Bologna Continues...

Bologna cont.:

As our day in bologna continued, we wondered around the city and happened upon a fountain. The Neptune fountain! This fountain is located in the Piazza Nettuno. This fountain was commissioned by the cardinal legate for his uncle who had just become Pope. The fountain was designed by Tommaso Laureti in 1536. I especially liked this fountain, because it is seem so outrageous for the time period that it was constructed in. The women have water spouting out of their breasts. I find the fountain quite beautiful, but I am still shocked that it was accepted.

Not far from the fountain was the tower. Kayley insisted on climbing it, while I wasn’t too keen on the idea I decided it couldn’t hurt. The tower we climbed was one of 2 towers still standing in bologna. Due to Kayley’s extra project on towers, I have found myself looking for the towers everywhere we go. This tower was the straight one, the other is leaning but it is not climbable. Consisting of just about 1000 steps up and down, I am definitely getting my workout in. as we were climbing the stairs remained constant, unlike some other buildings we had climbed. Once we arrived at the top, the views were spectacular. It was nice to look out and see the entire city in its entire splendor. Until it began to rain and at that altitude, the wind was picking up as well. And then….. It began to SNOW! So that was that, we descended back down to the ground. At this point we moseyed our way through the streets heading back to our bed and breakfast. We were all so tired that we decided to be true Italians for the night…… take a nap and go to dinner really late!

We woke from our nap around 8:30 or so and head out towards the college district of Bologna to find something to eat. It was quite intimidating, we hadn’t seen that many Italians our age in a concentrated area yet and I speak for myself when I say I was being stared at. We finally came to a place that looked good enough, walked in and sat down. The place was filled with young people ranging from 18 to 25. We sat patiently and tried to not look so much like Americans, although it was hard to mistake. I ordered a pizza that was quite tasty. Half way through our dinner a large group of Italians came and sat at the table closest to us and began playing cards. They were extremely loud but it was interesting to see them interacting and I realized that we are not all that different after all. On our way back to the bed and breakfast, we kept ourselves occupied by glancing in all of the bars we happened across and the nightlife that was increasing as the hours did.

Saturday morning, we woke up slightly later that we had wanted to. We stopped in for a cappuccino and croissant from our new found favorite place, and then we were off to the train station. We were heading to Ferrara!! Once we arrived in Ferrara, we were greeted by an extremely lovely castle and moat in the center of town. Before exploring the castle, we decided to have a look around the market which was very close and small. The venders were less likely to bargain, but we attributed that to the fact that they didn’t need to. They don’t have any competition in the city. I purchased a few knickknacks and we were on our way.

The Castle Estense is one of the oldest castles that still have a moat around it. This castle has 3 entrances with drawbridges. These are still there, but they have been permanently left down. The castle does have a tower; however I did not climb it. I have to admit that I was slightly disappointed with the castle once inside. The exterior is so beautiful and I thought that surely there would have been something staged inside to make it look as it would have. It did not!!

The only thing of great interest to me in the interior was the ceiling décor. The ceilings were elaborate and detailed.

After leaving the castle we mingled around the city! Seeing that there was nothing left to see we headed back to bologna. I’m sure you can guess, but next came another nap!! YAY.

Dinner came next and that is a evening all unto itself.

Bologna

Bologna:

Thursday March 4:

We left for Bologna Thursday afternoon around 3:30. Kayley, Hilary, Kelsey and I were off on our first travel break! Once we arrived in Arezzo, we took a train the rest of the way to Bologna. The train only lasted an hour and half. Unfortunately we had assigned seats and we had to kick someone out of our seat. This made for an interesting ride though. He was a young guy about 20 or so, he was in military attire. Hilary kept saying how sorry she felt for him and that she felt bad kicking him out of our seats. She even suggested that we all squeeze together so that he could sit with us. He was sitting in the aisle and I kept reminding them to speak quietly since we were all talking about him. They informed me that he could not hear us because the door was closed, however when he made a call on his cell phone, we could hear him. I laughed at Hilary, and she then resorted to “oh, well maybe he doesn’t speak English” which is a ridiculous assumption. It did suffice for the time being though. Meanwhile we continued to discuss how cute he was and were staring at him through the glass; must have been awkward for him. We never did find out if he spoke English, but either way I’m sure he didn’t mind. Once we arrived in Bologna we were met by Kyle, Hilary’s boyfriend, who accompanied us to the bed and breakfast we were staying at. The bed and breakfast Baroni was very nice; that is once we found it. It took us quite a while to weave through all of the little streets, but we made it there. We were given 2 rooms, one king bed and one with three single beds. The rooms were clean and the family running the B&B were very nice and homey. Although Kayley does not think it is true, I am convinced that the beds were temprapedic imitators, they were extremely comfortable to say the least. Once we were settles in, we decided to go out in search of food; the woman running the B&B gave us a suggestion. It was not one of our most memorable eating experiences, the food was good but it didn’t impress otherwise. After dinner, we were all so tired from traveling and wanted to be well rested for the coming day, we retired for the evening.

Friday March 5:

We woke at 8am to breakfast in our rooms. It was simple, some nutella and toast, but definitely nothing substantial. While the B&B was extremely safe and clean, it is not the place to go if you are excited for breakfast, because you will be disappointed. We got ourselves together and decided to find something else for breakfast. We happened upon this amazing place called La Raquette Caffetteria Aperitivi, we had the best cappuccinos and chocolate croissants. To add to that, it was really inexpensive. We then visited the oldest university in the world, the University of Bolgna. It was so interesting to see all of the old classrooms and all of the crests on the walls of all of the former students. We even eavesdropped on a tour group; the guide was telling them that one of the crests had come from an American that had come to Bologna to study there. The university was built in 1563 and is called the Archiginnasio Palace. The university was built by an architect from Bologna named Antonio Morandi. We were able to go into the classroom that was used for teaching about surgery and any medical classes. There was a piece of marble in the center of the room that the professor would use to show examples of medical procedures to the students. The university is still an acting university and there were parts of the newer university that we could not go into because they were for current students. I think that would be interesting to attend a university and have someone giving a tour on the other side of campus. It seems ironic to me!

After that we popped over to see the Archaeological museum. That museum was mainly focused on Egyptian and ancient artifacts. There was art from the prehistoric age, the Etruscan age, the Gallic age, and the roman age. As we were concluding the museum I happened upon an alligator that had been preserved in a way so that every part of it was still intact. I also saw mummified cats and dogs, quite interesting. I am not really sure what to think of that, on one hand they were taking their pets with them to the afterlife and on the other they were wrapping them up to bury with them. The museum had a fountain in the main courtyard, it had a small child and inside the fountain there were fish. It was raining that day and it looked so peaceful and serine with the rain hitting the water with the fish in it.

Lunch…… A whole other world of yummyness!!!

We ate lunch at a place called Cesari, it was wonderful! Kayley spotted the restraint because it had a Michelin sticker on it, indicating that it was recognized in a guide book. It was a wonderful meal and the price was moderate. The setting was quaint and family style.

Until next time, we will continue with the rest of my exciting day!!!!!

Florence/ Siena

Cont. Florence:

We woke up on Sunday, being our last day, and had breakfast. I finally decided to try the orange juice, I tend to be a little skeptical of orange juice sometimes. It probably comes from the fact that I have been raise on Florida oranges. We left the hotel and headed to the train station to store out luggage for a while. Concluding that task, we set out to visit the Uffizi museum. My favorite painting from the whole of the Uffizi was The Venus of Urbino. This painting was done during the renaissance by Titian. It captures many of the classical renaissance techniques, and is simply lovely. The painting is balanced and the artist has a good understanding of proportions.

