What a long day, that is. This week is just crawling by - it's not really a bad thing, since one of the best parts of Italian life is just being, not doing anything in particular. I was just outside on the balcony with my eyes closed, listening to some music. Now, I'm watching a TV show called "La Vita in Diretta" - Direct Life, I guess, and it's about current events. They spend a lot of time talking about celebrities and movie stars and how their issues affect Italians in general. Now they're talking about cancer. So in general, it's been a slow day. Weather's pretty bad too - cloudy, and a little chilly. Today, I'll just scribble what my last couple days have been like.
I didn't go into Venice at all yesterday. Instead, I took some time to catch up on some work (we read Wesker's The Merchant, a re-visioning of Shakespeare's play) and then I was able to watch a film called Mio Fratello e' Figlio Unico (My Brother is an Only Child). It sounds like a comedy, but it's really serious - two brothers during the 60s in Italy, and one's a fascist and the other is a communist. Aaand they both love the same girl. It was surprisingly intense but I liked it, at least more than Non Pensarci (Don't think about it). The high point of yesterday was probably the amazing weather after the day of acqua alta and the sunset - which I didn't see entirely because we went to the mensa for a fantastic dinner, as usual.
Today, we had a trip scheduled for Venice for my architecture class. We went to Palazzo Grimani, near the Campo Santa Maria Formosa, which was a private residence but also contained a lot of ancient Roman artifacts. The architecture itself imitates classical styles. It was actually one of my favorite trips we've been on for the architecture class. After that, I went to the Bar al Verde with some friends for lunch before going back to San Servolo for my Islam class. I wanted gelato before going back. And I was desperate... and we were in the most touristy part of Venice, Riva degli Schiavoni, and I ended up overpaying vastly (1,30) for the worst gelato ever. It wasn't really gelato, it was more like sucky ice cream that you find in the back of the freezer at the supermarket, or maybe in the back of my fridge in Charlotte. It really put me in a bad mood. See how important these things are?
Anyway, my day got better when I got out of my last class. I took the movie I rented back to the library, and I ran into Francesca again - to remind you all, she's a Ca' Foscari University student who's studying in the Globalization program at VIU, and she (along with Stella, Elena and Giorgia) have been nice enough to let me talk to them to practice my Italian. So I chatted with her and Giorgia for a while - about our classes and the differences between Italian and American universities.
Since then, I've just been in my room. I really should've taken a nap since I was seriously nodding through all my classes today (OH - I should mention we played Taboo in my Italian class this morning) but I didn't. So that's the news. I'm planning on going out to a nice restaurant tonight. My stomach actually just growled, no kidding. I have to say that since I've been eating so much here I actually require more food during the day - and if I don't eat as much as I usually do I start to feel dizzy. Weird, huh? I have no idea how I ate so little during high school wrestling. Ahh.
Anyway, that's all for now. Having a blog is great for times like this.
Andrew
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Nutella sulle Scale
Ciao famiglia e amici,
I'm writing to you all during an unbelievable rainstorm that hit
Before all this weather happened, however, I have to let you know that I had an amazing weekend! Maybe one of the best in
Friday was amazing. I really like some parts of traveling by myself - you can do what you want, when you want. The only one in charge is you. So I rode the vaporetto into
I got on board, not before buying a copy of Il Gazzettino, the regional newspaper of
Anyway, I got into
So I asked Gian Giacomo when the next train to
So I followed her directions, and I ended up at the bottom of this rocky cliff with a tram heading straight up to the top. I took the tram, and sure enough, ESCALATOR! I was finally in the old city of
We admired the view from the top of
So we got back to the hostel, where we ate dinner – yeah, they provided us with a pasta dinner, incredible. And we all ate together, all the people staying in the hostel. The one other guy in my room was from
The next morning, on Saturday, we started the day slowly with a nice long breakfast of – what else – brioche, toast and Nutella. I’m just saying up front that we all overdosed on Nutella. After breakfast, we took out the bikes that are available to guests, and went for a little ride along the trails beside Lago Trasimeno. It was so beautiful – I really can’t explain how amazing it is to ride on a bicycle through the Umbrian countryside. We rode past little farms and plots of land owned by locals. The lake was so picturesque, the sky so blue – it really was a perfect day.
We were planning on taking the train from Magione to 
terms of eating – everyone just goes home at 1, and everything closes. So we were starving on a hill town in the middle of
We caught the next train to 
ecause a mass was taking place. However, the Giotto frescoes in the top level of the basilica were incredible. Some of the most famous ones include Francesco renouncing his family wealth and clothes and declaring himself a follower of only God, Francesco communing with nature, and of course, Francesco receiving the stigmata from the angel. In the Basilica Santa Chiara (Saint Clare), there is a whole set of religious relics said to belong to Francesco and Chiara. For example, there’s a shoe that legend says Francesco was wearing when he received the stigmata. Weird, huh? The tomb of Santa Chiara is in the lower sanctuary, and we saw that too. For Clare, it was a bit of a pilgrimage to her patron saint, haha.
We got back to Magione and Torricello, and were hungry. It was right around dinnertime. The hostel staff recommended il Giardino (the Garden) a really nice restaurant just around the corner from the hostel, not far from the lake. We were the only English-speaking people inside and the menu was only in Italian. It was no problem though because between the four of us, we knew what was going on. The food was incredible. Definitely one of the best dinners I’ve had in
I spent Sunday on the train returning to
I’m just doing some laundry now – I think I can hear it downstairs, actually. The next couple days should be fun – one of our friends Kim just turned 21 today, and on Wednesday
Ciao for now,
Andrew
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Un Viaggio in Svizzera
Ok, to save time, I'm skipping all the stuff I did last week. I caught up on work while my mom and sister went to Firenze and then I caught up with them for dinner and lunch on Wednesday and Thursday when they returned.
All the excitement happened on Thursday afternoon. It was actually a rough day for me because I realized I bought opera tickets (La Traviata, one of my favorites!) for the evening of my train ride to Switzerland, which I booked a few weeks in advance. I was set to go with Dejan and Tim, friends from Duke and UVA, respectively (although Dejan has an international connection, I'll get to that later). So... i was really annoyed that I would have to choose between Switzerland that I'd already paid for and the opera with my family. I ended up going to Switzerland after talking to my family. I'm actually still kind of annoyed at how it happened - it is so hard to plan in this country! Wait- I'm generalizing. I'm just a bad planner, that's it.
Speaking of plans, I'm going to the train station tonight to drop about 250 euro on train tickets. Emily Igo is coming down from London (she's a BC friend studying there this semester)and we're going to Torino for Easter, followed by Genova, Livorno, and Roma. I may go to Firenze on the way back to Venice, but we'll see. Emily has booked all the hostels so it's up to me to make this happen. ATM, here I come (gulp).
So anyway, I'll get back to the Swiss adventure. I got on the vaporetto with Tim and Dejan with more than a few qualms about the trip, and here's why. We had a train running through Milano to Luzern, but our stopover was only 5 minutes (which is no time at all especially since Trenitalia is always late). But on top of that, we had no place to stay in Luzern and no places would let us check in at midnight, when we were set to arrive. So it was a really shaky situation. Like I was worried.
Anyway, we were all thinking it, but as American men, we couldn't say anything. We went to the train station, realized our train was already running about 10 minutes late, therefore eliminating any chance of us making our connection in Milano. The train ride was nice though, and the three of us played a makeshift version of Scattergories (although Dejan protested our adding "Movies" and "Musical Groups" since his cultural experience is different from Tim's and mine. He grew up in Croatia, moved to Germany for ten years, and then came to the US). So we got into Milano and went to the Trenitalia office (the Milano train station is beautiful, by the way). We weren't expecting much from the Ferrovia dello Stato. BUT guess what? They put us on the 9:00 train to Zurich in the morning (we'd have another connection to make to go to Luzern) AND they booked us in a nice hotel in Milano for FREE! This was incredible because we had no place to stay up until that point for Thursday night!
We checked into the hotel. This was Thursday, for reference. It was around 9:00, and all of us were really tired, but we decided to go downtown and check out some of the main sights of Milano, like the Duomo, which is the 3rd largest church in the world. We were in bed by 11.
The next morning, we caught our train, no problem. The train ride was beautiful! We went by Lago di Como, which we would've missed entirely if we'd traveled by night. Another fortunate consequence, we figured. But our luck didn't last - the train was somehow 20 minutes late, so there was no way we'd make our connection to Luzern at Arth Goldau. So we just continued on to Zurich. At some point, lakes turned into mountains and signs were in German, not Italian. Also, the train conductor spoke over the loudspeaker first in German, then in Italian. Dejan is fluent in German though, so we knew we wouldn't have any problems.
When we arrived, we checked for hostels. The one in the center of the Old Town was full, so we decided to stay at the Jungenherberge (?) which is a pretty famous and VERY nice hostel about 15 minutes outside the center. We spent the afternoon walking through Zurich, getting some lunch, gazing at the view of the Alps from the bridges, and walking along the water of the Zurichsee. We also got some AMAZING Swiss chocolate - literally, the best I've ever tasted. For dinner, we ate at a pretty traditional German-Swiss restaurant. We all ordered the veal sausage and potatoes. It was kind of funny because it was so full in the restaurant that we sat at the same table as these two Swiss women. Dejan talked to them in German a little, which was really helpful (he was asking directions or something) and I could follow some of what they were saying. But it made me miss Italy because it's so easy to understand everyone there!
So the next day we took the tram from our hostel (breakfast was included - lots of bread and cold cuts, a German thing I think) and went to a suburb of Zurich to "look for some Serbians." I know this sounds weird, but Dejan is Croatian, and the languages and cultures are really similar. He knew that there would probably be a big Serbian gathering at some club in Zurich that night, so we walked around, looking for Serbs, I guess, and we found one! Dejan asked this lady if she knew where the clubs were, and she said, "What? You mean you haven't been? I don't know where they are but my daughter always goes!" So after some chatting and internet research, Dejan found out that the famous Serbian singer Mile Kitic was singing at Grodoonia, a discoteca pretty far out from the center of the city.
After that little mission, we went to the base of one of the small mountains near Zurich, and started hiking. It was SO steep at the beginning. And it was also ICE cold in Switzerland - I had on long sleeves, a sweater, my coat, scarf and gloves. So as we hiked, all of those things became unnecessary - we were practically running to the top. Oddly, there was a playground up there. We continued on toward the summit, where there was a lot of snow and ice that made the climb a little tricky (don't get any romantic ideas, technically we were climbing the Alps, but it was really more like hiking in New Hampshire, or whatever. And we only spent a couple of hours, like three, so it wasn't even as big of a trip). But the view was AMAZING! We reached the summit, took a lot of pictures, watched the hanggliders in the sky and got some food. There was an observation deck that offered a great view of the city and the Alps in the distance, past the Zurichsee. We were exhausted though, so we took the train back down the mountain. Weak, I know.
Following our alpine excursion (wow, I did that!) we went back to the Old Town and ate at a restaurant that the two women recommended the night before. We got the spaetzle, which is kind of like pasta with cheese and a little baked, so a little brown. It's not as good as the pasta I've had in Italy but it was warm and tasty, perfect after the mountain climbing. I should mention that by this point we'd changed hostels - now we were staying conveniently at the downtown place.
After dinner we caught the train from the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) to a suburb of Zurich where there was supposedly this Serbian Club called Grodoonia. Dejan was leading us, and we asked for directions, but not many people knew where it was. It was about 9:30, so dark, and we were walking along some pitch-black roads in the country. Like literally, cow pastures. Anyway, we found a hotel right next to a McDonalds and Dejan went in to ask for directions. Tim and I waited outside, but here's what happened. Dejan (in German): "We're looking for Grodoonia, and we can't find it. Do any of you know which direction it is?" Man behind the desk (in Serbian): "Who's singing tonight?"
