Siena

Our first stop after Rome was Siena. Getting there was a bit of a fiasco. We bought train tickets from Rome to Siena, but didn't know much about trains in Italy at the time and didn't realize we'd have any transfers. So, we were apparently supposed to take a train halfway to Florence and then transfer to another. But we didn't know we were supposed to get off before Florence, so we accidentally took it all the way there and then to our surprise instead of going to Siena it just turned around and started going back the exact same way it came. Bewildered, we asked one of the ticket checkers on the train and he laughed and said we were actually supposed to get off in Florence. So we hurriedly got our luggage to jump out, but the doors closed and the train started off again. We had to then wait until the next stop, get off at that one, and go BACK to Florence, and then transfer. We ended up getting on the slow "regional" train that took a very long route to Florence, stopping at every tiny little town in between, and made a ten-minute journey into an hour and a half one. Finally we made it back to Florence, and right when we got off the train we hear this voice on the loudspeaker saying that the train to Siena leaves in 5 minutes on a track waaay far away. So then we're just sprinting through the station, luggage and all, dodging the other slower travelers, and luckily we made it on the train right before it left. After that it was a nice easy trip to Siena...but basically, a 3 hour journey became a 7-8 hour one....lame!

Anyway, here's the road near our hotel:


Mom had accidently booked the room for August instead of July, but luckily we were still able to get a great room! It had lots of dark wood trim, fluffy white beds, and an amazing view:
A sketch I did from our room's terrace.. the yellowish color is because I drew it on the back of an old spiral-bound notebook, having no other drawing surface on hand at the time

While wandering at night, we happened upon this giant square...Piazza del Campo! It is HUGE and is surrounded by a bunch of restaurants and bars. It faces Siena's giant clock tower.

I went on a run the next morning and ended up going through the Piazza...several times, actually, as I got a bit lost near the end! Anyway, this is what it looks like in the day (picture not taken by me)

Here's Siena's Duomo:I love this style of church! The black and white stripes are so dramatic, and the facades are so incredibly detailed. This one was not as huge as the Florence duomo, or as ornate as the Orvieto one, but the interior definitely made up for it:
This Duomo was definitely one of my favorites so far. There was so much to look at! Giant columns, stained glass, works by Bernini and Dontatello, and ornate scenes of colored marble on the floors. There was also an amazing "library," in which illuminated songbooks were on display in a never-restored but still brilliantly colored room. The frescoes were still ridiculously bright, but my favorite part was all the gold and ink and calligraphy in the songbooks. There were lots of tiny, detailed illustrations in the illuminated letters and I loved looking at them and thinking that this was exactly the sort of thing that I liked drawing, except they were done centuries ago. Pretty cool! Here is the library room:
Robby as the classy tourist, next to a giant leg and a boar head, with the remains of a giant sandwich and a glass of wine (actually, I drank the wine, as he thought it was gross, but still) Anyway, the sandwiches were 7 euro (yeah...way overpriced!) and quite tasty.
Here's the clock tower.. Mom and Robby were going to climb it on our last day but the line was too long to make it back in time to catch the train. Apparently it offers a fantastic view of Siena and the valley.
While I was waiting for Mom and Robby to get back from the tower so we could catch the train, I sat under a tree outside St. Dominico's basilica and worked on my paper. On a bench nearby was a kente-clad African guy in his mid-30s. Soon an older Italian guy sat nearby, and the two of them introduced themselves and struck up a conversation; I guess English was their common language. The African guy was in Italy because his school in Nigeria sent him here, and the Italian guy had lived here his whole life. Apparently they were checking out girls or something because the African guy says "I love looking at women but would NEVER get married to one!" The Italian guy agrees, saying "Yes, they are all nice and pretty at first, but then they get all bossy and you can't have that." African guy: "Yeah, when a girl starts getting bossy, either show her who is in charge or get rid of her." They continue in this vein for a while, and then the African guy asks the Italian guy if he's ever been married. He sighs and admits that he is now, actually. "How long?" Italian guy replies, "22 years...waayyyy too long!" and proceeds to complain about his wife for a bit. Then they talk about the stupidity of women and marriage in general, until this tired-looking middle aged lady walks up. The Italian guy springs up and kisses her, showering her with compliments and telling her how much he loves her. Then they walk off together, hand in hand, and the African guy is just sitting there by himself again. Anyway I thought it was kind of amusing.. :)

Then, caught a train to Cinque Terre via Pisa!

