Reeling with jet-lag the first job was to call the hotel and get their shuttle. This was difficult because apparently the Milano Hotel da Mariuccia's staff never bothers to actually staff the hotel. Somehow she managed, and with the help of the shuttle driver got herself checked in despite no staff. I was very relieved to get this picture.
. The room was quite nice with a jetted tub---loud noise, weak jets.
She took a bath and fell into bed. Awake-ish in the afternoon, the next quest was for food. This was not so easy. The hotel was on the outskirts of town. She took off in the direction of the clock tower. We got to have a nice conversation with her via What's App, as she passed cornfields, and a playground, but no food. The first town only had a really expensive restaurant, but she found gelato.
The second town had a convent,
and, more importantly, pizza.
Then she hiked back to the hotel. Once there, we were able to connect via Skype. MUCH better. She took us on a tour of the unstaffed hotel. Nice place, beautiful surroundings. Since there was no professional help, the plan was to approach the noisy tour group and see if they could help her get on the train to Venice the next day.
May 18, 2015 VENICE
Somehow she made it to Venice! Where she met up with the study abroad group. It's amazing to me that Venice really is on the water, just like all the books and pictures show. The group didn't do much today--mostly got themselves assembled then had dinner and got to go on a waterbus. Communication is sadly going to be sketchy from here on out--time difference and work schedules make it hard.
Fancy looking hotel!
May 19. 2015 VENICE
It looks to have been an amazing day. I'm not sure of the order of things, but she got to see St. Mark's square.
And see the Doge's Palace--the Doge was the supreme authority of Venice for many centuries. I can never get over the sheer--mind-blowing opulence of places like this!
The palace is connected to the prison by the famous Bridge of Sighs. Built in 1600's the idea was that prisoners would sigh as they took in their last glimpse of beautiful Venice.
And go to the Jewish Ghetto, which apparently is run mostly by American Hassidic Jews these days. But she got to eat a kosher dinner. Which included several courses--the most important of which, to my mind was the cookie course.
She got to visit the "Harry Bar" that Hemingway wrote about. Alas, my English degree failed me here. Never heard of it, but she said they served the best hot chocolate ever (and Catherine is a real expert).
She DID get to go on a gondola ride
And float by an old Venetian Palace
And here is the souvenir of the all the gondola adventures.
May 20, 2015 VENICE to FLORENCE
Rain notwithstanding, they went places. Some of these pictures are off of google, which is why it looks sunny, but Catherine looks like this.
They went to Murano--one of the "lagoon islands" which is famous for glass making.
She got herself some lovely glass earrings
And, more importantly, got some for me too.
The island of Burano, is famous for fisherman, lacemakers, and colorful houses, but it looks to me as though Murano did all right with the colorful houses as well.
May 21, 2015 FLORENCE
Ahhh, Florence.
It looks as though she found the sun. First stop was the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, your basic European Cathedral with unbelievable history, architecture and art.
Then they went to Brancacci Chapel which is crammed full of Masterpieces. This Chapel is considered to the be the "Sistine Chapel" of the early renaissance.
Then the leather market--which looks to be about equally visually bewildering.
So much for the sun, but she found the Disney store (of course) and there was some singing--don't know yet if she went solo in silliness or if it was a group effort.
And she said "Buongiorno" to Mickey.
There are many markets and shops in Florence. Some are more preferable than others.
Bread
Cheese
And, oh dear. I think I'll head back to the bakery.
The interior of the dome looks amazing as well. She climbed the 463 stairs to the top.
View from the top of the Duomo
They also went to the Hospital of the Innocents. This was built around 1400 as an orphanage and refuge for children in bad circumstances. It was built of limestone and other cheap materials, but is still decorated with sculpture and art done by various masters.
And of course, they went to the Accademia Gallery and saw David.
To finish the day she got to go to a cooking class and make pizza. Here's what she said about it. "Our team didn't win, but I was trying to roll out the crust to a good thinness and they were all like, 'don't overwork it' so it was super thick and sure enough it didn't cook and the chef said it was way too thick. But he was impressed with our stuffed crust."
They should have listened to her. Catherine can really cook.
May 22, 2015 TUSCANY
Still raining.