Next thing we know, the guy is driving the three of us down the road to this big building. The club was on the top floor, and we took the elevator up with some Serbians about our age. We decided to go in even though the entry fee was a little steep, 20 euro. The drinks were also prohibitively expensive inside. But the club was really cool, really suave. Everyone was dressed up so nicely! And Dejan kept pointing out the finer nuances, for example, "That's a Serbian cross that that guy's wearing!" So Tim and I really got an education. Mile Kitic didn't start singing until 11:55, so the party started late, and it was supposed to go until 5. We took a table not too far from the stage and really took in the scene rather than participating actively. The people there, we decided, looked like a cross between Russians and Greeks, which makes perfect sense geographically. Anyway, Grodoonia was really an unforgettable cultural experience for us. We stayed until 2 and then decided to call it a night.
We got on the train at 2:40, and decided to risk it by buying day train tickets instead of the mandatory night tickets. Which ended up being a bad idea when the controller came up to us and asked for tickets. Dejan knows perfect German, but we played the role of "tourist" in order to avoid an outrageous fine. The controllers made us pay the regular ticket price, however, which was a little bothersome - I literally had no more Swiss Francs after that, and didn't feel like changing any more money. We had bought a few things for breakfast the next day, but I had a weird feeling the next day wouldn't be as fun.
I was right - we had to check out of our rooms at 9, meaning we got a little less than 5 and a half hours of sleep. It was just awful, and we ate breakfast and ended up spending most of the day in the lobby of the hostel. We did get out later on though, and we visited the Frauenmunster church, where there are inspiring stained-glass windows by Marc Chagall. That was really a highlight of the trip. But literally, the last day in Switzerland we felt a little like vagabonds. And sooooo tired! Oh well, we just went to the train station and hung out for a couple hours before our train left. And WOW was it an incredible feeling when I got on the train and the woman next to me was speaking in Italian! I felt at home, actually. The train connection in Milano went over well, surprisingly, and we made it back to San Servolo by 1:40 AM.
This week has really flown by, that's all I can say. So I'm kind of skipping over some of the finer details to tell you all that I just made travel plans for this weekend! I'm traveling to Perugia and Assisi with three friends from VIU. And I just bought the train tickets for the epic tour of western Italy I'm making with Emily over Spring Break. Wow. Vi dico piu a dopo. A piu tardi!
Ciao,
Andrew
All the excitement happened on Thursday afternoon. It was actually a rough day for me because I realized I bought opera tickets (La Traviata, one of my favorites!) for the evening of my train ride to Switzerland, which I booked a few weeks in advance. I was set to go with Dejan and Tim, friends from Duke and UVA, respectively (although Dejan has an international connection, I'll get to that later). So... i was really annoyed that I would have to choose between Switzerland that I'd already paid for and the opera with my family. I ended up going to Switzerland after talking to my family. I'm actually still kind of annoyed at how it happened - it is so hard to plan in this country! Wait- I'm generalizing. I'm just a bad planner, that's it.
Speaking of plans, I'm going to the train station tonight to drop about 250 euro on train tickets. Emily Igo is coming down from London (she's a BC friend studying there this semester)and we're going to Torino for Easter, followed by Genova, Livorno, and Roma. I may go to Firenze on the way back to Venice, but we'll see. Emily has booked all the hostels so it's up to me to make this happen. ATM, here I come (gulp).
So anyway, I'll get back to the Swiss adventure. I got on the vaporetto with Tim and Dejan with more than a few qualms about the trip, and here's why. We had a train running through Milano to Luzern, but our stopover was only 5 minutes (which is no time at all especially since Trenitalia is always late). But on top of that, we had no place to stay in Luzern and no places would let us check in at midnight, when we were set to arrive. So it was a really shaky situation. Like I was worried.
Anyway, we were all thinking it, but as American men, we couldn't say anything. We went to the train station, realized our train was already running about 10 minutes late, therefore eliminating any chance of us making our connection in Milano. The train ride was nice though, and the three of us played a makeshift version of Scattergories (although Dejan protested our adding "Movies" and "Musical Groups" since his cultural experience is different from Tim's and mine. He grew up in Croatia, moved to Germany for ten years, and then came to the US). So we got into Milano and went to the Trenitalia office (the Milano train station is beautiful, by the way). We weren't expecting much from the Ferrovia dello Stato. BUT guess what? They put us on the 9:00 train to Zurich in the morning (we'd have another connection to make to go to Luzern) AND they booked us in a nice hotel in Milano for FREE! This was incredible because we had no place to stay up until that point for Thursday night!
We checked into the hotel. This was Thursday, for reference. It was around 9:00, and all of us were really tired, but we decided to go downtown and check out some of the main sights of Milano, like the Duomo, which is the 3rd largest church in the world. We were in bed by 11.
The next morning, we caught our train, no problem. The train ride was beautiful! We went by Lago di Como, which we would've missed entirely if we'd traveled by night. Another fortunate consequence, we figured. But our luck didn't last - the train was somehow 20 minutes late, so there was no way we'd make our connection to Luzern at Arth Goldau. So we just continued on to Zurich. At some point, lakes turned into mountains and signs were in German, not Italian. Also, the train conductor spoke over the loudspeaker first in German, then in Italian. Dejan is fluent in German though, so we knew we wouldn't have any problems.
When we arrived, we checked for hostels. The one in the center of the Old Town was full, so we decided to stay at the Jungenherberge (?) which is a pretty famous and VERY nice hostel about 15 minutes outside the center. We spent the afternoon walking through Zurich, getting some lunch, gazing at the view of the Alps from the bridges, and walking along the water of the Zurichsee. We also got some AMAZING Swiss chocolate - literally, the best I've ever tasted. For dinner, we ate at a pretty traditional German-Swiss restaurant. We all ordered the veal sausage and potatoes. It was kind of funny because it was so full in the restaurant that we sat at the same table as these two Swiss women. Dejan talked to them in German a little, which was really helpful (he was asking directions or something) and I could follow some of what they were saying. But it made me miss Italy because it's so easy to understand everyone there!
So the next day we took the tram from our hostel (breakfast was included - lots of bread and cold cuts, a German thing I think) and went to a suburb of Zurich to "look for some Serbians." I know this sounds weird, but Dejan is Croatian, and the languages and cultures are really similar. He knew that there would probably be a big Serbian gathering at some club in Zurich that night, so we walked around, looking for Serbs, I guess, and we found one! Dejan asked this lady if she knew where the clubs were, and she said, "What? You mean you haven't been? I don't know where they are but my daughter always goes!" So after some chatting and internet research, Dejan found out that the famous Serbian singer Mile Kitic was singing at Grodoonia, a discoteca pretty far out from the center of the city.
After that little mission, we went to the base of one of the small mountains near Zurich, and started hiking. It was SO steep at the beginning. And it was also ICE cold in Switzerland - I had on long sleeves, a sweater, my coat, scarf and gloves. So as we hiked, all of those things became unnecessary - we were practically running to the top. Oddly, there was a playground up there. We continued on toward the summit, where there was a lot of snow and ice that made the climb a little tricky (don't get any romantic ideas, technically we were climbing the Alps, but it was really more like hiking in New Hampshire, or whatever. And we only spent a couple of hours, like three, so it wasn't even as big of a trip). But the view was AMAZING! We reached the summit, took a lot of pictures, watched the hanggliders in the sky and got some food. There was an observation deck that offered a great view of the city and the Alps in the distance, past the Zurichsee. We were exhausted though, so we took the train back down the mountain. Weak, I know.
Following our alpine excursion (wow, I did that!) we went back to the Old Town and ate at a restaurant that the two women recommended the night before. We got the spaetzle, which is kind of like pasta with cheese and a little baked, so a little brown. It's not as good as the pasta I've had in Italy but it was warm and tasty, perfect after the mountain climbing. I should mention that by this point we'd changed hostels - now we were staying conveniently at the downtown place.
After dinner we caught the train from the Hauptbahnhof (main train station) to a suburb of Zurich where there was supposedly this Serbian Club called Grodoonia. Dejan was leading us, and we asked for directions, but not many people knew where it was. It was about 9:30, so dark, and we were walking along some pitch-black roads in the country. Like literally, cow pastures. Anyway, we found a hotel right next to a McDonalds and Dejan went in to ask for directions. Tim and I waited outside, but here's what happened. Dejan (in German): "We're looking for Grodoonia, and we can't find it. Do any of you know which direction it is?" Man behind the desk (in Serbian): "Who's singing tonight?"
Next thing we know, the guy is driving the three of us down the road to this big building. The club was on the top floor, and we took the elevator up with some Serbians about our age. We decided to go in even though the entry fee was a little steep, 20 euro. The drinks were also prohibitively expensive inside. But the club was really cool, really suave. Everyone was dressed up so nicely! And Dejan kept pointing out the finer nuances, for example, "That's a Serbian cross that that guy's wearing!" So Tim and I really got an education. Mile Kitic didn't start singing until 11:55, so the party started late, and it was supposed to go until 5. We took a table not too far from the stage and really took in the scene rather than participating actively. The people there, we decided, looked like a cross between Russians and Greeks, which makes perfect sense geographically. Anyway, Grodoonia was really an unforgettable cultural experience for us. We stayed until 2 and then decided to call it a night.
We got on the train at 2:40, and decided to risk it by buying day train tickets instead of the mandatory night tickets. Which ended up being a bad idea when the controller came up to us and asked for tickets. Dejan knows perfect German, but we played the role of "tourist" in order to avoid an outrageous fine. The controllers made us pay the regular ticket price, however, which was a little bothersome - I literally had no more Swiss Francs after that, and didn't feel like changing any more money. We had bought a few things for breakfast the next day, but I had a weird feeling the next day wouldn't be as fun.
I was right - we had to check out of our rooms at 9, meaning we got a little less than 5 and a half hours of sleep. It was just awful, and we ate breakfast and ended up spending most of the day in the lobby of the hostel. We did get out later on though, and we visited the Frauenmunster church, where there are inspiring stained-glass windows by Marc Chagall. That was really a highlight of the trip. But literally, the last day in Switzerland we felt a little like vagabonds. And sooooo tired! Oh well, we just went to the train station and hung out for a couple hours before our train left. And WOW was it an incredible feeling when I got on the train and the woman next to me was speaking in Italian! I felt at home, actually. The train connection in Milano went over well, surprisingly, and we made it back to San Servolo by 1:40 AM.
This week has really flown by, that's all I can say. So I'm kind of skipping over some of the finer details to tell you all that I just made travel plans for this weekend! I'm traveling to Perugia and Assisi with three friends from VIU. And I just bought the train tickets for the epic tour of western Italy I'm making with Emily over Spring Break. Wow. Vi dico piu a dopo. A piu tardi!
Ciao,
Andrew
Monday, March 23, 2009
Bologna con la Famiglia
Allora,
Now I've rested up a bit from Switzerland, and I can tell a little more of the story. With any luck, I'll be able to finish. Now, where was I?
Oh yeah, so on Sunday, Frauke left to return to Germany. The plan was that I would stay in Venice for the night in the hotel room with Mom and Margaret, and we would leave early in the morning for Bologna. My mom set up an arrangement at La Scuola San Luigi in Bologna, where our friend Antonella Lobietti is a science teacher and curriculum director. The idea was that on Tuesday, Mom would give a lecture on life in America. It's kind of a long story, but Mrs. Lobietti met my family when she came to Charlotte last February, almost by chance, and I met up with her son Matteo later on, when he was working as an intern at an architectural firm in Charlotte last summer.
So on Monday, we walked quickly through the early-morning streets of Venice to the Rialto vaporetto station. Soon we were at the train station, Venezia-Santa Lucia. The train ride from Venice to Bologna is about two hours, and costs about 9 euro. We got there around 10:30, I think, and with some directions from some helpful and friendly Bolognesi, we found the hotel, which is actually right across the street from the Scuola San Luigi. The manager of the hotel, Filippo, spoke no English, so I had to explain everything to Mom and Margaret - keys, breakfast times, checkout, stuff like that.