Post-Rome travels

Hey all--So, I'm just sitting by a gondola-filled canal in Venice, using someone's wireless until they kick me off! In the past week Mom, Robby, and I have traveled to Siena, Cinque Terre, and Venice. And I promise to write an actual update upon returning to Seattle, but an internet connection is pretty difficult to come across these days, so it will have to wait til then, I guess. lots of good stories though. :) Oh, and I posted my obelisk report on here, you don't have to read it, we all just had to post our papers on our Rome blogs instead of printing them out or emailing them. It was actually quite a hassle what with formatting and such.. agh. Anyway! I'll replace this lame post with a real post when I get back home, and yep--Venice is pretty sweet but oh my goodness, Cinque Terre was AWESOME. beach, mountains, hiking, swimming, bright colors, good food...basically all of my favorite things wrapped into one :)

History of Obelisks in Rome

INTRODUCTION

Obelisks can be seen all over Rome and appear outside the city’s most famous monuments. But what are these ancient Egyptian monoliths, which were dedicated to the pagan gods of past millennia, doing in front of some of the most important Christian buildings in Rome? The story of obelisks in Rome spans three important historical eras: ancient Egypt, the Roman Empire, and the transformation of Rome into the center of Christianity. They have not only witnessed the succession of empires, but also represented the creation and the destruction of religion, technology, and magic. During the obelisk’s rich history, it has served as a symbol of worship, conquest, and power.

WHAT IS AN OBELISK?

An obelisk is a four sided structure that sits on a base and tapers to a pyramidal top. The ancient Egyptians created obelisks as early as 2400 BC, and they were usually placed in pairs in front of funerary monuments or temples. The bronze cross and pontificate’s coat of arms that cap the obelisks in Rome are not part of the original Egyptian structure, but were added by the Popes who re-erected the monuments during the Counter Reformation. The hieroglyphs that span the obelisk’s sides praise a pharaoh’s accomplishments or thank the gods for their goodwill and protection.

Obelisks at Karnak, Egypt

CONSTRUCTION

Obelisks were made from large pieces of granite, in a process that is largely not understood even today. The stone for Egyptian obelisks often came from the rock quarries at Elephantine. They were usually carved from a single block of red granite. Exactly how they were made remains something of a mystery, but an unfinished obelisk found partly hewn from its quarry in Aswan gives us an idea as to how they were created. According to what we can see from this site, the ancient Egyptians would have carved the obelisk out of the quarry horizontally, first releasing three sides and then gradually carving away at the bottom to leave a narrow connecting strip. Wooden beams were then placed under the obelisk and the connecting strip was carved out so that the weight of the monolith lay on the beams. The obelisk was then dragged out of the quarry by men with ropes who pulled it over a muddy surface to the Nile. It was then shipped down the river to the point closest to its intended site. How they erected the obelisk was another matter entirely. One theory is that the obelisk was raised incrementally with levers, while a mound of dirt was built up underneath it each time it was raised, so that it slowly reached a vertical position. Whatever their methods, the construction of an obelisk from a single block of granite exemplifies a great feat in engineering, especially considering the limited technologies available at the time.

Unfinished obelisk at Aswan

The ancient Romans moved the first obelisks from Egypt down the Nile, across the Mediterranean Sea, and finally to Rome. The Romans engineered new ships specifically for the transportation of the obelisks. These ships moved by the work of multiple levels of rowers and were so admired that they were put on display for Roman citizens to marvel at. Once the obelisk reached Rome, it took hundreds of workers months to pull it to its location. The effort, engineering, and manpower required for the transportation of these monoliths is a testament to the greatness of the Roman Empire.

