Gates Orientation: the Lake District

Hi Everyone!

I guess I haven't written for quite some time, since almost immediately after I arrived here in Cambridge I left to go on orientation with the other Gates Scholars.  We went up to the Lake District which is a beautiful part of northern England that has been inspiring writers and artists for years.  We were super lucky, as the weather held pretty well (no rain until we left!) and outdoor activities were therefore really enjoyable.  We went on nature walks, hiking, and some people even went rock climbing and kayaking.  We also tried to do some more cultural events, like visiting Beatrix Potter's house (remember Peter Rabbit?) and the Wordsworth cottage, but those were less successful, mostly because of the difficulty of navigating a huge coach bus around tiny English roads.

The most exciting part of the weekend though, had basically nothing to do with what we were doing and everything to do with who we were meeting.  I was pretty apprehensive about the whole meeting new people thing, especially since I haven't done it on this scale since the beginning of college, and since, as I recall, it was pretty miserable then.  This was completely different.  It actually felt like a huge version of RC training, without the training part, just the hanging out part.  The other scholars are absolutely amazing.  I dont know what I expected, but I definitely did not expect everyone to be so wonderful and down-to-earth.  Everyone here is pretty brilliant, and many people are already well-established in careers, but they are so excited about what they do and so interested in learning about new ideas and subjects outside their area of expertise.  I've had conversations with people this weekend about everything from the history of science, to archeology, to geology, to how EEGs work, to literature and people aren't even being pretentious, they really are just interested in these things!  And yes, we did do traditional "fun stuff" too, like going to the local pub (a lot).

I think one thing that surprised me the most is how many scholars are a little bit farther along in their lives than I am.  While there are a fair number of students straight out of college, a lot of people have been spending the past few years working at exciting jobs or getting degrees in the States.  Many people are married or engaged, and some even have kids (adorable kids!!).  It is fun, and really interesting to get the perspective of these people, especially when we have conversations about things like gender roles in different countries (Saturday night) and how to balance a career as a woman in science with wanting to raise a family (yesterday afternoon).

Another thing I've been learning about, that I'll probably go into more detail on later, is the college system here.  People from places like Yale (there are a bunch of yalies here), are familiar with this type of system already, but since Amherst was so tiny, it's completely new to me.  Each college has its own personality, and each has traditions and stereotypes and odd quirks and fun historical facts.  I feel a little sad that I didn't pick my college more carefully.  Everything I've heard about Churchill is that it is a great place to be a graduate student, but I feel like being at such a new college does have its disadvantages in terms of all of the great historical stuff.  It does have it's upsides though, especially in housing, which is apparently much better here than elsewhere, and from what I saw tonight, the food is pretty good.  It is a little far away, but I'll be getting a bike soon hopefully, and the one big advantage is that it is a really international college.  There are also tons of Gates people here, so that has already been nice.  And I just met one of my house-mates for the year.  She is from Berlin and seems super sweet as well, so socially thing are looking promising.  Also, apparently we have really good parties here at Churchill.  That's scientists for you...

Sadly, I dont actually haven any pictures from the weekend because in the anxiety of packing 6 pairs of socks to make sure I had enough if some got wet, I forgot my camera.  But I will hopefully be getting pictures from other people and I'll post them as soon as I get them!

Settling in on Storey's Way

It's been something like two days since I last posted and in those two days I've moved myself and 100 lbs of luggage from Italy to Cambridge, seen the city and the University for the first time, moved into what will be my house for the next year, bought essentials, and generally started nesting on Storey's Way.

Not much needs be said about my trip from Italy, except that it was ridiculously long (about 11 hours altogether) and pretty uncomfortable.  However, I didn't care so much once I got to England.  When you go abroad, they tell you that the first part of the trip is like a "honeymoon."  Well, that's what it's like right now.

Number one, I love being able to speak English and talk to random people on the train or at the college.  I don't know why, but everyone is really nice.  Like really really nice and polite and British.  I met a girl on the train who wrote down for me every department store she could think of in Cambridge to help me find a place to get sheets, and last night when I came too late to go to the dining halls, some girls living in my house basically made dinner for me.  Plus the whole College staff is really welcoming and wonderful, so I can't help but be excited to be here.

I was kind of apprehensive about my housing situation here.  I knew I would be living in a "hostel" but had no idea what that entailed.  Turns out that this means a really cute house with six bedrooms, a dining room, a kitchen, a washer/dryer combo machine, and a garden in the back that has apple and pear trees.  While most of Churchill College is, sorry to say, hideously ugly, my house is nice and brick and looks like a little English cottage.  My room is really nice and actually pretty big (lots of space for visitors!).  I have all of the usual stuff (bed, desk etc.) but also a reading chair and a sink, so it is a pretty nice set up.  The only disadvantage I can see is that it is quite far from the center of town (about 30 min walk).  There is a bus though and I think I'll likely get a bike while I'm here.

So last night was mostly spent nesting (i.e., putting up tons of pictures) and sleeping after my epic travel day.  But today I realized that I needed a lot of stuff (towels, sheets, etc.) so I walked into town to explore what they had.  It was great to get to see a little of the "old Cambridge" and walk by the gorgeous gothic colleges (Kings, Trinity etc.).  I thought that everything would seem super different (different shops etc.) but actually I was surprised by the amount of cross-over.  There are GAPs and Starbucks here, and even an Apple Store (which charged me a ridiculous amount of money for a new charger).