We walked outside and called Mrs. Lobietti - and she came almost instantly, with two of her students, Federica and Carolina. Both of the girls were Italian but had some connection to the United States - Carolina spent a year studying in a high school in Arizona, and Federica goes to Florida frequently when her father has work there. Their English was perfect, no accent whatsoever, and their vocabularies were really extensive. Speaking with the two students and Mrs. Lobietti put me in a weird position though - I wanted to speak Italian, but that would've been "rude" because my mom and sister wouldn't have known everything we were saying. It was more expedient to speak in English. It's a really weird feeling.
So Mrs. Lobietti took us up the street to the Piazza Maggiore, the main piazza in the center of Bologna. It was an incredible day - sunny and warm, not typical for Bologna, according to the students. The Basilica San Petronio looms over the piazza, and as we went inside, Mrs. Lobietti told us the interesting story behind it. Actually its construction plans called for a church even larger than San Pietro in Rome, but the Vatican halted the construction (mainly in the creation of the transcept) that would have made the church larger than the Basilica in Rome. Interesting, huh? I've been getting a sense for the tension between the Vatican and the independent republics or cities of Italy, like Venice or Bologna. A lot of the Basilica had been destroyed in World War II bombings, so you can see where the stained-glass windows stop. There is a meridiana on the ground, a line where the sun shines through a hole in the ceiling to tell what time of year it is. We were there just at 12pm, so we could see the line illuminated by the sun.
We walked to the public library of Bologna after that, where all the students at the university study really intensely. I should mention that Bologna is particularly famous for the university there, which is the oldest university in Europe. In retrospect, I wish I could be studying there - it would have given me a lot more practice for my language skills. But oh well. We went inside the reconstruction of the anatomy studies room; in the center of the wooden hall is a marble table on which the cadaver would be placed. Basically, a prototype of the modern medical school. It was originally constructed in the 16th century I think, but it burned down and has been reconstructed.
Then my favorite part - LUNCH! Bologna is also famous for its meats, specifically mortadella, which is called "Bologna" in the United States. And if you've ever heard of the famous style of pasta "alla bolognese," you know now where that comes from. Anyway, the restaurant we went to was really close to a macelleria, a traditional deli that sells meats and cheeses too - it's really cool because there are different kinds of meats hanging from the ceiling.
The restaurant where we ate was INCREDIBLE! I really think it was one of my top five meals in Italy. The place was full so we ate at the same table as these two old guys who were sharing a basket of bread with a couple glasses of wine. We spoke to them a little - it was really funny and they were really genial, really friendly. We ordered wooden plates of meats - mortadella, of course, but also different kinds of prosciutto and salami. Then there was all kinds of cheese... mmmm! And the bread was literally to die for. As we chatted about Charlotte and Bologna, we were joined by another of Mrs. Lobietti's students, Edoardo, who was actually born in California but has lived ever since in Bologna. He goes back to the States frequently, however - and he was wearing a San Francisco 49ers shirt, haha. He was really excited to talk American Football with someone else since it's not popular in Italy.
After a couple hours or so we walked through the streets of Bologna to Le Due Torri, the two towers that are near the center of the city. They're a part of the ancient fortifications of the city (which used to be encircled by a wall) and actually one of them leans a little to the left, so there's a reconstruction project going on now. We got a gelato near the towers and continued walking to the Chiesa Santo Stefano.
Now Edoardo had been trying to connect with some friends to show us an aerial view of the city from their apartment. They weren't home - but that didn't discourage Edoardo. When we got to the church (which is actually a combination of five ancient churches joined together over the ages and now looked after by Benedictine Friars. As soon as we got there, Edoardo made a phone call and started walking around. He came back with Frar Stefano, one of the monks with whom he's become good friends. Frar Stefano showed us all around the church, and there were some really funny moments because he explained most things in Italian, and Edoardo tried to translate into English but I helped him out sometimes. When we saw the "Gallo di San Pietro," the rooster of Saint Peter, Frar Stefano had never heard the word "rooster" before, and he thought it was really funny. So stuff like that. There were a lot of relics and ancient religious objects from the first Christian martyrs of Bologna.
That was pretty much the last thing I did in Bologna. Mrs. Lobietti had to go, and then I had to get back on the train. I actually skipped class on Monday, which was no problem because Bologna is really one of my favorite cities in Italy. What's interesting is that there's a dialect, but they don't really speak it frequently, so it's really easy to understand the people there. In addition, there is almost no tourism in Bologna, and I find that more interesting in some ways - people go to school, or work, and they walk around town. There's not much to "see" - it's better just to "be."
Before I left, Mrs. Lobietti came back to take me to the train station. We had some time, so she took us down the main street of Bologna, Via dell'Indipendenza. There are a lot of nice restaurants and shopping, and it all leads down to the Piazza Maggiore. The arcades go all the way down the street, and it was just magical at nighttime. I spoke with Mrs. Lobietti, and she told me that I could see them if I go back to Bologna. I was the only one on the train when I came home, practically... but it was an incredible day. That's not the last time I go to Bologna, definitely.
Continuo a presto - there's so much to tell and I'm still a week behind! Ahh!
Andrew
Now I've rested up a bit from Switzerland, and I can tell a little more of the story. With any luck, I'll be able to finish. Now, where was I?
Oh yeah, so on Sunday, Frauke left to return to Germany. The plan was that I would stay in Venice for the night in the hotel room with Mom and Margaret, and we would leave early in the morning for Bologna. My mom set up an arrangement at La Scuola San Luigi in Bologna, where our friend Antonella Lobietti is a science teacher and curriculum director. The idea was that on Tuesday, Mom would give a lecture on life in America. It's kind of a long story, but Mrs. Lobietti met my family when she came to Charlotte last February, almost by chance, and I met up with her son Matteo later on, when he was working as an intern at an architectural firm in Charlotte last summer.
So on Monday, we walked quickly through the early-morning streets of Venice to the Rialto vaporetto station. Soon we were at the train station, Venezia-Santa Lucia. The train ride from Venice to Bologna is about two hours, and costs about 9 euro. We got there around 10:30, I think, and with some directions from some helpful and friendly Bolognesi, we found the hotel, which is actually right across the street from the Scuola San Luigi. The manager of the hotel, Filippo, spoke no English, so I had to explain everything to Mom and Margaret - keys, breakfast times, checkout, stuff like that.
We walked outside and called Mrs. Lobietti - and she came almost instantly, with two of her students, Federica and Carolina. Both of the girls were Italian but had some connection to the United States - Carolina spent a year studying in a high school in Arizona, and Federica goes to Florida frequently when her father has work there. Their English was perfect, no accent whatsoever, and their vocabularies were really extensive. Speaking with the two students and Mrs. Lobietti put me in a weird position though - I wanted to speak Italian, but that would've been "rude" because my mom and sister wouldn't have known everything we were saying. It was more expedient to speak in English. It's a really weird feeling.
So Mrs. Lobietti took us up the street to the Piazza Maggiore, the main piazza in the center of Bologna. It was an incredible day - sunny and warm, not typical for Bologna, according to the students. The Basilica San Petronio looms over the piazza, and as we went inside, Mrs. Lobietti told us the interesting story behind it. Actually its construction plans called for a church even larger than San Pietro in Rome, but the Vatican halted the construction (mainly in the creation of the transcept) that would have made the church larger than the Basilica in Rome. Interesting, huh? I've been getting a sense for the tension between the Vatican and the independent republics or cities of Italy, like Venice or Bologna. A lot of the Basilica had been destroyed in World War II bombings, so you can see where the stained-glass windows stop. There is a meridiana on the ground, a line where the sun shines through a hole in the ceiling to tell what time of year it is. We were there just at 12pm, so we could see the line illuminated by the sun.
We walked to the public library of Bologna after that, where all the students at the university study really intensely. I should mention that Bologna is particularly famous for the university there, which is the oldest university in Europe. In retrospect, I wish I could be studying there - it would have given me a lot more practice for my language skills. But oh well. We went inside the reconstruction of the anatomy studies room; in the center of the wooden hall is a marble table on which the cadaver would be placed. Basically, a prototype of the modern medical school. It was originally constructed in the 16th century I think, but it burned down and has been reconstructed.
Then my favorite part - LUNCH! Bologna is also famous for its meats, specifically mortadella, which is called "Bologna" in the United States. And if you've ever heard of the famous style of pasta "alla bolognese," you know now where that comes from. Anyway, the restaurant we went to was really close to a macelleria, a traditional deli that sells meats and cheeses too - it's really cool because there are different kinds of meats hanging from the ceiling.
The restaurant where we ate was INCREDIBLE! I really think it was one of my top five meals in Italy. The place was full so we ate at the same table as these two old guys who were sharing a basket of bread with a couple glasses of wine. We spoke to them a little - it was really funny and they were really genial, really friendly. We ordered wooden plates of meats - mortadella, of course, but also different kinds of prosciutto and salami. Then there was all kinds of cheese... mmmm! And the bread was literally to die for. As we chatted about Charlotte and Bologna, we were joined by another of Mrs. Lobietti's students, Edoardo, who was actually born in California but has lived ever since in Bologna. He goes back to the States frequently, however - and he was wearing a San Francisco 49ers shirt, haha. He was really excited to talk American Football with someone else since it's not popular in Italy.
After a couple hours or so we walked through the streets of Bologna to Le Due Torri, the two towers that are near the center of the city. They're a part of the ancient fortifications of the city (which used to be encircled by a wall) and actually one of them leans a little to the left, so there's a reconstruction project going on now. We got a gelato near the towers and continued walking to the Chiesa Santo Stefano.
Now Edoardo had been trying to connect with some friends to show us an aerial view of the city from their apartment. They weren't home - but that didn't discourage Edoardo. When we got to the church (which is actually a combination of five ancient churches joined together over the ages and now looked after by Benedictine Friars. As soon as we got there, Edoardo made a phone call and started walking around. He came back with Frar Stefano, one of the monks with whom he's become good friends. Frar Stefano showed us all around the church, and there were some really funny moments because he explained most things in Italian, and Edoardo tried to translate into English but I helped him out sometimes. When we saw the "Gallo di San Pietro," the rooster of Saint Peter, Frar Stefano had never heard the word "rooster" before, and he thought it was really funny. So stuff like that. There were a lot of relics and ancient religious objects from the first Christian martyrs of Bologna.
That was pretty much the last thing I did in Bologna. Mrs. Lobietti had to go, and then I had to get back on the train. I actually skipped class on Monday, which was no problem because Bologna is really one of my favorite cities in Italy. What's interesting is that there's a dialect, but they don't really speak it frequently, so it's really easy to understand the people there. In addition, there is almost no tourism in Bologna, and I find that more interesting in some ways - people go to school, or work, and they walk around town. There's not much to "see" - it's better just to "be."
Before I left, Mrs. Lobietti came back to take me to the train station. We had some time, so she took us down the main street of Bologna, Via dell'Indipendenza. There are a lot of nice restaurants and shopping, and it all leads down to the Piazza Maggiore. The arcades go all the way down the street, and it was just magical at nighttime. I spoke with Mrs. Lobietti, and she told me that I could see them if I go back to Bologna. I was the only one on the train when I came home, practically... but it was an incredible day. That's not the last time I go to Bologna, definitely.
Continuo a presto - there's so much to tell and I'm still a week behind! Ahh!
Andrew
Mamma e Sorella
On last Friday, my mom and sister came to
On Saturday we actually “did things” (and I mean things other than just sitting at a restaurant and talking, which is actually one of my favorite things to do here). We started at the Ca' D'oro, which is a 15th palazzo on the
After that, and a few photos with the sis in Piazza San Marco, we headed down to Dorsoduro, where the Collezione Peggy Guggenheim is located. A lot of modern art. Actually my friends had been to see the collection just a week before and they really liked it. I don’t remember much about Peggy Guggenheim except that she was an eccentric American who bought a palazzo on the grand canal and hung out with artsy people like Pollock and Picasso. I guess artsy is an understatement. Masters of modern art. The collection was incredible – I was also surprised by the Italian futurist paintings at the end of the gallery. My sister was especially excited because she has studied many of the artists whose works were featured in the gallery, Rene Magritte, for example. She couldn’t wait to tell her Studio Art teacher.