SYMBOLISM IN ANCIENT EGYPT

For Egyptians, the obelisk symbolized the sun god Amon Ra. The shape resembles a petrified ray of sunshine that widens as it reaches out from the sky and towards the earth. Because of their form, all obelisks honored the sun god Ra. The importance of the sun for Egyptian life made Ra the most powerful of the Egyptian gods. While the side hieroglyphs on an obelisk may have honored a variety of gods, since the form itself resembled a ray of light, all obelisks were also dedicated to Ra. Many obelisks we see in Rome today were taken from the Egyptian capital city of Heliopolis, which is known as the city of the sun and was home to the cult of Ra. Obelisks were often built to celebrate a pharaoh’s accomplishments or those of pharaohs before them, and were sometimes erected by a pharaoh to mark the celebration of his jubilee, when he had ruled for thirty years. Obelisks stood as lasting monuments to honor the rule of these leaders. Hieroglyphs on obelisks were seen as a way to communicate this information to the gods; they stretched towards the heavens to deliver their message.

Sun-god Ra

SYMBOLISM in ANCIENT ROME

Roman citizens recognized obelisks as symbols of Egypt. The ancient Egyptians were seen as masters of occult knowledge and expert practitioners of magic, astrology and alchemy, and the mysteriously hewn shaft of the obelisk proved the Egyptians’ mastery of nature. Roman emperors exploited this association between obelisks and the mystery of Egypt. Augustus, the first Roman emperor to bring obelisks to Rome, also understood the importance of the obelisk in Egypt as a symbol of association between the gods and the pharaohs. By creating a link between himself and the great pharaohs of Egypt, the emperor’s own power increased. Latin inscriptions were carved into the bases of obelisks as a further reminder of an emperor’s power. For example, the obelisk that stood in the Campus Martius had an inscription that dedicated the obelisk to Rome’s defeat of Egypt and to the sun god as a gift from Augustus.

The placement of obelisks was also important. While the Egyptians placed obelisks outside temples and funerary monuments, Augustus had a different purpose in mind. One of the obelisks was placed in Circus Maximus, an ancient Roman stadium used for chariot races and gladiator fights, which attracted many people. In this way, Roman citizens were reminded of the greatness of their emperor.

SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ROME

Just as there were multiple emperors who utilized the importance of the obelisk in history to promote themselves and the Roman Empire, six popes also used obelisks to further their own means. Between the 16^th and 18^th centuries, obelisks that had been lost and forgotten in antiquity were excavated, repaired, and purified by the Counter-Reformation popes.

When a pope repaired and re-erected an obelisk, it symbolized the triumph of Christianity over pagan religions. By moving obelisks to piazzas in front of Christian churches, they became symbols of Christianity’s power. Part of the re-erection process included an exorcism and purification process completed by the addition of a finial which usually included a bronze cross and papal coat of arms. Any surviving hieroglyphs were preserved, but the Christian symbolism that crowned the obelisk emphasized the defeat of paganism.

Obelisks played an important role in the urban planning efforts of Pope Sixtus V in the late 16^th century. Sixtus hoped to make the city easily navigable for the many pilgrims that visited Rome. He placed obelisks at the ends of four major roads that led into Rome and connected important sites, specifically St. Peter’s Basilica, the churches of St. John the Lateran and Santa Maria Maggiore, and Piazza del Popolo, the city’s Northern entrance. These obelisks helped to orient pilgrims so they would be able to find their way around the city by going from one obelisk to the next.

Obelisk at St. Peters Basilica

ELEPHANT OBELISK

Turn a corner behind the Pantheon to the Piazza Santa Maria sopra Minerva, and you are confronted with one of the more unusual monuments in Rome: a marble elephant placidly balancing a small granite obelisk on its back. It is Bernini’s Elephant and Obelisk, or, as it is commonly referred to, “Minerva’s Chick.” This obelisk was erected in 1667 in front of Santa Maria sopra Minerva (St. Mary over Minerva), a Dominican church whose name refers to its location over the ruins of a temple dedicated to Minerva, the ancient Roman goddess of knowledge.

This small obelisk was discovered in the garden of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in 1665, when several Dominican priests were digging the foundations for a wall. The obelisk was one of two that were built around 589 BC in Egypt and transported from Sais; the other is currently on display in Urbino. The obelisk was found under the pontificate of Pope Alexander VII, who was fascinated by the hieroglyphics and had them interpreted. He liked that the obelisk symbolized sunlight and therefore the light of divine knowledge.