We then ate lunch at The Oil Shoppe, recommended by one of Hilary’s friends. This is a small sandwich place that seems to be the most popular spot for a quick sandwich among young people. We were running late to catch out train back so we ate on the go. We arrived at the train station just in time to hop on our train. Then there was time to relax and get ourselves collected. We arrived back in Sansepolcro late that night and I went straight to bed.

Siena:

We departed for Siena on February 27^th, Saturday. We took a bus that morning at 7am to Arezzo and then from Arezzo to Siena. The whole trip there took around 2.5 hours. Once we arrived in the city, Bekah directed us to get a city map. This is the only city I have been in where we had to pay for a city map, 50 centesimi. I will definitely be keeping it as a souvenir. Bekah then took us on a mini tour of the city, while leading up to the main Piazza del Campo. We learned the story of the Palio, the great horse race between the different areas of Siena. We were able to see all of the different flags and animals associated with the different sections of the city. The different areas are called Contrade. The Palio is held twice every year during the summer.

We decided to go to the Palazzo Pubblico first, since it was extremely close. Once inside, we were trying to buy our tickets and we realized that we could buy a combination ticket that would allow us to visit multiple places on one ticket. As I am sure you can assume, we went with that option. So the Pubblico was first on the list. The Pubblico is the town hall for the city of Siena. This palace was originally supposed to house the republican government of Siena.

The exterior of this building has many features that make it of distinctly gothic architecture. This is the tower of the government building, and then the church has a tower. The story is that Siena believes in the balance of power between the church and the state. So they each had towers constructed, and they seem to be the same height but that is all relative to where you are in the city. The bell tower on this building was originally constructed to be taller than the one in Siena’s rival city of Florence. For a long time, it was the tallest tower governmental. Inside the Pubblico there were many interesting things. It was filled with tons of frescos. My favorite art of the Pubblico was the balcony. On the balcony, you can see most of the city and it had absolutely picturesque views. This must be the place where postcard pictures are taken!

The next stop on our list is FOOD! We were getting quite hungry and decided to get something to eat. Kayley had visited Siena about 4 years ago and I quote “had the best gnocchi she had ever tasted,” as you can imagine that is where we had to go. Osteria Boccon del Prete was the name of the restaurant that we went to. I am not sure what I ordered exactly, but when it came out it was noodles and a meat sauce. I was very pleased. However, Kayley who couldn’t live without that wonderful gnocchi was exceedingly disappointed. We all informed her that there could have been a chef change or management change. It had been 4 years since she had been there. This invited fun conversation though. The restraint was nice, nothing exceptional, but still quaint.

After lunch we went to the Duomo Museum. We climbed the Duomo Nuovo, which was an extended wall of the nave that was never finished. The interior, which is not enclosed, is now a courtyard. The nave was supposed to be added to make this cathedral larger than the one in Florence and it would have been, had it been finished. Are you sensing a theme? Siena and Florence are always competing!

Next we took a peak in the Baptistery. It was not all that impressive to me, but the detail in it was incomparable.

After that we moseyed through the city, did some shopping and took our moments to be the master photographers. Later we made it back to catch our train. Upon arriving back in Arezzo, we grabbed something quick to eat at a restraint not far from the bus station and then caught the last bus back into Sansepolcro. Overall, I think the trip was AMAZING!!! It is always nice to be able to talk about something in a class and then see it for yourself. The same with pictures, they never seem to do the view justice.

Florence

Florence/Firenze:

Oh, where to begin! After a hectic week, Florence was a much needed and appreciated trip. We left the palazzo after lunch on Friday and headed for the bus station. After a bus and a train, we had arrived in Florence. As we got off of the train and into the station, Dr. Webb pointed out the McDonalds. We all snickered to ourselves, seeing a McDonalds in Italy, that being the last thing on our lists to eat. We walked for some time finally to exit the train station, I would have surely gotten lost had Dr. Webb not been leading. Once we emerged from below onto the busy street, the great walk began. It was raining and we walked for what seemed like hours (not really though), and even with these disappointing factors….. We were in FlorenceJ. How could anyone not be ecstatic to be in Florence? Taking the scenic tour/ getting lost was the idea of John Rose, although it made for an interesting walk.

