Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Even more pictures

Considering that the course took place in Florence, I believe it would be best for me to show a picture or two from that city.

The first picture here was taken early on in the trip, during our first full day in Florence. We went up to San Miniato, which I believe is the highest point in Florence. Going up to San Miniato gave us some breathtaking views of the entire city, only adding to our desire to explore it so early on in our course.

The Duomo—the main cathedral in Florence—easily stands out when you look over Florence from that point (which is why the Duomo often served as a point in the city we would look for in order to find our way back to the hotel). It can easily be identified by its dome and sheer size when compared to the rest of Florence:



Next, I think I'll show a picture of one place in Italy that I'm sure everyone knows about—Pisa! The leaning tower in Pisa seems surreal when you first lay eyes on it, and seems like it should topple over. Fortunately the tower is supported enough that it shouldn't fall and it's been opened up to visitors again, meaning you could climb to the top of it if you wished to. Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to scale the tower, but I was able to take a picture of it:

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

More Pictures!

Here's some more pictures for everyone!

When we went to Florence we didn't get a direct flight there. Instead we flew from New York to Zurich, Switzerland and then took another plane from Zurich to Florence. Switching planes like that after a long, tiring flight seemed like a hassle at first, but I'm glad we did. The second flight took us right over the Alps at an altitude that gave us some impressive sights and I was lucky enough to be assigned a window seat that allowed me to see all of them—and take some great pictures too! Here's one picture I took from my plane seat:



The second picture is from Venice, one of my favorite places in Italy. While in the city, myself and the other students were able to take a water taxi from one area to another that allowed us to see a lot of Venice, but it was the gondola ride that really allowed us to see Venice. The gondolas can often go places that the larger water taxis can't, allowing one to see many of the smaller waterways and quieter areas of the city. This photo is from my gondola ride:

Monday, June 16, 2008

Pictures

I've been back for almost a week now (I miss Florence!) and I think it's time to upload a few pictures for everyone to see.

On our last night in Florence, we went to a winery. We were given a brief tour before being served a wonderful dinner. The food was great, but what really made the entire trip was the wonderful view from the winery which sits on top of some of the many hills of Tuscany:



Another picture I'd like to show is from one of my favorite places in Italy—Rome! As I described in my previous entry, Rome is full of the history of the once mighty Roman empire.

Here's a picture of my favorite place in Rome, the Colosseum:



Even though only forty percent of it remains, it's still quite an amazing sight.

These pictures are only a small fraction of the many I took, so within the next few days I hope to upload a few more from some of the other places I've seen :)

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Rome

Once again, it's a weird feeling only have a little time left here in Italy. Everything is winding down and we're all getting ready for our early flight on Tuesday.

To make the most of the weekend, myself and a few other students went off to Rome yesterday! It was one of my favorite places to see (After Venice that is!), and we had a great time.

After we first arrived, we immediately went to the Vatican. In there we went to see the Sistine Chapel, which is literally covered in artwork. One of the best things to do in there is simply look around the chapel and admire everything, but no matter how long you spend in there, you can't really ever leave feeling like you've seen it all.

After some exploring in the Vatican, we left and went to the Trevi Fountain. It's one of the great places in Rome to admire, but you can't leave that place without tossing a coin behind you into the fountain and making a wish! All of us made our wishes, took some pictures, and then headed off to the Colosseum.

I have to say that my favorite place in Rome is the Colosseum and other surrounding ruins. The Colosseum itself is amazing to look at, and only around 40 percent of the original structure is standing today, It leaves me wondering what it would have been like to see the Colosseum before Rome fell.

Even though the ruins are interesting to look at and learn about, I often find myself sad when I look at them. It's very disheartening to see the remains of what was once a powerful empire left behind in crumbling ruins. We have many ways to figure out what all of the ruins looked like and were used for, but it's not the same as actually seeing the ruins when they were at the high point of the Roman Empire.

In the end I had a wonderful time in Rome and look forward to visiting the city again at some point in the future. My time in Italy may be coming to a close, but I've seen and learned so much while I'm here. There's still so much more to see however, and hopefully I'll be able to come back and see it all.

Friday, June 6, 2008

Only a few days left!

The class is winding down now, and it's really hard to believe it. We only have four full days left here in Italy (that's counting today, so maybe it's really three!) since we're flying out on the morning of the 10th.

Everyone here is enjoying the time we have left here in different ways. There's plenty of places to go in Italy by train (and it really doesn't take that long to get there), and it surprised many of us planning to go to Rome tomorrow that it only takes an hour and a half to get there. It should be a lot of fun to visit a city like Rome which is rich in history and full of places to see.

The past two days have been great, with the Uffizi being my favorite stop on the 4th. We were able to view many famous paintings, which included The Birth of Venus by Boticelli--one of my favorites.

Yesterday we went to our tour guide's house for dinner, and we all had a great time! She lives on top of a hill that gives a great view of the beautiful Tuscan landscape. Not only was the view wonderful, but the food was great too! I thanked her family each moment that I had a chance to--they were very hospitable and kind to our group.

I'm a bit sad that my time in Italy is drawing to a close. Sure, it'll be nice to see everyone back home again, but I just wish I had more time here to go around and explore the rest of Italy.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Culture

So far we've only had half our session today in Florence, but we've already seen some great artworks. We went to the The Museum of Andrea Del Darto's Last Supper. The Last Supper fresco was simply captivating, and I found myself staring at it for quite a long time. I was also able to view many other religious-based artworks in the museum.