A number of distinguished artists and architects were called upon to submit designs to a papal commission so that a suitable base for the obelisk could be chosen. One of the applicants was a Dominican priest and architect, Father Domenico Paglia. According to Paglia's plan, the obelisk would have rested on six small hills, as shown on the Chigi coat of arms, with a dog in each corner. The dog is the symbol of Dominican priests, who were nicknamed Domini canes (after the Latin Dominicanes) or “the Lord's dogs,” to represent their fidelity. By having the obelisk rest solely on Alexander’s family crest surrounded by signs of the Dominicans’ loyalty to the Church and the Pope, Paglia was clearly attempting to appeal to Alexander’s vanity. However, Alexander rejected this design. He wanted the monument to be a symbol of the Holy Knowledge, to recall the original dedication of the site, rather than just a celebration of himself and his family.

Bernini was then asked to design a more suitable base for the obelisk. His sketches for this project show that he wanted to take a more humorous approach to the project. At one point, he considered an unusual concept of having a gigantic figure of Hercules either heaving the obelisk up a rocky mound or staggering to hold it aloft at a slant. The architectural stability of the obelisk’s shape was contrasted with its unstable position as a visual joke. However, Bernini scrapped this idea due to the problems of equilibrium that made the stability of the obelisk questionable due to its large scale.

Two later sketches show Bernini going back to a more sensible arrangement that he had begun thinking about years earlier for Pope Urban VIII: an elephant carrying an obelisk on its back. In drawing his elephant, Bernini had been inspired by Hypnerotomachia Poliphili ("Poliphil's Dream of the Love Battle"), a novel written by Francesco Colonna in 1499. The book was widely circulated and would have been familiar to audiences of Bernini’s time. It contained several woodcut illustrations, including one of an elephant carrying an obelisk on his back.

In Bernini’s original plan, the weight of the obelisk would have fully rested on the elephant's four legs, without a stand beneath its body, to show that it was alive and carrying the obelisk rather than having its body pierced by the obelisk as in the drawing. But Father Paglia, who was jealous after his own design had been rejected, argued that traditional canons dictated that “no weight should rest vertically above an empty space, as it would neither be steady nor long-lasting,” and therefore, a cube should be inserted under the elephant's belly. This addition would of course undermine the uniqueness of Bernini’s design. The pope agreed with Paglia in the end, although Bernini strongly opposed the change. He then tried to disguise the cube by adding an elaborate saddle to cover the cube, but the addition of both the cube and the saddle made the statue rather stout. For this reason, it was nicknamed “Porcino della Minerva” (“Minerva’s Piggy”). The name eventually changed to “Pulcino” (Chick), probably because the pronunciation is very similar.

As one story goes, Bernini was able to take his revenge upon Paglia by placing the elephant so that its rear end was pointing toward the Dominican monastary. Its tail flips slightly to the left, as if the elephant were “saluting” Father Paglia as he walked out his door.

The obelisk is crowned by the insignia of Pope Alexander VII (six mountains, oak trees, and the Chigi family star). As Alexander requested, an inscription on the base reads, “A strong mind is needed to support a strong knowledge.”

MONTECITERIO

The most damaged of all Roman obelisks, the Monteciterio obelisk (often referred to as the Campense) is also one of the most famous. It is a 22-meter high red granite obelisk that once belonged to the ancient Egyptian pharaoh Psammetichus II. It was brought to Rome in 10 BC by Augustus, who erected it in the Campus Martius to use as the gnomon of a giant sundial. The sundial was oriented in such manner so as to cast its shadow on the nearby Ara Pacis on Augustus's birthday, which also was theautumnal equinox. This use of an obelisk as a sundial highlighted the power that Augustus, a calendar reformer, claimed over the year and its seasons.