I also took Frauke, Mom and Margaret to San Servolo – they wanted to see the island where I live (after a gelato, of course). So we took the Number 20 vaporetto to “Alcatraz di Venezia” and I showed them around. They like the green grass and plants, which aren’t amazingly present in
I really should be spending the most time talking about our dinners in
Ciao,
Andrew
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Ricordo di Padova
Wow everyone, it's been a long time since the last post but I just haven't been at my computer recently. My mom and sister are both in Italy right now (Florence today) and so between catching up with them and some of the travel I've been doing, there hasn't been much time for blogging. And there's this other thing called school, yeah.
Anyway, we'll get the boring stuff out of the way first. I actually had a sizeable amount of homework over the weekend, so that would've made me crazy in the States (but it's easy to stay calm over here, somehow). I had to read a play by Christopher Marlowe for my lit class, give an architectural report, write a 5-page paper on Islamic Architecture and prepare a powerpoint for the same subject. And I had a little bit of Italian homework too, but that wasn't that hard. Other mundane news... well, I heard from the Italian state on the progress of my permesso di soggiorno, that is, my residency permit. The word is that I have an appointment on 22 September at the police station in Marghera. So, basically, I don't have to worry about it. I am so happy to hear this because a couple of my friends were missing documents and they have to go to the police station next week. Yuck.
Now for the good stuff. I spent pretty much all of Friday in Padova (it's called "Padua" in English but I like the sound and spelling of the Italian much better). The train ride from Venice is about 30 or 35 minutes, so not bad at all. This was my first train ride on the Italian railroad, which I thought wasn't significantly worse than Amtrak but this girl Stella, who lives near Venice and commutes to Ca' Foscari University (and VIU) says that it's the worst train system in the western world. Whatever, I got there at about 10:45, traveling with my German friends Sara and Judith (who actually just happened to be on the same train as me).
Padova is small and charming. There are really no tourists and not many English-speakers, just because it's not necessary from a practical standpoint. The shopping in Padova is a pretty big deal, apparently. Also, the city is extremely old - probably not as old as Venice, but it has a medieval wall and moats (while not entirely intact, you can still see them). There's a beautiful public garden, and an open-air market where you can buy fruits, vegetables and fish that stare at you. Sara, Judith and I went to look at the Palazzo della Ragione, which used to be the judicial and also commercial center of Padova (that's where the market is today). The roof has a really funny shape, and there are really old frescoes inside on the walls. The architecture is distantly reminiscent of the Palazzo Ducale in Venice.
After lunch (and we sat outside, the weather was bellissimo) we went to the Basilica del Santo, also called Sant'Antonio. This large church is dedicated to Saint Anthony, the patron saint of Padova. Saint Anthony is one of my faves, so I was really excited. Being with Judith and Sara was really helpful because they're both art history majors, so they explained a lot of the styles and elements of the architecture inside to me. It was like having two guides, really. The decoration inside wasn't as ornate as San Marco (and definitely not San Pietro) but it was still incredible and really made an impression on me. It was just fresco after fresco. Parts of the roof had been destroyed during World War II, so not all the frescoes were actually there; there were bare spots. There were also a lot of religious relics there in this special section behind the sanctuary (but we didn't see them because it wasn't visiting hours). One of the most important parts of the sanctuary is the tombo del santo, the Tomb of Saint Anthony. There are crates where people leave cards, charms, candles and other things in the memory of Saint Anthony, and a bulletin board where people leave pictures of their family members. And apparently the remains of Saint Anthony are inside the sarcophagus, too. So according to the tradition I won't ever lose anything again. I wonder if the entire Panthers team came to the Basilica del Santo...
At 3, I met up with the rest of the VIU students who were going to Padova. We walked from the train station to the Palazzo della Ragione, where our architecture professor gave us some special insight on the structure and its purposes. Here's a picture of the outside of the palazzo.
What was really the best part of Padova (besides what I've already mentioned) was the Cappella degli Scrovegni, the Scrovegni Chapel. As the story goes, the Scrovegni family was very rich and influential in the early 15th century. But as he neared death, the head of the family worried about his less-than-moral usury practices and commissioned Giotto to paint the inside of a chapel he was building. The result is pure renaissance beauty. To go into the Cappella degli Scrovegni, you must make an appointment. It doesn't open until 3:00.
To go into the chapel, we had to check our bags at the front (this included a green sidebag that I brought that so many friends and family have called a "man-purse"). So we went into this room to watch a video on the construction and artistic design of the chapel (originally in Italian, with English subtitles and German supertitles). While we watched, a superpowered air conditioner cooled us off so we wouldn't damage the frescoes with our body heat. Actually, this is a problem, and for that reason there are no more than 25 people allowed at a time inside the chapel.
When we finally got inside, I just couldn't believe it. It is definitely the most beautiful thing I've seen in Italy that I've never seen before (other things include the Pieta, the views from Cefalu and the town of Taormina). But I really think that this Cappella degli Scrovegni is one of the most beautiful and moving things I've ever seen. Sacrilegiously, I'm providing a link to a picture of the chapel. It has scenes from the life of Mary and Christ. The emotion is just incredible, especially in the panel of the lamentation and when Peter's feet are washed by Jesus. The ceiling of the chapel was painted blue with stars. It was really incredible, I just can't express it. Unfortunately, we were allowed inside for only 15 minutes, which seemed like only 2. It was definitely one of the highlights of my trip.
I needed to leave Padova subito (immediately) so I left for the train station with my new friends Stella and Helena, Italian students at Ca' Foscari. On the train, I got to practice my Italian with Francesca, another Ca' Foscari student. Most of the Italian students at VIU actually study Chinese - Francesca, for example, has studied Chinese for a while and has been to China to practice. All the students I've mentioned are Venetian and speak with the Venetian dialect - for example, they say "'ndemo" in place of "andiamo."
So once I got back to Venice, I connected with my mom and sister, who just arrived in Italy that day. They were with our friend Frauke from Frankfurt, Germany. I'll tell more about this later!
Ciao per ora,
Andrew
Anyway, we'll get the boring stuff out of the way first. I actually had a sizeable amount of homework over the weekend, so that would've made me crazy in the States (but it's easy to stay calm over here, somehow). I had to read a play by Christopher Marlowe for my lit class, give an architectural report, write a 5-page paper on Islamic Architecture and prepare a powerpoint for the same subject. And I had a little bit of Italian homework too, but that wasn't that hard. Other mundane news... well, I heard from the Italian state on the progress of my permesso di soggiorno, that is, my residency permit. The word is that I have an appointment on 22 September at the police station in Marghera. So, basically, I don't have to worry about it. I am so happy to hear this because a couple of my friends were missing documents and they have to go to the police station next week. Yuck.
Now for the good stuff. I spent pretty much all of Friday in Padova (it's called "Padua" in English but I like the sound and spelling of the Italian much better). The train ride from Venice is about 30 or 35 minutes, so not bad at all. This was my first train ride on the Italian railroad, which I thought wasn't significantly worse than Amtrak but this girl Stella, who lives near Venice and commutes to Ca' Foscari University (and VIU) says that it's the worst train system in the western world. Whatever, I got there at about 10:45, traveling with my German friends Sara and Judith (who actually just happened to be on the same train as me).
Padova is small and charming. There are really no tourists and not many English-speakers, just because it's not necessary from a practical standpoint. The shopping in Padova is a pretty big deal, apparently. Also, the city is extremely old - probably not as old as Venice, but it has a medieval wall and moats (while not entirely intact, you can still see them). There's a beautiful public garden, and an open-air market where you can buy fruits, vegetables and fish that stare at you. Sara, Judith and I went to look at the Palazzo della Ragione, which used to be the judicial and also commercial center of Padova (that's where the market is today). The roof has a really funny shape, and there are really old frescoes inside on the walls. The architecture is distantly reminiscent of the Palazzo Ducale in Venice.
After lunch (and we sat outside, the weather was bellissimo) we went to the Basilica del Santo, also called Sant'Antonio. This large church is dedicated to Saint Anthony, the patron saint of Padova. Saint Anthony is one of my faves, so I was really excited. Being with Judith and Sara was really helpful because they're both art history majors, so they explained a lot of the styles and elements of the architecture inside to me. It was like having two guides, really. The decoration inside wasn't as ornate as San Marco (and definitely not San Pietro) but it was still incredible and really made an impression on me. It was just fresco after fresco. Parts of the roof had been destroyed during World War II, so not all the frescoes were actually there; there were bare spots. There were also a lot of religious relics there in this special section behind the sanctuary (but we didn't see them because it wasn't visiting hours). One of the most important parts of the sanctuary is the tombo del santo, the Tomb of Saint Anthony. There are crates where people leave cards, charms, candles and other things in the memory of Saint Anthony, and a bulletin board where people leave pictures of their family members. And apparently the remains of Saint Anthony are inside the sarcophagus, too. So according to the tradition I won't ever lose anything again. I wonder if the entire Panthers team came to the Basilica del Santo...
At 3, I met up with the rest of the VIU students who were going to Padova. We walked from the train station to the Palazzo della Ragione, where our architecture professor gave us some special insight on the structure and its purposes. Here's a picture of the outside of the palazzo.
What was really the best part of Padova (besides what I've already mentioned) was the Cappella degli Scrovegni, the Scrovegni Chapel. As the story goes, the Scrovegni family was very rich and influential in the early 15th century. But as he neared death, the head of the family worried about his less-than-moral usury practices and commissioned Giotto to paint the inside of a chapel he was building. The result is pure renaissance beauty. To go into the Cappella degli Scrovegni, you must make an appointment. It doesn't open until 3:00.
To go into the chapel, we had to check our bags at the front (this included a green sidebag that I brought that so many friends and family have called a "man-purse"). So we went into this room to watch a video on the construction and artistic design of the chapel (originally in Italian, with English subtitles and German supertitles). While we watched, a superpowered air conditioner cooled us off so we wouldn't damage the frescoes with our body heat. Actually, this is a problem, and for that reason there are no more than 25 people allowed at a time inside the chapel.
When we finally got inside, I just couldn't believe it. It is definitely the most beautiful thing I've seen in Italy that I've never seen before (other things include the Pieta, the views from Cefalu and the town of Taormina). But I really think that this Cappella degli Scrovegni is one of the most beautiful and moving things I've ever seen. Sacrilegiously, I'm providing a link to a picture of the chapel. It has scenes from the life of Mary and Christ. The emotion is just incredible, especially in the panel of the lamentation and when Peter's feet are washed by Jesus. The ceiling of the chapel was painted blue with stars. It was really incredible, I just can't express it. Unfortunately, we were allowed inside for only 15 minutes, which seemed like only 2. It was definitely one of the highlights of my trip.
I needed to leave Padova subito (immediately) so I left for the train station with my new friends Stella and Helena, Italian students at Ca' Foscari. On the train, I got to practice my Italian with Francesca, another Ca' Foscari student. Most of the Italian students at VIU actually study Chinese - Francesca, for example, has studied Chinese for a while and has been to China to practice. All the students I've mentioned are Venetian and speak with the Venetian dialect - for example, they say "'ndemo" in place of "andiamo."
So once I got back to Venice, I connected with my mom and sister, who just arrived in Italy that day. They were with our friend Frauke from Frankfurt, Germany. I'll tell more about this later!
Ciao per ora,
Andrew
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Palazzo Ducale, Imperativo, e Francesco
Allora (which means "well," or "all right,"),
I'm going to stall on some homework to tell you guys about my trip to the Palazzo Ducale on Sunday with my Dad. First of all, I recommend that anyone who goes to Venice should see it. It really is unlike anything else - except maybe the capitol building in Washington DC. That's the closest government building to this place - and it served essentially the same role. There's a lot of history in this place, and I can't begin to tell all of it. But the architecture is just beyond incredible - actually, it's baffling. There are so many paintings by Tintoretto, Tiziano (Titian) and other famous Venetian and Italian fresco painters. There is the "Paradiso" painting in the Consiglio Maggiore chamber, where the grand council met - it's the largest fresco painting in existence, I think. It's also so stunning how such ornate residence halls (for the Doges) were so close to the brutally stark prison cells across the Ponte dei Sospiri (bridge of sighs, because its grated windows were the last sight of the outside world the prisoners would see).