The only drawback I can see so far is the weather.  I went from sunny, gorgeous, 80-degree Italy to freezing, rainy England.  And it's only September!  Now I know why they drink so much tea here.  It's the only way to get warm.  The food is also not the best.  I went to the store today to get some basics, and bought pasta and pesto sauce, because it is probably the easiest thing to make.  But it turned out to really not be very good (compounded by the fact that I just left Italy, the land of pasta).  I think I'll do better the more cooking I'm able to do by myself.  I'm lucky because the kitchen is basically well equipped.  There are pots and pans and a water heater and a toaster all belonging to the house, so I dont need to buy too much besides the actual food supplies.  I think it will take a while to learn how to best cook here, but I'm feeling pretty optimistic right now.

So that's a quick update of what I've been doing.  Tomorrow I'll set up a British bank account and hopefully buy the rest of my essentials before I go on an Orientation retreat with other students on my scholarship.  We're going to the Lake District (think Pride and Prejudice), and I was really excited until I learned that it will probably be even colder and wetter there, and now I'm kind of nervous.  But I think it will be nice to get to know the other scholars.  I'll post some pictures of Cambridge as well as the retreat probably after we get back!

Last Day in Italy

So, today was my last day here in Florence.  Tomorrow I get on a plane and fly back to the UK and the name of this blog will finally make sense, as "Clare" will actually be "in Cambridge" tomorrow night.

I was planning on going to Siena today, but decided not to, mostly because I needed to figure out how to pack all of my stuff back into one little backpack, and I thought (correctly) that this would take quite a while.  I considered going to try and get into the Accademia (where they have David) late in the afternoon, but the line was so long that I decided I didn't really care and got gelato instead. I'll go next time I'm here.

Next time I'm here.... It feels kind of strange to be thinking like that when only a year ago whether I would even be able to be in Europe this year was completely up in the air.  I've had a great time here these past couple of weeks, but I think that I still feel like I'm on vacation.  It may take a while until it feels entirely real that I am here to stay for at least a year!

So, all in all, my trip to Italy has been wonderful.  I've gotten to see a ton of amazing art, eat a ton of food and gelato, walk around a beautiful old city and be (for a little while at least) part of a great Italian family.  This trip has been a great re-introduction to Europe.  I remember things that I used to love about Italy as a kid (once again, the food) but I've also been able to engage with it in a new way since I'm in a different place in my life than when I was here last (7 years ago!).

I'm not sure if I'll feel the same way about England since I've only been there briefly, but I do know taking this vacation has made me feel a lot more comfortable about my ability to live on my own in a foreign country for a year, and now I'm excited to get on to Cambridge!!!

Pisa (not only the Leaning Tower)

Today I finally ventured out of Florence and visited Pisa, which is about an hour away by train.  Navigating the train scheduling and ticket processing was a little bit of an adventure, but I figured it out in the end and was in Pisa by 1:00.

The reason most people go to Pisa is to see the leaning tower.  And I saw it.  It leans.  Wow.

However, the area around the tower, called the "Field of Miracles" is actually much more interesting than the tower itself.  Back in the olden days (like around 1200), Pisa was a huge port city and naval powerhouse.  The field of miracles was built in order to show the people who flocked to Pisa from all over the world how impressive a city it was.  The main focus of the square is Pisa's own Duomo (the "Leaning Tower" was actually meant to be the bell tower for the church).  However, in 1284 the Pisa navy was defeated by Genoa and the power of the city declined dramatically, with only its field of Miracles and its University as its claims to fame.

The sites on the square are in an architectural style that is unique to Pisa, and often called "Pisan Romanesque."  While most Romanesque architecture can feel really heavy these buildings are a lot lighter, with a smattering of everything: rows of thing columns, Gothic gables, an geometric designs inspired by mosques from the Muslim lands whose traders came to Pisa.  The buildings are gorgeous, and the style is interestingly different from what I've been seeing in Florence.

Here are some pictures.  The Baptistry is on the left, the Duomo on the right:

So, while Pisa is a tourist trap for the tower, I found going to the other sites a lot more enjoyable.  The tower is cool, but after a while watching the billionth tourist take a picture where they are fake-propping up the tower gets really really old.  So instead of climbing the tower for 15 euros, I spent 10 and got a combination ticket to every other site on the square, including the Baptistry, the Duomo, the Camposanto Cemetery, the Duomo Museum, and the Sinopia Museum.  The only one I didn't go to was the Sinopia Museum (Sinopias are original sketches for frescos.  They let both the artist and the patron see what they were getting before laying the plaster).

BAPTISTRY:

The Baptistry was awesome.  Yes it has a pulpit by Nicola Pisano (sometimes called the "Giotto of sculpture") and sure, that was cool.  But the really neat thing is the acoustics.  Echos hold for about 10 seconds within the building, so if you can sing three notes in 10 seconds, they will make a chord.  Every half hour, a security guard comes in and demonstrates this.  I stayed long enough to watch it twice it was so cool!

CEMETERY:

The Camposanto Cemetery is on one side of the square.  It is a beautiful building and has a gorgeous courtyard inside.  It was neat to walk around and look at all of the sarcophagi and plaques on the floor marking tombs.  Each one had the coat of arms of the person buried there, and it was fun to see all of the different houses.  A lot of them are damaged though, because the building was bombed during WWII, and the lead melted off the roof, damaging a lot of the floor.  The walls are lined with frescos, and they even have the chains that used to hang at the harbor mouth in Pisa.  When Pisa was defeated, Genoa took the chains and gave them to Pisa's archrival, Florence.  After reunification they were returned as a gesture of goodwill.  All in all, the cemetery was interesting and most of all relaxing, especially considering it was a really hot day and this gave me an opportunity to hang out in the shade!