It's one thing to view artwork or other historical pieces here in Italy, but it's another thing to experience much of the Italian culture.

It's very different from what many of us are used to in America. Most of us are used to being on the go all the time, and that's how many of us often get our meals. Most Americans don't really seem to have the chance to sit down and enjoy a meal with each other, but that isn't the case in Italy. Sit down meals seem to be the norm here, and there really aren't many places around where you can grab a meal and eat it on the go unless you run to the grocery store and make such a meal yourself. Myself and other students in the course have found a few places where you can grab something and run, but with the high number of American tourists around, I wonder if those places are simply catering to us (nothing wrong with that of course, they need to make a living too!).

Sitting down to a meal and other cultural differences in Italy are a nice change of pace from the life I'm used to back at home, I only wish I had more than two semesters of Italian so I could speak it a little better and truly experience the culture!

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Where does the time go?

Only a week left here in Florence. I’m wondering when it went by so quickly. It’ll be nice to see my family and friends (although I may be weary from a long day of travel, so I’m not sure how happy I’ll appear), but on the other hand, I’ll be sad to leave Italy.

It seemes like my weekend plans are finalized and I should definitely be going to Rome. I’m sure I’ll have some great stories to tell about Italy’s capital and all of its rich history.

Italy itself has a rich history, and I find myself eager to learn about every part of it (I should, it’s my major!). A lot of the structures and artworks here are just mind-boggling to Americans due to the fact that we really don’t have the equivalent here. There really aren’t 600, 700, or even 1000 year old structures in America, but they certainly aren’t in short supply in Italy.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Firenze, the second week

It's really hard to believe that I only have about one week left here in Florence, and I'm both excited and upset about it. I do want to go home, and I find myself missing my family and friends, but at the same time I want to stay here in Italy and visit other cities besides Florence.

I'm not sure what I'm doing this weekend, but hopefully I'll get to see another wonderful Italian city. There's talk of Rome between some of the girls on the trip, but we're all unsure right now (we still have some time anyway). Rome is a wonderful city, and it would be great to see it again.

Otherwise I'm having a great time just looking around the city and feeling like I'm living the Renaissance! I always look forward to what each day has in store for me, so hopefully tomorrow I'll have some great stories to tell!

Saturday, May 31, 2008

Venice!

After some fumbling with the train schedule, myself and a few other girls managed to make to to Venice for the day. The hassel and confusion were totally worth it though!

When we first arrived, we immediately took a water taxi to the Murano glass factory. For those of you who don't know, the factory is on its own island so that the rest of Venice wouldn't have gone up in flames back in the day.

On the island, we got to see some of the most beautiful glass that I've ever seen, and we were also able to see how the glass was made. That was a great experience, and it was simply breathtaking at how someone could mold such beauty out of what used to be a glob of molten glass.

After the factory, we took a gondola ride, which I'm sure was the highlight of our trip to Venice. We were really able to see the beauty of the city during the gondola ride, and I took a lot of pictures(over 300) of the city. Hopefully I will be able to upload them soon.

I think that so far Venice was the highlight of my trip. I just got back from the city and I already want to return.

Friday, May 30, 2008

Siena

Wow I got wet!

Today we went to Siena, and it poured! I think everyone got soaked on this trip as Siena is a fairly hilly city and there were several places where the streets were like rivers. Fortunately I was still able to get a few nice pictures, and we were able to see the church that holds the head of St. Catherine.

We also got to see some of Doccio's paintings in Siena, which was also great. I wish it wouldn't have rained though, maybe we would have had more time to go and look around at the city, which I remember being quite beautiful when I was last there.

Otherwise I'm having a great time! And I can't wait until tomorrow because myself and three other girls are going to Venice bright and early!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

The Duomo

The Duomo is a point in Florence that many recognize, and it's also a point that is fairly easy to get to and helps when you're trying to find other places in Florence.

Today I got to go inside the Duomo and it was really an amazing sight! It puts many of the cathedrals back in New York to shame.

Much of the group decided to climb the stairs to the top of the dome, but I opted to instead visit the Baptistry, and I was glad that I made that choice (I believe I will go to the top of the dome eventually, I still have a lot of time here in Florence!), I got to see some wonderful artwork on the Baptistry ceiling from the 1100s. I think I must have looked at that ceiling for 10 minutes straight at one point!

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Pisa

Yesterday the group went to Pisa and we got to look at the leaning tower, along with the Duomo and the baptistry in the city.

Even though I've seen the leaning tower before, it's still pretty unreal to see it leaning like that. Each time I went to take a picture of it, I kept tilting my camera so it would straighten out. Unfortunately I wasn't able to climb to the top of the tower, but it was still pretty nice to see it :)

Spending time in Florence like I am is great though. I'm learning my way around the city and I'm finding some great places to eat along with some great places to just sit around and admire the city.

I'm having a great time so far, and I can't wait to see even more.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

The First Two Days

I was so busy that I didn't get a chance to update until today!

Anyway, we arrived in Florence pretty tired. I think our total traveling time amounted in excess of 12 hours with our layover, but it was worth it all.

Florence is a beautiful city, much more beautiful than my memory has served me these past three years since I've been here last. We've already looked at some churches and the artwork is breathtaking, and I won't be able to describe it properly here...look forward to pictures once I return!

So far I know that this trip has only scratched the surface of what we'll see, and I can't wait to learn about and see more of Florence.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Off to Italy!

Later today I'll be heading off to Florence! I can't wait =)

Hopefully I'll have a lot more to say soon about what's going on there, but right now I've got to go and make sure I'm done with packing!