Instead of trying to play catch-up, I'll just hit the highlights. our time is about to come to an end here, and i wonder how i will transition back to regular life! enough of that--we still have a lot left to do, including Assisi and Milan!
Monday through Wednesday we were in Roma. that was one of the prettiest cities i've ever seen! we stayed in a lovely neighborhood full of oleanders pruned in a way you don't see at home, and they were all in bloom. i saw the SPQR everywhere! We went to Vatican City and had a tour through some of the galleries, the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. that is one amazing church--Michaelangelo's Pieta was...wow. Did you know that the sculpture is actually looking inside Mary's mind? She's really holding a baby, but she's already thinking ahead to what's going to happen to her son.
We visited the Coliseum, the Trevi Fountain, Trajan's column, the ancient ruins, the catacombs (where early christians were buried), where paul and peter were in prison (Mammertine Prison), and ate some delicious food, including Saltimbocca! Pantheon, Spanish steps and probably other places i am forgetting at the moment. A reading of The Chronicles of Italy (aka, my journal) will be available for those thirsty for more!
The Thursday we came back we had scheduled a visit to the Uffizi (art museum), where i saw some of the most wonderful pieces i've always hoped to see! The biggies for me were Boticelli's La Primavera and the Birth of Venus. I can't even begin to write how many things i saw in there! it was pretty much heaven around every corner. That night, we went to the opera...La Traviata. it was a very intimate setting in a church. i think this was a new experience for almost everyone in our group; it was a perfect cultural event for an Italy trip!
Friday morning we left for Venice! It was like going to a resort. the hotel was actually on an island south of Venice called Lido...gorgeous! Rome was beautiful, but this was a different kind of beauty. One thing i've always wondered is whether Venice really did have that ethereal haze that artists always render in their paintings. the answer is YES! i don't understand how, but it does. We visited the Basilica of San Marcos, the Doges Palace (Duke of Venice), a museum with lots of old beautiful books and all kinds of weapons (daddy, they even had a sword that doubled as a gun! i wish you could've seen it.) And yes, we took a gondola ride which is every bit as exciting as you'd think. well, maybe i should say relaxing. Carlos didn't sing for us, but he did whistle and point out where Marco Polo was born. We took the bus out to the island of Murano to see where they make the famed Venetian glass. Alas! we ran out of time and had 10 minutes to run in a few shops, so we didn't get to see the art in action.
Today we're back in Florence. It's been a free day for the students--they are frantically studying for their Italian final tomorrow which includes memorizing the first 20 lines of Dante's Commedia. I have to say that i absolutely LOVE being in my position right now. No worries about studies or credits or pretty much anything. i can enjoy my time here completely! Remember when you were little and always wanted to be a grown up? Then you grew up and said, i want to be free like i was when i was litle. i think right now is the vision i had of being "grown up" when i was little. It's a beautiful thing!
Tomorrow is another day in Florence, Tuesday Assisi, Wednesday Milan, Thursday fly back home. I may get in another post before we leave, but if not, ciao! see you soon!
Pics: me at the col., gorgeous carved letters at the forum, Venice! our gondolier, sunset from the vaporetti (water bus in Venice) and san marcos entrance.
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