From left to right: the outside of the cemetery, the inside courtyard, and the chains from the harbor:

DUOMO + MUSEUM:

I'm not going to lie, I liked the inside of the Pisa Duomo more than the one in Florence.  The nave is made of up a huge row of striped marble columns, and there is a huge Byzantine-style mosaic over the altar.  There is also a pulpit by Giovanni Pisano (son of Nicola).  Finally they have "Galileo's lamp", or the incense burner whose pendulum-like swing was supposed to have inspired a young Galileo (professor at the University of Pisa!).  They also have the mummified body of Pisa's patron, St. Ranieri. More relics...

I also visited the museum, where many of the original sculptures from the facade of the Duomo are kept. Most of the important works are statues by the Pisanos.  They also have a lovely courtyard that has a nice view of the tower.

    

So overall my day in Pisa was lovely.  It was nice to get out of Florence and see the surrounding area, but once I got off the train at Santa Maria Novella, I was happy to be back.  I can't believe I'm leaving so soon!

Pontassieve

Today was a lovely slow, relaxing day, especially after all of the frenzied museum-going.  We drove out to a relative's house in the country in the town of Pontassieve (well, actually the live on a hill above the town near the church of San Martino a Quona) in order to celebrate the birthday of this family's daughter.  The countryside was gorgeous and it was nice to be out of the city for while.  Almost no one spoke English, something that I'm starting to get used to, although it is frustrating and I just wish that I was better able to communicate in Italian.  Otherwise, the food was amazing (mixed veggies and a sort of zucchini quiche), the weather gorgeous, and overall I had a great time. This family makes their own jam, so I was given a bottle of it (Fig marmalade) to take with me to England! YUM!

Here are some pictures from where they live:

Uffizi

Today was exhausting, but not because I did a million things, like on Duomo day.  In fact, I did one thing today: go to the Uffizi Gallery.  The Uffizi used to be the offices of the Medicis when they ruled Florence (actually, Uffizi in Italian means "office"). It has probably the world's best collection of Italian painting, and I think it was the part of this trip that I was most excited about.  It didn't disappoint.

So that I didn't have wait in the hour plus long line to get tickets, I'd reserved my tickets online in advance. This meant that I only had to wait in the 20 minute long line before I could get in to see the art.  I had also downloaded a podcast tour of the galleries by the author of my guidebook.  While the book is amazing and incredibly informative, it gets annoying having to look down at the book then back up at the painting.  With the audiotour, I could both listen and look at the same time, and it made the visit a lot more enjoyable.

The tour started with pre-Renaissance works (mostly Madonna and Child's) by Giotto, Duccio and Chimabue, all artists who began (sometimes not very successfully) to show Madonnas as real people inhabiting real spaces.  At the same time, these works were really flat and often quite stylized, which set them apart from the Renaissance works to follow.

From the beginning to middle of the Renaissance there were really gorgeous works by Fra Fillipo Lippi, Botticelli, and Leonardo.  They have there Botticelli's famous Birth of Venus and also his Allegory of Spring, both works that show the transition from religious to classical subject matter (although after the rise of Savanarola in Florence, Botticelli became focused once again on religious themes).  Finally, they had Da Vinci's Annunciation, a less well known work, but a great one nonetheless.  While it was kind of frustrating to view these works amid the throngs of tourists and tour groups (during this trip I've developed a healthy loathing of organized tour groups), I was still thrilled to be able to see these masterpieces!

Unfortunately, a lot of the works were either in restoration or on loan to other museums for special exhibitions.  Because of this, I didn't get to see as much of the Northern Renaissance works as I would have liked.  I did see a copy of Durer's Adam and Eve (likely completed by a student), but Cranach's representation of the same scene was absent.  sad : (

Moving on to the High Renaissance, the museum has works by Michelangelo, Raphael, and Titian.  In fact, they have the only easel painting in the world by Michelangelo, showing the holy family.  While I saw a lot of Raphael at the Pitti Palace, it never gets old, and his Madonna of the Goldfinch was probably one of my favorite works I saw today! There were also a bunch of works by Titian and the other painters of the Venetian Renaissance, some of which I remembered from an exhibition in Boston a couple of years ago.  It was fun reencountering works like the Venus Di Urbino after having studied them in class.

Finally, the rest of the galleries have works of the end of the Renaissance and beginning of the Baroque. I was pretty tired by this point (after 3 hours in the museum), so I just browsed.  They had Parmigianino's Madonna of the Long Neck, which was fun to see, and a couple of nice portraits by Rembrandt.  After such a long day of looking at great art, I was content to just sit on the rooftop terrace of the museum cafe and enjoy the beautiful views of the next-door Palazzo Vecchio and the Duomo:

    

After coming home and chilling out for a few hours, we went out to dinner again, this time to the place where the daughter of this family (the one who is going to Spain) works.  It is a cute trattoria near the Duomo, and even though it is now pouring rain, it was a really fun outing.  I'm absolutely loving the food here and I dont know what I'll do when I get to England (a country not well known for its cuisine) and can't eat pasta, pizza, and gelato every day!

Anyways, the next couple of days (before I leave on Wednesday!) should be a little calmer.  Tomorrow we are going to a large birthday party/family reunion in the countryside, and on Monday and Tuesday I'm planning on doing day trips to Siena and Pisa to explore more of the surrounding area.

Boboli Gardens, Piazzale Michelangelo, San Miniato, and a lot of Food

Ok, so the weather has been not so nice here for the last couple of days.  I heard that it was supposed to rain on Friday, so I decided to do probably the least suitable activity and go visit the Boboli Gardens.  To compensate, I wore long pants and brought my rain jacket in case it should pour.