Augustus's sundial obelisk at Campus Martius (upper left corner)

Between the 9^th and 11^th centuries, the obelisk collapsed, probably due to fire, earthquake, or war, and was subsequently buried. Sixtus V made some fruitless attempts at cleaning some pieces in that had been found in 1502, but nothing came of it until 1748, when the obelisk was finally fully extracted under Benedict XIV. The stone was so badly corroded that Benedict just arranged the fragments in a nearby piazza. When Pope Pius VI decided to repair it in 1789, its poor condition made this resolution seem particularly daring.

Pius’s decision generated a variety of competing proposals that testify to the expanding interest in obelisks. After a long series of unusual ideas, including embedding the obelisk in the wall of a giant fountain and enclosing it in a spiral staircase, the architect Antinori was chosen for the job. Against popular belief, Antinori thought that the stone could be made to stand upright if its fragments were patched to create stackable sections. As for its location, he wanted to place it at a picturesque site where “the foreign admirer might, with a single turn of his head, realize he is in Rome.”

There was some debate as to where it should be located. Eventually it was decided that it would be placed in Monetcitorio. By this time, Pius had overseen restoration of two other obelisks, one at the Spanish steps and another on the Quirinal; but this project cost more than these two combined. Most of the money went toward restoration; the Campense was so corroded by fire that its six largest pieces required considerable refacing to construct a continuous shaft. The lowest section was completely rebuilt over a foreign core, and the upper sections needed extensive patching. One of the biggest problems was the hieroglyphic carvings, which would be next to impossible to fill in accurately. Antinori decided to keep the surviving hieroglyphs and have all the repaired areas appear flat without carving new symbols just for appearance.

Originally, Antinori had wanted to make the obelisk function as a sundial again, but others thought it was pointless to use a sundial in the age of watches. The considerable cost involved and the fact that it would have to be continually adjusted to be accurate further discouraged this idea. Also, the light beam would not be legible given its great height, and even then it would only give the crudest calendrical readings. In the end, a meridian was included in the design, but it was mostly for appearances and became inaccurate soon thereafter.

When it was time to choose a finial, Pius chose to exploit the obelisk’s Augustan associations rather than make it a symbol of Christianity. He restored Augustus’s original Latin dedications and displayed them on the north and south axes. He modestly relegated his own inscription to the east and west faces. The west face chronicles the obelisk’s creation by King Sesostris, its use as a sundial in the Campus Martius, its violent destruction by fire and time, and its belated re-erection in 1792. Pius announces that he “cleaned the obelisk of dirt and damage”, “carefully completed the missing parts”, and “gave it back to the city and the sky.” Pius thus becomes a new Augustus by renewing the obelisk’s celestial dedication. The eastern face reads, “The pyramid that formerly marked the swift hours lay spread on the ground, broken after its fall. Its ancient splendor renewed, its proud face now measures the auspicious times of Pius VI.” This compares the fleeting hours of ancient Rome to Pius’s more promising ones.

Obelisk at Montecitorio

CONCLUSION

Obelisks stand as reminders of the ingenuity of past eras and the varied ways in which their power has been interpreted over the years. Those who resurrected them did so for their own means, not those of their creators. But no one, neither in antiquity nor more recent years, seems to have destroyed an obelisk just to ruin it. Even rigorous reformers such as the popes wanted to reorient rather than demolish these soaring symbols of power human aspiration. The feats of engineering necessary to create, transport, and re-erect obelisk attest to the wonder they have continued to inspire across historical eras. Today, these towering monoliths stand as symbols of the power of ancient Egypt, ancient Rome, and Christian Rome, and their varied past is a fascinating chapter in the history of Rome.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barnes, Noelle. Symbols of power and the papacy: the legacy of ancient Egypt in Renaissance and Counter-Reformation Rome. 2007.

Collins, Jeffrey. Papacy and Politics in Eighteenth Century Rome. New York: Cambridge UP, 2004. 193-218.

Curl, James Stevens. The Egyptian Revival. New York: Routledge, 2005.

Curl, James Stevens. “Egypt in Rome: an introductory essay.” Interdisciplinary science reviews : ISR. 25, Part 1 (2000): 53-64.

Grafton, Anthony. “Obelisks and Empires of the Mind.” The American Scholar 71.1 (2002)

Heckscher, William. "Bernini's Elephant and Obelisk." The Art Bulletin 29 (1947): 155-182. 5 Feb. 2007 .

