Rome Part 1

Rome Rome Rome, where do I start?
Two weekends ago, Kristina and I took a trip to Rome. I was very happy that I had finally picked a weekend to go because I was getting nervous about running out of time. I couldn't possibly study in Italy for a semester and NOT go to Rome. We took a very early train out on Saturday morning that put us in Rome at about 9:30 in the morning. Normally, I wouldn't mind taking a train that early because it is easy to fall back asleep and nap, however, we managed to make a friend who talked and talked and talked. Her name was Romina and she was going to visit her friend for the day. Romina was from Albania and wanted to talk to us to practice her English. She spoke the language very well and normally, I would be thrilled to help her because she knew fluent Italian and could help me in return. But honestly, it was too darn early and she talked our ears off and then some. Finally we made it to Rome.

After checking in to our hostel, which was upgraded to the hotel section for free because they overbooked our room, (NICE!) we went and grabbed lunch at a little cafe. We had previously made a reservation for a tour of the Vatican at 1pm that afternoon so after lunch we made our way over to Vatican City.

The Vatican was beautiful and enormous!! I was so happy I had booked the tour. It was supposed to be 3 hours but since the guide hadn't finished, she continued for a whopping total of 5 hours. It was wonderful! She guided us through the entire museum, the Sistine Chapel, and eventually made our way over to St. Peters Basilica! She didn't tell us about every piece in the Vatican because there was so much to see, but she also gave us a little fun fact. If you tried to spend only one minute looking at every single object in the Vatican, it would take you 12 years to get through the entire museum. It is very hard to believe, but it's so large, that I do.

The Vatican was incredible! The courtyard, the sculptures, the artwork, and the building itself was entirely unreal to me. Each room was designed so differently from the one before. I think my favorite part was the variety of frescos on the ceilings. Pretty much every room and ceiling had it's own aura of sophistication and was decorated elaborately. My favorite was the room with the old tapestries. Each tapestry had it's own beauty to it and its own story, especially the tapestry of the Resurrection of Christ. Oddly, walking from one side of the tapestry to the other, the eyes of Jesus follow you across the room and the weaving makes it look like no matter where you are standing, his body is facing you. However, out of everything in that room, it was the  ceiling that caught my eye. Using the shadowing effect, somehow with paint, the artist was able to create the idea of sculptures that were carved into different colored tiles of the ceiling. It looks mostly two dimensional, but really, its a completely flat painting that you could run your hand completely flat against. It was so weird and could only be noticed if you stand in a corner of the room and look at the arches of the ceilings. Gosh, I thought that was SO cool!
More great things:
School of Athens by Raphael
The Sculpture of Laocoon and His sons-Beautiful detail
Nero's Bathtub over the Roman Mosaic
Gallery of Maps near the Sistine Chapel

The Sistine Chapel itself was absolutely, without a doubt, the most beautiful building and/or chapel I have ever seen. My breath was literally taken away. The Last Judgement was the most beautiful fresco I had ever, ever imagined. I had no idea anyone could produce such an amazing piece of art, and to think, Michelangelo was a sculptor! Also, another favorite, like everyone else's, The Creation of Adam fresco. ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT. I thought it was so beautiful, but then again, the entire ceiling was just as remarkable! I fell in love with Vatican City at that moment. Again, I wasn't supposed to take pictures, but...we all tend to break the rules here and there...

Laocoon and His sons

Nero's Bathtub

2 Dimensional Ceiling

School of Athens

The Last Judgement

Creation of Adam

St. Peter's Basilica was also incredible. The line to get in was very long but it moved quickly! Once we were in, It was very beautiful. I liked the inside better then the inside of the Duomo in Florence and the Duomo is the prettiest church, at least on the outside, that I have seen. We did not get much time in St. Peter's because they were holding mass but I did get to look around at the smaller chapels and the sculptures. It really is amazing to me how much art and beauty is in the country of Italy. So much time and effort went into these churches and buildings and it's amazing how strongly they still stand. It is all so fascinating to me. St. Peter's was beautiful and my favorite part of the church was Michelangelo's Pieta. Michelangelo is just surreally talented it boggles my mind. The Pieta is almost as incredible as the David. His talent really lies in his ability to produce great detail in every piece of art. He is officially my favorite artist of all time I think.

After the entire tour, we left for the hotel and changed, had some dinner at a local restaurant, and then met some friends from Boston for drinks who were also in Rome for the night! In the middle of conversation about New England, some kids behind us tapped us on the shoulder and told us that they went to Emerson College. So well all joined tables. Small World!

November 13th!

Michelangelo's Pieta

The Wingspan of the Holy Spirit is 6ft, if you can imagine that!

Firenze

Spending the weekend in Florence after the trip to Greece was a lot of fun. Kate's mom came to visit her and she took us to the Uffizi Gallery and the Accademia Gallery. I hadn't yet been to the Uffizi and I hadn't gotten the opportunity to see the David either. Talk about killin' two birds with one stone!

First we went to the Uffizi Gallery, and since I have been taking the Women of the Medici class, I was very interested. There were a lot of portraits of members of the family and much of the artwork from the Renaissance depicted a few family members here and there. The Medici family commissioned much of the art during the Renaissance. They had amazing portraits of Lorenzo  il' Magnifico and Cosimo the elder, as well as a picture in the entrance of Caterina's wedding to Henry before they became King and Queen of France. I can't possibly go over all the details of the Gallery but it was huge and beautiful. The ceilings consisted of many frescos and sculptures that lined the hallways. It was really cool. I have to say though, my favorite paintings in the museum were Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Spring. I LOVE the Birth of Venus, I think it is so beautiful. The colors are still so vibrant and the piece itself is just so original and pure. I've never seen anything quite like it. Spring was beautiful too, my second favorite. I think that every person in the painting has a unique way of standing out. The most interesting parts of the painting were the dramatic differences in wardrobe to define each character and the idea that Chloris goes from spreading the flowers to transforming into Flora. Both pieces were extremely breathtaking and I was so happy to be able to see them.