That's really all I can include about the Palazzo Ducale. Each room was so ornate, even the fireplaces. And there was this room that had Renaissance paintings of the life of Jesus - there were two or three of the nativity that I swear I've seen before, like on Christmas cards or something. That room just took me away. I just stood there. The Consiglio Maggiore chamber had frescoes all over the ceiling too, and this was a huge room - I think it was in the front of the Palace. Another thing that was kind of cool was how the Palazzo is built right up to the Basilica San Marco, so the Doge could just roll out of bed to go to church. Sometimes I wish it was that easy. Actually my dad told me that the Basilica was used just for the Doge. Whoa, all that space for just one guy.
The last day my dad was in Venice, on Monday, he came to visit me at San Servolo. My roommate Shunsuke was asleep, so I was like, "Sh, don't make too much noise," but my dad was impressed by how big my room is here on the island. Unfortunately I couldn't show him my massive balcony and its view. We took the 4:50 vaporetto into Venice where we walked around for a little bit, you know, just strolling through the streets. I took us to the Billa, which is the grocery store on Strada Nova. It was fun to point out which products were popular and different from what you'd find at Harris Teeter, for example, or Shaw's.
Later, I went out for dinner with Dad at a little trattoria just east of his hotel. It was really small and nice. We talked about the things we did - I have to say I left out the classical music concert we went to on Sunday night. It was mostly Vivaldi music, so I absolutely loved it since I really like Vivaldi (it's so predictable! and that's what I like best about classical). There was a woman who sang the soprano parts in some of the other parts - her voice was just incredible. The concert was actually in the oldest church in Venice, San Giaccometti. Really small church, but the sound was great. Two violins, viola and cello.
Wow, I just wrote a flashback! Cool, huh? So anyway, we were at the trattoria, enjoying some wine and the cannelloni, and then I figured I should catch the next vaporetto (they leave on the half hour). San Marco has been partially underwater recently. I don't know exactly why, but there have been wooden platforms set up so you can walk on them instead of getting wet. I didn't get wet that time, but I actually did tonight when walking back to the Vaporetto with some friends. We made the boat though. Oh well.
Ok, so this week has been really busy so far schoolwise (I had an architecture presentation today and I have two Shakespeare presentations tomorrow). But that's ok - everything is fine. We actually did a really fun lesson on Monday in my Italian class - the imperativo, you know, imperative. The way we practiced though was putting a few personal objects in front of us (sunglasses, pens, water bottles) and then our professor, Massimo, made us give orders to each other like this: "Put the bottle on your head. Now take it down. Open it. Don't drink though. Now throw it to Anthony. Take Elisenda's sunglasses and put them on. Trade cell phones. Now change back." It may sound dumb now that I realize it, but it was fun at the time. Oh well.
I've been trying to get a lot of practice for my Italian, as you all know, and so I'm always looking for an opportunity. Tonight, I went into Venice with some friends. We went to a restaurant near the Teatro Goldoni that we've been to a few times, and my friend John saw this guy who we've seen before at this place. Actually, he recommended Torino to John and Brian (Torino is a club/bar in Campo San Luca). So John and I went up to this guy, he's maybe a couple years older than us. But we spoke in Italian, and his name's Francesco. He was born in Bucharest, and then moved to Spain, but he's been in Venice for 3 years. But he chatted with John and me for a few minutes - it was really cool, and really easy to understand him.
Ok, basta per ora. A piu tardi (Enough for now, later!)
Andrew
I'm going to stall on some homework to tell you guys about my trip to the Palazzo Ducale on Sunday with my Dad. First of all, I recommend that anyone who goes to Venice should see it. It really is unlike anything else - except maybe the capitol building in Washington DC. That's the closest government building to this place - and it served essentially the same role. There's a lot of history in this place, and I can't begin to tell all of it. But the architecture is just beyond incredible - actually, it's baffling. There are so many paintings by Tintoretto, Tiziano (Titian) and other famous Venetian and Italian fresco painters. There is the "Paradiso" painting in the Consiglio Maggiore chamber, where the grand council met - it's the largest fresco painting in existence, I think. It's also so stunning how such ornate residence halls (for the Doges) were so close to the brutally stark prison cells across the Ponte dei Sospiri (bridge of sighs, because its grated windows were the last sight of the outside world the prisoners would see).
That's really all I can include about the Palazzo Ducale. Each room was so ornate, even the fireplaces. And there was this room that had Renaissance paintings of the life of Jesus - there were two or three of the nativity that I swear I've seen before, like on Christmas cards or something. That room just took me away. I just stood there. The Consiglio Maggiore chamber had frescoes all over the ceiling too, and this was a huge room - I think it was in the front of the Palace. Another thing that was kind of cool was how the Palazzo is built right up to the Basilica San Marco, so the Doge could just roll out of bed to go to church. Sometimes I wish it was that easy. Actually my dad told me that the Basilica was used just for the Doge. Whoa, all that space for just one guy.
The last day my dad was in Venice, on Monday, he came to visit me at San Servolo. My roommate Shunsuke was asleep, so I was like, "Sh, don't make too much noise," but my dad was impressed by how big my room is here on the island. Unfortunately I couldn't show him my massive balcony and its view. We took the 4:50 vaporetto into Venice where we walked around for a little bit, you know, just strolling through the streets. I took us to the Billa, which is the grocery store on Strada Nova. It was fun to point out which products were popular and different from what you'd find at Harris Teeter, for example, or Shaw's.
Later, I went out for dinner with Dad at a little trattoria just east of his hotel. It was really small and nice. We talked about the things we did - I have to say I left out the classical music concert we went to on Sunday night. It was mostly Vivaldi music, so I absolutely loved it since I really like Vivaldi (it's so predictable! and that's what I like best about classical). There was a woman who sang the soprano parts in some of the other parts - her voice was just incredible. The concert was actually in the oldest church in Venice, San Giaccometti. Really small church, but the sound was great. Two violins, viola and cello.
Wow, I just wrote a flashback! Cool, huh? So anyway, we were at the trattoria, enjoying some wine and the cannelloni, and then I figured I should catch the next vaporetto (they leave on the half hour). San Marco has been partially underwater recently. I don't know exactly why, but there have been wooden platforms set up so you can walk on them instead of getting wet. I didn't get wet that time, but I actually did tonight when walking back to the Vaporetto with some friends. We made the boat though. Oh well.
Ok, so this week has been really busy so far schoolwise (I had an architecture presentation today and I have two Shakespeare presentations tomorrow). But that's ok - everything is fine. We actually did a really fun lesson on Monday in my Italian class - the imperativo, you know, imperative. The way we practiced though was putting a few personal objects in front of us (sunglasses, pens, water bottles) and then our professor, Massimo, made us give orders to each other like this: "Put the bottle on your head. Now take it down. Open it. Don't drink though. Now throw it to Anthony. Take Elisenda's sunglasses and put them on. Trade cell phones. Now change back." It may sound dumb now that I realize it, but it was fun at the time. Oh well.
I've been trying to get a lot of practice for my Italian, as you all know, and so I'm always looking for an opportunity. Tonight, I went into Venice with some friends. We went to a restaurant near the Teatro Goldoni that we've been to a few times, and my friend John saw this guy who we've seen before at this place. Actually, he recommended Torino to John and Brian (Torino is a club/bar in Campo San Luca). So John and I went up to this guy, he's maybe a couple years older than us. But we spoke in Italian, and his name's Francesco. He was born in Bucharest, and then moved to Spain, but he's been in Venice for 3 years. But he chatted with John and me for a few minutes - it was really cool, and really easy to understand him.
Ok, basta per ora. A piu tardi (Enough for now, later!)
Andrew
Monday, March 9, 2009
Viene mio padre
Ciao ancora,
This time I'll talk about the rest of my weekend in Venice, up until now, Monday night (senza football americano, si).
As I was saying last time, I went to the mall at Mestre with some friends on Saturday. Malls are crazy over here! The food court had only a few different places to eat, one of them was called Flunch (?) and it was a cafeteria-style place, kind of like our mensa, except there were way more choices. Which is saying a lot because choices aren't as common in Italy as they are in the USA - example, there are maybe 20 kinds of cereals you can choose from, instead of 200, at the grocery store.
Anyway, at Mestre, there were a lot of boutiques that were on the more expensive side, closer to what you might pay in Venice. But there were some larger department stores that had some really great prices - and most of the products are the same, so as long as it's made in Italy it doesn't matter. At least, that's what I thought. I bought a few things but I'm not telling because my mom and my sister are coming to visit me on Friday and I want to surprise them! Haha. So I'll let you know later, if you're really dying to know what I bought at the Mestre mall (which is actually called Auchan, if you're interested - I don't know why, it sounds more German than Italian. But that's the name of the Ipermercato, which is two floors of a Target-like store. It's like Harris Teeter meets Target... overall, kind of like Sam's Club, I guess. You can buy vegetables, a digital camera, and rainboots, all in the same place. Weird! And on top of it all, the sales assistants roll around on rollerskates to help you.
I came back from Mestre to meet my Dad and his girlfriend Tonya at the Locanda Orseolo Hotel in the Sestiere San Marco. It's really close to the Piazza, but I actually had trouble finding it, proof that I still have a lot to learn about Venice. Although I have to say that I was exactly where I wanted to be, and I knew exactly where I was (just north of the Fenice Theatre and east of Piazza San Angelo), but the Hotel was actually located southeast of there. Oh well, I found it, and was on time according to what I said.
I spoke some Italian to the hotel staff, who recommended a fairly typical Venetian place for us to go to for dinner. It was around 8:30 by now. At the restaurant I told Dad and Tonya about how my semester has been going so far, which is AMAZING! and I ordered for all of us. I think I got the ravioloni. It was delicious as usual. Mostly, it was good to be with my Dad in Venice - it was actually kind of weird, sitting there, talking, and then just thinking, "We're in Venice right now." After dinner I led the way to one of my favorite gelato places in Venice (there are two - one of them is the 1 euro gelato stand in Campo Santa Margherita). At this particular place though, just north of Piazza San Marco, there's this nice lady that my friend Anthony introduced me to when we got gelato there last week. Oh, the gelato is fantastic as well. Mmm. I actually got some gelato from that place today too! Yum. So now this lady recognizes me and we always chat for a bit, she's really nice and is willing to let me practice Italian with her.
Sunday, I met Dad and Tonya in front of Piazza San Marco for mass in the Basilica. I had been there once before for the Ash Wednesday (Mercoledi dei cenderi) mass. This mass was different in a few ways. First, I got to see the inside of the Basilica during the day instead of at night. Also, there was a choir that sang a Palestrina mass - wow it was incredible. There was a lot of chanting during this mass too, something I don't really experience too much. The priest spoke pretty slowly (which is something that would annoy me in America, I'm not going to name any names) but it was good because I could understand everything just short of perfectly. Like, the homily was almost a snap. Ahhh, I'm exaggerating. But I did understand most of it. Also, it was fun explaining to my dad that "communion is crazy in Italy," meaning people who want communion don't wait in a line, they just go up to the priest. Dad said tonight that mass at San Marco was one of the highlights of his trip, if not the highlight.
So anyway, I stayed in Venice until 4:30 on Sunday. We went to the Museo Correr, on the opposite end of the Piazza from the Basilica. There's an incredible collection of artifacts, sculptures and paintings from the golden age of Venice (that is, between the 11th and 16th centuries). Some of the things I liked the most were the paintings that depicted thousands of ships sailing off for battle. Seeing something like that in real life would absolutely blow my mind!!! It's so crazy to live in a city that peaked well over 500 years ago. I also really liked the early maps of Venice - I've actually studied them in my architecture class, so that was relevant. I also felt like I could explain a lot of the history or significance of the artifacts to my dad, just from my architecture class or what I've picked up from other professors here. I got additional Italian practice, too - I read the inscriptions on the artifacts in Italian rather than in English.