Laistner, M.L.W. “The Obelisks of Augustus at Rome.” The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 11, (1921), pp. 265-266

Lewis, M.J.T. "Roman Methods of Transporting and Erecting Obelisks." Transactions of the Newcomen Society, 1984-85 Vol 56.

Marchetti, Francesca Castria. Squares and Fountains of Rome. Milan: Mondadori Electa Spa, 2007.

"Minerva's Chick." Virtual Roma. 5 Feb. 2007 .

An Oriveto Weekend!

This weekend we took an overnight trip to the lovely hill town of Orvieto. It was nice to get out of the busy crowded city and to a place where they actually had things like trees and grass! It was only about an hour train ride. I'll have to use the assistance of Google Images to show you the town as there wasn't a very good view from the train:
It is in a beautiful location and is pretty much the quintessential little Italian town and I loved it! Definitely more pleasant than Rome or Florence--a lot calmer and quieter. The hill was surrounded by hiking areas and I guess there is a place down by the river where you can rent canoes, but we just were up in the town the whole time--it would have been cool to have stayed longer to explore the surrounding area a bit.

Arriving at town, heading to our hotel (four stars: yesss!).
I shared a really nice room with Sheida and C'havala, and we had a lovely white marble bathroom, super soft beds and a flowery terrace looking out onto the street. But most importantly: AIR CONDITIONING!! Hooray! Their breakfast was also delicious and had all sorts of free tasty pastries.

After checking in everyone went around and explored the city

We basically spent a day and a half wandering around the town. It was pretty small, and you could easily walk across the whole thing in less than an hour. We never were bored, though; there were all kinds of cool shops and places to explore. But mostly: the city wall! Orvieto is up on a big hill and the whole city is fortified with this gigantic stone and brick wall. You can walk around the whole city on this wall and there are great views all around.



There were a few really nice parks around the edges of the city. Some of them had playgrounds...with SWINGS!! Yay!

Boar heads adorned the entire town, pretty much! Usually they were outside pubs or deli shops.

Some of the shops had rather....interesting..souvenirs. One store had a bunch of these spiked ball weapon things, of all sizes... and they were not just little plastic toys, either...you could definitely kill someone with one of these guys. This shop also had crossbows. So, I guess if you ever want some medieval weaponry, head over to Orvieto!

Ruins of an ancient Etruscan templeOn Friday afternoon, Lisa gave us a tour of Orvieto's duomo, the giant church. It was so vast and ornate...very out of place in the rest of the town, I thought, but still pretty awesome! Both the exterior (except the facade) and the interior were made of stacked black and white stones to create alternating stripes.

Inside, windows made of stone cut very, very thinly let in a warm, amber-colored light that reflected beautifully off the floor

After that, we wandered around some more and then Lisa and Mona took us all out to dinner. It was delicious as usual. Most of us have been eating rather frugal dinners as the program has progressed (ie, pasta with red sauce or pesto most nights) so we all enjoy these fancy group dinners every once in a while!

Before we left the next day, Lisa took us down St. Patrick's Well. It is basically a very deep, very dark hole with two narrow spiral staircases (one for going up and one for going down) that wrap around it. This was so that people bringing mules down to fetch their water would not crash into each other, because it was so narrow! The steps were made of stone and were rather slippery, and even with the flickering lights they had installed it was pretty dark. It got cooler and cooler the further we went down, and the air was kind of musty and old and hard to breathe, but it was worth it to be away from the sun for a bit. At the bottom, we all tossed in a couple coins down into the green-blue water, made some wishes, and started the long hike back up.

This is the view looking up from the bottom...it was a long way down there!

After a quick stop at the flea market and the purchase of some sandwiches, we took the red tram back down and caught a train back to Rome for our last week of classes!

Florence (finally!)

Alright, I guess it's been over a week since I went to Florence, so I ought to write about it now!

We left Rome bright and early Wednesday morning and caught a Eurostar train to Florence. Again, it was a lovely ride through the countryside! :) It only took us a couple hours to get there because it was one of those super fast trains.