Birth of Venus

Spring

Cosimo the Elder

Lorenzo il Magnifico

After the Uffizi, we all went to get pizza at a restaurant close by called Oysteria del Gatto e il Volpe. A lot of my friends and I go there every once in awhile because the food is reasonably priced and very, very good. They make their own balsamic vinegar! After hanging out for a little bit, eating, and sharing stories about Greece with Kate's mom, we made our way over to the Accademia. I was so excited to see the David I couldn't stand it. I was almost a little bit nervous because it was such a talked-up sculpture.
After touring the little parts of the gallery first, I finally made my way into the room with the David. The sculpture was absolutely INCREDIBLE! There is, without a doubt, no piece of art in the entire world like the David. It was so beautiful, so big, and so detailed. My favorite part of the sculpture was that you could see the veins on his right hand go up his arm. I couldn't believe how perfect Michelangelo was able to make this sculpture. I stared at him for a long time before I even made it into the sculpture room. The sculpture room was pretty neat, but definitely an abundance of random sculptures. They were really quite beautiful too and had amazing detail like the David, however, I was completely captivated by the David. It was so unreal! I wasn't supposed to take pictures but I snuck them anyways. I'm sorry, but I had to!

Visiting these galleries gave me a whole other perspective on Florence. Everything new I experience in this city, I gain more and more appreciation for Italy and the culture. I'm really loving it out here, it's the greatest experience of my life.

Greece- Fall Break 2010

After finishing up midterms, Kate, our friend Cory, and I all set out for 8 days in Greece with Bus2alps. The plan was to go from Italy to Corfu then Corfu to Athens and back to Florence. We left Florence on Saturday the 23rd in the morning and drove to Ancona which is where our ferry departed for Corfu. When we arrived in Corfu, I didn't really know what to think of it. The port was kind of in a run down area and I hadn't even thought about the island being in slow season. It wasn't the picture perfect Greece I had imagined.

At the port, the "Pink Palace" bus awaited to take us to what is supposedly the #1 top rated hostel in the world. THE Pink Palace, which is known for it's traditional Pink Toga Party! Checking into the hostel, we were greeted with a pink Ouzo shot, which is probably the most disgusting drink you could ever imagine. If I remember right, it smelt like rubbing alcohol. But anyways, after closing our eyes, clenching our fists and gulping it down, we went upstairs to put our things away. It was a nicer hostel then most I have stayed in before. We even had a private balcony with a view of the sea! The weather wasn't very nice, but there was some sun out so we decided to head down to the hot tub and take the rest of the day to relax and maybe walk around the beach. That night, the hostel threw it's annual Pink Toga Party, which meant lots of Ouzo and greek dancing. It was probably the most crazy event I have ever taken part in but also very cultural and a lot of fun!

The second day it was heavy downpours of rain. So our day was rather uneventful. We had lunch in the lobby restaurant and played cards. Even though we weren't being very productive, it was still nice to relax and feel like we were on vacation. The food in the lobby was really good and really cheap, so overall it was a decent day.

The third day in Corfu was beautiful out. Kate, Cory and I rented ATV's which is one of my favorite things to do since middle school when my best friend Sarah's dad bought her one. We rode around the island of Corfu, visiting high mountain tops and low valleys, as well as Corfu Town. It was a really awesome day. The ATV's made it so much fun. Cory and Kate had never been on them before so I was the cool kid in the group. haha
Later we had dinner at the Pink Palace and boarded the bus back to the port. From there, we took a ferry over to the coast of Greece and drove overnight to Athens.

Athens was not particularly my favorite destination. In fact, it was probably my least favorite. The hostel was nice and the dinners that the company took us on were very good, but the city itself was not beautiful. In fact, it seemed a little dangerous.

The first day we spent doing a walking tour of Athens and visiting all the Greek mythological sites and structures. When we came to the Parliament, we were right in time for the changing of the guards. That was a very cool procedure that I enjoyed. It was very serious and very interesting, probably one of my favorite experiences in Greece. These were the only good things about Athens. After seeing the ruins, the rest was not particularly charming. In fact, I wish I had just done a day trip there instead of overnight. Luckily, the next day, we were allowed to take a ferry to Aegina which is an island full of classic blue and white greek buildings and homes. A few of our friends that we met on the trip decided to rent bicycles to tour the island so we joined in. Besides the small fisherman village, the island was a little deserted since it was the off-season but it was still beautiful. I never really thought I would ever get the opportunity to bicycle around a greek island. We stopped for lunch for about two hours and then, just my luck, about a half mile away from the city on the island, my chain on my bike broke. So I had to walk the rest of the way. It really wasn't a big deal, but of course it would have happened to me.
After spending one more night in Greece, we boarded the bus again to drive to the port. It stopped at the Corinth Canal so we could go and walk over it and take pictures. It is amazing how far down that canal really goes and the gigantic ships that can fit through there! After the stop we headed home on an over night ferry. A lot of people didn't like being on a boat very long but for some reason, I really enjoy boats and being on the ocean. I didn't mind it one bit. Fall break was very exciting. There were thing I wish I had done differently but at the same time, so much I was able to see and do that I would never take back. Studying in another country keeps becoming more and more rewarding every day.