Monday, November 21, 2011

Verona

Juliet's Balcony

Grafitti at Juliet's House

From Ponte Aleardi

Friday, October 14, 2011

Lazy Day


Today is the beginning of our first legitimate weekend at the Villa. Many people skipped breakfast due to a late night of celebrating the finale of the Art History course (a Jeopardy-esque type game/test thing). Then Melissa and I went back to bed until about noon when I decided to go read outside. But instead of reading I ended up chatting with my professors, which was equally diverting and much more educational. The majority of people left at around 10:30 this morning to go spend the day at the nearby lake, so it has been a very quiet day here at Villa Pieve.

Melissa and I just bought our rail passes for our travel week. Besides ourselves, our roommate Lauren is going on the adventure, making it all the merrier! Our goal is to attend as many cities as possible within our ten day pass, while still seeing what we want to and consuming some amount of sleep. Most likely we will be sleeping on the trains every night and resuming our diets of inexpensive gelatto and pizza. It will no doubt be a memorable experience no matter how it ends up!

Hopefully my computer charger will arrive this week and I will be able to finally post the photos I promised as well as blog on a more regular basis!

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Flower Town

One of my favorite things about Hotel Maxim is that there are computers with free internet in the lobby, which makes typing my blogs much easier than it would be on my Kindle (thanks Mom for sending my computer charger!). The next best thing is that it is serve yourself breakfast, so I can take a couple extra rolls for my lunch. There are also clotheslines strung across the courtyard (Mom: I have already done laundry twice), but unfortunately it does not reach our window.

Today is our first full day in Florence (or "Firenze" to the locals) and it is already so much different from Roma. We ate lunch in a park that actually had grass and there were dogs bigger than footballs meandering around with their owners. A couple of times I have seen the same random person more than once, and the crowds are practically nonexistent except around Santa Maria del Fiore.

That is what our main focus was today, the cathedral. It is less than 100 yards from our hotel (which is right next door to the Disney store), so we have already passed by it a dozen times in our wanderings through the city. This morning we visited Opera di Santa Maria del Fiore, a museum filled with pieces of the church. Most of the pieces are the originals of what is currently on the church and others are pieces that are significant. I spent a few minutes sketching Michelangelo's Pietà, which he intended to be his funeral monument. The wooden Mary Magdalene is also in the museum, she has such long hair!

We just returned from the actual church. It opened at 1:30 (ish) and we spent around half an hour or forty five minutes there. Unlike the extravagant exterior, it is rather plain inside. The famous dome has a great mural on the inside, but I think that I prefer the exterior. Though my favorite part is probably the two large tapestries that have horses on them (surprise surprise). The riders' legs are further back than almost everything else that I have seen on this trip, but there is still not that perfect line of building blocks (read Sally Swift's Centered Riding for more info). The horses themselves were rather stout creatures with ample muscling and a thick neck and legs. They were definitely not used as jumpers!

It sounds like gelatto is on the dinner menu for tonight. Several places here serve their gelatto on Belgian waffles (which I have been craving). Other than that we will probably just walk around and find our next hangout spot.

Friday, September 30, 2011

The City Within a City

Vatican City. Home of the leader of the Catholics and men dressed in renaissance costumes. But besides there being a bit of a time lapse in their fashion sense the Vatican has much to offer its thousands of daily visitors. The walk from our hotel was only about fifteen minutes (much shorter than the previous day's walk to Villa Borghese) and our first sight was St. Peter' Basilica. It was just as grand as I remember it being when I was just a few days short of twelve, but it did carry a different aire now that I have some learned some more background thanks to my highschool AP Euro class.

Our tour started in the museum of the city where we all wandered apart into various groups almost immediatly. Melissa J. and I meandered through the day with Professor Mark Moak and his wife, Rhett. Even though he stopped to take about a thousand photos throughout the seven hours that we explored, sticking with them was an invaluable resource. If we had a question one of them would often know the answer or be just as curious and help us seek out the answer.

In the various rooms we saw a wide variety of art. There was everything from Etruscan horse bits to paintings by Dali and Matisse to The School of Athens. It was absolutely mindblowing being within an elbow reach of some of the most well known art pieces in the entire world. It is not until I was actually in the Papal Apartments that I realized just how large the murals were.

St. Peter's was just as I remembered it. Since I had visited before I knew exactly what I wanted to see again. Among the various Beninni pieces (what in Rome did this guy not sculpt?) I was in search of the Unicorn. I believe that there is only one in the basilica and I remember her from my previous visit. It took awhile, but she was even more magnificent than my memory held.