It didn't rain.  But it was super hot and humid and the gardens are a huge hill.  So basically I was sweaty and miserable and preyed on by mosquitos throughout the whole thing.  Probably my least enjoyable day yet in Florence.  The gardens were nice, and the pictures look a lot better than the experience was.  They did have great views of the city, and some beautiful fountains and landscaping, but other than that I was just too uncomfortable to really care.

Here are some pictures though:

    

But the rest of the day completely made up for a not so nice beginning.  For lunch, I decided to go to a place that my Italian friends had recommended.  It was an amazing pizza place on the other side of the river called Gusto Pizza.  The pizza was amazing (the first I've had here, actually), and the tables were really cute.  They were wine barrels with glass over the top and inside people had put their receipts and napkins with comments written all over them.  I wish I'd had a pen!

After my lunch I went "home" because it was gross out and I really had nothing I wanted to do.  The mom of the family I'm staying with was going out and she offered to take me to Piazzale Michelangelo, which is a terrace that offers some of the best views of the city.  Of course I said yes, and even though it was raining a little, it was still gorgeous!

    

Then, since we were already in the area, we went to San Miniato Church.  St. Minias (the church's namesake) was beheaded on the banks of the Arno.  He apparently then picked up his head and walked up the hill to the current site of the church.  He died there and was buried in the cemetery (the first Christian cemetery in Florence).  The church kind of represents the transition from the Medieval to the Renaissance.  The facade is in the Romanesque style, but the tabernacle inside is classic Renaissance panels by Della Robbia.  There is also a crypt, which we didn't have time to enter since the church was closing.  The church is home to the Benedictine order, whose motto is "ora et labora" (pray and work).

Here's the facade (while pictures were allowed inside, it was too dark to get good ones as it was the end of the day) and the view from the church:

    

Finally, since the daughter of the family that I'm staying with is leaving to go to school in Spain, we went out for dinner to a really awesome vegetarian restaurant.  The place is self-service, so it was kind of chaotic finding a table, but the food was amazing!  I had pasta with melanzana (eggplant).  I dont know why, but the eggplant here (really all the veggies) are so so much better than in the US.  They're probably fresher or Italians just know how to cook them.  But regardless it was great.

So that was my day.  A rough start at the Boboli Gardens, an amazing lunch of pizza, a trip up to Piazzale Michelangelo and San Miniato, and a great vegetarian dinner!

The Oltrarno: Pitti Palace, and the Brancacci Chapel

I've been thinking recently about the state of my Italian (basically non-existent except for a strange smattering of words I remember from when I was a kid).  I realized that 90% of the words that I know have to do with food and 10% have to do with numbers and money.  And I think that is kind of a breakdown of my life here.  I spend some money, see some art, and eat some food.  It's pretty wonderful.

Today I decided to leave my little tourist comfort zone that basically extends from the Duomo to the Palazzo Vecchio and cross the bridge to the other (oltre) side of the river (the Arno).  The area is a lot less touristy and gives you a much better sense of what day to day life is like for real Florentines.  

The main art attraction in the Oltrarno is the Pitti Palace.  It used to be the home of the Medicis, was taken over by Napoleon, was subsequently returned to Florentine control and was the equivalent of the White House when Florence was the capital, and now it is a fantastic museum (or rather museum complex).  There is tons and tons of stuff to see here.  Besides the Palatine Gallery and the Royal Apartments (which is what I saw today) there is a Modern Art Museum, a Porcelain Museum, and huge Gardens (the Boboli Gardens).  I'm hoping to go back another day to see the gardens.  They are apparently amazing and are said to have been used as a model for Versailles.

One of the annoying things about museums here is that they have one price for the actual museum, but then they raise the prince to include "special exhibits" which you cannot opt out of.  Normally this is totally frustrating, because who cares about this random exhibit.  Today it made me happy though, because right now there is a joint special exhibit at both the Pitti Palace and the Uffizi (Saturday) on Caravaggio.  Since Caravaggio worked mostly in Rome, I figured I wouldn't see much of his paintings here.  But Florence apparently has a large collection, so it was a great special exhibit for me.  The even had "Bacchus," which was studied in class!

The rest of the museum is basically one High Renaissance treasure after another.  Starting out a little earlier, they have a beautiful Madonna and Child by Fra Filippo Lippi (yes!), two by Botticelli, and a bunch by Raphael (absolutely stunning).  There is also a really famous Raphael portrait that was amazing as well.  Finally there were a couple of really nice Titian paintings.  At the end of the painting galleries, there are a few of the Royal Apartments open to view.  These are basically huge, opulent, color coordinated rooms where the royalty of Florence used to life.

After the museum, I met my friend (the daughter of this family again) for lunch.  She took me to this amazing little cafe where I had great open-faced sandwiches with melanzana (eggplant) and brie.  YUM! Then she made me try my first espresso.  I actually didn't find it as horrible as I expected (since I hate things that are bitter and this is really strong).  As your probably know, however,  I'm not at all used to drinking coffee, so I was on a huge buzz (think shaky hands and heart palpitations) for the rest of the day. 

To round out my day, I went over to the Brancacci Chapel (inside the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine).  This chapel was painted with frescos by Massaccio, and is something that I studied a lot so I was really excited to see it.  He was really the first person to start depicting humans as humans, with real, heavy, corporeal bodies and intense emotion.  He also was one of the first to work with perspective.  But what future Renaissance painters did using math, he did intuitively.  