After arriving at a very quaint hotel, which used to be a monastery but was later converted into a hotel, we all seemed to disappear to our rooms. Luckily, it was no less than 5 minutes later that Shannon came into my room. All I remember was “ok, get up we are going to find gelato,” then looking up to see Shannon fully ready to go. So we all decided we might as well, little did we know, it was going to be slightly more challenging than we anticipated. We never did find gelato that night! Dr. Webb treated us to dinner at the hotel. It was wonderful, consisting of pasta, chicken, potatoes, and cauliflower; and then of course there was a fabulous chocolate brownie for dessert. After dinner we were all so exhausted, we decided to head to bed and get rested up for the coming day.

The next morning, Saturday around 8am, I woke up late as usual. There is never a time in my life when I am not running late; maybe I have more Italian in me than I thought! After breakfast, we broke up into priority groups, as I call them, and we were off. My group consisted of Shannon, Jess, Kim and I. The first thing we decided to do was to go to the Academia. We had all deemed Kim the map reader for the day; she was the least directionally challenged of all of us. As we were on our way to the Academia, there were a lot more tourists than we are used to. In Sansepolcro, we are it! It seems funny to say, but it was a culture shook. As we arrived at what we thought was the Academia there was a huge group being given instructions, so we thought we were going to beat them by slipping past them. Little did we know, we had just made it to the art school and the museum was 2 blocks away. We were surprised when we approached the doorway; it was very plain and nondescript. We almost thought we were in the wrong place. After getting through security and paying for our tickets, we were let down to know that no picture taking was allowed inside. While we wandered around the museum, we discovered that the main attraction was Michelangelo’s David and that was about it, along with some of Michelangelo’s unfinished pieces. As we were leaving, I looked up! It was breathtaking, and I almost missed it.

The ceiling, other than the David, was the hidden treasure in the Academia museum. Upon finishing, we agreed to go to the market, easier said than done. We wondered for awhile, which is the most fun to me anyways, and we turned a corner and there it was in all its glory. The Florence cathedral was absolutely stunning in all of its detail and perfection. We had passed it the night before but it was completely different during the day. I do not even have words to describe it, only that pictures do not do it justice in the slightest. We must have spent an hour just looking at it, it is ironic to me that something as practical as a church can be so magnificent. This cathedral was built during the Gothic period, but reflects more of the Romanesque style. Most gothic churches of the time had pointed columns and tall towers. As I could tell, this does not. The church began its building during the gothic period but the dome was finished in the beginning of the Romanesque period. The dome was constructed by Brunelleschi.

Then we took a walk through the market. Although many of the booths had similar items, the trick was finding the person who would bargain low enough. I remember Megan looking at a sweatshirt and bargaining with the woman; finally Megan came up to me and told me she got the woman down to 13 from 18. I was impressed until she told me that she had used the excuse of not having enough money. Then comes the humor, Megan told me she only had a 50 euro on her, and nothing smaller. Needless to say, she did not get the sweatshirt and we kept looking. We then called the other group, consisting of Kayley, Hilary and Kelsey, to meet up for lunch. We were planning to eat at a place called The Oil Shoppe, but it was closed. It had been a recommendation of some friends of Hilary’s. We ended up going to this very yummy pizzeria.

I am sure this pizza had everything on it that was bad for me but it was so delicious.

With lunch having ended, climbing the Duomo was the next on all of our lists. 463 steps and agonizing happiness! Halfway through the climb, I could not see the end result. Shannon just kept telling me that the view was going to be great. And so, we arrived on top of the world. It was, in fact, like nothing I had ever seen. This was most definitely where the postcards photos are taken of the city. You could see for miles into the distance.

Just a glimpse at Florence is enough to make anyone smile!!