They spent the morning in the famous Uffizi gallery that houses Botticelli's, Birth of Venus and enough art by DaVinci, Raphael and others to keep anybody busy for a lifetime.
And lastly, the day finished off with a long dinner of Boar Stroganoff.
May 23, 2015 ROME
May 24, 2015 ROME
One of the many flights of stairs they took to get TO church
After "regular church" they went to the Vatican. Pentacost was being celebrated. Catherine said there was a short mass, lots of people in line and angelic singing. This is the famous St. Peters, so named because the apostle Peter is supposedly buried there.
One of the Swiss guards at the Vatican.
The Pope blessing the crowd.
Cloudy day in Rome
They saw the shrine to the first king of Italy, Victor Emmanuel II. Catherine said it is "hated by all." It's certainly controversial. It housed the tomb of the unknown soldier. But they had to destroy a large section of medieval city to build it. The style is not Roman, but boxy and 'glaringly white'. It has several nicknames, "the wedding cake," the typewriter", and pisciatoio nazional, "The national urinal."
Alas, the Trevi Fountain was closed, thus ruining Catherine's chances of becoming a super-star like Lizzie McGuire.
Inside the Pantheon is the magnificent "occulus." To celebrate Pentecost, firemen climb the outside and send rose petals through the hole.
After the Pantheon, some of her group wanted to stop for gelato; Catherine wanted to get back to the hotel to get dinner started. She gave them money to buy a gelato for her and got on a bus that she thought would stop right in front of her hotel. Nope. About four stops past where she should have gotten off, she realized she had gone way too far. She got off and was lost and the internet connection was poor, so she had to resort to using a paper map (horror!) but she found her way back.
This is some "life changing" gelato. I HOPE, when she thinks back on this trip that she'll remember the people, the art, the countryside or the architecture, but as my daughter, what she'll probably remember most is the gelato.
Tomorrow is a free day, but it sounds as though she has plans to go full blast.
May 25, 2015 ROME
No real pictures for this blog today, because we got to skype with her instead. I'm sure real pictures will come later, and I will fill them in here as she posts them.
Today was a "FREE" day, but there was still a great deal she hadn't seen, so first stop was the Spanish steps. These were built in 1720 to connect the Spanish embassy to the Trina dei Monti church, but never caught on as a religious site. From the beginning they attracted both tourists and locals.
Then she went to the Colosseum. Where she was told that, "If the Colosseum were in England it would be full of ghosts. But in Rome we have the Pope so there are no ghosts. Only the Holy Ghost."
From there to Palantine Hill, the mythical beginning of Rome where Romulus and Remus were discovered by a she-wolf.
Next to the Roman Forum. They paid extra for a skip to the front of the line pass which didn't really work, but she figured it was worth it anyway to have a good tour guide.
Then back to the Vatican to look around and visit the gift shop, where she found something for grandpa.
Still raining.
They spent the morning in the famous Uffizi gallery that houses Botticelli's, Birth of Venus and enough art by DaVinci, Raphael and others to keep anybody busy for a lifetime.
After this they had lunch and stopped for gelato at Carapina's.
These meadows were by the farmhouse where she was staying.
I love that one of Catherine's hobbies is photography. I can't wait to see her 10,000 pics when she comes home .
Next up, a bus ride to the Roman baths at Bullicame. Catherine did herself proud and jumped into the cold pool after the hot pools to seal her pores. She reckons that they (her pores) are closed for good now.
May 23, 2015 ROME
The first picture we got today was this--
I'm not sure exactly where she was. But these are supposed to be the petrified footprints of Christ. The story goes that as Peter was leaving Rome he collapsed and saw Christ who told him to go back and be crucified. The ground was petrified where the Savior stood.
Speaking of footprints, Catherine says she's averaging about 20,000 steps a day.
There was also a trip to the Bomarzo Sculpture Garden. I think I'll let Wikipedia explain this one.
The park of Bomarzo was intended not to please, but to astonish, and like many Mannerist works of art, its symbolism is arcane: examples are a large sculpture of one of Hannibal's war elephants, which mangles a Roman legionary, or the statue of Ceres lounging on the bare ground, with a vase of verdure perched on her head.
