Florence Part Deux

So, basically the highlight of June 12th was seeing Michelangelo's David. 

The original is so much bigger and more perfect than what I was expecting. It was an unforgettable, peerless experience. The Academia, one of the chief museums in Florence. Is known for being the home of Michelangelo's David and The Rape of the Sabine Women by Giambologna - both of which are stunning:

We also saw Madonna by the Sea and many other paintings and sculptures. The Academia had a large collection of gold plated medieval paintings. We looked around for the Primavera and Birth of Venus before we realized that they were in the Uffizi Gallery (which leads me to Travel Tip #5: know what you want to see, very often you will end up at a museum, knowing there are important works there, but if you do not know what you want to see, you will be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of artwork).

Annunciation

Madonna by the Sea

Unfinished Michelangelo Pieta

After a solid two and a half hours wandering around the Academia, we left and meandered over to the Duomo. The Duomo in Florence was easily my favorite church in Italy thus far. The austerity and simplicity - though stunning grandeur - of the architecture was more palatable to me (more what I am used to in my own churches). The walls were not cluttered with statues and gold-leaf, rather the stone was grey and severe while above the congregants heads the glorious dome soared - undeniably a window into the divine and unmitigatedly the centerpiece of the church. Nothing distracted from its awe-inspiring power as the window to heaven. I also appreciated the allusion to Dante's Inferno with Satan eating Judas (Dante was a Florentine writer, and his influence can be clearly seen in the Florentine churches).

Satan Chomping on Judas

After we looked around inside the church and marveled at the majesty of the dome and the fantastic feat of engineering (and sheer luck) it took to build it, we went to stand in line to climb both the bell tower and the Dome itself. The plan was to climb the bell tower, then go to the baptistry, then climb the dome, but by the time we made it out of the bell tower we were afraid the church would close without us climbing the historical dome if we did not go straight over there. So we ended up climbing over 50 flights of stairs in a very sort amount of time (1000 stairs...not fun!). We kept getting piled up in the narrow stairways, waiting in the dark. It was very stuffy, we were packed tight as sardines as we waited for the crowd to move forward...claustrophobia was definitely a problem for Alex and me, but the view was worth it! Florence, in all of her glory, spread beneath us, stretching as far as the eye could see: breathtaking: (addendum: apparently I have reached my limit on the amount of photos blogger will allow in one post...I will post a picture from the crown of the Duomo next time).

By the time we had toured all over the Duomo the hunger and exhaustion were real and we went in search of food. The street side vendors in Italy are always trying to get you to come into their restaurants. We got a good deal that night when the host offered us all free champagne if we would come to his restaurant - needless to say we acquiesced. Once again, exquisite food! Though not even comparable to Brigitte's cooking. I had a ravioli filled with potato puree in a delicate asparagus sauce. It was delicious! Then we went to a gelato place that was on the list of the top twenty gelato shops in Florence! Por Che No (Why not) was very good, though I had a hazelnut flavor that I did NOT like (a very weird experience for me as I usually love gelato). Thankfully I had two other flavors as well which balanced out the nastiness.

Then back to San Marco Piazza to catch the train to the apartment. A full, fun day of touring! And that was the second day in Florence. More pictures to come next post! I miss everybody in Texas!

In Which I Give Up on Cs: Florence Part One

Hello faithful readers! If you are still reading my blog, that means you are one of my true friends...you're officially THE BEST!! Florence was a great experience. I didn't have wifi though, so this is my experience of Florence in three parts.

The first day, June 11th, we left the Castle early and got on a bus in Dorf Tirol to Merano. Then we caught the 8 o'clock train to Bolzano where we had gelato:

Sooo good!! We also wandered around the city and looked at some of the churches and piazzas:

It was definitely a glasses day! Alex, Hope and I were all in our four-eyed glory (it's no fun to put in contacts at 6 in the morning!) and Natalie was the only non-librarian of the bunch. We also went to the Bolzano Civic Museum to look at the native artwork and Tyrollean dress:

After touring Bolzano for awhile (Alex and Hope got some dried fruit...more on that later) we caught a high noon train bound for Bologna Centrale. Sadly, this was a regional train - not one of the fast ones - so it took over five hours to get to the station. This is where Travel tip #4 comes in: Do NOT travel on the trains in Italy without snackage. It was awful! I ate gelato and a small breakfast of Nutella and bread...then nothing else for about 11 hours. It was very hot on the train (no air-conditioning on the regional trains...basically, if at all possible, avoid the regional trains). Alex and Hope shared some of their nuts and dried fruit, but man shall not live by dried fruit alone...it was definitely rough. We made our connecting train from Bologna Centrale to Firenze Santa Maria Novella and arrived around 6 pm. Then, one LOONNNG bus ride later, we arrived in Tuscany to our lovely apartment. We had the whole apartment to ourselves - heavenly. This is the view from the terrace:

Tragically, the man who owned the apartment was not present when we arrived, so we had to wait for him to show up before we could go to dinner. Remember, that I have not eaten any "real food" all day. My diet has consisted of nutella, gelato and dried fruit. When he does show up we have to file all the tourist paperwork...not fun. Meanwhile, on my Yelp app, I have discovered that there is one AND ONLY ONE restaurant within walking distance of our rural - and admittedly lovely - Tuscan getaway. It is a very expensive Italian restaurant. But by this point I am desperate! I convince Hope, Natalie and Alex that we should go out to eat. It was well worth the euros. We ate out in the garden. A sumptuous meal of spaghetti, wine, bread and tiramisu. After all day without substantial substance...paradise.

Then back to our Tuscan villa and bed. All in all, an exhausting - but successful - day of travel. Passports, people and packages all accounted for. And that was my introduction to Florence. More to come from the hills of Tuscany!

Climbing (Continued) and Cappuccinos

Today was one of my best days in Italy thus far (I know I keep saying this...but my trip really does seem to be getting progressively better). Before I dive in and tell you all about my unforgettable experiences today, let me catch everyone up on what's been going on at Castle Brunnenburg since the last time I wrote.

On Sunday we had a day of rest. As previously stated I made peanut butter cookies for the Princess to take to Sunday tea - they were a fantastic success! She seemed to really enjoy them, and I know the other students did as well. It nice to have a taste of home. After tea my friend Hope and I had a photo op on top of the castle. We had dressed up for tea and thought some fun pictures were in order. It was a blast!

Yesterday - June 8th - I was awoken in the middle of the night by a terrible thunderstorm! I had to close my window (which I usually leave open) to keep out the rain. I promptly fell back asleep, but was surprised the next morning to hear from Dr. de Rachewiltz that we had had some hail! Other than that, it was an uneventful Monday. Classes were intriguing. Dr. de Rachewiltz spoke about fairies and dwarves and the mythology of the Tirol, subjects which I found fascinating. Alex, Hope, Natalie and I also finally bought our tickets for the Uffizi and Accademia (Tavel tip #3: do NOT leave buying tickets for museums until the last minute...not my smartest decision). Luckily we were able to get tickets for both with a little shopping around. Elyse, an art and performance major and one of the students here, also gave us a brief overview of the most important art pieces to see in Florence, a very propitious presentation. The two highlights of the day both had to do with food - shocker!

We made a communal dinner which was very good:

And as always tea with Mary was exquisite. She also showed us her collection of Egyptian scarabs. Her late husband, Boris, was an Egyptologist and collected Egyptian artifacts. It was amazing to see all these pieces of ancient, Egyptian, history in this castle high in the Tyrollean mountains. 

This morning I got up and ate bread and Nutella - the best way to start the day! In Dr. Redman's class we've been analyzing The Merchant of Venice, a Shakespearian play. Portia, one of the main characters, is one of Shakespeare's most complex and intelligent female leads. We also looked at more of the artwork of Venice and examined the development of government and social institutions (such as the confraternities and dowry laws) in the Venetian commune. 

After class we had a delicious lunch, made, once again by Ms. Brigette. Here are pictures from lunch on Monday and Tuesday:

The weather today - June 9th - was absolutely gorgeous! After lunch Michi, Dr. de Rachewiltz son, took us on a hike up to Vinschgau via Gangleg to see the irrigation system of South Tirol and some Roman ruins. There were also reconstructions of dwellings that archaeologists had found in the mountains. It was sprinkling, but never actually poured, which made it very nice for hiking because it was not hot. We passed a small mud slide along the creek. The mountains are stunning:

On the way back to the town we stopped and looked at this:

Jesus and the Two Thieves

And had a brief discussion about Tyrollean customs (the ways in which they welcome spring) and food legislation where we discussed the values of quality versus quantity (i.e., whether using pesticides  or genetic modification to mass produce food is merited when it is known to damage the quality of the items and may damage those who consume them). It was a very interesting discussion, particularly because two of the girls in our group are going into law and one is very interested in environmental and food law. A consideration of differences between the European Union and the United States way of handling these issues also enriched the discussion. 

After this short lecture we descended into the village where Michi treated us to coffees. My cappuccino was very good (I don't think I have to say again how much I enjoy Italian espresso). Then we took a ride down the street to a pizza place.

When we had finished our Italian dinner it was time for the ride home. I spoke with Michi about books and different Italian desserts. It was a very fun evening. I cannot express with enough fervor the beauty of the Italian countryside. Being here is a blessing, and I will never forget the effect these majestic mountains have had on me, or the awe-inspiring experience of sleeping in Brunnenburg Castle in the middle of a raging thunderstorm. Until next time, goodnight from Castle Brunnenburg!