Before you view the chapel, they have you watch a really cheesy 40 minute film.  Then you're only allowed to stay in the chapel for 15 minutes.  I really didn't feel like I had enough there, but I guess it was nice just to see it.  As photography was allowed (and this post is horribly devoid of photographs), here are some of the scenes:

From left to right: Adam and Eve expelled from the garden, the Tribute Money, and Peter Baptizing Converts

    

After that I walked back across the Ponte Vecchio (most famous bridge here), window shopping at all of the gold and silver jewelry stores.  I got a gelato at a place near the Uffizi and continued to wander around.  But it was not idle wandering.  I was on a mission to find the cheapest postcards and a little leather bag.  I was so proud of myself because I found what I was convinced had to be a steal for postcards.  Sadly, later in the day I found even cheaper ones.  Blech.

The bag story is a little more complicated.  I knew the kind I want (they sell them everywhere, in stores and on the street).  You've got to figure that something they sell on the street for half the price is fake.  But it's not a brand anyone would recognize anyway, so why do I care.  As I wandered, I asked merchants how much their bags cost (Quanto costa, see, money and food).  Most would just answer me and I would move on.  But one guy was really persistent, and I'll admit that I caved to the pressure.  My (not at all faked) reticence to buy and my desire to move on and come back later did negotiate a lower price for me though, so I don't feel too bad about my lack of will-power.  Oh well, I did need it and it wasn't that expensive...

Now I'm all caught up! Yay! I'll probably fall right behind again, but for now I feel productive, albeit incredibly tired.  I think I'm going to take it a little more easy for the next few days.  Saturday is Uffizi day, which I'm super excited about.  Sunday there is a family birthday party in the country, which should be fun.  I still need to find a time to go to the Accademia, and the Gardens, and I'll likely do a couple of day trips.  I'll post more updates when I decide for sure!  

PS: Last call of addresses.  I'll be sending postcards in the next couple of days and I have a few extra!!

Bargello, Santa Croce, the Leather School, and Cute Cafes

After my intensely tiring Duomo Day, I slept in a little too much on Wednesday morning and therefore got a late start.  I'd made plans with the daughter of the family that I'm staying with to go to Santa Croce in the afternoon, so I decided to spend what was left of the morning at the Bargello Museum.  Everyone I've talked to, when I told them I was going to Florence, has insisted that I visit the Bargello, so I was excited to go see what all the hype was about.

The Bargello Museum has a pretty neat story actually.  It is a sculpture museum, but it was originally a police station and then a prison.  It looks a little bit like a mini Palazzo Vecchio.  Inside it are some of the most important sculptures in Florence, including Michelangelo's "Bacchus" and "Brutus,"  Donatello's "David," and the original contest reliefs for the Door of Paradise by Ghiberti and Brunelleschi, showing the "Sacrifice of Isaac."  It was great to see such amazing works, but I'm beginning to come to the conclusion that I'm just not as "into" sculpture as I am painting.  While it is fun to see these works that I know a lot about, I enjoy much more looking at paintings and frescos.  There was also a lot of works out for conservation when I was at the museum (the entire second floor was closed) so I feel like I missed out on a lot of the experience (Verrocchio's "David," for example, was absent).

Anyways, here's a picture of the courtyard of the Bargello:

After that I grabbed a quick lunch from a sandwich place suggested by my book.  Nothing fancy, but it was nice to not have to sit at a restaurant and instead find a place to eat in the middle of the city.  I found this nice square that had a gorgeous carousel, which made me happy!

After that I made my way over to Santa Croce, another church to meet my friend and see the tombs of all of Florence's most famous citizens.  They have the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli, to name a few.  There's also a memorial for Dante (though his remains are elsewhere) and other graves of Italian poets.  While Michelangelo had actually begun a sculpture for his own grave (I talked about it when I visited the Duomo Museum) and therefore likely had an idea of what he wanted it to look like, this monument was conceived of, and the frescos done by Vasari.

Here are some tomb pictures, Michelangelo's on the left and Galileo's on the right:

         

There are also two gorgeous chapels within the church, one that has Giotto frescos and one that has Gaddi frescos.  Giotto shows the death of St. Francis and Gaddi various episodes of the life of Mary.  In the church there is also a fantastic bas-relief by Donatello showing the "Annunciation" (yep, lots of "Annunciations", lots of "Madonna and Child"s, lots of "Crucifixtions." It's Renaissance art!).  Finally, there is an entire chapel designed by Brunelleschi.  Interestingly, this chapel has the same night sky astronomical scene painted on it as in the "New Sacristy" in San Lorenzo (remember July 4, 1442?).  This made me curious, so I looked up 1442 on Wikipedia.  The closest thing they have is that on July 3, 1442, Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado of Japan was born.  I think that's definitely it.

Anyways, here is Donatello's relief and the Brunelleschi chapel:

 

Behind Santa Croce is the leather school, where artisans have been working since World War II.  It was fun to look at all of the gorgeous work (much of it, sadly, way too expensive for me to afford).  Window shopping, I have found, is always fun.

After Santa Croce, my friend took me to this adorable cafe that was a little off the beaten track (a relief after spending all my time around other tourists).  The cafe was in a garden surrounded by a modern art bookshop.  It was nice just to hang out and talk and escape the intensity of the city.  I, yet again, feel really lucky that I have the opportunity to stay with Italian friends and get a sense not only of all the art and touristy places but also of the real city.