Zipping through the scenery

We got there around noon and checked in to our hotel (pretty nice!) and got some coffee. Lisa told us a lot about the Medici family and the Renaissance. We went to see the Duomo (a huge, gorgeous, ornate church that towers over everything) and the famous bronze doors by Brunelleschi and Ghirberti.

The detailing is just incredible. The closer you look, the more ornate it gets. Gilded, tiled, painted, carved...so much decoration!
Then we started touring museums and churches. Man, we saw SO MANY museums in Florence! We were all pretty much museumed out by the time it was over. We also toured some cool old Medici palaces and town houses of the nobility. Lisa's connections got us into some floors that aren't normally open to tour groups, so that was cool!

That first night, we all went out to dinner at Trattoria ZaZa. It was delicious! I was tempted to get something exotic like truffle ravioli, wild boar, or rabbit, but I just got some fettucine with walnut sauce and eggplant parmasan. Mmmm!

We also had lots of homework involving long written responses to make sure we were paying attention to the lectures on the Medici (deceptively called "the Quest") but that is boring so I won't go into it!

Our hotel was right in the middle of a leather market and next to this cool church (of San Lorenzo)

That afternoon, Jackie, Cat, and I explored the leather market and I took a ton of colorful close-up pictures. It was really fun--we did a bit of bartering with the vendors and had some interesting conversations with them.


There were so many leather bags! All that leather made the market smell wonderful.
Trying on a mask!

On Day 2, we went to the Uffizi! This was an AWESOME gallery which used to be a government building. I had no idea how much famous art was in it; around every corner was a painting I recognized. We saw a LOT of Boticelli art, including La Primavera and Birth of Venus (!!!), a few paintings by Carravagio, Raphael, and Rembrandt, and Titian's Venus of Urbino!!! I was SO excited to see this one, I had no idea it was here and it is pretty much one of my favorite paintings ever! And it was enormous. So, so cool!

However, it was an enormous museum and I was really tired afterward from spending so many hours looking at art. I basically went back to the hotel and slept from about 6 pm to 8 am. I felt kind of lame the next morning because everyone else had been out exploring the city and I was just konked out on a hotel bed...oh well. Probably needed the sleep.

The next day we went to another famous museum, the Accademia. The line outside went on for blocks and blocks in the hot sun but, as usual, we were able to skip it and go right in! This museum housed Michelangelo's famous David..

Pretty epic!!! There was also a Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit right next to it.

One of the churches we went to had this big statue of Dante out front:
..and some tombs of famous people inside, including Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Galileo.

After lunch one day some of us watched this creepy mime for a while...he kept following people around and imitating what they were doing, and just running up to people and being weird. It was oddly entertaining...

That evening, some of us hiked up a big hill to look over Florence at sunset. It was so pretty! We got there at a perfect time, when the sun was just about to go down, and we just watched the city and the darkening sky for a while. So relaxing after all those museums and assignments.


After a museum one day we went to a cool temple or something that was all decorated with ocean-y stuff.. lots of blues & very calming.

We had a bit of a photoshoot there :-)Here's a quick sketch of one of the reproductions of David I did while sitting in the piazza and waiting for my roomies to finish their Quests. The piazza where this one is has a big clock tower, some other famous statues, and is where Savonarola was hanged and burned back in the day!
Another cool church we went into..

Friday included a leather bag shopping expedition. Lisa took us to one of her favorite shops and was able to get half-off pretty much everything. A lot of people bought beautifully made leather bags for way better deals than you can get in the US, and I was definitely tempted to buy one--but couldn't quite bring myself to spend 70 euro/over $100 on a purse!

On Saturday we went to an olive oil/vinegar tasting. The family running it was super nice and gave us all kinds of delicious samples. My favorite was the truffle honey...so rich and delicious, but so expensive! I did buy a tiny jar of truffle salt, which smells wonderful and garlicky...can't wait to use it!

And then we went back to Rome.. Florence was great but it was nice to go back to a more familiar city and be able to do our own cooking rather than eating out all the time. This week was pretty stressful though--lots of presentations. I have my biggest presentation tomorrow, so I've been working on that a lot. We went to Orvieto this weekend, so hopefully I'll write something about that soon.