The many monstrous statues appear to be unconnected to any rational plan and appear to have been strewn almost randomly about the area, sol per sfogare il Core ("just to set the heart free") as one inscription in the obelisks says.
Allusive verses in Italian by Annibal Caro (the first one is of him, in 1564), Bitussiand Cristoforo Madruzzo, some of them now eroded, were inscribed besides sculptures.
The reason for the layout and design of the garden is largely unknown : perhaps they were meant as a foil to the perfect symmetry and layout of the great Renaissance gardens nearby at Villa Farnese and Villa Lante. Next to a formal exedra is a tilting watchtower like casina, the so-called Casa Pendente ("Leaning House").
After that they took a bus to Rome, where she had, "strange digestive water."
It doesn't seem to have had a bad effect though, because the last event of the day was another cooking class. This time with a chef Andres. Catherine said the class was fantastic. I believe her.
Today began at the Mormon church. They were 1/2 hour late and the arrival of her group stopped the service completely while more chairs were found. Ooops.
One of the many flights of stairs they took to get TO church
After "regular church" they went to the Vatican. Pentacost was being celebrated. Catherine said there was a short mass, lots of people in line and angelic singing. This is the famous St. Peters, so named because the apostle Peter is supposedly buried there.
Inside St. Peters
A painting lowered to reveal St. Ignatious
One of the Swiss guards at the Vatican.
They saw the shrine to the first king of Italy, Victor Emmanuel II. Catherine said it is "hated by all." It's certainly controversial. It housed the tomb of the unknown soldier. But they had to destroy a large section of medieval city to build it. The style is not Roman, but boxy and 'glaringly white'. It has several nicknames, "the wedding cake," the typewriter", and pisciatoio nazional, "The national urinal."
Alas, the Trevi Fountain was closed, thus ruining Catherine's chances of becoming a super-star like Lizzie McGuire.
She got to visit the Pantheon, commissioned 2,000 years ago by Marcus Agrippa. It's one of the best preserved ancient buildings because the Christians adapted it for their use.
After the Pantheon, some of her group wanted to stop for gelato; Catherine wanted to get back to the hotel to get dinner started. She gave them money to buy a gelato for her and got on a bus that she thought would stop right in front of her hotel. Nope. About four stops past where she should have gotten off, she realized she had gone way too far. She got off and was lost and the internet connection was poor, so she had to resort to using a paper map (horror!) but she found her way back.
They had dinner at "home" and time to do some laundry.
May 25, 2015 ROME
No real pictures for this blog today, because we got to skype with her instead. I'm sure real pictures will come later, and I will fill them in here as she posts them.
Today was a "FREE" day, but there was still a great deal she hadn't seen, so first stop was the Spanish steps. These were built in 1720 to connect the Spanish embassy to the Trina dei Monti church, but never caught on as a religious site. From the beginning they attracted both tourists and locals.
Then she went to the Colosseum. Where she was told that, "If the Colosseum were in England it would be full of ghosts. But in Rome we have the Pope so there are no ghosts. Only the Holy Ghost."
From there to Palantine Hill, the mythical beginning of Rome where Romulus and Remus were discovered by a she-wolf.
Next to the Roman Forum. They paid extra for a skip to the front of the line pass which didn't really work, but she figured it was worth it anyway to have a good tour guide.
Then back to the Vatican to look around and visit the gift shop, where she found something for grandpa.
Along the way she came across a street vendor selling scarves (aggressive street vendors there) for "only one euro!". She thought she'd buy a couple and was looking at them, when the vendor asked where she was from? She replies, "America." Whereupon the scarf seller tells her, "Give your money to Bush then." and walks off!
After this "easy" day (only 16,000 steps), she went back to her rooms. They said that they would only service the rooms every four days to conserve the environment, so she left her underwear and the pile of nutella packets that she's been hoarding from breakfasts, strewn all over the bed. Naturally, the maid service DID come today and make the bed. This shows me that the world works basically the same way no matter where you go.
She had a few hours to relax at the hotel, skype with us, and maybe snooze before finishing off the day with an 8:00 party with her group.
On the next day the group traveled to Dubrovnik. Those pictures can be found under Study Abroad 3 Dubrovnik, Bosnia
No comments:
Post a Comment