Duomo Day (and other things)

I have been procrastinating from writing this post because I am still so tired from what I did on

Tuesday's Duomo Day!  Luckily, I just figured out that I can look at a "stats" page for this blog and see how many people are visiting and when during the day they come, so that have provided quite a bit of procrastination fodder.  To the 21 people who looked at my blog today, you are my true friends.  Or, to the one person who looked at my blog 21 times, you are either my mother, or you need to get a job.

Anyways, Tuesday was beautiful so I decided that it would be the day I did probably the most physically demanding thing on my list of tourist activities: climbing the Duomo's Dome.  My guidebook (shout out to Rick Steves, it really is an amazing book) said that it wasn't worth it to do the climb (it is 463 some odd steps) but I really wanted to do it, so I decided today was the day.  However, when I arrived at the Duomo, the line was super long, so I figured that I would come back in the afternoon.

To pass the time until my torturous climb, I did other things around the Duomo.  First, I went to the Duomo Museum, which has all of the originals for many of the statues that were on the Duomo and the famous Doors of Paradise to the Baptistry.  They have a gorgeous Michelangelo Pieta (which is unfinished and which apparently he designed for his own tomb, more on that later).  They also have two of the old choir balconies from the Duomo, one designed by Donatello, one by Della Robbia.  I really liked the Della Robia one.  Apparently he knew that he would never be able to top it, so after that starting working more in terra cotta which is usually what he's known for.  They also have the original panels from the Campanile (or bell tower).  These were designed by Giotto, but likely executed by another sculptor (Pisano) and there are two sets of them.  One set, which was diamond shaped with blue glazed background, was supposed to show religious virtues.  The other, which I found much more interesting, were in marble and they showed the wonders of technology and civilization.  Each has a different subject, like architecture, navigation, animal domestication, geometry, etc.

Here are pictures I took (first museum to actually allow photography!!!):

       

From left to right: Campanile panel showing "Medicine", Della Robbia's choir balcony, and Michelangelo's Pieta.

Very sadly, the Baptistry doors were out for conservation, so I didn't get to see them.  So, instead of the real thing, I went to look at reconstructions that are the current doors to the Baptistry and then to go inside.  The Baptistry was, for Florentines at the beginning of the Renaissance, a symbol of the Classical era.  In fact, they thought that the church has been built by the Romans (in fact is was constructed sometime in the 11th or 12th centuries).  The contest for who would get to design the doors (more on this later) is often thought of as the beginning of the Renaissance.

Here are, from left to right, the outside of the Baptistry, a close up of the reconstructed doors, and the ceiling inside:

        

After all of that, the line was still too long, so I decided to enter into the actual church of the Duomo (Santa Maria del Fiore) which is not only cool, but also FREE! There isn't too much to talk about here.  It was just a humongous church with beautiful stained glass.

Then I got tired of the Duomo and decided to go for lunch.  For the past couple of days, I'd gone to nicer trattoria-ish places.  Today I wanted something quick and cheap, so I followed the advice of my guidebook and found a place near the Duomo.  It made me super happy because the food (while not super amazing) was all of the things that I remember from coming to Italy when I was younger (friend zucchini flowers, polenta, etc. YUM!).  I will likely go there again before I leave.

Still the line was too long, so I went to the Medici-Riccardi Palace (see, this day really was exhausting!! even writing about it I remember how long it was).  This Palace used to be the home of the Medicis, then it was bought by the Riccardi family.  Besides being a beautiful place, it has two works of note.  One is Fra Fillipo Lippi's Madonna and Child (Sara and Seguin, I'm sure you can imagine how excited I was to see this!) and the Chapel of the Magi.  The chapel was amazing.  I've liked seeing the churches and the sculptures here, but I think this was the first time that I was just overwhelmed by how awesome the art was.  The chapel is wall-to-wall this gorgeous work by Gozzoli showing all three Magi on their way to visit the baby Jesus.  It was completely stunning and I stayed there for maybe half an hour.

Feeing refreshed by my awesome art experience, I finally braved the Duomo climb.  Since it was late in the afternoon, the line with super short (success!) and the climb was not as bad and I had anticipated.  The view from the top was so so so worth it that I'm totally glad that I made the effort.  It was a gorgeous day and the late afternoon sun just made it all the better.

Here's a picture I took from the top showing the surrounding country.  I wish  that my camera had a panorama setting, because it would have been nice to get it all in one shot.  I took short videos as well, but they take too long to upload.

After that I was pretty much done for.  I went to a gelato place on the corner of the square and had my very first gelato here in Florence.  It was wonderfully delicious and revived me enough to head back to where I'm staying.  That night, I had been invited by the son of the family I'm living with to go to a friend's house for dinner.  It was nice hanging out with actual Italians after all of my tourism, but it did make me miss friends back home (especially considering all of you have been posting pictures of RC parties and other Amherst events!).  

Anyways, it was a long, tiring, but really satisfying day.  I'm starting to finish up with a lot of the stuff that I had on my list to see in Florence.  Hopefully the next week will be a little less harried and more relaxing, with day trips to the surrounding area.  I'll post updates from today (Wednesday) soon!

A Plea for Addresses

Hi Everyone!

One of my favorite things at home is to receive mail.  Every time I went to my little Amherst box and had a real letter I was super super happy and it made the rest of my day.  So I figure that if getting mail is fun, sending it must be just as enjoyable.

In the next couple of days I'll be buying a bunch of postcards (I'm going to do this again once I get to England too), but unfortunately I have no addresses!  Amherst has now locked me out of the student directory, so I dont know any box numbers, and for alums and home friends I have absolutely no idea how to reach you.  So if you want a postcard, PLEASE send me your address.  I want to send one to each and everyone one of you, so dont be shy, I just need the information.  If you particularly want one from Florence or one from England, let me know, otherwise it'll be a surprise!

