once we got up there Stacy bought another bottle of wine from a little stand (only in Europe) although at that point I was wined-out. The Piazzale is at the top of a large hill overlooking the city and there is also a bronze replica of Michelangelo’s David up there.

We had planned on going to a club called Bebops that night because it was Beatles Night but it was getting late and we were tired. Nevertheless, we decided to stop by and check it out for a couple of minutes. We got in there and went to the bathroom, on the way running into none other than Stacy’s roommate from U of I that is studying in Versailles. What a crazy coincidence! We talked with her and her friends for a while but Britt and I were wiped out so we headed back to the hostel. Stacy said that she would spend the night at her friends’ hostel because she could not get in to our without a key and she wanted to stay longer.

Cut to 3 am when there is a knock on the door. After being sufficiently freaked-out but a knock at the door in the middle of the night, I mustered enough courage to answer the door. Turns out with was Stacy and one of the guys that we were talking to that night. Stacy did not say anything to me just went right to her bed, while the guy looks at me and said “Hear you have an extra bed.” Confused as I was, I cleared off the bed and he collapsed there. And then I was left wondering what was going on.

Turns out Stacy was just going to sleep at her friend Maria’s hostel but one of Maria’s friends volunteered to walk her home. Since we had an extra bed in our hostel room Stacy offered him it so that he wouldn’t have to go out of his way. And that was another hostel adventure from my European life.

The Final Countdown

I'm sorry that I haven't been updating you all on my European adventures but finals at UCD started yesterday and I have been trying to study. And, yes, I do mean "trying." After a semester of very little work it has been hard to get in the right mindset to study hard (I accidentally watched Waiting for Guffman last night), but I guess I can't complain.

Finals here are a lot different than at home. First off, the exams are not administered on the UCD campus, but rather at a convention complex about a 30-minute walk away. UCD has the building that looks like a concert venue and smells like a barn. It has 2000 tables and chairs set up and each student gets assigned a seat. They also have a bag check that you must check your bag into for one euro. They don't want to take any chances that you are cheating.

I walked to the exam place but there are also free shuttles that leave campus every 20 minutes. The problem- with a building that holds 2000 students, a bus that carries 40 leaving every 20 minutes is not going to do much. From what I hear, students literally get into fist-fights over who gets on the bus because no one wants to miss their finals.

I had my first final today and it was an essay test, like every other exam I have this semester. Financial Institutions Management was the exam d' jour and I think I did a decent job; at least I hope I did well because it was worth 100% of my grade, which is very nerve-racking.

And the Final Countdown to the US: 3 weeks from today! Who's excited?

Florence- Day 1

After a scenic train ride through Tuscany we arrived in Florence and followed our usual routine- check-in then find food. We were lucky that the Ciao Hostel was located close to the train station so we got there quickly.

We had a four bed room but there was no one to occupy the fourth bed so we had it all to ourselves. It was a really nice place with a kitchen and two bathrooms on each floor and once we got into our room we opened our window up and let in the beautiful Italian breeze. (We got very lucky with the weather for the remainder of our trip.)

The front desk worker recommended a nice restaurant where the locals go down the street but when we arrived there it did not appear to be open. Instead we found a lovely restaurant by the train station and I had the best pizza that I had in Italia. The sauce on it was just fantastic. Frau Curry* and Britt got ravioli which I understand was also very delicious.

Brittany had a friend from high school that was studying abroad in Florence, Lydia, who had volunteered to show us around which was really nice. I also discovered something while in the night air of Florence- I love Florence! I was an amazing city which adorable streets and shops everywhere you turned. We also got gelato and had a fantastic first night in Florence.

Rubbing the noise on this wild boar statue ensures a return to Florence.

*Stacy has been given the nickname of Frau Curry ever since she got a letter from the German government addressed to Frau Curry. And why did she get a letter from the German government you ask? She got a ticket on the train in Berlin for not having a valid ticket and she did not pay it before leaving the country. Frau Curry thought that they did not have her home address but they seem to have tracked her down. Since the first letter she has gotten one more that seemed to have a harsh tone and it leaves us with the question- when is she going to get a knock on the door in Naperville from two angry looking Germans?

Day 2 in Florence

Rome- Day 4

We woke up with only a few more hours in Rome, so we checked out of the Alessandro Palace Hostel and hit the town. As I have mentioned before, I fell in love with the Trevi Fountain so we walked that direction stopping in souvenir shops on the way (where I got a watercolor print of the Trevi so I wouldn't miss it as much). I actually loved the fountain so much that at dinner the previous night I asked the waiter what the policy was for bathing/swimming in the Trevi. He said that they have close-circuit TV on it but he thought that as long as I didn't damage anything I would only get a slap on the wrist. Tempting...


I also bought some postcards and patches, my staple souvenirs.

After shopping we went to the cutest little restaurant on a side street by the fountain. There we ate lunch in the Mediterranean sunlight as the vespas sped past us. Again, I claimed that I was just going to get bruschetta because I had eaten so much pasta, but the pasta looked too good to resist so I got bruschetta AND pasta. I was carb-loaded my entire time in Italy.

After a lovely lunch we headed back to the hostel to get our bags and then walked to Roma Termini to catch our train to Florence. We bought tickets but had a little difficulty locating our train platform and had to run to catch the train. We did successfully make it on broad and were on our way to Florence, Italy!

Loving my life in Italy

Fountains are the New Statue

In Rome, any water coming out of a pipe is potable. I may have had a little drink out of some of these.

These are the fountains of Rome and Florence. Click to enlarge.

Piazza Navona

Piazza Navona

Trevi Fountain by Nicola Salvi in 1732

Triton Fountain in Piazza Barberini by Bernini

Fountain in Boboli Gardens

Neptune Fountain in Boboli Gardens in Florence

Bacchus Fountain in Boboli Gardens

It's just bizarre.