We got lunch at a trattoria near Campo San Bartolomeo, really close to the Rialto Bridge. I ordered salmon, the first fish I've had in Venice (yeah, give me grief, I know, but I recently figured out I'm NOT allergic to fish, so I'm working back into the habit. I say back because I grew up on fishsticks. I know, gross, but I liked them as a kid). So the food was good, as usual. It was kind of weird though at one point because there was this banging noise around the corner from our table and it turned out someone was locked in the bathroom. So they kept banging until two restaurant workers ran up to pry the door open. Pretty exciting, I know.
Ahhh.... I should really go to bed now. I'll tell about other stuff (the Palazzo Ducale, my funny Italian class on the Imperative, and meeting my Dad in Venice on Monday before he went home. Which he's doing tomorrow at 6:30.
Yeah, clearly I am very tired because I feel like the voice of this entry is a little spunkier than normal. Ciao per ora, vado a dormire. A dopo!
Andrew
This time I'll talk about the rest of my weekend in Venice, up until now, Monday night (senza football americano, si).
As I was saying last time, I went to the mall at Mestre with some friends on Saturday. Malls are crazy over here! The food court had only a few different places to eat, one of them was called Flunch (?) and it was a cafeteria-style place, kind of like our mensa, except there were way more choices. Which is saying a lot because choices aren't as common in Italy as they are in the USA - example, there are maybe 20 kinds of cereals you can choose from, instead of 200, at the grocery store.
Anyway, at Mestre, there were a lot of boutiques that were on the more expensive side, closer to what you might pay in Venice. But there were some larger department stores that had some really great prices - and most of the products are the same, so as long as it's made in Italy it doesn't matter. At least, that's what I thought. I bought a few things but I'm not telling because my mom and my sister are coming to visit me on Friday and I want to surprise them! Haha. So I'll let you know later, if you're really dying to know what I bought at the Mestre mall (which is actually called Auchan, if you're interested - I don't know why, it sounds more German than Italian. But that's the name of the Ipermercato, which is two floors of a Target-like store. It's like Harris Teeter meets Target... overall, kind of like Sam's Club, I guess. You can buy vegetables, a digital camera, and rainboots, all in the same place. Weird! And on top of it all, the sales assistants roll around on rollerskates to help you.
I came back from Mestre to meet my Dad and his girlfriend Tonya at the Locanda Orseolo Hotel in the Sestiere San Marco. It's really close to the Piazza, but I actually had trouble finding it, proof that I still have a lot to learn about Venice. Although I have to say that I was exactly where I wanted to be, and I knew exactly where I was (just north of the Fenice Theatre and east of Piazza San Angelo), but the Hotel was actually located southeast of there. Oh well, I found it, and was on time according to what I said.
I spoke some Italian to the hotel staff, who recommended a fairly typical Venetian place for us to go to for dinner. It was around 8:30 by now. At the restaurant I told Dad and Tonya about how my semester has been going so far, which is AMAZING! and I ordered for all of us. I think I got the ravioloni. It was delicious as usual. Mostly, it was good to be with my Dad in Venice - it was actually kind of weird, sitting there, talking, and then just thinking, "We're in Venice right now." After dinner I led the way to one of my favorite gelato places in Venice (there are two - one of them is the 1 euro gelato stand in Campo Santa Margherita). At this particular place though, just north of Piazza San Marco, there's this nice lady that my friend Anthony introduced me to when we got gelato there last week. Oh, the gelato is fantastic as well. Mmm. I actually got some gelato from that place today too! Yum. So now this lady recognizes me and we always chat for a bit, she's really nice and is willing to let me practice Italian with her.
Sunday, I met Dad and Tonya in front of Piazza San Marco for mass in the Basilica. I had been there once before for the Ash Wednesday (Mercoledi dei cenderi) mass. This mass was different in a few ways. First, I got to see the inside of the Basilica during the day instead of at night. Also, there was a choir that sang a Palestrina mass - wow it was incredible. There was a lot of chanting during this mass too, something I don't really experience too much. The priest spoke pretty slowly (which is something that would annoy me in America, I'm not going to name any names) but it was good because I could understand everything just short of perfectly. Like, the homily was almost a snap. Ahhh, I'm exaggerating. But I did understand most of it. Also, it was fun explaining to my dad that "communion is crazy in Italy," meaning people who want communion don't wait in a line, they just go up to the priest. Dad said tonight that mass at San Marco was one of the highlights of his trip, if not the highlight.
So anyway, I stayed in Venice until 4:30 on Sunday. We went to the Museo Correr, on the opposite end of the Piazza from the Basilica. There's an incredible collection of artifacts, sculptures and paintings from the golden age of Venice (that is, between the 11th and 16th centuries). Some of the things I liked the most were the paintings that depicted thousands of ships sailing off for battle. Seeing something like that in real life would absolutely blow my mind!!! It's so crazy to live in a city that peaked well over 500 years ago. I also really liked the early maps of Venice - I've actually studied them in my architecture class, so that was relevant. I also felt like I could explain a lot of the history or significance of the artifacts to my dad, just from my architecture class or what I've picked up from other professors here. I got additional Italian practice, too - I read the inscriptions on the artifacts in Italian rather than in English.
We got lunch at a trattoria near Campo San Bartolomeo, really close to the Rialto Bridge. I ordered salmon, the first fish I've had in Venice (yeah, give me grief, I know, but I recently figured out I'm NOT allergic to fish, so I'm working back into the habit. I say back because I grew up on fishsticks. I know, gross, but I liked them as a kid). So the food was good, as usual. It was kind of weird though at one point because there was this banging noise around the corner from our table and it turned out someone was locked in the bathroom. So they kept banging until two restaurant workers ran up to pry the door open. Pretty exciting, I know.
Ahhh.... I should really go to bed now. I'll tell about other stuff (the Palazzo Ducale, my funny Italian class on the Imperative, and meeting my Dad in Venice on Monday before he went home. Which he's doing tomorrow at 6:30.
Yeah, clearly I am very tired because I feel like the voice of this entry is a little spunkier than normal. Ciao per ora, vado a dormire. A dopo!
Andrew
Friday, March 6, 2009
Fine Settimana
Ciao,
This entry is about the first fine settimana-non carnivale (non Carnival weekend) that I'm spending in Venice. This has really been the first week of real school. Classes have picked up full steam and we're deep into the Merchant of Venice in my Shakespeare class, discussing the history of the English language in "One World, One Language" and already studying the imperfetto in Italiano. Classes are Monday through Thursday, which is nice because it affords an extra day to relax or travel on the weekend. However, VIU actually organizes trips around Venice to see interesting parts of the city you wouldn't normally see (but of course, we'll be going to the Basilica San Marco and the Palazzo Ducale).
I'll list some of the other trips we're planning on taking soon. Next weekend we're going to Padova to see the Cappella degli Scrovegni. I can't wait to go to Padova - I actually really want to go since I have a little leather and metal icon of St. Anthony that my grandfather got there, so I want to see what's interesting there. There are also trips to the place where Prosecco is produced (it's the Italian version of Champagne) and the Venetian port. I'm also looking forward to visits to Vicenza and the Brenta district, which I don't know too much about but I'll keep you posted!
This week, I went to two trips sponsored by VIU. The first was a modern art exhibition at the Palazzo Grassi, which is one of the famous residences along the Grand Canal (if you're familiar with the city, it's just up the Canal from the Ponte all'Accademia). The palazzo was apparently bought by a wealthy Frenchman who turned the building into a museum for art. Some of the art was very stimulating and interesting - on the whole, I really enjoyed it. Of course, it was modern art, so although not too much went over my head, I still had trouble appreciating every single exhibit in the museum. Some of it was just so avant-gard I didn't know what to think. But on the whole, it was incredible, especially in the space of the palazzo. My favorite pieces were a giant blue fuzzy spider (can't really explain what it means, but I liked it) and an architectural installation that worked like this: you walk into a black room lit by ultraviolet lights, and motors on the outside twist a 3D grid of strings, so it produces an odd sensation of motion. Most of the works in the museum were by fairly reputable modern Italian artists.
A lot of my friends went to Rome this weekend. I chose not to go along for a couple of reasons. First, I just went there. If you feel like reading about it, scroll down. If not, you just saved a couple hours because it's kind of long. Anyway, the other reason is that my dad is coming to Venice tomorrow, so I'm sticking around to introduce him to the city.
I'm actually hoping to stay in Venice for a lot of weekends. First, Venice is a beautiful city that is small (you can walk all the way across the island in about an hour) but has so many narrow and hidden places of interest. The people here are so interesting; you have to build your way into their routines, and then you yourself become a part of the landscape. Staying here on the weekends will make that process more positive and more fun, I think. But anyway, let me get to what I did today.
Today, the stalwart crew that remained in Venice (myself included) went to Murano where the famed glass-blowing studios are. We went to a particular studio to watch the production of a chandelier. It reminded me a lot of the glass art of Dale Chihuly, a really famous glass artist in America (I've actually met him before when he spoke at an installation in Charlotte). But anyway, this was such an incredible thing to watch, even though I'm sure I've seen it somewhere on TV, either Discovery Channel or Mr. Rodgers. The furnace was so hot, and it was mesmerizing to watch the glassblowers twirl the changing mass of thin glass, working it into different shapes - it seemed like they were going to burn their hands at any point. The pieces that they produce are so expensive - we're talking thousands for these chandeliers, which they can also mount lights in to turn them into lamps. One of the glass blowers turned a small wad of viscous white glass into a small seahorse in about 2 minutes, and he said that it goes for about 500 euro. Wow. I'm not saying that's too much though - in general, I'm finding that the quality of goods produced over here are much more superior to some USA products (and by USA products, I mean goods produced in other countries for USA companies). Neat little economics lesson, vero?
Anyway, we took the vaporetto back to the main city of Venice to the sestiere of Canareggio. After an incredible lunch (of course) we went to the Orsoni Mosaic company - they have been producing mosaics since 1860, and for four generations. We saw the furnace where the tiles are melted into shape, as well as the "biblioteca dei colori" (library of colors) where the sheets of tiles are stored according to color. Then we saw some workers cutting the tiles into really small pieces as well as some examples of finished tilework. Most of the works are commissioned (actually, just about all of them, I think), and these pieces are mostly modern in nature, as opposed to traditional.
So that's what I've been up to recently. I'm actually about to go into Venice with some friends now, and tomorrow I'm planning to go to the mall in Mestre, a city not far from Venice - some incredible shoes may be in my future. We will see.
Ciao,
Andrew
This entry is about the first fine settimana-non carnivale (non Carnival weekend) that I'm spending in Venice. This has really been the first week of real school. Classes have picked up full steam and we're deep into the Merchant of Venice in my Shakespeare class, discussing the history of the English language in "One World, One Language" and already studying the imperfetto in Italiano. Classes are Monday through Thursday, which is nice because it affords an extra day to relax or travel on the weekend. However, VIU actually organizes trips around Venice to see interesting parts of the city you wouldn't normally see (but of course, we'll be going to the Basilica San Marco and the Palazzo Ducale).
I'll list some of the other trips we're planning on taking soon. Next weekend we're going to Padova to see the Cappella degli Scrovegni. I can't wait to go to Padova - I actually really want to go since I have a little leather and metal icon of St. Anthony that my grandfather got there, so I want to see what's interesting there. There are also trips to the place where Prosecco is produced (it's the Italian version of Champagne) and the Venetian port. I'm also looking forward to visits to Vicenza and the Brenta district, which I don't know too much about but I'll keep you posted!