Even though we were there for seven hours there was so much that we did not see. I guess that means I will have to come back again!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

The True Texas

Today we visited the Capitoline Museum, which is the home of the real Lupa Capitolina. She had a whole room dedicated to her and it was magnificent from ceiling to floor. The remainder of the day I noticed quite a few depictions of her throughout the city. I also aw this gigantic sculpture of Marcus Aurilius on his horse, it took up a fair portion of the room.
Later in the day (after a lovely nap and a lunch of bread and candy corn) we went to theTrevi Fountain, which I had only seen at night the last time that I was here in Rome. Of course the two horses (especially the more wild looking one) were my favorite part ofthe sculpture. It is hard to imagine carving all of tha stone and moving it to the location for instalation. Like Texas, everything is bigger in Rome. The building provide shade for the streets themaority of the day, the sculptures are never less than life size, and painting require entire walls.
On a side note: we found a small grocery store today at which I bought some bread for dinner. I have now had a fair share of pizza and bread, now  just need to find an inexpensive plate of pasta. Maybe  will treat myself to some for my birthday on Tuesday.

Saturday, September 24, 2011

When in Rome ... Facebook

Upon arriving in our hotel with the group what is the first thing that we did? We all checked our Facebook pages. That is when I realized that forgot my computer charger. This is a bit of a tragedy because my computer battery is fried and lasts all of half an hour. And how am I blogging you ask? I am on my Kindle. It is just a step above typing it out on my cell phone. So please excuse any typos tht will inevitably be present. Oh well, better than nothing.
For lunch we went over to the little cafe on the corner of the block. The server was vey nive and did his best to help us order and split the check half a dozen ways. Melissa and I splita pizza that was pretty good; all of our group had pizza.
We ran into another student while we were trying to find an art supply store and thankfully she knew of one. Unfortunately the shop was closed, so we went and got gelatto instead. Te gelatto shop was packed to the gills, but it was worth the short wait.
Tonight the entire group is going out to pizza before a big day of touring.
Later I will have to post about my airport adventure.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Tomorrow, Tomorrow

In about nine hours I will start my day long travel to Roma. I managed to pack everything into my backpack that is about 2/3 of my height (yes, I am aware that is not saying much), so now I will look like a legit college travel bum. If TSA tries to explore it will undoubtedly explode all over their counter, but repacking it will then become their problem.
I am bringing various items entertain myself with. Last night Mom and I finished making a snazzy cover for my Kindle, which is loaded with a couple hundred books, a couple of games, and a calender. My phone battery is charged, so I can update my Facebook while I am still in the country. At current I assembling various playlists for my iPod to keep my ears entertained and give me the excuse to not have to converse with my fellow travelers at the crack of dawn. Hopefully some of my airports will have WiFi, allowing me to catch up on my shows via Hulu (Modern Family anyone?).
It looks like the rest of my Montana Alliance travelers are just as thrilled as I am to get this goat and pony show on the road! I hope that you will find some amusement in following my blog and that you feel as if you are traveling vicariously through me.

Possa la vostra sella non scivolare!
Becca

Monday, September 19, 2011

Three Days

~I just finished calling my banks to let them know that I will be out of the country for a couple of months. It would be quite inconvenient if my debit cards were frozen while I am abroad, but now I don't have to worry about it!
~Today I'll finish up some laundry and weigh my suitcase. Then I will probably repack the entire thing while simultaneously creating playlists for my iPod. Tonight mom and I will make my Kindle a case so I don't have to lug it around in its cardboard box anymore.
~My horse is all squared away at home with a dear friend (you're the best Tamara!).
~Tomorrow I'll go exchange for some euros so I have some for when I reach Italy.

There is probably more that I should do, but it currently escapes me.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

One Week

In seven days I will be leaving for Italy. My suitcase is (mostly) packed and my paperwork is all in order. I'm ready to blow this popsicle stand!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Less Than Two Weeks

In a rather short span of time I shall embark on my next grand adventure. Two weeks from last Thursday I will leave the comfort of my own home for an eight week quest for knowledge 5,748 miles away. My total travel time to arrive in Rome is nearly 25 hours (but only if I do not change my watch) and includes four airports.Have I started packing? No. I am still fairly unsure as to what I should haul over with me. At this point I plan on bringing a regular sized backpack and a medium sized rolling suitcase. Packing will commence next week.
I shall keep this blog up to date during my travels, though I foresee video blogs being prevalent. There is a possibility that I will go for a certain theme, but most likely I will be lazy and just write/vlog about whatever I find to be interesting at the given time. If you have any questions or other such comments, feel free to send them on to me!