Santa Maria Novella, Rucellai Palace, and the Galileo Museum

Ah, so I'm super behind in my blog posting.  I feel like this wouldn't be such a problem if I weren't doing so many things each day, but there is a ton I want to see here, so the days are very full.

So, Monday is the day that most of the museums in Florence are closed, so I had to pick things that were a little different, like churches and less well known museums.  Remembering my mishap of the other day, I wore long pants so that I would not be stigmatized at the church and set off to see Santa Maria Novella.

Santa Maria Novella is a Dominican church and is now right across the street from the main train station in Florence.  Part of the facade was designed by Alberti, the famous Renaissance architect, and inside is Masaccio's fresco "The Trinity."  This, again, was a work we discussed in my course.  Besides that there were a bunch of little chapels and a sacristy off of the main church with gorgeous works by Vasari and Giotto which were pretty stunning as well.  Again, no pictures were allowed inside.  I dont know why this bothers me, since I've always thought it was kind of weird when I see people taking pictures of art, but I guess I just want to make sure I remember what I saw here.  So, to solve this problem, I've been buying lots of postcards.  These will likely be used to decorate my room in England, thus killing two birds with one stone, as they say.

Anyways, here's a picture of the facade:

After the church, it looked like it was going to rain, so I decided to find a place to have lunch as soon as possible.  On the way, I stopped by the Rucellai Palace (again, a place from class), also designed by Alberti.  Unfortunately, they don't let tourists go inside, but it was nice to get to see the facade. I ended up eating lunch near there at a cute, very homey little trattoria.  Pasta, pasta, and more pasta.  I'm going to get fat I'm eating so much pasta.

So, full of pasta, I decided to spend the afternoon being science-y.  While I love art (this vacation is basically entirely about art), science is always fun, and a lot of exciting things in the history of science happened right here in Florence.  The history of science in Florence is preserved at the Galileo Museum, which recently underwent a huge renovation and is now beautiful and new and really well done.  It was awesome to spend the afternoon look at astrolabes, quadrants, globes from the 15th century, alchemy sets etc.

The big draw of the museum though is pretty fascinating and morbid at the same time.  In a room dedicated to the innovations of Galileo (who did quite a bit of work in Florence and who is buried in Santa Croce, more on that later), they have three of his finger in a box.  I find this absolutely hilarious.  Most people think of Galileo as the scientific genius who was struck down by the reactionary provincial church (the real story, in fact, is much more complicated, which, if you take History of Science with Professor Servos, you will learn).  So it's kind of ironic that pieces of him are kept exactly as churches have relics of saints.  Anyways, I wont put a picture, because it might freak people out.

PS: Since I plugged the Servos course, I'll also say that when I talk about my "Art History class" what I mean is "Art and Architecture 1400-1800" with Professor Courtright which was wonderful and amazing and which I would highly recommend to anyone still at Amherst with courses to fill.

San Marco and San Lorenzo

After my relaxing day at the beach, I decided to get down to the real business of being a tourist in Florence. I made a list of all of the things that I wanted to do, and decided that, since I do have two weeks here, I wouldn't overload myself and would plan on doing two things per day.  Since Sunday was my first full day of tourism, I chose two places that are close to where I've been staying: San Marco and San Lorenzo.

San Marco was originally a convent and a church, but is now a museum.  It is famous for two Dominican monks who lived there in the 15th century: the painter Fra Angelico, and the preacher Savanarola (whose name I remember from AP Euro because it sounded like Salmonella).  Anyways, there are two main attractions at San Marco. 1)  Fra Angelico's "Annunciation" (a common Renaissance subject where Mary is depicted with an angel who gives her the news that she will soon be pregnant with the baby Jesus).  2) Fra Angelico painted an individual mural in each monk's cell.  Each of these works shows a different scene meant to inspire religious meditation.  Since there is no photography allowed in the museum, I sadly don't have any pictures of these, so you'll have to take it from me that they were amazing.  Here's a picture of the courtyard though:

After San Marco, I was getting super hungry, and this presented a dilemma for me, because I had never eaten by myself in a restaurant before, and it is, frankly a little intimidating.  Whenever I see people eating by themselves, I always feel bad for them and wonder why they don't have any friends, and why, if they don't have friends, they would subject themselves to the humiliation of eating alone.  I tried to avoid this experience by going to the Mercato Centrale and getting a sandwich or something, but of course they were closed, it being Sunday.  So I bravely bit the bullet and asked for un tavolo per uno.  No one gave me weird looks, and I actually enjoyed eating alone.  I got to people watch and really concentrate on my food.  No one was trying to talk to me or get me to hurry up and finish because they wanted to get on to the next thing.  It was just one way in which this trip has been surprising so far.  I thought I wouldn't like traveling alone, but I actually love it, being able to make my own schedule and only do what I want to do.  At the same time, being here without my family is super different. I've never really been a "tourist" in Italy in that when I've been here before we were always traveling with Italians and doing more "local" things.  It always surprises me when someone speaks English to me at a restaurant when I try to order in Italian.  I'm glad that I'm at least living with an Italian family, so there is some degree of authenticity.

After my surprisingly enjoyable lunch, I walked over to San Lorenzo.  You may remember that I talked about San Lorenzo a couple of days ago, when I went to the Medici Chapels.  This time I went into the church proper and remembered another thing I had forgotten about Italy: the dress code in churches is taken very seriously, and if you break it, they make you wear what I can only describe as a paper dress to cover your shoulders and legs.  While traveling alone is fun, it is less fun when you are the only person in a huge church wearing a paper robe.