This week, I went to two trips sponsored by VIU. The first was a modern art exhibition at the Palazzo Grassi, which is one of the famous residences along the Grand Canal (if you're familiar with the city, it's just up the Canal from the Ponte all'Accademia). The palazzo was apparently bought by a wealthy Frenchman who turned the building into a museum for art. Some of the art was very stimulating and interesting - on the whole, I really enjoyed it. Of course, it was modern art, so although not too much went over my head, I still had trouble appreciating every single exhibit in the museum. Some of it was just so avant-gard I didn't know what to think. But on the whole, it was incredible, especially in the space of the palazzo. My favorite pieces were a giant blue fuzzy spider (can't really explain what it means, but I liked it) and an architectural installation that worked like this: you walk into a black room lit by ultraviolet lights, and motors on the outside twist a 3D grid of strings, so it produces an odd sensation of motion. Most of the works in the museum were by fairly reputable modern Italian artists.
A lot of my friends went to Rome this weekend. I chose not to go along for a couple of reasons. First, I just went there. If you feel like reading about it, scroll down. If not, you just saved a couple hours because it's kind of long. Anyway, the other reason is that my dad is coming to Venice tomorrow, so I'm sticking around to introduce him to the city.
I'm actually hoping to stay in Venice for a lot of weekends. First, Venice is a beautiful city that is small (you can walk all the way across the island in about an hour) but has so many narrow and hidden places of interest. The people here are so interesting; you have to build your way into their routines, and then you yourself become a part of the landscape. Staying here on the weekends will make that process more positive and more fun, I think. But anyway, let me get to what I did today.
Today, the stalwart crew that remained in Venice (myself included) went to Murano where the famed glass-blowing studios are. We went to a particular studio to watch the production of a chandelier. It reminded me a lot of the glass art of Dale Chihuly, a really famous glass artist in America (I've actually met him before when he spoke at an installation in Charlotte). But anyway, this was such an incredible thing to watch, even though I'm sure I've seen it somewhere on TV, either Discovery Channel or Mr. Rodgers. The furnace was so hot, and it was mesmerizing to watch the glassblowers twirl the changing mass of thin glass, working it into different shapes - it seemed like they were going to burn their hands at any point. The pieces that they produce are so expensive - we're talking thousands for these chandeliers, which they can also mount lights in to turn them into lamps. One of the glass blowers turned a small wad of viscous white glass into a small seahorse in about 2 minutes, and he said that it goes for about 500 euro. Wow. I'm not saying that's too much though - in general, I'm finding that the quality of goods produced over here are much more superior to some USA products (and by USA products, I mean goods produced in other countries for USA companies). Neat little economics lesson, vero?
Anyway, we took the vaporetto back to the main city of Venice to the sestiere of Canareggio. After an incredible lunch (of course) we went to the Orsoni Mosaic company - they have been producing mosaics since 1860, and for four generations. We saw the furnace where the tiles are melted into shape, as well as the "biblioteca dei colori" (library of colors) where the sheets of tiles are stored according to color. Then we saw some workers cutting the tiles into really small pieces as well as some examples of finished tilework. Most of the works are commissioned (actually, just about all of them, I think), and these pieces are mostly modern in nature, as opposed to traditional.
So that's what I've been up to recently. I'm actually about to go into Venice with some friends now, and tomorrow I'm planning to go to the mall in Mestre, a city not far from Venice - some incredible shoes may be in my future. We will see.
Ciao,
Andrew
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Amici a Roma
Ciao everyone,
I know it's been a long time since I've blogged - didn't take my computer to Rome with me. But I have a lot to share and I'll try to keep it as brief as possible (although it's going to be a challenge). Also, school's started in earnest so I'm crunched for time most Mondays when I have to make up the work for the weekend.
I left Venice at 5:40 AM on Friday, Feb. 27, taking the first bus to Treviso, where the little tiny airport is. The airline I flew is Ryanair, which is a cheap and popular intra-Europe airline. It was only a 45 minute flight, which was made even easier by the fact that I packed so lightly. I only had a backpack with me, and inside were just my toothbrush, a couple of extra pairs of shirts and underwear. I'm not kidding, I was really roughing it... at least compared to what I've done in the past, that is.
I took the bus into the center of Rome, and it was just a whirlwind of confusion. This was the first time I was ever in a big city with no one I knew, and it was a city I don't know too well (although I had been to Rome about 5 years ago, my mental city plan didn't stick that well). I got a map and oriented myself, found out where my hostel was (I got a great deal here - 5 euro a night) and then I went for a walk because I wasn't able to check in until 2:00 pm. So here's what I did in the meantime.
I walked west, over where the Coliseum is, and took a nice look. The Coliseum is a little isolated, and it was almost kind of sad how it's all by itself, surrounded by modern houses, roads and cars. I actually went inside when I went to Rome five years ago. But I was starving so I got lunch at a little cafe near a school where a lot of Roman teenagers were changing classes. I looked at the map and wrote in my journal (I actually did a lot of journaling when I was in Rome since I was on my own a lot). When I finished, about an hour and a half later, I walked toward the center of Rome. I passed the Roman Forum and the Monument to Vittorio Emmanuele II (which is huge, and white, and shaped kind of like a wedding cake. At least, that's what the Romans call it). I walked up Via del Corso and found the church where I'd hear the BC Chorale sing the next day, the Chiesa San Ignazio. I didn't go in, though.
I then followed the signs to the Trevi Fountain, one of my favorite spots in Rome. The fountains in Rome are so unbelievable, and the Trevi takes the cake, I think - you just can't possibly imagine it unless you've seen it, even if you've seen photos. It is so impressive, so much larger than life. It's really, truly an epic work of art. And it's in this square, so without the signs, if you're just randomly following the streets, you'll hear a soft noise, almost like static, and it gets louder and louder, and the next thing you know, you're on top of a huge crowd laughing, pointing, and throwing coins into the Trevi Fountain. I sat down and read a book next to it for a while.
It was almost 3:00 though, so I decided to go back to my hostel to check in. The young woman running things was named Vanessa, and she was very nice and showed me to the room I was sharing with 7 or 8 other people. She spoke to me in English, but I spoke back to her in Italian, making it clear that I wanted to practice if I could. She actually had a long conversation with me on Saturday afternoon before the chorale concert about traveling, American culture, politics, books and films. I had a conversation with my hostel mates too, or at least 3 of them, who came from Argentina. We spoke in English though, because my Italian was too weak to contend with their Spanish, although they said most Italians could understand them when they spoke Spanish since the languages are so similar. I remember the Argentinians were shocked at how expensive American education is. Anyway, the hostel was good enough for what I was looking for; it wasn't as clean as the place where the Chorale stayed, but I doubt they paid 5 euro a person per night. For what I needed, it was perfect.
After checking in, I went on the metro up to Piazza Spagna, where there are the famous Spanish Steps. ALSO I remembered that the house where the English Poet John Keats died is right next to the steps, so I checked it out. It was open, fortunately, and I went up the stairs. There was a woman at the front desk, an
d I started speaking to her in Italian, telling her I was really excited about Keats since I study British Literature. She asked if I was American, and I said, yes. Then she said in a British English Accent, "Oh, I'm British. We can keep speaking in Italian though, if you like." Weird, huh? Anyway, I went around the museum, which had such sacramental literary objects such as a lock of Percy Shelley's hair, a piece of curtain from Byron's marriage bed, and of course, the bed where John Keats died. Keats' window looks out on the piazza, where Bernini's boat fountain is. It was amazing! And I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to go if I hadn't been traveling alone, I'm kinda weird when it comes to literary monuments (F. Scott Fitzgerald's grave, Folger Shakespeare Library, and hopefully Harry's Bar in Venice where Hemingway hung out).
I strolled through some of the streets near Piazza Spagna after the museum closed, looking in all the bright windows of stores like Gucci, Ferragamo, Dolce e Gabbana, you know, all the big name Italian designers. Didn't buy anything, haha. But I wandered - basically, you know, no time frame - through some small streets, residential and commercial, and I found a restaurant that accepted the food vouchers we use in Venice, so that sounded like a good idea. I didn't really know where i was on the map of Rome, but it didn't matter, I was relaxed, it had been such a long day (4:30 AM) that I didn't even care. I just sat there, people watched, wrote a little in my journal, spoke some Italian to the waiters. Darkness had just completely fallen, and I looked directly in front of me, maybe 200 feet away. There were some white-yellow shapes that seemed to have some rippling blue-green shapes around the bottom edges. I looked again, and thought - I was actually just at the top of Piazza Navona, and I was looking at the famous Fountain of the Four Rivers. With that, I just couldn't believe it. I was in Rome!
The next day I took the metro uptown, and walked in the direction of the Pantheon. I've already been, but I had to go back inside - to me, it really represents Rome. It used to be a pagan temple, and now is used as a Catholic sanctuary. Raphael, Vittorio Emmanuele II, Umberto I and Queen Margherita are all buried there, and the dome is an incredible feat of ancient ingenuity. I basically couldn't avoid going. Plus, I made a model Pantheon out of Legos in the 6th grade, so this structure will always have a special place in my heart.
I stopped at a bar on the way to the Vatican. It was a tiny little place, and there was a woman with a really low voice playing a video slot game. There was a man reading a newspaper, and a young couple came in while I was there. I ordered a cioccolato, which was really thick and chocolatey - unlike any kind of hot chocolate in the states. I got a croissant as well. I stood at the bar, writing a bit in my journal and taking in the atmosphere while enjoying my cioccolato.
The Vatican was unreal. I went there 5 years ago, but I found something new to do, something that would have been hard to do with a big group. I got in this big long line at Piazza San Pietro (which I just stood around in at first for about 20 minutes, just admiring how huge and incredible it is) and had to go through a security checkpoint. But I paid 5 euro (seems like that's what
everything costs in Rome, right?) to climb the 500-something stairs to the top of the cupola of San Pietro. The stairs were steep, twisty, and in some places the corridors were slanted. I got a great view of the inside of the cupola in the Basilica, but when I emerged at the top on the outside of the dome, the view of Rome absolutely memorized me. That's about all I can say about it; it was literally being on top of the world, the ancient world, looking down into the piazza over the shoulders of the statues of Jesus and the Disciples.
Inside the Basilica, I spent about an hour and a half admiring all the art, especially the Pieta by Michelangelo, which is just so incredibly moving. The basilica is just so huge too, stretching up so high, it almost feels like the roof contains heaven itself. There are frescoes and mosaics everywhere, but it never feels cluttered - each work stands on its own as a masterpiece, and the arrangement itself works as its own masterpiece. Statues in alcoves, at the tops of the ceiling, I just can't believe it. When I was in line for the cupola, I passed a mosaic - really small, relatively, about 4 feet by 4 feet - of Jesus washing Peter's feet. I was just so struck by it, even though it wasn't a main work of art or anything. The Vatican is just like that.
That night I went to the chorale concert, what I had really been waiting for. I walked up to the Chiesa San Ignazio again, and this time, I saw some American girls with black BC Chorale frocks on - so I walked up (I didn't recognize any of them, but I did this anyway) and said, "Ciao!" And they had weird looks on their faces, but then I said, I'm a BC student, I'm studying in Venice, blah blah blah... they were really excited to hear that. Then I saw Peter White, who I know from BC - actually, his really good friend Theresa is studying with me in Venice. He brought me into the church, which was so incredibly unique and beautiful with frescoes of St. Ignatius, and then I saw Kaz and Meg! It was so exciting to see BC friends - in ROME! And Maggie Carr, who's studying in Amsterdam, was there for the mass too, so I sat next to her. Also in the Chorale were my friend from orientation Lisa Derr and LAG friends Anthony Papetti and Steph Fernandes. The music was unforgettable, most remarkably by the way it resonated in such a beautiful space. Somewhere deep inside me, on some frequency, it's still echoing... this church was an instrument as well as a space for prayer.
The chorale (I mean, Meg, really) invited me back to their hotel to dine with them, which I obviously accepted. I sat with Meg, Rob Duggan and his sister, Sara, Meg's roommate on the Chorale trip, and Kaz wasn't far away at the other table. It was such a great dinner, really the most fun I had in Rome - I wish I could be back there right now; it was relaxing, enjoyable, great food, but most importantly, great company. I'm thanking you Chorallers right now for making my trip to Rome. It was seriously the most fun I think I've had in Italy, and if not, it was the brightest point in my trip to Rome. We sat there for well over 2 hours, chatting, eating, laughing.
Before I headed back to my hostel, I had to witness the Chorale tradition of singing Tollite Hostias at midnight. Some of the Choralers were a little rowdy after a trip out to the bar, and some Romans on the street must have been thinking, "What are these Americans doing?" But they stood in awe as these singers joined together, creating incredible music with their voices. I'm sure they couldn't believe it - I mean, I couldn't, and I was expecting it. The Romans applauded vigorously when the music ended.
The next morning, after an expresso on Via della Conciliazione (which is a long road stretching into the Vatican) I met the chorale at 11. They invited me to meet them - and here's why - the Pope was going to give a special benediction to everyone in Piazza San Pietro! And I had no idea about this, so I am so grateful that I got asked along. We stood in the square as a banner was
unfurled from one of the topmost windows of the Papal apartments, and then Benedict XVI emerged, barely larger than a white speck, but still, the Pope. He spoke in 7 languages, explaining the gospel reading from Mark and discussing economic issues in Italy. Then, he prayed the Angelus. Apparently, everything I was wearing and holding at that moment was blessed. So I have an iPod blessed by the Pope now.
After an extravagant lunch a block over from the Vatican with Meg, Kaz and Steph, I went back the Termini Station to catch a bus back to the airport. My trip to Rome was unforgettable! I can't wait to see other cities, especially ones I've never visited before. Also, I know I wrote way too much this time, but if you've honestly reached this part of this blog entry, let me know when I get back to the states, and I can thank you with the gift of a pen blessed by the Pope.
A dopo!
Andrew
I know it's been a long time since I've blogged - didn't take my computer to Rome with me. But I have a lot to share and I'll try to keep it as brief as possible (although it's going to be a challenge). Also, school's started in earnest so I'm crunched for time most Mondays when I have to make up the work for the weekend.
I left Venice at 5:40 AM on Friday, Feb. 27, taking the first bus to Treviso, where the little tiny airport is. The airline I flew is Ryanair, which is a cheap and popular intra-Europe airline. It was only a 45 minute flight, which was made even easier by the fact that I packed so lightly. I only had a backpack with me, and inside were just my toothbrush, a couple of extra pairs of shirts and underwear. I'm not kidding, I was really roughing it... at least compared to what I've done in the past, that is.
I took the bus into the center of Rome, and it was just a whirlwind of confusion. This was the first time I was ever in a big city with no one I knew, and it was a city I don't know too well (although I had been to Rome about 5 years ago, my mental city plan didn't stick that well). I got a map and oriented myself, found out where my hostel was (I got a great deal here - 5 euro a night) and then I went for a walk because I wasn't able to check in until 2:00 pm. So here's what I did in the meantime.
I walked west, over where the Coliseum is, and took a nice look. The Coliseum is a little isolated, and it was almost kind of sad how it's all by itself, surrounded by modern houses, roads and cars. I actually went inside when I went to Rome five years ago. But I was starving so I got lunch at a little cafe near a school where a lot of Roman teenagers were changing classes. I looked at the map and wrote in my journal (I actually did a lot of journaling when I was in Rome since I was on my own a lot). When I finished, about an hour and a half later, I walked toward the center of Rome. I passed the Roman Forum and the Monument to Vittorio Emmanuele II (which is huge, and white, and shaped kind of like a wedding cake. At least, that's what the Romans call it). I walked up Via del Corso and found the church where I'd hear the BC Chorale sing the next day, the Chiesa San Ignazio. I didn't go in, though.
I then followed the signs to the Trevi Fountain, one of my favorite spots in Rome. The fountains in Rome are so unbelievable, and the Trevi takes the cake, I think - you just can't possibly imagine it unless you've seen it, even if you've seen photos. It is so impressive, so much larger than life. It's really, truly an epic work of art. And it's in this square, so without the signs, if you're just randomly following the streets, you'll hear a soft noise, almost like static, and it gets louder and louder, and the next thing you know, you're on top of a huge crowd laughing, pointing, and throwing coins into the Trevi Fountain. I sat down and read a book next to it for a while.
It was almost 3:00 though, so I decided to go back to my hostel to check in. The young woman running things was named Vanessa, and she was very nice and showed me to the room I was sharing with 7 or 8 other people. She spoke to me in English, but I spoke back to her in Italian, making it clear that I wanted to practice if I could. She actually had a long conversation with me on Saturday afternoon before the chorale concert about traveling, American culture, politics, books and films. I had a conversation with my hostel mates too, or at least 3 of them, who came from Argentina. We spoke in English though, because my Italian was too weak to contend with their Spanish, although they said most Italians could understand them when they spoke Spanish since the languages are so similar. I remember the Argentinians were shocked at how expensive American education is. Anyway, the hostel was good enough for what I was looking for; it wasn't as clean as the place where the Chorale stayed, but I doubt they paid 5 euro a person per night. For what I needed, it was perfect.
After checking in, I went on the metro up to Piazza Spagna, where there are the famous Spanish Steps. ALSO I remembered that the house where the English Poet John Keats died is right next to the steps, so I checked it out. It was open, fortunately, and I went up the stairs. There was a woman at the front desk, an
d I started speaking to her in Italian, telling her I was really excited about Keats since I study British Literature. She asked if I was American, and I said, yes. Then she said in a British English Accent, "Oh, I'm British. We can keep speaking in Italian though, if you like." Weird, huh? Anyway, I went around the museum, which had such sacramental literary objects such as a lock of Percy Shelley's hair, a piece of curtain from Byron's marriage bed, and of course, the bed where John Keats died. Keats' window looks out on the piazza, where Bernini's boat fountain is. It was amazing! And I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to go if I hadn't been traveling alone, I'm kinda weird when it comes to literary monuments (F. Scott Fitzgerald's grave, Folger Shakespeare Library, and hopefully Harry's Bar in Venice where Hemingway hung out).I strolled through some of the streets near Piazza Spagna after the museum closed, looking in all the bright windows of stores like Gucci, Ferragamo, Dolce e Gabbana, you know, all the big name Italian designers. Didn't buy anything, haha. But I wandered - basically, you know, no time frame - through some small streets, residential and commercial, and I found a restaurant that accepted the food vouchers we use in Venice, so that sounded like a good idea. I didn't really know where i was on the map of Rome, but it didn't matter, I was relaxed, it had been such a long day (4:30 AM) that I didn't even care. I just sat there, people watched, wrote a little in my journal, spoke some Italian to the waiters. Darkness had just completely fallen, and I looked directly in front of me, maybe 200 feet away. There were some white-yellow shapes that seemed to have some rippling blue-green shapes around the bottom edges. I looked again, and thought - I was actually just at the top of Piazza Navona, and I was looking at the famous Fountain of the Four Rivers. With that, I just couldn't believe it. I was in Rome!
The next day I took the metro uptown, and walked in the direction of the Pantheon. I've already been, but I had to go back inside - to me, it really represents Rome. It used to be a pagan temple, and now is used as a Catholic sanctuary. Raphael, Vittorio Emmanuele II, Umberto I and Queen Margherita are all buried there, and the dome is an incredible feat of ancient ingenuity. I basically couldn't avoid going. Plus, I made a model Pantheon out of Legos in the 6th grade, so this structure will always have a special place in my heart.
I stopped at a bar on the way to the Vatican. It was a tiny little place, and there was a woman with a really low voice playing a video slot game. There was a man reading a newspaper, and a young couple came in while I was there. I ordered a cioccolato, which was really thick and chocolatey - unlike any kind of hot chocolate in the states. I got a croissant as well. I stood at the bar, writing a bit in my journal and taking in the atmosphere while enjoying my cioccolato.
The Vatican was unreal. I went there 5 years ago, but I found something new to do, something that would have been hard to do with a big group. I got in this big long line at Piazza San Pietro (which I just stood around in at first for about 20 minutes, just admiring how huge and incredible it is) and had to go through a security checkpoint. But I paid 5 euro (seems like that's what
everything costs in Rome, right?) to climb the 500-something stairs to the top of the cupola of San Pietro. The stairs were steep, twisty, and in some places the corridors were slanted. I got a great view of the inside of the cupola in the Basilica, but when I emerged at the top on the outside of the dome, the view of Rome absolutely memorized me. That's about all I can say about it; it was literally being on top of the world, the ancient world, looking down into the piazza over the shoulders of the statues of Jesus and the Disciples.Inside the Basilica, I spent about an hour and a half admiring all the art, especially the Pieta by Michelangelo, which is just so incredibly moving. The basilica is just so huge too, stretching up so high, it almost feels like the roof contains heaven itself. There are frescoes and mosaics everywhere, but it never feels cluttered - each work stands on its own as a masterpiece, and the arrangement itself works as its own masterpiece. Statues in alcoves, at the tops of the ceiling, I just can't believe it. When I was in line for the cupola, I passed a mosaic - really small, relatively, about 4 feet by 4 feet - of Jesus washing Peter's feet. I was just so struck by it, even though it wasn't a main work of art or anything. The Vatican is just like that.
That night I went to the chorale concert, what I had really been waiting for. I walked up to the Chiesa San Ignazio again, and this time, I saw some American girls with black BC Chorale frocks on - so I walked up (I didn't recognize any of them, but I did this anyway) and said, "Ciao!" And they had weird looks on their faces, but then I said, I'm a BC student, I'm studying in Venice, blah blah blah... they were really excited to hear that. Then I saw Peter White, who I know from BC - actually, his really good friend Theresa is studying with me in Venice. He brought me into the church, which was so incredibly unique and beautiful with frescoes of St. Ignatius, and then I saw Kaz and Meg! It was so exciting to see BC friends - in ROME! And Maggie Carr, who's studying in Amsterdam, was there for the mass too, so I sat next to her. Also in the Chorale were my friend from orientation Lisa Derr and LAG friends Anthony Papetti and Steph Fernandes. The music was unforgettable, most remarkably by the way it resonated in such a beautiful space. Somewhere deep inside me, on some frequency, it's still echoing... this church was an instrument as well as a space for prayer.
The chorale (I mean, Meg, really) invited me back to their hotel to dine with them, which I obviously accepted. I sat with Meg, Rob Duggan and his sister, Sara, Meg's roommate on the Chorale trip, and Kaz wasn't far away at the other table. It was such a great dinner, really the most fun I had in Rome - I wish I could be back there right now; it was relaxing, enjoyable, great food, but most importantly, great company. I'm thanking you Chorallers right now for making my trip to Rome. It was seriously the most fun I think I've had in Italy, and if not, it was the brightest point in my trip to Rome. We sat there for well over 2 hours, chatting, eating, laughing.
Before I headed back to my hostel, I had to witness the Chorale tradition of singing Tollite Hostias at midnight. Some of the Choralers were a little rowdy after a trip out to the bar, and some Romans on the street must have been thinking, "What are these Americans doing?" But they stood in awe as these singers joined together, creating incredible music with their voices. I'm sure they couldn't believe it - I mean, I couldn't, and I was expecting it. The Romans applauded vigorously when the music ended.
The next morning, after an expresso on Via della Conciliazione (which is a long road stretching into the Vatican) I met the chorale at 11. They invited me to meet them - and here's why - the Pope was going to give a special benediction to everyone in Piazza San Pietro! And I had no idea about this, so I am so grateful that I got asked along. We stood in the square as a banner was
unfurled from one of the topmost windows of the Papal apartments, and then Benedict XVI emerged, barely larger than a white speck, but still, the Pope. He spoke in 7 languages, explaining the gospel reading from Mark and discussing economic issues in Italy. Then, he prayed the Angelus. Apparently, everything I was wearing and holding at that moment was blessed. So I have an iPod blessed by the Pope now.After an extravagant lunch a block over from the Vatican with Meg, Kaz and Steph, I went back the Termini Station to catch a bus back to the airport. My trip to Rome was unforgettable! I can't wait to see other cities, especially ones I've never visited before. Also, I know I wrote way too much this time, but if you've honestly reached this part of this blog entry, let me know when I get back to the states, and I can thank you with the gift of a pen blessed by the Pope.
A dopo!
Andrew
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