But anyways, San Lorenzo.  San Lorenzo was designed by Burnelleschi and is a textbook example of Renaissance.  Again, it was a building I studied in class, so I enjoyed seeing the real thing.  Off of the main church is the "Old Sacristy" (as opposed to Michelangelo's "New" one), which was also designed by Brunelleschi.  One really cool thing about it is that the dome over the altar shows the arrangement of the stars on July 4, 1442 exactly.  Why? Unclear.  But it's still pretty neat.  

After that I just wandered around for a while.  Everything here is so close together that I quickly ended up at the Palazzo Vecchio (city hall) and then the Arno.  I'll likely talk more about these places later on when I go for real visits, but for now, here's a picture of the river:

Forte Dei Marmi

On Saturday, the parents of the family I'm staying with decided to go to the beach at Forte Dei Marmi, where they usually vacation in the summer.  I was a little hesitant at first.  For one thing, I've never really liked the beach (read, always hated), but I felt like being shown Italy by locals was too good and opportunity to pass up, so I said I'd go.

Forte Dei Marmi, to give a little context, is a gorgeous town on the seaside in northern Tuscany.  The area is known not only for its beautiful beaches but also for its marble-work (the name literally means "fort of the marbles").  Over the years it has boasted many famous residents, including Paola Ruffo di Calabria (Queen of the Belgians), Italian singer Zucchero, Andrea Bocelli, and Giorgio Armani.  Fun fact: Forte Dei Marmi's field hockey team is in the Italian A-league.  Thanks wiki.

Here's a picture:

Forte Dei Marmi is about an hour away from Florence.  An hour's drive through gorgeous mountains (in fact, one of the cool things about the beach is that what you see from the water is the mountainous landscape).  We got there by early afternoon, and I got to meet a bunch of this family's friends who were also at the beach for the day.  Most of them spoke Italian, which I do not, but it was still fun to see what every-day life is like for people who actually live here.

Here are four things I learned at the beach:

1. I dont really hate the beach.  I hate PUBLIC beaches.  Private ones, like this one, are awesome!
2. I'm white.  I don't think I've ever been the whitest person on a beach before, but here I was, bar none.  It turns out it is kind of embarrassing to be pale among all these dark italians.  If I've ever made fun of someone for being pale and getting sunburned, I now apologize.
3. Which brings me to number three.  Sunburns suck.  I got the first ever ever ever of my life at the beach, and it was pretty sad. : (
4. Italian children like silly bandz as much as American children.  I saw a girl with silly bandz from her wrist to her elbow.

Other than that, my day at the beach was wonderful and relaxing.  It reminded me that I'm on vacation, and even though there is a ton I want to do in Florence, I could sit at the beach for two weeks and still have accomplished what I came here for!

First Full Day in Florence

Even though I've only been here two days there is a world of difference between now and when I arrived.  I think I'm starting to get over jet-lag, which is great, and I've started a little to explore the city. On Friday I went out in the afternoon and walked to San Lorenzo, the church designed by Brunelleschi for the Medicis.  It looks a little like a mini-duomo, but the facade isn't finished and is kind of ugly.  I first went to the "Medici Chapel" which is off the back of the church.  In it are the graves of the famous ruling family of Florence.  I was most excited to see the Sacristy designed by Michelangelo.  It was really one of his first stabs at architecture, and he also did all of the sculpture in the room, including portraits of two of the Medicis and figures of the four times of day (Dawn and Evening, and Day and Night).  Since I studied this building in Art History last year, it was great to see it in person!

In the museum, there was also an exhibit out about the marriage of Marie de Medici to Henri Navarre of France.  This marriage was quite important for the Medicis because it allied their powerful house with the rulers of France.  In fact, as Henry was assassinated shortly after Marie was crowned queen, she became regent and de facto ruler of France. While this was kind of interesting, the really exciting part was that one of the pieces they had was Rubens' painting of Marie de Medici's arrival in France.  This was another piece we studied in class, and again it was amazing to get to see the real thing.

After this it was pretty late in the afternoon, so I wandered around for a while before I went home for dinner.  Living with an Italian family is awesome because it means I get to eat pasta every night, which is pretty much my dream come true!

Here's a picture of the side of San Lorenzo with the Medici Chapel off the back:

In Italy!

Hi Everyone!  So, after a lovely night at Amherst on Tuesday, a frenzied drive back to Boston on Wednesday morning, a long night flight to Heathrow on Wednesday night, a bus transfer to Stansted on Thursday morning and a plane to Pisa this afternoon, the past few days have been kind of hectic.  But I thought I would post a quick update to let you all know that I am in fact (mostly) fine and finally in Italy after all of the travelling.  As many of you predicted, my worst fears about my baggage problems did not materialize (although Ryanair did make me check my big backpack and my huge suitcase was *gasp* 70 lbs) but everything made it to where they needed to be, and I didn't miss any connections.  I'm staying here with family friends who are being amazing and hosting me and my picky appetite for 2 weeks.  They are so sweet and I'm super glad to see them.  For one, I haven't seen them in something like 10 years, but for another, I realized today in the Stansted airport that I am completely alone here and since my supposedly european cell phone wasn't working, I had really no way of contacting anyone, so it is nice to feel like a part of a family again.  Tomorrow I'll begin to explore the city of Florence and hopefully get my fill of Renaissance art!  More updates and pictures to come, but for now just know that I miss all of you already and hope things are going well wherever you are!

Here's a picture of the view from my room: