So for my final trip of the semester, I headed to Venice again. But this time with my parents! They came in for the end of the program on Wednesday, saw my concert Thursday (more on the end of school another time), helped me move out on Friday, and then Saturday we headed to Venice. Despite it being my third time I saw a ton of new stuff.
Saturday we more or less got in (our train was really late, well, not as late as one of the trains coming into Centrale which was over 200 minutes late), walked around a bit, and had dinner at one of my mom's favorite places from my parents' visit two years ago (by the way, Saturday was my mom's birthday). It was this enoteca with the crazy owner (I believe) who would walk away while half mumbling things. But we had a great dinner.
Sunday we went and saw the Peggy Guiggenheim collection. Peggy Guiggenheim was an American heiress who collected modern art. She has multiple Picassos and Pollacks and other well known modern artists. It's in her old house too so we saw many places where she was a learned about her crazy life (look her up!). After that we headed to see Maria Della Salute, a church I'd wanted to go in since my first trip to Venice but never made it to (well, Aaron and I tried but it was closed in the afternoon). Then we headed to see the Doge's Palace which was beautiful and interesting. Best part...you get to walk across the Bridge of Sighs. Win.
Monday was really cool because my parents had scheduled a cooking class. We went to the island of Lido (where there are cars) to this professional chef's house (she catered the wedding in Venice for one of the producers of Grey's Anatomy and has been featured in Bon Appetite, she's that good) and she taught us how to make a few seafood dishes. We had a full five course meal for lunch which was fantastic and we got all of the recipes to try out again when we get home. After we went to see San Giorgio which is on its own island and my parents had missed before (I taught them how to take the vaporettos around Venice) and the church where the artist Titan is buried and has many of his major works.
Tuesday was a lazier day after all the craziness. We wandered the Rialto markets (the fish markets were pretty cool), saw the church with Tintoretto's "food fight" Last Supper (Rick Steves' words, not mine...but he was accurate), and took two of Rick Steves' walks in his Venice book (one of which we did backwards, turns out that Venetian streets aren't always the same name depending on what direction you're coming from). We also ended up during one of the walks at La Fenice, Venice's opera house. We went inside and the ticket came with a free audio tour. La Fenice means the phoenix and like a phoenix La Fenice has actually burned and risen again from its ashes, not once...but twice. First in the mid-1800s and again in 1996. It was really beautiful though. We finished with a dinner near our hotel and packed for Wednesday.
Wednesday morning (today) we had a water-taxi to the train station, way earlier than our train, but it was raining so we just hung around the station until our train came. We headed back to Milan and now we're waiting for morning (aka, 4:15) for the car to the airport and then our flights to Rome and to Chicago. Fingers crossed the weather is good!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
Dublino!
So, thanks to San Ambrogio (patron saint of Milan) day this past Tuesday and the Immaculate Conception on Wednesday and all of our teacher's being super nice and canceling Monday classes, plus a Friday off because we get every Friday off...I had a really long weekend. So Allie and I hopped on a plane Friday morning and headed to Ireland, or more specifically to Dublin.
Friday we got in during the afternoon, ate some fish and chips (a must of course) and walked around the city. Thursday Dublin got hit with a lot of snow (we heard of people rerouted through Shannon and then having to take a bus due to the snow) so there was snow everywhere. The snow hasn't stuck in Milan yet (and might not the entire time I'm here) so my northern self was very happy to see snow on the ground. Allie's southwestern self was not. We found Grafton street where all the shopping apparently is, got some hot chocolate (one thing that the Italians do much better than anywhere else I've been so it was a little sad...) and just walked around. At night we hit up a pub I had read about that is supposed to have fantastic live Irish music, and they did. They have a group of four guys that just play for hours and talk, it was fantastic. Also, I had my first ever Guinness in an Irish pub in Dublin. Pretty special.
So starting Saturday we began to use the Dublin Passes we had purchased. We started at Christ Church Cathedral which is quite beautiful to walk around and one of the two main churches in Dublin. After that we hit up Dublina which is about the vikings in Dublin. A rather hilarious and epic museum if I do say so myself. We learned about vikings (they did not wear horned hats) and life in Dublin during the medieval times. After Dublina was one of the must hit spots of Dublin: The Guinness Storehouse. We walked through the museum which is pretty interesting. They tell you how Guinness is made and you can see old advertising stuff for Guinness. Sadly the pour the perfect pint section was closed so we couldn't take a hand at being bartenders but at the top in The Gravity Bar awaits your "free" Guinness after you go through the tour. I learned a lot actually. Including the fun fact that Arthur Guinness signed his lease on St. James Gate where Guinness is still brewed (including all Guinness sold in the US) for 9,000 years. That was 251 years ago so you do the math on how many years of Guinness we have left to enjoy.
We ended our Saturday with one of the best experiences I think we had in Dublin. We had a discount on the Dublin Literary Pub Crawl so we decided to go. It was mentioned in my guidebook and apparently voted one of the top 50 walks in the world by a big magazine. It was fantastic and I highly recommend it to anybody who goes, especially if they're big into literature. We went to four pubs with two actors who told us about the famous literary connections to the pubs. Many were frequented by writers such as Samuel Becket and Brendan Behan and one was part of a setting in James Joyce's Ulysses (they love James Joyce...). The actors acted out parts of plays and other literature from Ireland. We didn't have a huge amount of time at each pub but it was really cool just to hear about everything and watch the performances. Definitely highly recommended by me if you're traveling to Dublin.
Sunday we started off right by going to church...and by that I mean we visited St. Patrick's Cathedral. It is beautiful, surrounded by beautiful gardens (I assume, they were covered in snow), and you can see Jonathan Swift's grave. Apparently he was a big shot in the church as well as being a writer. This puts "A Modest Proposal" into an even more interesting life. After St. Patrick's we trekked all the way to the Kilmainham Gaol (Jail). This is a since abandoned jail but it has seen much of Irish history. One of the main topics we heard about was the 1916 Easter Rising. The men who started the rising with the reading of their declaration of Ireland as a republic (an act of treason against Britain) were almost all held in Kilmainham Gaol and all were executed in Kilmainham. The only one not kept at the jail was James Connolly who was injured by a shot to the ankle and held at the make-shift Red Cross station in Dublin Castle. He was then famously tied to a chair in order not to fall over, as gangrene had set into his wound, before being executed by a firing squad in one of the courtyards of Kilmainham Gaol. We got to see this courtyard as well.
After the jail we walked to the Dublin Zoo...because who doesn't love animals? We had fun walking around although many of the Saharan animals were hiding inside under their heat lamps. But we got to see them anyway. The zoo is located in Phoenix Park which is the largest park in Europe so we also walked around there. We took a bus back to the city center (we had walked a lot) and got some more fish and chips (yum!). We were going to call it a day since everything in Dublin seemed to close at 5 but we realized that the National Wax Museum Plus was open until seven and included on our card. We thought it would be hilarious so we went. And it was. The first part is actually really interesting. It's all about Irish history, a lot of which we'd learned at the jail that morning. After that you hit the parts where they have various characters and such made out of the wax. We had a fantastic time posing with them, writing letters the the sleeping, wax Santa Claus, and taking a ton of pictures. It was great.
Monday was our final day with the Dublin Pass. We headed first to the Dublin Castle. We saw the gardens (covered in snow) and got to take a tour of the state apartments. This included the room were James Connolly was held before being executed at Kilmainham and the throne which the British ruler would sit upon when in Dublin. A British ruler has not visited Ireland (the southern part obviously) in 99 years and we found out that Queen Elizabeth II will be making her first state visit to Dublin next year, marking the 100th anniversary of the last time a state visit was made to Dublin by the British. She will also be the first of her ancestors not to sit on this throne.
After that we continued our knowledge of Irish/Dublin history by visiting the Dublin City Hall exhibit which was fun. There were lots of video and cool artifacts including the Sword of Dublin (my favorite). We headed from there to the Old Jameson Distillery. Jameson (a whiskey if you didn't know) is no longer made in Dublin but in Cork. However, they show you the whole process in Dublin and tell you about how Jameson is different from most other whiskeys/scotches. At the end you get a "free" tasting and they do a tasting with eight of the group of Jameson, a scotch (Johnny Walker Black), and an American whiskey (Jack Daniels). 6 of the 8 chose Jameson. I didn't do the tasting but my friend did and I got to try a bit of each and I agreed with the group.
We went to lunch after in an old church that's been converted. It's actually the church were Arthur Guinness got married, but now it's a pub and restaurant. We wandered Dublin a bit more since everything was closed, got some dessert and a snack at Bewley's were we frequented often, and just relaxed.
Tuesday we headed out of Dublin. We took the DART which is a train that hits the nearby cities and went to Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dun Leary...Gaelic is weird sometimes) which is a costal city. Of course, it was the one day it rained. We got some tea the minute we got in because it was so cold and wet. Then we walked the pier. Luckily it stopped raining for some of this and it was beautiful despite the weather. But, we were so freezing we decided to head to Dun Laoghaire's boasted about (on their tourist board) "12-screen cinema complex." We saw the newest Harry Potter. I never saw the 6th movie but I've read the books. I normally avoid the movies because I don't think they're very good after the books. But I have to say that the first part of the 7th is the best yet.
We headed back into Dublin, got some good pub food for dinner, and relaxed in our hostel before heading to bed (we had a super nice hostel by the way. Ashfield House if anybody's interested).
Wednesday was our last day in Dublin and we decided to hit up the free things. We went to the National Museum of Archeology first. I never knew there was so much gold in Ireland. It was half the museum! And then I saw bog bodies which was kinda creepy. If you don't know what those are, look them up, I don't feel like describing them. Then we headed to St. Stephen's Green and walked around, saw the bust of James Joyce, and enjoyed the day. It was pretty sunny even if there still was snow and ice on the ground (Allie had since learned how to walk on ice and how to layer so she was much more content with the snow than before). We got lunch after that and headed to the National Gallery. It was nice to see Irish and English paintings that weren't religiously based (as much) after spending so much time in Italy. Every painting in Italy is "Madonna Con Bambino" (Madonna and Child) and it gets a bit tiring after a bit. However, we did see one of the most famous Caravaggio paintings and we had to go to Dublin to do it.
We went to Marrion Square after that which is another park that boasts the Oscar Wilde reclining statue. We walked around, saw where Oscar Wilde spent his childhood, and then just walked around some more. We checked times for a bus the next morning, did some souvenir shopping, and had a final Irish dinner before heading to bed super early before embarking on our very early journey home the next morning.
If you want to hear about that journey home, you should ask me. Because the details of it are too frustrating for me to write here. But I'll start with this: we got up at 2:45 am.
Friday we got in during the afternoon, ate some fish and chips (a must of course) and walked around the city. Thursday Dublin got hit with a lot of snow (we heard of people rerouted through Shannon and then having to take a bus due to the snow) so there was snow everywhere. The snow hasn't stuck in Milan yet (and might not the entire time I'm here) so my northern self was very happy to see snow on the ground. Allie's southwestern self was not. We found Grafton street where all the shopping apparently is, got some hot chocolate (one thing that the Italians do much better than anywhere else I've been so it was a little sad...) and just walked around. At night we hit up a pub I had read about that is supposed to have fantastic live Irish music, and they did. They have a group of four guys that just play for hours and talk, it was fantastic. Also, I had my first ever Guinness in an Irish pub in Dublin. Pretty special.
So starting Saturday we began to use the Dublin Passes we had purchased. We started at Christ Church Cathedral which is quite beautiful to walk around and one of the two main churches in Dublin. After that we hit up Dublina which is about the vikings in Dublin. A rather hilarious and epic museum if I do say so myself. We learned about vikings (they did not wear horned hats) and life in Dublin during the medieval times. After Dublina was one of the must hit spots of Dublin: The Guinness Storehouse. We walked through the museum which is pretty interesting. They tell you how Guinness is made and you can see old advertising stuff for Guinness. Sadly the pour the perfect pint section was closed so we couldn't take a hand at being bartenders but at the top in The Gravity Bar awaits your "free" Guinness after you go through the tour. I learned a lot actually. Including the fun fact that Arthur Guinness signed his lease on St. James Gate where Guinness is still brewed (including all Guinness sold in the US) for 9,000 years. That was 251 years ago so you do the math on how many years of Guinness we have left to enjoy.
We ended our Saturday with one of the best experiences I think we had in Dublin. We had a discount on the Dublin Literary Pub Crawl so we decided to go. It was mentioned in my guidebook and apparently voted one of the top 50 walks in the world by a big magazine. It was fantastic and I highly recommend it to anybody who goes, especially if they're big into literature. We went to four pubs with two actors who told us about the famous literary connections to the pubs. Many were frequented by writers such as Samuel Becket and Brendan Behan and one was part of a setting in James Joyce's Ulysses (they love James Joyce...). The actors acted out parts of plays and other literature from Ireland. We didn't have a huge amount of time at each pub but it was really cool just to hear about everything and watch the performances. Definitely highly recommended by me if you're traveling to Dublin.
Sunday we started off right by going to church...and by that I mean we visited St. Patrick's Cathedral. It is beautiful, surrounded by beautiful gardens (I assume, they were covered in snow), and you can see Jonathan Swift's grave. Apparently he was a big shot in the church as well as being a writer. This puts "A Modest Proposal" into an even more interesting life. After St. Patrick's we trekked all the way to the Kilmainham Gaol (Jail). This is a since abandoned jail but it has seen much of Irish history. One of the main topics we heard about was the 1916 Easter Rising. The men who started the rising with the reading of their declaration of Ireland as a republic (an act of treason against Britain) were almost all held in Kilmainham Gaol and all were executed in Kilmainham. The only one not kept at the jail was James Connolly who was injured by a shot to the ankle and held at the make-shift Red Cross station in Dublin Castle. He was then famously tied to a chair in order not to fall over, as gangrene had set into his wound, before being executed by a firing squad in one of the courtyards of Kilmainham Gaol. We got to see this courtyard as well.
After the jail we walked to the Dublin Zoo...because who doesn't love animals? We had fun walking around although many of the Saharan animals were hiding inside under their heat lamps. But we got to see them anyway. The zoo is located in Phoenix Park which is the largest park in Europe so we also walked around there. We took a bus back to the city center (we had walked a lot) and got some more fish and chips (yum!). We were going to call it a day since everything in Dublin seemed to close at 5 but we realized that the National Wax Museum Plus was open until seven and included on our card. We thought it would be hilarious so we went. And it was. The first part is actually really interesting. It's all about Irish history, a lot of which we'd learned at the jail that morning. After that you hit the parts where they have various characters and such made out of the wax. We had a fantastic time posing with them, writing letters the the sleeping, wax Santa Claus, and taking a ton of pictures. It was great.
Monday was our final day with the Dublin Pass. We headed first to the Dublin Castle. We saw the gardens (covered in snow) and got to take a tour of the state apartments. This included the room were James Connolly was held before being executed at Kilmainham and the throne which the British ruler would sit upon when in Dublin. A British ruler has not visited Ireland (the southern part obviously) in 99 years and we found out that Queen Elizabeth II will be making her first state visit to Dublin next year, marking the 100th anniversary of the last time a state visit was made to Dublin by the British. She will also be the first of her ancestors not to sit on this throne.
After that we continued our knowledge of Irish/Dublin history by visiting the Dublin City Hall exhibit which was fun. There were lots of video and cool artifacts including the Sword of Dublin (my favorite). We headed from there to the Old Jameson Distillery. Jameson (a whiskey if you didn't know) is no longer made in Dublin but in Cork. However, they show you the whole process in Dublin and tell you about how Jameson is different from most other whiskeys/scotches. At the end you get a "free" tasting and they do a tasting with eight of the group of Jameson, a scotch (Johnny Walker Black), and an American whiskey (Jack Daniels). 6 of the 8 chose Jameson. I didn't do the tasting but my friend did and I got to try a bit of each and I agreed with the group.
We went to lunch after in an old church that's been converted. It's actually the church were Arthur Guinness got married, but now it's a pub and restaurant. We wandered Dublin a bit more since everything was closed, got some dessert and a snack at Bewley's were we frequented often, and just relaxed.
Tuesday we headed out of Dublin. We took the DART which is a train that hits the nearby cities and went to Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dun Leary...Gaelic is weird sometimes) which is a costal city. Of course, it was the one day it rained. We got some tea the minute we got in because it was so cold and wet. Then we walked the pier. Luckily it stopped raining for some of this and it was beautiful despite the weather. But, we were so freezing we decided to head to Dun Laoghaire's boasted about (on their tourist board) "12-screen cinema complex." We saw the newest Harry Potter. I never saw the 6th movie but I've read the books. I normally avoid the movies because I don't think they're very good after the books. But I have to say that the first part of the 7th is the best yet.
We headed back into Dublin, got some good pub food for dinner, and relaxed in our hostel before heading to bed (we had a super nice hostel by the way. Ashfield House if anybody's interested).
Wednesday was our last day in Dublin and we decided to hit up the free things. We went to the National Museum of Archeology first. I never knew there was so much gold in Ireland. It was half the museum! And then I saw bog bodies which was kinda creepy. If you don't know what those are, look them up, I don't feel like describing them. Then we headed to St. Stephen's Green and walked around, saw the bust of James Joyce, and enjoyed the day. It was pretty sunny even if there still was snow and ice on the ground (Allie had since learned how to walk on ice and how to layer so she was much more content with the snow than before). We got lunch after that and headed to the National Gallery. It was nice to see Irish and English paintings that weren't religiously based (as much) after spending so much time in Italy. Every painting in Italy is "Madonna Con Bambino" (Madonna and Child) and it gets a bit tiring after a bit. However, we did see one of the most famous Caravaggio paintings and we had to go to Dublin to do it.
We went to Marrion Square after that which is another park that boasts the Oscar Wilde reclining statue. We walked around, saw where Oscar Wilde spent his childhood, and then just walked around some more. We checked times for a bus the next morning, did some souvenir shopping, and had a final Irish dinner before heading to bed super early before embarking on our very early journey home the next morning.
If you want to hear about that journey home, you should ask me. Because the details of it are too frustrating for me to write here. But I'll start with this: we got up at 2:45 am.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Aaron Visits: Milano, Torino, e Venezia
So after getting back from Rome on Sunday I was back at Malpensa Airport to pick up Aaron on Monday afternoon. It was great to see him after being gone for twelve weeks. We're used to not seeing each other for long amounts of time, but never as long as it had been this time.
After getting him settled in and making sure he didn't sleep (I beat the jet-lag out of him) we went to the Duomo area. The Christmas tree was being put up and they had it lit up for ten minutes while we were there. I showed Aaron the outside of the Duomo, the Vittorio Emmanuele Galleria (he spun on the bull's testicles for good luck), the outside of La Scala, and the castle. We got dinner near my apartment and I took Aaron to our 100 Flavor (centogusti) shop in order to get him his very first gelato.
Tuesday morning I had to perform for my music class so Aaron actually came along to hear me. He picked a good day to come since it was probably our most interesting class all semester. Then he and I went back to the Duomo, saw the inside, had some panzerotti at Luini's (if you're ever in Milan you have to go there, it's cheap and delicious. Perfect for lunch), and then we climbed to the top of the Duomo. It was so clear outside that you could see the mountains to the north. It was really beautiful.
After that I had to have a horn lessons so Aaron occupied himself by going to La Scala's museum and walking around the castle area. He met me at the IES center and we headed to my apartment to relax a bit before we went and got some traditional Sicilian pizza at Spontini (another place to hit up if you're in Milan).
Wednesday Aaron explored the city some more while I went to Italian class and then we went to see a few churches and wandered around a bit, got lunch, and then I headed to my second class of the day. After that we were going to go to the Science and Technology Museum but the entrance is really confusing to find and by the time we had an idea of where it was the museum was only going to be open for another hour.
However, in the evening he and I both had our first experience at an Italian soccer (or calcio as they say) game. We went to see Inter Milan play FC Twente with Allie as well. Our seats were with all of the Inter Milan fans which was crazy. They are the most organized sports fans ever. They all knew every cheer and some of them were really complicated. Allie and I managed to understand a few but we were even lost. Aaron knows no Italian so I told him what I did understand which still wasn't a lot. Especially when it was a really long and complicated "song" instead of a shorter chant. When Inter scored the one goal of the game everybody went crazy. It was so much fun. And it was really exciting that Inter won!
I don't have classes on Thursdays so Aaron and I decided to take a day trip. I knew Torino was close and I'd heard it was a nice city. It's the third largest in Italy and was the host of the 2006 Winter Olympics (in English it's often referred to as Turin). We took about a two hour train to get there, walked around a lot. We saw the two main piazzas, a student protest in one of them (we steered away from it and watched from a distance. They definitely egged a government building. From what I figured out they were protesting monetary cuts from the public university), a palace or two, Torino's Duomo (which has this shroud that many believe was the shroud on Jesus's face in the tomb and it has an imprint of his face on it), and a few parks. We had a really good lunch and continued to walk around more.
We ended up going to the Cinema Museum but not to see the museum, but to go up in the tower. They have this spire on the building that you can ride and elevator up the museum and up onto the top of it. You can see the mountains all around you and the city of Torino is laid out in front of you. It's really beautiful so we spent a lot of time up there. After that we headed to Torino's Egyptian Museum. Torino actually has the third largest Egyptian collection in the world after Cairo and London. It's also in a museum completely dedicated to Egypt, not among other things as in London apparently. There was a nice student discount so we went and walked around. It was really interesting to see all of this Egypt stuff, even if we were in Italy.
After the Egyptian museum we headed back to the train station (after stopping for gelato of course) and back to Milan. Now, as Thursday was Thanksgiving we decided to go have a really big Italian dinner. We went to another restaurant in my neighborhood and had the primi piatti (pasta) and the secondi piatti (meat usually) as well as dessert. The whole dinner took over two hours to eat and we were stuffed after it. We had originally thought to get two desserts to share and ended up only having one. After that we went and Skyped with my family which was really great. Everybody who was at my house just kept filing past the computer and talking to me. All my cousins from my mom's family got on at the same time (including Sammy the dog) and I talked to my Grandpa and everybody else. I wish everybody could have been there but it was fantastic to talk to those who were. As much as I'm going to miss Milan I'm really looking forward to going home for Christmas Eve and Christmas and getting to see everybody.
So Friday I had three hour Italian. I had booked Aaron a ticket to see Da Vinci's The Last Supper so he went to that first and loved it, as does everybody who sees it. Then he walked around and managed to find himself a leather jacket which was his one purchase for himself. He met me at IES and we grabbed some lunch to go for our train we had to catch to Venezia (or Venice for those of you who don't know Italian names of towns).
When we got to Venice it was pouring rain and freezing. We had to find where we were staying and then we decided to venture back out since it was only 5:30 and we had a lot of time. We took the vaporetto to San Marco to see the outside and ended up wandering around. We popped into a lot of Murano glass shops (definitely one of my favorite things in Venice) and ended up walking all the way to the Rialto Bridge. We found some dinner near the Rialto before heading back for the night.
Luckily we woke up Saturday to blue skies and sun. We went back to San Marco again and went inside. We also went upstairs to go on the terrace that overlooks Piazza San Marco and then to the museum up there which was really interesting. I didn't even know there was that much of a museum up there and I enjoyed it a lot.
We then tried to go see the church were Vivaldi was baptized (which I had stumbled across the last time I was in Venice) but they were just closing up. So we got some lunch and headed to Isola San Giorgio with the intention of going up the bell tower to view Venice from above. However, there's this thing where most churches close for a few hours in the afternoon and we were right in that time. But we got some good views of Venice from the island before heading back to the main island. We then tried to go the Santa Maria Della Salute which was also closed. So...we wandered. And wandering in Venice is pretty fun. Eventually you end up back at the Grand Canal. We ended up back there at the Accademia bridge and then went back up towards the Rialto. We spent the rest of our day just wandering, seeing the picturesque-ness of Venice, and looking in the windows of every Murano glass shop we saw (if you've never seen Murano glass you should Google it. It's gorgeous).
We had a very early dinner at a pizzeria and then we were on the last train back from Venice to Milan. When we got back we had to pack everything up. I bought a suitcase here for Aaron to take back with him so we had to fit everything in it. Then this morning we got up early and I took Aaron back to the airport and he headed off to Atlanta and then he'll head to Detroit.
It was fantastic to Aaron here in general and really nice to have somebody to spend Thanksgiving with. Next visitors: my parents! Just two and a half weeks!
After getting him settled in and making sure he didn't sleep (I beat the jet-lag out of him) we went to the Duomo area. The Christmas tree was being put up and they had it lit up for ten minutes while we were there. I showed Aaron the outside of the Duomo, the Vittorio Emmanuele Galleria (he spun on the bull's testicles for good luck), the outside of La Scala, and the castle. We got dinner near my apartment and I took Aaron to our 100 Flavor (centogusti) shop in order to get him his very first gelato.
Tuesday morning I had to perform for my music class so Aaron actually came along to hear me. He picked a good day to come since it was probably our most interesting class all semester. Then he and I went back to the Duomo, saw the inside, had some panzerotti at Luini's (if you're ever in Milan you have to go there, it's cheap and delicious. Perfect for lunch), and then we climbed to the top of the Duomo. It was so clear outside that you could see the mountains to the north. It was really beautiful.
After that I had to have a horn lessons so Aaron occupied himself by going to La Scala's museum and walking around the castle area. He met me at the IES center and we headed to my apartment to relax a bit before we went and got some traditional Sicilian pizza at Spontini (another place to hit up if you're in Milan).
Wednesday Aaron explored the city some more while I went to Italian class and then we went to see a few churches and wandered around a bit, got lunch, and then I headed to my second class of the day. After that we were going to go to the Science and Technology Museum but the entrance is really confusing to find and by the time we had an idea of where it was the museum was only going to be open for another hour.
However, in the evening he and I both had our first experience at an Italian soccer (or calcio as they say) game. We went to see Inter Milan play FC Twente with Allie as well. Our seats were with all of the Inter Milan fans which was crazy. They are the most organized sports fans ever. They all knew every cheer and some of them were really complicated. Allie and I managed to understand a few but we were even lost. Aaron knows no Italian so I told him what I did understand which still wasn't a lot. Especially when it was a really long and complicated "song" instead of a shorter chant. When Inter scored the one goal of the game everybody went crazy. It was so much fun. And it was really exciting that Inter won!
I don't have classes on Thursdays so Aaron and I decided to take a day trip. I knew Torino was close and I'd heard it was a nice city. It's the third largest in Italy and was the host of the 2006 Winter Olympics (in English it's often referred to as Turin). We took about a two hour train to get there, walked around a lot. We saw the two main piazzas, a student protest in one of them (we steered away from it and watched from a distance. They definitely egged a government building. From what I figured out they were protesting monetary cuts from the public university), a palace or two, Torino's Duomo (which has this shroud that many believe was the shroud on Jesus's face in the tomb and it has an imprint of his face on it), and a few parks. We had a really good lunch and continued to walk around more.
We ended up going to the Cinema Museum but not to see the museum, but to go up in the tower. They have this spire on the building that you can ride and elevator up the museum and up onto the top of it. You can see the mountains all around you and the city of Torino is laid out in front of you. It's really beautiful so we spent a lot of time up there. After that we headed to Torino's Egyptian Museum. Torino actually has the third largest Egyptian collection in the world after Cairo and London. It's also in a museum completely dedicated to Egypt, not among other things as in London apparently. There was a nice student discount so we went and walked around. It was really interesting to see all of this Egypt stuff, even if we were in Italy.
After the Egyptian museum we headed back to the train station (after stopping for gelato of course) and back to Milan. Now, as Thursday was Thanksgiving we decided to go have a really big Italian dinner. We went to another restaurant in my neighborhood and had the primi piatti (pasta) and the secondi piatti (meat usually) as well as dessert. The whole dinner took over two hours to eat and we were stuffed after it. We had originally thought to get two desserts to share and ended up only having one. After that we went and Skyped with my family which was really great. Everybody who was at my house just kept filing past the computer and talking to me. All my cousins from my mom's family got on at the same time (including Sammy the dog) and I talked to my Grandpa and everybody else. I wish everybody could have been there but it was fantastic to talk to those who were. As much as I'm going to miss Milan I'm really looking forward to going home for Christmas Eve and Christmas and getting to see everybody.
So Friday I had three hour Italian. I had booked Aaron a ticket to see Da Vinci's The Last Supper so he went to that first and loved it, as does everybody who sees it. Then he walked around and managed to find himself a leather jacket which was his one purchase for himself. He met me at IES and we grabbed some lunch to go for our train we had to catch to Venezia (or Venice for those of you who don't know Italian names of towns).
When we got to Venice it was pouring rain and freezing. We had to find where we were staying and then we decided to venture back out since it was only 5:30 and we had a lot of time. We took the vaporetto to San Marco to see the outside and ended up wandering around. We popped into a lot of Murano glass shops (definitely one of my favorite things in Venice) and ended up walking all the way to the Rialto Bridge. We found some dinner near the Rialto before heading back for the night.
Luckily we woke up Saturday to blue skies and sun. We went back to San Marco again and went inside. We also went upstairs to go on the terrace that overlooks Piazza San Marco and then to the museum up there which was really interesting. I didn't even know there was that much of a museum up there and I enjoyed it a lot.
We then tried to go see the church were Vivaldi was baptized (which I had stumbled across the last time I was in Venice) but they were just closing up. So we got some lunch and headed to Isola San Giorgio with the intention of going up the bell tower to view Venice from above. However, there's this thing where most churches close for a few hours in the afternoon and we were right in that time. But we got some good views of Venice from the island before heading back to the main island. We then tried to go the Santa Maria Della Salute which was also closed. So...we wandered. And wandering in Venice is pretty fun. Eventually you end up back at the Grand Canal. We ended up back there at the Accademia bridge and then went back up towards the Rialto. We spent the rest of our day just wandering, seeing the picturesque-ness of Venice, and looking in the windows of every Murano glass shop we saw (if you've never seen Murano glass you should Google it. It's gorgeous).
We had a very early dinner at a pizzeria and then we were on the last train back from Venice to Milan. When we got back we had to pack everything up. I bought a suitcase here for Aaron to take back with him so we had to fit everything in it. Then this morning we got up early and I took Aaron back to the airport and he headed off to Atlanta and then he'll head to Detroit.
It was fantastic to Aaron here in general and really nice to have somebody to spend Thanksgiving with. Next visitors: my parents! Just two and a half weeks!
Monday, November 22, 2010
Roma!
So we had another long weekend and my friend Allie and I jetted off to Rome (yes, we took a plane...it is cheaper and faster than a train actually).
We got in Thursday evening, had some dinner at a cute restaurant near the Colosseum (we were about 10 minutes from there in our hostel) and got to see the Colosseum all lit up at night. It's beautiful at night and I loved getting to see that.
We got up on Friday and we hit practically everything. We saw the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine during the day. Then we spent forever trying to find the entrance to the Roman Forum and walked around three quarters of it (it's huge) before figuring out that the Roman Forum is no longer free, it's a combined ticket for the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and the Roman Forum. We were saving our pennies for the Vatican but we got some nice views of the Forum as we walked around. We saw a bunch more ruins, Capitoline Hill, and the Vittorio Emanuelle Monument and then headed to the Pantheon which is beautiful and a must see in Rome.
After the Pantheon we decided to have a quick pick-me-up and we headed to Giolitti...best gelato in Italy. I went there last time I was in Rome nine years ago and my dad and cousin Anna insisted I go back. It was still as good as I remembered.
Next we hit the Piazza Navona for some people watching before getting lunch. After lunch we walked over to the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. We climbed the steps and watched the sun set over Rome from the top. We then met up with two other friends from our program that happened to be also be in Rome (one was Allie's roommate). We went for a cappuccino at the oldest cafe in Rome and then Allie and I headed back to the hostel...exhausted from the large amounts of walking we did (Milan's public transportation is way better than Rome's).
Saturday morning we woke up super early, had breakfast, and took the metro out to the Vatican. We met up again with our friends and went through the Vatican museum. We only had to wait an hour in line but it was pouring rain so that wasn't fun. We were very happy to find that there's a really good student discount for the Vatican museums. Last time I was there I only remember seeing the Sistine Chapel but we saw pretty much the whole museum. Besides the Sistine Chapel I enjoyed seeing the Raphel rooms and his famous frescos including my friend Allie's favorite "School of Athens."
We ate lunch when we finally finished with the museum and then head to St. Peter's. The sun came out and we had a great time seeing the church, Michelangelo's Pieta, and a lot of people in interesting hats (not all clergy...although we saw a cardinal in the Vatican museum and three Bishops in St. Peter's Square.
We walked over to Castel Sant'Angelo and saw the outside, plus a nearby palace before taking our friends to...you guessed it...Giolitti! We had some wonderful gelato before heading back to our hostel. We wandered a bit and ended up finding the Roman Theatre ruins which were cool to see, especially since it was night and they were all lit up.
Sunday we slept in and relaxed after our two really big days. We hit up the Campo dei Fiori to see some markets and look around. We also headed back to the Piazza Navona for people watching before getting our final gelato at Giolitti. We headed back to the hostel, made it through the thunderstorm that had hit Rome, and headed back to the airport (luckily the storm didn't last long and our plane was only delayed slightly).
It was a wonderful trip to see the Eternal City and I took a lot of pictures that will be up soon, but first I have to head to pick up Aaron at the Milan airport! He'll be here for a week and we'll see Milan, Torino, and Venice! I can't wait.
We got in Thursday evening, had some dinner at a cute restaurant near the Colosseum (we were about 10 minutes from there in our hostel) and got to see the Colosseum all lit up at night. It's beautiful at night and I loved getting to see that.
We got up on Friday and we hit practically everything. We saw the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine during the day. Then we spent forever trying to find the entrance to the Roman Forum and walked around three quarters of it (it's huge) before figuring out that the Roman Forum is no longer free, it's a combined ticket for the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and the Roman Forum. We were saving our pennies for the Vatican but we got some nice views of the Forum as we walked around. We saw a bunch more ruins, Capitoline Hill, and the Vittorio Emanuelle Monument and then headed to the Pantheon which is beautiful and a must see in Rome.
After the Pantheon we decided to have a quick pick-me-up and we headed to Giolitti...best gelato in Italy. I went there last time I was in Rome nine years ago and my dad and cousin Anna insisted I go back. It was still as good as I remembered.
Next we hit the Piazza Navona for some people watching before getting lunch. After lunch we walked over to the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. We climbed the steps and watched the sun set over Rome from the top. We then met up with two other friends from our program that happened to be also be in Rome (one was Allie's roommate). We went for a cappuccino at the oldest cafe in Rome and then Allie and I headed back to the hostel...exhausted from the large amounts of walking we did (Milan's public transportation is way better than Rome's).
Saturday morning we woke up super early, had breakfast, and took the metro out to the Vatican. We met up again with our friends and went through the Vatican museum. We only had to wait an hour in line but it was pouring rain so that wasn't fun. We were very happy to find that there's a really good student discount for the Vatican museums. Last time I was there I only remember seeing the Sistine Chapel but we saw pretty much the whole museum. Besides the Sistine Chapel I enjoyed seeing the Raphel rooms and his famous frescos including my friend Allie's favorite "School of Athens."
We ate lunch when we finally finished with the museum and then head to St. Peter's. The sun came out and we had a great time seeing the church, Michelangelo's Pieta, and a lot of people in interesting hats (not all clergy...although we saw a cardinal in the Vatican museum and three Bishops in St. Peter's Square.
We walked over to Castel Sant'Angelo and saw the outside, plus a nearby palace before taking our friends to...you guessed it...Giolitti! We had some wonderful gelato before heading back to our hostel. We wandered a bit and ended up finding the Roman Theatre ruins which were cool to see, especially since it was night and they were all lit up.
Sunday we slept in and relaxed after our two really big days. We hit up the Campo dei Fiori to see some markets and look around. We also headed back to the Piazza Navona for people watching before getting our final gelato at Giolitti. We headed back to the hostel, made it through the thunderstorm that had hit Rome, and headed back to the airport (luckily the storm didn't last long and our plane was only delayed slightly).
It was a wonderful trip to see the Eternal City and I took a lot of pictures that will be up soon, but first I have to head to pick up Aaron at the Milan airport! He'll be here for a week and we'll see Milan, Torino, and Venice! I can't wait.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Swiss Visitors
Michelle, Me, and Janine at the Parco SempioneSo this past weekend I had some visitors from Switzerland. When I was in Europe in 2007 with Blue Lake International Southern Winds I had stayed with a family for four days in Switzerland and had since kept it pretty decent contact with my host sister Janine. So, she came down to Milan for the weekend with her sister Michelle. They'd never been to Milan before so we had a good time.
They got here Saturday and we went to the Duomo area where you can see the Duomo (of course), the Vittorio Emmanuel, and La Scala. We did some shopping (another popular activity around the Duomo) and had lunch. For dinner we went out with two of my friends of Sicilian style pizza al tracio (pizzia by the slice) at this place called Spontini which is so good. If you're ever in Milan go find it, it's fantastic.
Sunday we went back to the Duomo and actually went inside because there had been a really long line the day before. We walked around and saw some of the very fancy shopping, and then, because of the rain (molto pioggia) we went to the museums in the castle. We had lunch at Bar Magenta which is a rather historic bar that my language partner had taken me to previously and saw the inside of San Ambrogio. I'd never been inside and it's a very beautiful church. It's the oldest church in Milan and definitely worth a visit.
I had a great time with my host sisters but this weekend it's off to Rome. And then I have another visitor coming Monday...Aaron's coming to visit me! Yay!
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Bella Toscana
So I stole the title from the sequel to Under the Tuscan Sun except I used correct Italian grammar (the title of the sequel is Bella Tuscany and is definitely worth a read).
This trip was an IES sponsored trip which was awesome because all I bought all weekend was lunch. Yay! Also, it was led by one of my most favorite people at IES, Walter! Yay! We had classes off on Thursday as an end of midterms treat so we left Thursday morning and came back Saturday night.
THURSDAY
We started with a four hour bus ride. Joy. However, we arrived in Siena and had a guided tour. This time our guide spoke pretty good English so it didn't take as long to have the translations. He was also a lot less long winded than the guide we had in Aosta. We were given breaks a few times as well which was nice. We saw the Piazza del Campo, the political center of Siena where the hold the big horse race Siena has every year for which province is more adored by the Virgin Mary. We took a break here and ate some very good gelato while sitting in the square.
We also saw the church with St. Catherine's head (yes, you can really see the head. I believe my cousin Anna was really intrigued by this when she went there) which is San Domenico and the outside of the Duomo. We then climbed up this wall that was supposed to be the facade for a new church when Siena decided to try and expand their Duomo into the largest cathedral in the world (beating St. Peter's in Rome). However, the plague hit and nothing was finished. However, now you can climb it (for a price which IES covered for us, yay!) and see some beautiful views of Siena and the Tuscan countryside that surrounds it.
Siena is a small town so we then headed and checked into the hotel and relaxed until dinner.
FRIDAY
We woke up, had some breakfast, and headed to Montalcino where there's a castle/fortress we went to. We went up on the walls of the fortress and then tasted wine in the enoteca (wine club) in the castle. This wasn't covered by IES but there was a deal that we got to try a brunello that Montalcino is known for and it was only one euro. We then had time to explore the town of Montalcino and get some lunch. We basically saw some churches (the Duomo was closed for lunch when we got there but we hung out in the little park in front of it and took pictures of the beautiful fall colors).
After Montalcino we headed to a monastery nearby and got to hear the monks there doing their Gregorian chant. We actually then heard from a monk there who is originally from LA but just moved out to the monastery.
We left Montalcino and went to Pienza which is a small Renaissance town that was designed by Piccolomini! (a reference to a Blue Lake song for those that don't know). Turns out Piccolomini became Pope Pius II. We got to see a beautiful Tuscan sunset (so many Under the Tuscan Sun references...) and wander the town before going back to our hotel in Siena and having dinner.
SATURDAY
We packed the bus up (we jokingly said "upload" because Walter had misspoke and said "download" the bus instead of unload earlier on the trip) and went to Arezzo for the day. We went into San Francesco and saw these very famous frescos that I enjoyed. Other than that we just wandered the town. Saw the Duomo which had also just closed for lunch, had lunch with the RAs and Walter because we ran into them, and then got on a bus back to Milan.
It was a wonderful trip and Tuscany was so beautiful. I've come back to gray, cloudy Milan (we're supposed to have rain for four days in a row this week) and back to classes. I will be spending next weekend in Milan but am very excited because my host sister from St. Gallen, Switzerland during my 2007 European tour with the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp International Southern Winds is coming with her other sister to visit me. Yay!
This trip was an IES sponsored trip which was awesome because all I bought all weekend was lunch. Yay! Also, it was led by one of my most favorite people at IES, Walter! Yay! We had classes off on Thursday as an end of midterms treat so we left Thursday morning and came back Saturday night.
THURSDAY
We started with a four hour bus ride. Joy. However, we arrived in Siena and had a guided tour. This time our guide spoke pretty good English so it didn't take as long to have the translations. He was also a lot less long winded than the guide we had in Aosta. We were given breaks a few times as well which was nice. We saw the Piazza del Campo, the political center of Siena where the hold the big horse race Siena has every year for which province is more adored by the Virgin Mary. We took a break here and ate some very good gelato while sitting in the square.
We also saw the church with St. Catherine's head (yes, you can really see the head. I believe my cousin Anna was really intrigued by this when she went there) which is San Domenico and the outside of the Duomo. We then climbed up this wall that was supposed to be the facade for a new church when Siena decided to try and expand their Duomo into the largest cathedral in the world (beating St. Peter's in Rome). However, the plague hit and nothing was finished. However, now you can climb it (for a price which IES covered for us, yay!) and see some beautiful views of Siena and the Tuscan countryside that surrounds it.
Siena is a small town so we then headed and checked into the hotel and relaxed until dinner.
FRIDAY
We woke up, had some breakfast, and headed to Montalcino where there's a castle/fortress we went to. We went up on the walls of the fortress and then tasted wine in the enoteca (wine club) in the castle. This wasn't covered by IES but there was a deal that we got to try a brunello that Montalcino is known for and it was only one euro. We then had time to explore the town of Montalcino and get some lunch. We basically saw some churches (the Duomo was closed for lunch when we got there but we hung out in the little park in front of it and took pictures of the beautiful fall colors).
After Montalcino we headed to a monastery nearby and got to hear the monks there doing their Gregorian chant. We actually then heard from a monk there who is originally from LA but just moved out to the monastery.
We left Montalcino and went to Pienza which is a small Renaissance town that was designed by Piccolomini! (a reference to a Blue Lake song for those that don't know). Turns out Piccolomini became Pope Pius II. We got to see a beautiful Tuscan sunset (so many Under the Tuscan Sun references...) and wander the town before going back to our hotel in Siena and having dinner.
SATURDAY
We packed the bus up (we jokingly said "upload" because Walter had misspoke and said "download" the bus instead of unload earlier on the trip) and went to Arezzo for the day. We went into San Francesco and saw these very famous frescos that I enjoyed. Other than that we just wandered the town. Saw the Duomo which had also just closed for lunch, had lunch with the RAs and Walter because we ran into them, and then got on a bus back to Milan.
It was a wonderful trip and Tuscany was so beautiful. I've come back to gray, cloudy Milan (we're supposed to have rain for four days in a row this week) and back to classes. I will be spending next weekend in Milan but am very excited because my host sister from St. Gallen, Switzerland during my 2007 European tour with the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp International Southern Winds is coming with her other sister to visit me. Yay!
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Da Vinci's The Last Supper
Just a quick blog post to update that I got to go see Da Vinci's Last Supper at Santa Maria Delle Grazie today. It was a wonderful experience that I highly recommend to anybody coming to Milan. To see something that you've seen prints of and pictures of in textbooks up close is just amazing and I loved it. You can see the textures and where things are still fading away despite the many restorations.
I had an English guide with the ticket I got (I couldn't find any left directly through the ticket office so I had to find a third party that blocks out a few times a week to take people through) and that made the experience very informative and interesting.
So, definitely go see The Last Supper sometime in your lifetime. It's worth the trip.
I had an English guide with the ticket I got (I couldn't find any left directly through the ticket office so I had to find a third party that blocks out a few times a week to take people through) and that made the experience very informative and interesting.
So, definitely go see The Last Supper sometime in your lifetime. It's worth the trip.
Orvieto, Perugia, Assisi...oh my!: The Umbria Region
This past weekend was a long one thanks to Monday being All Saint's Day which is a big deal in Europe and a national holiday in Italy. We left Friday afternoon for Orvieto which is in the Umbria region. It takes a little over five hours on the mid-speed train. When we got to Orvieto is was one of those get dinner and head to bed nights.
We woke up in the morning and spent it exploring Orvieto. We went to the Duomo which is beautiful and built over many centuries so it's kinda a piecework building. After that we mainly just wandered. We found a few more churches and beautiful views. Orvieto is on top of a hill and you can see all the other hills of Umbria and other small villages from the top. It's really beautiful and I took tons of pictures. I definitely recommend the trip but you don't need more than a day (we did it in a half day) to see the city. It's very small and quaint.
Then we headed to Perugia. We ran into some transportation issues getting to our hostel. It's actually a farmhouse on the outskirts of Perugia but beautiful. We had to take a bus and unlike Milan all the stops were not listed on the sign. We got confused and got off too early. However, we had a crazy bus drive and she barely let me out the door and my two friends ended up a stop away and walked back to me. We waiting half an hour for the next bus with a much more sane bus driver and a girl who was staying the same place we were. She helped us find the place. It was wonderful. We were literally in a farmhouse in a four person dorm (our fourth roommate ended up being the girl who helped us on the bus). There was a little kitchen and two common areas. We bought some food and cooked at the hostel since the bus to Perugia stopped pretty early in the evening (about eight or nine). We met some really nice people including the girl who helped us, an Australian girl backpacking through Europe, and an Australian/New Zealander couple who was on a three week vacation and more or less backpacking through Italy.
Sunday morning we got up and went to Assisi. That's right, I spent Halloween in what is considered by many to be a very holy place. We saw the St. Francis cathedral which is beautiful but was very crowded. We ended up being in the lower church (there is a lower church and an upper church) for part of a mass while waiting to see St. Francis's tomb. The upper church has beautiful frescos of St. Francis's life. After the church we wandered a bit, got some lunch, and just followed random signs we found. We stumbled across a few more churches including Santa Chiara (St. Claire) and went in to see her tomb as well. She's actually preserved so you can see her lying there in all her glory. It was a bit creepy when we realized it but the church and tomb were beautiful. By the time we made it back to Perugia it was later and so we went back to the hostel to chill and eat some dinner.
Monday we got up and went into the Perugia city center. From the train station you have to take a mini metro up the hill and then a bunch of escalators. Basically, all of these towns are considered "hill towns" and are like this in various ways. We took a bus or a funicolare in Orvieto, we took a bus up and walked down in Assisi, and Perugia has this nice mini-metro thing.
We basically wandered Perugia. A lot of things were closed but there was a festival and lots of booths. We bought chocolate which Perugia is famous for and saw some nice churches. The main church in Perugia looks like nothing on the outside. It's downright ugly. Then you walk in and I think it took my breath away because I was expecting nothing and it's just beautiful. We also so the Etruscan Arch in the town which has a lot of Etruscan ruins. It's a very medieval town.
However, the most interesting part of our entire trip might have been getting back to Milan.
Originally we had planned to stay in Orvieto all the nights but ran into issues finding a room, hence how we ended up in Perugia for two nights. But our tickets to Milan departed from Orvieto. So we took two trains from Perugia to Orvieto and were two hours early for our train. Due to the extreme rain we stayed in the train station and chilled. Read books, got some pizza, and relaxed.
Then we see that our train is five minutes late. Then ten...twenty...twenty-five...thirty...one hour and fifty minutes delayed. We're already getting back to Milan rather late so this is going to be a disaster because we want to make the metros back home (metros stop running around 12:40 or 12:45). So we notice there's a 6:15 train going to Milano Centrale as well (our train was supposed to be at 5:44) and it's only 10 minutes delayed. We try to get our tickets changed and the guy at the booth says the trains will be running pretty much at the same time so it doesn't matter. However, since it's the same type of train we knew we wouldn't get kicked off if we took another train of the same value as our ticket (some of our friends found this out once). The 6:15 ended up being only half an hour late so we got on. Problem was...no seats. We had reserved seats on the other train. So we stood. And then we sat on the ground. And then in Florence (about two hours later) we got seats. Then we lost them in one stop (about ten minutes). And then we stood until Bologna (another hour). Right next to the door between the cars that kept opening of it's own accord. Finally at Florence one of my friends got a seat and I found a nice spot on the floor by some luggage. I stayed there for about twenty minutes before another stop left enough open seats that I was able to finally sit down in a real seat for the rest of the ride. And luckily I made the second to last metro of the night.
It was an adventure but all three towns were beautiful and definitely worth the trip.
We woke up in the morning and spent it exploring Orvieto. We went to the Duomo which is beautiful and built over many centuries so it's kinda a piecework building. After that we mainly just wandered. We found a few more churches and beautiful views. Orvieto is on top of a hill and you can see all the other hills of Umbria and other small villages from the top. It's really beautiful and I took tons of pictures. I definitely recommend the trip but you don't need more than a day (we did it in a half day) to see the city. It's very small and quaint.
Then we headed to Perugia. We ran into some transportation issues getting to our hostel. It's actually a farmhouse on the outskirts of Perugia but beautiful. We had to take a bus and unlike Milan all the stops were not listed on the sign. We got confused and got off too early. However, we had a crazy bus drive and she barely let me out the door and my two friends ended up a stop away and walked back to me. We waiting half an hour for the next bus with a much more sane bus driver and a girl who was staying the same place we were. She helped us find the place. It was wonderful. We were literally in a farmhouse in a four person dorm (our fourth roommate ended up being the girl who helped us on the bus). There was a little kitchen and two common areas. We bought some food and cooked at the hostel since the bus to Perugia stopped pretty early in the evening (about eight or nine). We met some really nice people including the girl who helped us, an Australian girl backpacking through Europe, and an Australian/New Zealander couple who was on a three week vacation and more or less backpacking through Italy.
Sunday morning we got up and went to Assisi. That's right, I spent Halloween in what is considered by many to be a very holy place. We saw the St. Francis cathedral which is beautiful but was very crowded. We ended up being in the lower church (there is a lower church and an upper church) for part of a mass while waiting to see St. Francis's tomb. The upper church has beautiful frescos of St. Francis's life. After the church we wandered a bit, got some lunch, and just followed random signs we found. We stumbled across a few more churches including Santa Chiara (St. Claire) and went in to see her tomb as well. She's actually preserved so you can see her lying there in all her glory. It was a bit creepy when we realized it but the church and tomb were beautiful. By the time we made it back to Perugia it was later and so we went back to the hostel to chill and eat some dinner.
Monday we got up and went into the Perugia city center. From the train station you have to take a mini metro up the hill and then a bunch of escalators. Basically, all of these towns are considered "hill towns" and are like this in various ways. We took a bus or a funicolare in Orvieto, we took a bus up and walked down in Assisi, and Perugia has this nice mini-metro thing.
We basically wandered Perugia. A lot of things were closed but there was a festival and lots of booths. We bought chocolate which Perugia is famous for and saw some nice churches. The main church in Perugia looks like nothing on the outside. It's downright ugly. Then you walk in and I think it took my breath away because I was expecting nothing and it's just beautiful. We also so the Etruscan Arch in the town which has a lot of Etruscan ruins. It's a very medieval town.
However, the most interesting part of our entire trip might have been getting back to Milan.
Originally we had planned to stay in Orvieto all the nights but ran into issues finding a room, hence how we ended up in Perugia for two nights. But our tickets to Milan departed from Orvieto. So we took two trains from Perugia to Orvieto and were two hours early for our train. Due to the extreme rain we stayed in the train station and chilled. Read books, got some pizza, and relaxed.
Then we see that our train is five minutes late. Then ten...twenty...twenty-five...thirty...one hour and fifty minutes delayed. We're already getting back to Milan rather late so this is going to be a disaster because we want to make the metros back home (metros stop running around 12:40 or 12:45). So we notice there's a 6:15 train going to Milano Centrale as well (our train was supposed to be at 5:44) and it's only 10 minutes delayed. We try to get our tickets changed and the guy at the booth says the trains will be running pretty much at the same time so it doesn't matter. However, since it's the same type of train we knew we wouldn't get kicked off if we took another train of the same value as our ticket (some of our friends found this out once). The 6:15 ended up being only half an hour late so we got on. Problem was...no seats. We had reserved seats on the other train. So we stood. And then we sat on the ground. And then in Florence (about two hours later) we got seats. Then we lost them in one stop (about ten minutes). And then we stood until Bologna (another hour). Right next to the door between the cars that kept opening of it's own accord. Finally at Florence one of my friends got a seat and I found a nice spot on the floor by some luggage. I stayed there for about twenty minutes before another stop left enough open seats that I was able to finally sit down in a real seat for the rest of the ride. And luckily I made the second to last metro of the night.
It was an adventure but all three towns were beautiful and definitely worth the trip.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Language Partner and Thursday Adventure #2
Wednesday I met for the first time with my Italian Language Partner. The language partner is an optional IES program where you're paired with an Italian student and speak in both English and Italian to have practice for both students. I finally decided a few weeks ago that I felt prepared enough to speak in Italian so I signed up. My partner is Francesco and he's a fifth year (last year for Italian universities; you do 3 years of general studies and 2 years of specialized studies) law student. We met up at the IES center for the first one as most do and also got some lunch when we were done. Luckily he speaks fantastic English (I'm his third language partner and he also studied in Washington state). He's very nice and I'm excited to meet again.
On Thursday I finally had another "Thursday Adventure" after almost a month. I started by heading to the Arena in Parco Sempione (near the castle) which I couldn't get into but I saw the outside. Then I headed to the Aquarium next door which is tiny. However, it was free and pleasant to walk around. They have a nice terrace with pretty views. It is definitely becoming fall here. Milan isn't very green. There's not many trees until you find a full-blown park so it's hard to tell the seasons sometimes. Parco Sempione was on fire though. Lots of yellows and reds and oranges on the leaves. After leaving the aquarium I walked around the front of the castle just because I never had and there's a pretty fountain there. I also walked to the Triennial Design Museum but didn't feel like paying to see an exhibit.
I got lunch at a place near IES and was going to see Sant'Ambrogio church. Saint Ambrose (Sant'Ambrogio) is the patron saint of Milan and a big deal. The church is the oldest in Milan I believe and is supposed to be gorgeous. However, it was closed for two hours and I was right at the beginning of when it's closed. Guess I'll have to make it back there now that I know the times it's open.
I went over by the Duomo to La Scala and went into the museum. It was really nice. Lots of old instruments and paintings and busts of famous composers and singers. You can also walk out into the nice boxes and see the lobby area. Sadly I could not take pictures inside but I enjoyed wandering around. I also went to see Peck a very famous grocery store near the Duomo. It was really nice but I was slightly overwhelmed. I will have to make a trip back with my parents when they're here since they are the ones who told me to see it.
I took the metro back towards my apartment but stopped to see the first park in Milan the Giardini Publici. Again, fall was in full bloom and it was very pretty to walk around. Also, while looking for the park I finally stumbled across my parent's favorite gelato place in Milan: Bianco Latte. And they were right. It might be the best gelato I've had so far this trip (I don't know if it beats Vivoli's in Florence or Giolitti's in Rome from my last trip to Italy). The dark chocolate had chunks of super dark chocolate in it and there was also an orange chocolate. So good! I balanced out the chocolate with some biancolatte (since that was the name of the store).
I have just found out that Friday is a strike day in Milan for public transport. Luckily it seems that our train to go to the Umbria region will be running and we'll just have to take a cab to Centrale to get there.
On Thursday I finally had another "Thursday Adventure" after almost a month. I started by heading to the Arena in Parco Sempione (near the castle) which I couldn't get into but I saw the outside. Then I headed to the Aquarium next door which is tiny. However, it was free and pleasant to walk around. They have a nice terrace with pretty views. It is definitely becoming fall here. Milan isn't very green. There's not many trees until you find a full-blown park so it's hard to tell the seasons sometimes. Parco Sempione was on fire though. Lots of yellows and reds and oranges on the leaves. After leaving the aquarium I walked around the front of the castle just because I never had and there's a pretty fountain there. I also walked to the Triennial Design Museum but didn't feel like paying to see an exhibit.
I got lunch at a place near IES and was going to see Sant'Ambrogio church. Saint Ambrose (Sant'Ambrogio) is the patron saint of Milan and a big deal. The church is the oldest in Milan I believe and is supposed to be gorgeous. However, it was closed for two hours and I was right at the beginning of when it's closed. Guess I'll have to make it back there now that I know the times it's open.
I went over by the Duomo to La Scala and went into the museum. It was really nice. Lots of old instruments and paintings and busts of famous composers and singers. You can also walk out into the nice boxes and see the lobby area. Sadly I could not take pictures inside but I enjoyed wandering around. I also went to see Peck a very famous grocery store near the Duomo. It was really nice but I was slightly overwhelmed. I will have to make a trip back with my parents when they're here since they are the ones who told me to see it.
I took the metro back towards my apartment but stopped to see the first park in Milan the Giardini Publici. Again, fall was in full bloom and it was very pretty to walk around. Also, while looking for the park I finally stumbled across my parent's favorite gelato place in Milan: Bianco Latte. And they were right. It might be the best gelato I've had so far this trip (I don't know if it beats Vivoli's in Florence or Giolitti's in Rome from my last trip to Italy). The dark chocolate had chunks of super dark chocolate in it and there was also an orange chocolate. So good! I balanced out the chocolate with some biancolatte (since that was the name of the store).
I have just found out that Friday is a strike day in Milan for public transport. Luckily it seems that our train to go to the Umbria region will be running and we'll just have to take a cab to Centrale to get there.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Jetting off to España: Barcelona and Ibiza
I just have to say that I love three day weekends. So much travel time! So, in honor of our first three day weekend that there wasn't an IES trip I was going on my friend Allie and head jetted off to Spain.
We left Thursday evening for Barcelona. Our plane was delayed so it was pretty late when we got in. Luckily, the Spanish (or in Barcelona it's mostly the Catalans) stay up super late (even later than most Europeans). We checked into a hostel, got some dinner, drank some Sangria, and headed to bed after that.
We got up on Friday morning and went on a bike tour of Barcelona! We went with Fat Tire Bike Tours which I would highly recommend to anybody who likes to bike (and can bike obviously; it's a pretty easy bike though) and wants to get an idea of what to see. My roommates had told us about it so we decided to go and it was definitely worth the twenty euros we paid for it (which was a pretty good deal in my opinion for a four hour, guided bike tour in English). We saw the outsides of things but that was fine because we just went back to the places we wanted to see more of.
We started the bike tour at the Plaza Sant Jaume which is the political center of Barcelona to today and includes the city hall. We also saw Plaza del Rei which is where the palace Ferdinand and Isabella lived in. We saw where they tied people to the wall and poured boiling oil on them during the Spanish Inquisition (which was all Isabella's idea...although Ferdinand really didn't stop it. Isabella hated the Catalans and since Ferdinand never stood up for his own people no Catalans today will name their children Ferdinand or Isabella). We also saw the steps that Christopher Columbus scaled many times to ask Queen Isabella for the boats to find "Asia" and instead he found the new world. We saw the Music Palace which looks like Gaudi (the famous architect of Barcelona, if you don't know anything about him look it up) but was done by a contemporary. It's gorgeous to see even from the outside. My Aunt Kathy told me that it's nice to see inside as well (she gave me a bunch of ideas before I went to Barcelona and I was so glad that this one was on our bike tour) but we didn't get around to that. We kind of saw the Barcelona Cathedral but there was a festival in the way so it was hard to see. However, I learned that in order to be a cathedral the church must have the remains of some saint. Well, Barcelona took this to heart and collected over 700 body parts of saints. Crazy!
We saw the Arc de Triomf, and yes, Barcelona has one too. Theirs is red brick and very pretty. I think I liked it more than the Paris Arc de Triomph because it was in a much more serene area. You could walk the area around it and you weren't fearing for your life. We got to bike right underneath it which was fun. We then went to the Parc de la Ciutadella right next to the arc where the Gaudi Cascades are (which Gaudi was only an apprentice on but when it was being finished he'd become famous so he gets a lot of credit now). It's a beautiful park and was fun to bike through. We got to see the outside of the only bull fighting arena in Barcelona that still hosts bullfighting. Bullfighting was never a Catalan thing and was imported. They hated it so the government decided to be nice and ban it, however, the Catalans don't like following the laws so the next Sunday they held a bullfight. Apparently you can go any Sunday from April to September and see a bullfight there but they are going to try and ban bullfighting again in 2012. Other laws we learned about in Barcelona that are never followed:
-It is illegal to bike without a helmet on (nobody on the tour had a helmet on...)
-It is illegal to smoke in any bar or restaurant (there was smoking in every bar and restaurant)
-It is illegal to walk around with shorts and no shirt on. However, take off those shorts and you're not in violation of any law.
After that we went up to Sagrada Familia which is Gaudi's cathedral that has been under construction forever. It's pretty crazy looking but really cool at the same time. I loved it, it was just so unique. Interesting fact about Gaudi, he was killed from injuries he sustained after being hit by a tram. He designed the Barcelona tram system. Talk about irony. He also sold all his assets to keep working on Sagrada Familia and moved in there for the last few years of his life (before the tram accident). I also learned that when Franco was in power he hated anything Catalan and would burn down all Catalan buildings (he also allowed Barcelona to be used to bombing practice). However, Sagrada Familia is all stone and couldn't be burned down so instead Gaudi's workshop and all the blueprints were burned. The current plan for Sagrada Familia has been created from still existing pictures of Gaudi's plans but are probably rather inaccurate because Gaudi always designed as he went.
After Sagrada Familia we went to Port Olympic which was built up for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. They added a ton of beach with sand they imported from the Sahara desert so that Barcelona has the most beach front of any city in the world (and they kinda cheated for it). Then we biked to the beach, had a wonderful lunch on the beach, and biked back to the Fat Tire store (after everybody on the tour had consumed sangria...). It was a great way to start the day.
After the tour we wandered a bit and ended up at La Rambla which is one of the main streets through down. We saw a theater, a lot of street performers, and went into this indoor market my Aunt Kathy told me about that had so much beautiful food. We wandered around taking pictures before heading to the Barcelona Cathedral again. We were able to get a few better pictures and then I got to go in. I saw all the chapels with various saint remains buried in them including Saint Cecilia (patron saint of music), Saint Ambrose (patron saint of Milan), Saint George (patron saint of Spain...they refer to him as Sant Jordi they love him so much), and Saint Eulalia who was tortured to death for three days in the streets of Barcelona back when Christianity was illegal because she refused to renounce her beliefs. She was only thirteen when all of this happened and seven years after Constantine came to Barcelona and declared Christianity legal.
We then went to another indoor market, a less touristy one, chilled by the Arc de Triomf, and went to dinner. We had gotten recommendations from our guide from the bike tour and ironically ended up at the Mexican restaurant she recommended. We figured if we were missing Mexican food that Spain would be the best, and most ironic, place to get it. After that we were so tired from biking (it was about seven miles according to the Fat Tire website) that we went back to our hostel and slept like rocks.
We got up on Saturday and headed back to Sagrada Familia. We waited in line for about an hour to get in but it's so beautiful on the inside. My friend Allie wasn't a fan of the outside but she even agreed that the inside was beautiful. Gaudi loved his columns and his stained glass. We also went under the church into the crypt where there's a museum about the progress of Sagrada Familia that was interesting. We then took the metro up to the Park Guell which is the park that Gaudi designed. It's really nice and has some cool architecture including a long, serpentine bench. There are also fantastic views of the city up there. I really want to go back and see even more of it.
We met up with three friends who were also in Barcelona for lunch before heading and getting our backpacks from the hostel. Our plan was to see the magic fountain they have but we failed to realize that it's only on at night and that it's under construction. However, it turns out we were by the National Palace and the Olympic Park so we wandered those for a bit. We actually got up the hills by escalator which was cool and nice since we had our heavy backpacks on. Finally we had to catch the aerobus and our plane to the island of Ibiza off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean.
Ibiza was gorgeous the minute we saw the water. We ended up in a pretty nice hotel because the place we originally booked got shut down early due to lack of occupancy (it was the very end of high season) and they moved us at no cost. It was pretty awesome and we had water views. We went to dinner, chilled a bit, and then went to sleep.
Sunday we slept in which was much needed. Then we spent the whole day relaxing on the beach. We walked a bit, wandered through a small bit of the town right on the water, but mostly just had a nice time relaxing before getting and early dinner and heading to the Ibiza airport for our flight back to Milan. After all our beautiful sun in Spain we were sadly met with fog, rain, and cold in Milan. However, it's good to be "home" after a long trip. But I can't wait for the next one!
We left Thursday evening for Barcelona. Our plane was delayed so it was pretty late when we got in. Luckily, the Spanish (or in Barcelona it's mostly the Catalans) stay up super late (even later than most Europeans). We checked into a hostel, got some dinner, drank some Sangria, and headed to bed after that.
We got up on Friday morning and went on a bike tour of Barcelona! We went with Fat Tire Bike Tours which I would highly recommend to anybody who likes to bike (and can bike obviously; it's a pretty easy bike though) and wants to get an idea of what to see. My roommates had told us about it so we decided to go and it was definitely worth the twenty euros we paid for it (which was a pretty good deal in my opinion for a four hour, guided bike tour in English). We saw the outsides of things but that was fine because we just went back to the places we wanted to see more of.
We started the bike tour at the Plaza Sant Jaume which is the political center of Barcelona to today and includes the city hall. We also saw Plaza del Rei which is where the palace Ferdinand and Isabella lived in. We saw where they tied people to the wall and poured boiling oil on them during the Spanish Inquisition (which was all Isabella's idea...although Ferdinand really didn't stop it. Isabella hated the Catalans and since Ferdinand never stood up for his own people no Catalans today will name their children Ferdinand or Isabella). We also saw the steps that Christopher Columbus scaled many times to ask Queen Isabella for the boats to find "Asia" and instead he found the new world. We saw the Music Palace which looks like Gaudi (the famous architect of Barcelona, if you don't know anything about him look it up) but was done by a contemporary. It's gorgeous to see even from the outside. My Aunt Kathy told me that it's nice to see inside as well (she gave me a bunch of ideas before I went to Barcelona and I was so glad that this one was on our bike tour) but we didn't get around to that. We kind of saw the Barcelona Cathedral but there was a festival in the way so it was hard to see. However, I learned that in order to be a cathedral the church must have the remains of some saint. Well, Barcelona took this to heart and collected over 700 body parts of saints. Crazy!
We saw the Arc de Triomf, and yes, Barcelona has one too. Theirs is red brick and very pretty. I think I liked it more than the Paris Arc de Triomph because it was in a much more serene area. You could walk the area around it and you weren't fearing for your life. We got to bike right underneath it which was fun. We then went to the Parc de la Ciutadella right next to the arc where the Gaudi Cascades are (which Gaudi was only an apprentice on but when it was being finished he'd become famous so he gets a lot of credit now). It's a beautiful park and was fun to bike through. We got to see the outside of the only bull fighting arena in Barcelona that still hosts bullfighting. Bullfighting was never a Catalan thing and was imported. They hated it so the government decided to be nice and ban it, however, the Catalans don't like following the laws so the next Sunday they held a bullfight. Apparently you can go any Sunday from April to September and see a bullfight there but they are going to try and ban bullfighting again in 2012. Other laws we learned about in Barcelona that are never followed:
-It is illegal to bike without a helmet on (nobody on the tour had a helmet on...)
-It is illegal to smoke in any bar or restaurant (there was smoking in every bar and restaurant)
-It is illegal to walk around with shorts and no shirt on. However, take off those shorts and you're not in violation of any law.
After that we went up to Sagrada Familia which is Gaudi's cathedral that has been under construction forever. It's pretty crazy looking but really cool at the same time. I loved it, it was just so unique. Interesting fact about Gaudi, he was killed from injuries he sustained after being hit by a tram. He designed the Barcelona tram system. Talk about irony. He also sold all his assets to keep working on Sagrada Familia and moved in there for the last few years of his life (before the tram accident). I also learned that when Franco was in power he hated anything Catalan and would burn down all Catalan buildings (he also allowed Barcelona to be used to bombing practice). However, Sagrada Familia is all stone and couldn't be burned down so instead Gaudi's workshop and all the blueprints were burned. The current plan for Sagrada Familia has been created from still existing pictures of Gaudi's plans but are probably rather inaccurate because Gaudi always designed as he went.
After Sagrada Familia we went to Port Olympic which was built up for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. They added a ton of beach with sand they imported from the Sahara desert so that Barcelona has the most beach front of any city in the world (and they kinda cheated for it). Then we biked to the beach, had a wonderful lunch on the beach, and biked back to the Fat Tire store (after everybody on the tour had consumed sangria...). It was a great way to start the day.
After the tour we wandered a bit and ended up at La Rambla which is one of the main streets through down. We saw a theater, a lot of street performers, and went into this indoor market my Aunt Kathy told me about that had so much beautiful food. We wandered around taking pictures before heading to the Barcelona Cathedral again. We were able to get a few better pictures and then I got to go in. I saw all the chapels with various saint remains buried in them including Saint Cecilia (patron saint of music), Saint Ambrose (patron saint of Milan), Saint George (patron saint of Spain...they refer to him as Sant Jordi they love him so much), and Saint Eulalia who was tortured to death for three days in the streets of Barcelona back when Christianity was illegal because she refused to renounce her beliefs. She was only thirteen when all of this happened and seven years after Constantine came to Barcelona and declared Christianity legal.
We then went to another indoor market, a less touristy one, chilled by the Arc de Triomf, and went to dinner. We had gotten recommendations from our guide from the bike tour and ironically ended up at the Mexican restaurant she recommended. We figured if we were missing Mexican food that Spain would be the best, and most ironic, place to get it. After that we were so tired from biking (it was about seven miles according to the Fat Tire website) that we went back to our hostel and slept like rocks.
We got up on Saturday and headed back to Sagrada Familia. We waited in line for about an hour to get in but it's so beautiful on the inside. My friend Allie wasn't a fan of the outside but she even agreed that the inside was beautiful. Gaudi loved his columns and his stained glass. We also went under the church into the crypt where there's a museum about the progress of Sagrada Familia that was interesting. We then took the metro up to the Park Guell which is the park that Gaudi designed. It's really nice and has some cool architecture including a long, serpentine bench. There are also fantastic views of the city up there. I really want to go back and see even more of it.
We met up with three friends who were also in Barcelona for lunch before heading and getting our backpacks from the hostel. Our plan was to see the magic fountain they have but we failed to realize that it's only on at night and that it's under construction. However, it turns out we were by the National Palace and the Olympic Park so we wandered those for a bit. We actually got up the hills by escalator which was cool and nice since we had our heavy backpacks on. Finally we had to catch the aerobus and our plane to the island of Ibiza off the coast of Spain in the Mediterranean.
Ibiza was gorgeous the minute we saw the water. We ended up in a pretty nice hotel because the place we originally booked got shut down early due to lack of occupancy (it was the very end of high season) and they moved us at no cost. It was pretty awesome and we had water views. We went to dinner, chilled a bit, and then went to sleep.
Sunday we slept in which was much needed. Then we spent the whole day relaxing on the beach. We walked a bit, wandered through a small bit of the town right on the water, but mostly just had a nice time relaxing before getting and early dinner and heading to the Ibiza airport for our flight back to Milan. After all our beautiful sun in Spain we were sadly met with fog, rain, and cold in Milan. However, it's good to be "home" after a long trip. But I can't wait for the next one!
Monday, October 18, 2010
Bologna...yum!
So this weekend I was supposed to go on a trip to the Umbria region. However, there were no train tickets left and no way to get there (except the ridiculously expensive option of taking the train to Rome first and then backtrack to Umbria on the super fast trains). So, I stayed in Milan Friday night and then made a Saturday day trip to Bologna!
Bologna is in the Emilia-Romanga region which is (as a region) known for it's food. Parma created proscuitto, another town created Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Bologna (also know as Bologna "Il Grasso" or "the Fat") claims bolognese sauce (duh) and tortellini.
We got in Bologna right at lunch time (perfect!). We walked from the train station to the main street in town, ended up in the public gardens for a time, and then headed for lunch. It was probably the best thing I've had in Italy yet. I had tortellini in brodo which is tortellini in a broth and a traditional Bolognese food. It was delicious, as was the tortellini alle bolognese which I tried (my friends both had it). We also had some very good bruschetta to start our meal.
After eating we headed to the main squares. We saw the Neptune statue in Bologna which was very controversial at the time it was erected (and probably still is judging by it). It's rather sensual which people considered disrespectful to Neptune. However, it's still beautiful. After that we saw the main Basillica San Petronius (which I believe is the 5th largest Catholic church in the world...). I couldn't take pictures inside but it was beautiful and there is a very famous fresco in there. There also happened to be a small exhibit on Mother Theresa which we walked through (it had English to read) and was very interesting. I never knew that she had spent her early years of being a nun in Ireland.
We went and saw the Two Towers of Bologna (il due torre...yes, it made me think of Lord of the Rings). One of them is actually leaning and inspired Dante to write about a similar tower. Turns out that it was a competition between two families to see who could build a taller tower (Freud anybody?). It's very clear which one won.
After that we walked to Santo Stefano's which is a church that is actually seven churches. It was crazy and a bit confusing. They're all just attached to each other. And there's "Pilate's Courtyard" with this basin where Pilate supposedly washed his hands after condemning Jesus to death. There are few problems with this. One being that I don't remember that Jesus was crucified anywhere near Bologna, Italy and the second that the courtyard and basin were built in the 4th century.
Finally we went to San Domenico which is very pretty and also rather large. We saw a lot of churches apparently. We had planned to stay longer but then it started to rain. Since we were all umbrella-less, I was wearing my new leather jacket, and there was a train in 40 minutes we headed to the train station and headed back to Milan.
In other Milan life it has been freezing here and our heat doesn't work yet. I'm pretty bundled up for mid-October.
Bologna is in the Emilia-Romanga region which is (as a region) known for it's food. Parma created proscuitto, another town created Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Bologna (also know as Bologna "Il Grasso" or "the Fat") claims bolognese sauce (duh) and tortellini.
We got in Bologna right at lunch time (perfect!). We walked from the train station to the main street in town, ended up in the public gardens for a time, and then headed for lunch. It was probably the best thing I've had in Italy yet. I had tortellini in brodo which is tortellini in a broth and a traditional Bolognese food. It was delicious, as was the tortellini alle bolognese which I tried (my friends both had it). We also had some very good bruschetta to start our meal.
After eating we headed to the main squares. We saw the Neptune statue in Bologna which was very controversial at the time it was erected (and probably still is judging by it). It's rather sensual which people considered disrespectful to Neptune. However, it's still beautiful. After that we saw the main Basillica San Petronius (which I believe is the 5th largest Catholic church in the world...). I couldn't take pictures inside but it was beautiful and there is a very famous fresco in there. There also happened to be a small exhibit on Mother Theresa which we walked through (it had English to read) and was very interesting. I never knew that she had spent her early years of being a nun in Ireland.
We went and saw the Two Towers of Bologna (il due torre...yes, it made me think of Lord of the Rings). One of them is actually leaning and inspired Dante to write about a similar tower. Turns out that it was a competition between two families to see who could build a taller tower (Freud anybody?). It's very clear which one won.
After that we walked to Santo Stefano's which is a church that is actually seven churches. It was crazy and a bit confusing. They're all just attached to each other. And there's "Pilate's Courtyard" with this basin where Pilate supposedly washed his hands after condemning Jesus to death. There are few problems with this. One being that I don't remember that Jesus was crucified anywhere near Bologna, Italy and the second that the courtyard and basin were built in the 4th century.
Finally we went to San Domenico which is very pretty and also rather large. We saw a lot of churches apparently. We had planned to stay longer but then it started to rain. Since we were all umbrella-less, I was wearing my new leather jacket, and there was a train in 40 minutes we headed to the train station and headed back to Milan.
In other Milan life it has been freezing here and our heat doesn't work yet. I'm pretty bundled up for mid-October.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Lago Maggiore & Lugano, Switzerland
This weekend was the first weekend in IES Milan history that we had no class on Friday. However, IES did offer a trip to Lago Maggiore which I took advantage of.
We met up as a group in the train station, most people decided to travel on their own so only six of us plus Luca (one of the academic advisors) who went. We took a train to Stresa, Italy which is on Lago Maggiore. In Stresa we took a boat to the Borromeo islands. There are three of these islands which were owned by the Borromeos, the ruling family of the area. The first island we went to was Isola Madre (the mother island) which is where the summer place of the Borromeos is. There is a beautiful botanical garden in villa that we got to go through on IES's bill which was really nice. There are peacocks and other pretty birds wandering around the gardens freely (one of the girls with us is scared of birds so that was interesting) and a very old cyprus tree which was sadly depleted in a "tornado" four years ago. However they did rescue it and is held up by supports.
After Isola Madre we went to the Isola dei Pescatori which is named for the fisherman (pescatori) that live there still to this day. We had lunch and I ate a very good whitefish that came from the lake we were on. We wandered the island a little bit, got some gelato, and then headed to the final island: Isola Bella.
Isola Bella is where the main Borromeo estate is and it is huge. We went through the palace on the island as well as some of their gardens. It was really pretty. We had a great time and took a train from Stesa back to Milan.
On Saturday I got up and headed with two of my friends to Lugano, Switzerland which is only one hour away. Lugano is really pretty and a nice distance from Milan. It resides in the Italian part of Switzerland so there was not much of a language barrier (well, no more than we're used to in Italy).
We saw a pretty church first and then headed towards the lake. We took some pictures and then decided to take a "train" tour of the city on this little, cheesy, train. It was pretty fun and took us around all of Lugano which was really nice. After the tour we had lunch and I got a merlot risotto which was huge and delicious.
After lunch we spent some more time wandering around. We almost took a funicolare up one of the hills around but it was more expensive than the cash we had and they did not take cards. We walked along the lake back to the center and then just headed home again. I spent the evening relaxing as I have had a headache the past few days. Overall the two day trips this weekend were successful!
We met up as a group in the train station, most people decided to travel on their own so only six of us plus Luca (one of the academic advisors) who went. We took a train to Stresa, Italy which is on Lago Maggiore. In Stresa we took a boat to the Borromeo islands. There are three of these islands which were owned by the Borromeos, the ruling family of the area. The first island we went to was Isola Madre (the mother island) which is where the summer place of the Borromeos is. There is a beautiful botanical garden in villa that we got to go through on IES's bill which was really nice. There are peacocks and other pretty birds wandering around the gardens freely (one of the girls with us is scared of birds so that was interesting) and a very old cyprus tree which was sadly depleted in a "tornado" four years ago. However they did rescue it and is held up by supports.
After Isola Madre we went to the Isola dei Pescatori which is named for the fisherman (pescatori) that live there still to this day. We had lunch and I ate a very good whitefish that came from the lake we were on. We wandered the island a little bit, got some gelato, and then headed to the final island: Isola Bella.
Isola Bella is where the main Borromeo estate is and it is huge. We went through the palace on the island as well as some of their gardens. It was really pretty. We had a great time and took a train from Stesa back to Milan.
On Saturday I got up and headed with two of my friends to Lugano, Switzerland which is only one hour away. Lugano is really pretty and a nice distance from Milan. It resides in the Italian part of Switzerland so there was not much of a language barrier (well, no more than we're used to in Italy).
We saw a pretty church first and then headed towards the lake. We took some pictures and then decided to take a "train" tour of the city on this little, cheesy, train. It was pretty fun and took us around all of Lugano which was really nice. After the tour we had lunch and I got a merlot risotto which was huge and delicious.
After lunch we spent some more time wandering around. We almost took a funicolare up one of the hills around but it was more expensive than the cash we had and they did not take cards. We walked along the lake back to the center and then just headed home again. I spent the evening relaxing as I have had a headache the past few days. Overall the two day trips this weekend were successful!
Thursday, October 7, 2010
La Scala Opera!
So IES is super fantastic and got a bunch of free tickets to the Teatre alla Scala which is the super famous opera house in Milan. Music students got first dibs and I got to go on Wednesday night to see L'Elisir D'Amore (The Elixir of Love) which is a comedic opera by Gaetano Donizetti.
I have never really seen an opera unless you count James Niblock operas at Blue Lake (I never saw the Menotti opera that was put on this year) and I am now in love. It was so much fun, even when the subtitles weren't working well. The music was beautiful, it was wonderfully staged, and I just had a fabulous time.
The best part was the tenor aria in the second act which was absolutely gorgeous.
I'm now making it a plan in life to try and see opera more often, before I never realized how enjoyable it can be but now I'm converted.
In other news, Thursday Adventure this week is failing and not occurring. I have a lesson and I haven't been feeling that well. I'm doing a lot better (so don't worry) but I didn't want to over-exert myself with my day trips coming up this weekend.
I have never really seen an opera unless you count James Niblock operas at Blue Lake (I never saw the Menotti opera that was put on this year) and I am now in love. It was so much fun, even when the subtitles weren't working well. The music was beautiful, it was wonderfully staged, and I just had a fabulous time.
The best part was the tenor aria in the second act which was absolutely gorgeous.
I'm now making it a plan in life to try and see opera more often, before I never realized how enjoyable it can be but now I'm converted.
In other news, Thursday Adventure this week is failing and not occurring. I have a lesson and I haven't been feeling that well. I'm doing a lot better (so don't worry) but I didn't want to over-exert myself with my day trips coming up this weekend.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Thursday Adventure #1, Wine Tasting, and Lago di Como
Whew, I've had a busy past few days.
THURSDAY:
So, if you've read my earlier post you know that I am extremely fortunate not to have classes on Thursdays. Therefore I have entitled it my "Thursday Adventures" and I get to go around the city to various sights.
I started off my Thursday this past week with the Orto Botanico di Brera...the Botanical Gardens at the Brera. These are free and very pretty. It's small but intimate feeling and I had a great time wandering around and taking pictures of pretty flowers and plants. However, it was an adventure just to find the gardens as they are not located next to the Brera is it appears, but behind it. I also discovered that the Astrological Museum at the Brera is free and may have to visit that sometime.
After the garden I headed to Maria della Grazie. I was trying to get my Last Supper tickets there and not deal with the online hassle. I got some nice pictures of the outside and found out they only sell tickets a week in advance at the box office and that they were all booked up. I got the website address and headed off. Later I checked it out and they said it was totally booked until the end of December (which is how far they're selling tickets in advance). I ended up finding a third party vendor and paid a little more for my visit but I do have a knowledgeable English speaking guide which I guess is nice. I will be visiting The Last Supper on November 2nd.
I met a friend at IES quick who needed something before heading to the Archeological Museum at the Castello Sforzesco. I found out that there are about six museums in the castle and that it's only 1,50 euro to see them all if you're a student. I thought this was fantastic and went through the Archeological Museum (which is gorgeous, there's a room painted by Leonardo Da Vinci and a Michelangelo sculpture...luckily I was able to take pictures so everybody can see them), a bit of the furnishing museums (I skipped modern times kinda on accident), some of the art museum, quickly made my way through the ceramics and such, and spent some time in the musical instrument museum. Apparently I missed the Egyptian museum which I would very much like to see. But for 1,50 I'll totally go back another time.
I went back to my apartment for a bit before I headed to the Verdi Orchestra concert. IES has three tickets for every concert that we get for free, we just have to sign up. There's one ticket a student then but if nobody signs up students that have gone before can go again. This was the second one of the season and I saw Schumann no. 4 and Mahler no. 4 both of which were beautifully done. The conductor was actually a woman which I thought was amazing and she did the entire Schumann without a score. Wow!
FRIDAY
The deal with our Friday classes is that every once and awhile we have them off (it's actually about every other week). As a result the weeks we do have Friday class (we only have Italian) the class is three hours long from 9-12. However, this week Italian class was pretty fantastic. Instead of meeting at IES and having class we met and went to a wine club (an enoteco I believe they're called). We learned about wine (half in Italian, half in English), had to answer some questions, and got to taste two different wines. A prosecco and a Chianti. It was odd drinking wine at about 10am but both were good. I enjoyed them and it was interesting to learn about wine from somebody who has been in the wine business his whole life (it's a family owned club).
SATURDAY
So, in lieu of spending lots of money on a weekend trip this week I decided a day trip would be nicer. I headed up to Lake Como (Lago di Como) in the morning. I was supposed to make the trip with a friend but he never showed and his cellphone fails so I ended up going alone (don't worry, I was safe and on a train back by dark).
I started off in the actual town of Como. I wandered for a bit, not sure where I was going before I found a stand that sold a map which helped a lot. I went to the Duomo which is quite beautiful and then headed up the side of the hill (Lake Como is surrounded by hills) on a funicolare. A funicolare is like a train that goes up the hill but it's actually built on the angle of the hill. It was pretty interesting. I got some nice views of Como and the lake from above, although it was a bit overcast and not as pretty as I bet it would be on a clear day.
After heading down I made for lunch. I tried to go to this osteria my parents recommended but it was packed. Apparently it is good. I ended up at a smaller cafe instead and had gnocci al pesto which was quite good. I've never really dined by myself in public but it was nice. I sat outside and people watched. Plus I got all of the bread to myself. After lunch I got on a boat and headed to Bellagio.
Bellagio I discovered was much hillier than Como which was rather flat. I tried to go to a villa that my map recommended (it had little tourist hints on it) but the map failed and it's apparently a private residence. Oh well, I wandered the town for a bit, got some gelato, before I got on another boat (this one smaller and open aired which as great) and headed to Varenna which is also on the lake.
I think I liked Varenna the best. From the ferry stop I walked this cute little path along the coast to the main part of town which I liked a lot. I ended up visiting the Villa Monestero which has really pretty gardens and a museum with the rooms displayed as they would have been when the villa was built. It was very interesting.
I went to a very early dinner, again attempting to go somewhere my parents had recommended but it was out of my price range and not really open yet so I went to a bar right on the water and had an asparagus pizza (which was good and rather interesting) while I watched the water and the cute little dog dressed in a shirt to advertise the bar. Not wanting to stay out alone after dark I headed to the Varenna train station which has trains into Milano Centrale. However, I got a little mixed up a boarded the wrong train. Luckily it was going the right direction but after we sat at one stop for awhile it backtracked. Whoops! I had to get off and wait for about forty minutes for the next train to arrive at that train station (in Lecco) to take me back to Milan.
I had a good time and now know that I can travel by myself (although I wouldn't want to do more than a day trip that way).
I'm now dedicating my Sunday to doing some work for class, some laundry, and practicing. Oh, and uploading my pictures. Look for those soon!
THURSDAY:
So, if you've read my earlier post you know that I am extremely fortunate not to have classes on Thursdays. Therefore I have entitled it my "Thursday Adventures" and I get to go around the city to various sights.
I started off my Thursday this past week with the Orto Botanico di Brera...the Botanical Gardens at the Brera. These are free and very pretty. It's small but intimate feeling and I had a great time wandering around and taking pictures of pretty flowers and plants. However, it was an adventure just to find the gardens as they are not located next to the Brera is it appears, but behind it. I also discovered that the Astrological Museum at the Brera is free and may have to visit that sometime.
After the garden I headed to Maria della Grazie. I was trying to get my Last Supper tickets there and not deal with the online hassle. I got some nice pictures of the outside and found out they only sell tickets a week in advance at the box office and that they were all booked up. I got the website address and headed off. Later I checked it out and they said it was totally booked until the end of December (which is how far they're selling tickets in advance). I ended up finding a third party vendor and paid a little more for my visit but I do have a knowledgeable English speaking guide which I guess is nice. I will be visiting The Last Supper on November 2nd.
I met a friend at IES quick who needed something before heading to the Archeological Museum at the Castello Sforzesco. I found out that there are about six museums in the castle and that it's only 1,50 euro to see them all if you're a student. I thought this was fantastic and went through the Archeological Museum (which is gorgeous, there's a room painted by Leonardo Da Vinci and a Michelangelo sculpture...luckily I was able to take pictures so everybody can see them), a bit of the furnishing museums (I skipped modern times kinda on accident), some of the art museum, quickly made my way through the ceramics and such, and spent some time in the musical instrument museum. Apparently I missed the Egyptian museum which I would very much like to see. But for 1,50 I'll totally go back another time.
I went back to my apartment for a bit before I headed to the Verdi Orchestra concert. IES has three tickets for every concert that we get for free, we just have to sign up. There's one ticket a student then but if nobody signs up students that have gone before can go again. This was the second one of the season and I saw Schumann no. 4 and Mahler no. 4 both of which were beautifully done. The conductor was actually a woman which I thought was amazing and she did the entire Schumann without a score. Wow!
FRIDAY
The deal with our Friday classes is that every once and awhile we have them off (it's actually about every other week). As a result the weeks we do have Friday class (we only have Italian) the class is three hours long from 9-12. However, this week Italian class was pretty fantastic. Instead of meeting at IES and having class we met and went to a wine club (an enoteco I believe they're called). We learned about wine (half in Italian, half in English), had to answer some questions, and got to taste two different wines. A prosecco and a Chianti. It was odd drinking wine at about 10am but both were good. I enjoyed them and it was interesting to learn about wine from somebody who has been in the wine business his whole life (it's a family owned club).
SATURDAY
So, in lieu of spending lots of money on a weekend trip this week I decided a day trip would be nicer. I headed up to Lake Como (Lago di Como) in the morning. I was supposed to make the trip with a friend but he never showed and his cellphone fails so I ended up going alone (don't worry, I was safe and on a train back by dark).
I started off in the actual town of Como. I wandered for a bit, not sure where I was going before I found a stand that sold a map which helped a lot. I went to the Duomo which is quite beautiful and then headed up the side of the hill (Lake Como is surrounded by hills) on a funicolare. A funicolare is like a train that goes up the hill but it's actually built on the angle of the hill. It was pretty interesting. I got some nice views of Como and the lake from above, although it was a bit overcast and not as pretty as I bet it would be on a clear day.
After heading down I made for lunch. I tried to go to this osteria my parents recommended but it was packed. Apparently it is good. I ended up at a smaller cafe instead and had gnocci al pesto which was quite good. I've never really dined by myself in public but it was nice. I sat outside and people watched. Plus I got all of the bread to myself. After lunch I got on a boat and headed to Bellagio.
Bellagio I discovered was much hillier than Como which was rather flat. I tried to go to a villa that my map recommended (it had little tourist hints on it) but the map failed and it's apparently a private residence. Oh well, I wandered the town for a bit, got some gelato, before I got on another boat (this one smaller and open aired which as great) and headed to Varenna which is also on the lake.
I think I liked Varenna the best. From the ferry stop I walked this cute little path along the coast to the main part of town which I liked a lot. I ended up visiting the Villa Monestero which has really pretty gardens and a museum with the rooms displayed as they would have been when the villa was built. It was very interesting.
I went to a very early dinner, again attempting to go somewhere my parents had recommended but it was out of my price range and not really open yet so I went to a bar right on the water and had an asparagus pizza (which was good and rather interesting) while I watched the water and the cute little dog dressed in a shirt to advertise the bar. Not wanting to stay out alone after dark I headed to the Varenna train station which has trains into Milano Centrale. However, I got a little mixed up a boarded the wrong train. Luckily it was going the right direction but after we sat at one stop for awhile it backtracked. Whoops! I had to get off and wait for about forty minutes for the next train to arrive at that train station (in Lecco) to take me back to Milan.
I had a good time and now know that I can travel by myself (although I wouldn't want to do more than a day trip that way).
I'm now dedicating my Sunday to doing some work for class, some laundry, and practicing. Oh, and uploading my pictures. Look for those soon!
Monday, September 27, 2010
Let the Classes Begin!
So I finally had my first day of classes. No more Italian for 2 1/2 or 3 hours, a variety of classes for once.
Now, I'm used to killing myself at Butler when it comes to number of classes. I had three requirements I needed to get plus I had to take Italian. That means I'm only taking four classes (a total of 15 credits) making my day wonderful. My Italian class is three days a week for an hour and a half (some Fridays are for three hours though and the others we have off for a long weekend), my two other classes are for an hour and fifty minutes twice a week, and then I have 0-2 lessons a week for an hour depending on my horn teacher's travel schedule (this week I do not have a lesson, but some weeks I have two).
So, my beautiful schedule is the following:
MONDAY:
9-10:30 Italian 100
1:35-3:25 Finding the Author: Masterworks of 20th Century Italian Literature in Translation
3:35-5:25 Music Performance workshop
TUESDAY:
9:05-10:55 Music Performance Workshops
(2:00 lesson some weeks)
WEDNESDAY:
9-10:30 Italian 100
1:5-3:25 Finding the Author: Masterworks of 20th Century Italian Literature in Translation
THURSDAY:
No Classes!! Woot! (except the occasional 2:00 lesson)
FRIDAY:
9-12 Italian 100 (but only some weeks)
So, since I have every class (minus lessons) on Monday I've now been to all of them.
The shorter time for Italian was super nice and I'm very excited for our field study on Friday where we are going to learn about wine, cheese, and other products of Italy at this wine club type thing which includes a tasting!
My literature class seems interesting. Although all my classes are taught in English they are taught by Italians so that makes it very interesting. I'm excited to have some new stuff to read, especially as I've realized that I've read very little by Italian authors (the only one I can think of is Primo Levi who we are reading in the class).
I've actually been attending my Music Performance Workshop already but things seemed a little more structured today. He is planning performances and I'm supposed to get Strauss no. 1 ready by the end of October or beginning of November. I better kick it into high gear.
I also found out that we have a lecture series that I will have to attend a few of. It seems pretty exciting and is followed by a themed aperitivo after. My literature teacher planned the first one which is salumi e pane which is going to salami and bread from all over Italy. I'm rather excited.
It was great to have a variety of classes and to have a much freer schedule this week! Can't wait to see how all my classes pan out.
Now, I'm used to killing myself at Butler when it comes to number of classes. I had three requirements I needed to get plus I had to take Italian. That means I'm only taking four classes (a total of 15 credits) making my day wonderful. My Italian class is three days a week for an hour and a half (some Fridays are for three hours though and the others we have off for a long weekend), my two other classes are for an hour and fifty minutes twice a week, and then I have 0-2 lessons a week for an hour depending on my horn teacher's travel schedule (this week I do not have a lesson, but some weeks I have two).
So, my beautiful schedule is the following:
MONDAY:
9-10:30 Italian 100
1:35-3:25 Finding the Author: Masterworks of 20th Century Italian Literature in Translation
3:35-5:25 Music Performance workshop
TUESDAY:
9:05-10:55 Music Performance Workshops
(2:00 lesson some weeks)
WEDNESDAY:
9-10:30 Italian 100
1:5-3:25 Finding the Author: Masterworks of 20th Century Italian Literature in Translation
THURSDAY:
No Classes!! Woot! (except the occasional 2:00 lesson)
FRIDAY:
9-12 Italian 100 (but only some weeks)
So, since I have every class (minus lessons) on Monday I've now been to all of them.
The shorter time for Italian was super nice and I'm very excited for our field study on Friday where we are going to learn about wine, cheese, and other products of Italy at this wine club type thing which includes a tasting!
My literature class seems interesting. Although all my classes are taught in English they are taught by Italians so that makes it very interesting. I'm excited to have some new stuff to read, especially as I've realized that I've read very little by Italian authors (the only one I can think of is Primo Levi who we are reading in the class).
I've actually been attending my Music Performance Workshop already but things seemed a little more structured today. He is planning performances and I'm supposed to get Strauss no. 1 ready by the end of October or beginning of November. I better kick it into high gear.
I also found out that we have a lecture series that I will have to attend a few of. It seems pretty exciting and is followed by a themed aperitivo after. My literature teacher planned the first one which is salumi e pane which is going to salami and bread from all over Italy. I'm rather excited.
It was great to have a variety of classes and to have a much freer schedule this week! Can't wait to see how all my classes pan out.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Bello Valle d'Aosta
I just spent the weekend up in the Italian alps and it was beautiful.
We had no classes on Friday as this trip was sponsored by our group, IES, and we left Friday morning from Milan by bus and headed north. It took probably about two hours before we were in the region of the Valle d'Aosta and went to Forte di Bard, an old military base that is up and hill. We took this round, glass elevators up three times to get to the top and explore. There were some beautiful views and the history of the fort is very interesting. It was rather old but Napoleon destroyed it when he captured the Aosta region and it was rebuilt later by those who felt it was important to have. It was converted into a museum in the 1900s.
We went into the museum which had these very odd videos at the beginning but after there were many interesting things about the mountains. However, everything was in Italian and French, no English. I was able to pick out a few things and enjoyed the mock-ups of different alp dwellings throughout history. Sadly I could not take photos in the museum.
After that we got back on the bus and headed to lunch. We were treated to a common dish of the area: venison with polenta. It was very yummy and I enjoyed it a lot. There were all these little, old Italian ladies running around serving us and they especially liked the boy at the end of our table who kept eating. It was very cute.
We got to the village of Aosta and wandered around. Sadly it started pouring rain. I lost my umbrella already in Milan so I decided then was a good time to buy a new one. Apparently I got my four euros worth a few minutes after purchasing when my umbrella caught a huge gust of wind and broke. However, we found a very cute little church on accident and saw some other nice sights.
Saturday morning was the Aosta guided tour. All of our tours on IES trips are done in Italian with translation into English after. It made it very interesting to me because I could try and pick out words and phrases that I did understand. However, it also made the tours rather long.
My favorite part of the Aosta tour was the Roman Theatre. Aosta was controlled by the Romans for a very long time and set up like a Roman town. They had an amphitheater and a theatre and a forum. Everything a good Roman town needs. The theatre is still there a lot, although the amphitheater is so gone that we didn't even go to see it. One place I was sad we did not get to was the Cathedral but it wasn't for lack of trying. We went and it turns out that there was a wedding going on that day. However, under the cathedral you can see the hidden passageways that they had in Roman towns. They were basically underground roads people would walk versus walking outside and also held meetings and functions. It was super interesting to see.
After the tour we had some lunch and then my roommate for the trip, Allie, and I observed siesta from 2-4 where everything closes and people relax. In Milan not everything closes as it is a big city, but in Aosta (which is much smaller and has a lot more families) pretty much everything was closed down.
Following siesta we headed to Aosta's archeological museum which was free for the day. We saw a special exhibit on what I think was Renaissance symbolism that was inspired by Roman artifacts (everything was again in Italian and French). Then we headed to look at the normal exhibits and were directed by a guy who obviously worked there to check out the basement. Under the building are Roman ruins that you can see. It was some sort of building and it was super interesting. Allie and I spent a good amount of time wandering around down there. We enjoyed the other parts of the exhibits, mainly artifacts from life in Aosta, before heading out. Allie wasn't feeling well and dinner was approaching so we got some gelato and people watched. There are way more families and babies and larger dogs in Aosta than in Milan. It was really interesting how many of them knew each other and we loved the little Italian ladies gathering on the street for what I assume was gossip.
Sunday was probably the best day of the whole trip. We headed out of Aosta about 9 and we went to Monte Bianco (Mont Blanc in French) which is, I'm pretty sure, the tallest mountain in the Alps. We took three gondolas (which is also a word for a type of ski lift, not just a boat) to get to the top and I took so many pictures. It was gorgeous up there. It was below 0 in Celsius which is still pretty cold for Fahrenheit. There was a small crystal museum at the top and you could also cross the border right into France. It was pretty fun.
Afterward we only took two gondolas down and hiked the last portion. It took a little over an hour, had breathtaking views, and was rather steep. I had a great time and I think that hiking Cinque Terre last weekend definitely put me in shape for this hike. I have not felt any pain yet but we'll see how that goes in the near future.
Once everybody had made it to the bottom (some people did not hike and just took all three gondolas back down) we went to a small town nearby for lunch and then headed back. We made a quick stop at a castle that is in the area which was not open but I got some lovely pictures of the outside, before we made it back to Milan.
It was great to get into the fresh mountain air and be away from the city before starting all of our classes on Monday!
We had no classes on Friday as this trip was sponsored by our group, IES, and we left Friday morning from Milan by bus and headed north. It took probably about two hours before we were in the region of the Valle d'Aosta and went to Forte di Bard, an old military base that is up and hill. We took this round, glass elevators up three times to get to the top and explore. There were some beautiful views and the history of the fort is very interesting. It was rather old but Napoleon destroyed it when he captured the Aosta region and it was rebuilt later by those who felt it was important to have. It was converted into a museum in the 1900s.
We went into the museum which had these very odd videos at the beginning but after there were many interesting things about the mountains. However, everything was in Italian and French, no English. I was able to pick out a few things and enjoyed the mock-ups of different alp dwellings throughout history. Sadly I could not take photos in the museum.
After that we got back on the bus and headed to lunch. We were treated to a common dish of the area: venison with polenta. It was very yummy and I enjoyed it a lot. There were all these little, old Italian ladies running around serving us and they especially liked the boy at the end of our table who kept eating. It was very cute.
We got to the village of Aosta and wandered around. Sadly it started pouring rain. I lost my umbrella already in Milan so I decided then was a good time to buy a new one. Apparently I got my four euros worth a few minutes after purchasing when my umbrella caught a huge gust of wind and broke. However, we found a very cute little church on accident and saw some other nice sights.
Saturday morning was the Aosta guided tour. All of our tours on IES trips are done in Italian with translation into English after. It made it very interesting to me because I could try and pick out words and phrases that I did understand. However, it also made the tours rather long.
My favorite part of the Aosta tour was the Roman Theatre. Aosta was controlled by the Romans for a very long time and set up like a Roman town. They had an amphitheater and a theatre and a forum. Everything a good Roman town needs. The theatre is still there a lot, although the amphitheater is so gone that we didn't even go to see it. One place I was sad we did not get to was the Cathedral but it wasn't for lack of trying. We went and it turns out that there was a wedding going on that day. However, under the cathedral you can see the hidden passageways that they had in Roman towns. They were basically underground roads people would walk versus walking outside and also held meetings and functions. It was super interesting to see.
After the tour we had some lunch and then my roommate for the trip, Allie, and I observed siesta from 2-4 where everything closes and people relax. In Milan not everything closes as it is a big city, but in Aosta (which is much smaller and has a lot more families) pretty much everything was closed down.
Following siesta we headed to Aosta's archeological museum which was free for the day. We saw a special exhibit on what I think was Renaissance symbolism that was inspired by Roman artifacts (everything was again in Italian and French). Then we headed to look at the normal exhibits and were directed by a guy who obviously worked there to check out the basement. Under the building are Roman ruins that you can see. It was some sort of building and it was super interesting. Allie and I spent a good amount of time wandering around down there. We enjoyed the other parts of the exhibits, mainly artifacts from life in Aosta, before heading out. Allie wasn't feeling well and dinner was approaching so we got some gelato and people watched. There are way more families and babies and larger dogs in Aosta than in Milan. It was really interesting how many of them knew each other and we loved the little Italian ladies gathering on the street for what I assume was gossip.
Sunday was probably the best day of the whole trip. We headed out of Aosta about 9 and we went to Monte Bianco (Mont Blanc in French) which is, I'm pretty sure, the tallest mountain in the Alps. We took three gondolas (which is also a word for a type of ski lift, not just a boat) to get to the top and I took so many pictures. It was gorgeous up there. It was below 0 in Celsius which is still pretty cold for Fahrenheit. There was a small crystal museum at the top and you could also cross the border right into France. It was pretty fun.
Afterward we only took two gondolas down and hiked the last portion. It took a little over an hour, had breathtaking views, and was rather steep. I had a great time and I think that hiking Cinque Terre last weekend definitely put me in shape for this hike. I have not felt any pain yet but we'll see how that goes in the near future.
Once everybody had made it to the bottom (some people did not hike and just took all three gondolas back down) we went to a small town nearby for lunch and then headed back. We made a quick stop at a castle that is in the area which was not open but I got some lovely pictures of the outside, before we made it back to Milan.
It was great to get into the fresh mountain air and be away from the city before starting all of our classes on Monday!
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Cinque Terre
So I am going to preface this post with just saying that I had never heard of the Cinque Terre until I got here and I will never forget the Cinque Terre. It is fantastic and I would recommend it to anybody who enjoys good views and hiking.
For those that don't know, the Cinque Terre are five villages (that's what Cinque Terre translates too): Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterossa set right along the Gulf of Genova (the northwest side of Italy at the top of the boot). They are connected by hiking trails and there is swimming, and vineyards, and very good food. They are absolutely beautiful (there are 581 pictures I took to prove it).
FRIDAY:
We got into Monterosso about 5 o'clock and headed down on the train to Riomaggiore where we stayed. There were four of us and we met up with one of the guys in our group's girlfriend and three of her friends as well. We basically took lots of pictures of Riomaggiore and then ate dinner, had some gelato, and went to bed.
SATURDAY:
Now, this is the big day. We were told to walk from Riomaggiore north to Monterosso on the trails (opposite of what most guidebooks say but I think it was better). We started about nine am and finished about five pm so here it goes:
RIOMAGGIORE TO MANAROLA:
This section is the Via Dell'Amore and it is the easiest part to hike because it is flat and paved. It has beautiful views of the water and there are all these love words engraved on the walls in marble set into the cliffs. There is a lot of love related graffiti (they also like to carve their names into cacti we discovered) and people put locks up to represent their love. It was all very touching and a very nice warm up to the beginning of the hike.
We explored the town of Manarola which has a very nice marina and I bought some foccaccia bread which the Cinque Terre are known for. It was fantastic and a great snack for as I got hungry.
MANAROLA TO CORNIGLIA:
So, this part of the trail was closed due to risk of landslides. Apparently this is common. This also means I need to come back so I can hike this portion. However, we took the train to Corniglia and it turns out to get into the city center (and the rest of the trail) from their train station you have to climb 382 steps. I didn't count, they congratulate you at the top with a sign.
Corniglia is beautifully set out on a small peninsula and, like all the Cinque Terre, a cute little town. We went to this panoramic view area to get some great shots before continuing on our adventure.
CORNIGLIA TO VERNAZZA:
This is the hardest part of the entire hike. The paved paths were gone and we were left with stone paths, lots of steps, and beautiful views. Although it also took us pretty far from the coast compared to the rest of the hike. This portion took us over two hours, despite the fact that it says it should only take an hour and a half. However, we stopped for water a lot, and to take pictures. The sun was coming out at this time (the morning had previously been overcast and the forecast predicted rain all day) which made things pretty but it was also hot. I took a lot of trail pictures so you should check those out. Pictures are worth a thousand words in this case.
However, Vernazza may have been my favorite of the Cinque Terre. It's set almost like a pier coming out of the coast (it also has a pier coming out of the coast). It was 1 when we got in so we had lunch at this place called Blue Marlin. I had Trofie pasta with pesto (Cinque Terre is known for pesto!) and it was fantastic. Probably one of my best meals so far and well priced. We spent a good amount of time in Vernazza because we were so tired. We went out to the pier area, took some pictures, and relaxed on these big rocks for awhile. It was quite nice, but it was onto the final leg.
VERNAZZA TO MONTEROSSO:
This part was not as hard as the previous leg, but it was the second hardest and the most treacherous I think. I was so glad we started in the south though because our trip had a ton of steps at the beginning going up and then was pretty gradually downhill plus some small uphills. Meaning coming the other way it was a lot of uphill instead.
The trail here got pretty narrow for awhile and it had started to rain which made the stones that marked the path rather slippery. It rained for about an hour but it was refreshing since we were so hot from hiking the other two legs (particularly the first leg). My friend Allie almost fell down a hill from slipping on the stones, luckily there was a railing at that part (some parts do not have railings, this is not for anybody bad with heights).
This part goes through a lot of vineyards at the end which was fun to see. The grapes looked gorgeous.
The very end part of this was a TON of steps downhill (hence why I was glad to go down, not up). The rain had stopped but some were still slippery. We got into Monterosso and were so proud of ourselves for taking the 2 hours they say it takes to complete that leg that we celebrated with, what else?, gelato!
We ended up not exploring Monterosso but heading back to our hostel (which was really nice, much improved over last weekend) and showering before finding some dinner in Riomaggiore. I had gnocci stuffed with tomato and mozzarella which was fantastic. We wandered Riomaggiore's main street a bit before heading back up to our hostel (we were rather high up on the hill). We talked a bit before more or less passing out from exhaustion.
SUNDAY:
We slept in until about 9, and packed to leave by 10 (check-out time). Three of us headed back to Vernazza to explore the Castello Doria which had fantastic views of the area. We had lunch at Blue Marlin again because we loved it so much and I had anchovy pizza. Allie stared at me through my whole first piece since she thought I was crazy for having anchovies on pizza. We then headed onto Monterosso to explore for once.
The biggest thing with Monterosso is there is beach access. So we walked a little but we were so tired that we ended up wading into the Gulf of Genova (part of the Linguarian Sea) for a good amount of time.
We finished our trip with some gelato and our three hour train ride back to Milan thoroughly tired but with beautiful memories and pictures of the Cinque Terre!
For those that don't know, the Cinque Terre are five villages (that's what Cinque Terre translates too): Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Monterossa set right along the Gulf of Genova (the northwest side of Italy at the top of the boot). They are connected by hiking trails and there is swimming, and vineyards, and very good food. They are absolutely beautiful (there are 581 pictures I took to prove it).
FRIDAY:
We got into Monterosso about 5 o'clock and headed down on the train to Riomaggiore where we stayed. There were four of us and we met up with one of the guys in our group's girlfriend and three of her friends as well. We basically took lots of pictures of Riomaggiore and then ate dinner, had some gelato, and went to bed.
SATURDAY:
Now, this is the big day. We were told to walk from Riomaggiore north to Monterosso on the trails (opposite of what most guidebooks say but I think it was better). We started about nine am and finished about five pm so here it goes:
RIOMAGGIORE TO MANAROLA:
This section is the Via Dell'Amore and it is the easiest part to hike because it is flat and paved. It has beautiful views of the water and there are all these love words engraved on the walls in marble set into the cliffs. There is a lot of love related graffiti (they also like to carve their names into cacti we discovered) and people put locks up to represent their love. It was all very touching and a very nice warm up to the beginning of the hike.
We explored the town of Manarola which has a very nice marina and I bought some foccaccia bread which the Cinque Terre are known for. It was fantastic and a great snack for as I got hungry.
MANAROLA TO CORNIGLIA:
So, this part of the trail was closed due to risk of landslides. Apparently this is common. This also means I need to come back so I can hike this portion. However, we took the train to Corniglia and it turns out to get into the city center (and the rest of the trail) from their train station you have to climb 382 steps. I didn't count, they congratulate you at the top with a sign.
Corniglia is beautifully set out on a small peninsula and, like all the Cinque Terre, a cute little town. We went to this panoramic view area to get some great shots before continuing on our adventure.
CORNIGLIA TO VERNAZZA:
This is the hardest part of the entire hike. The paved paths were gone and we were left with stone paths, lots of steps, and beautiful views. Although it also took us pretty far from the coast compared to the rest of the hike. This portion took us over two hours, despite the fact that it says it should only take an hour and a half. However, we stopped for water a lot, and to take pictures. The sun was coming out at this time (the morning had previously been overcast and the forecast predicted rain all day) which made things pretty but it was also hot. I took a lot of trail pictures so you should check those out. Pictures are worth a thousand words in this case.
However, Vernazza may have been my favorite of the Cinque Terre. It's set almost like a pier coming out of the coast (it also has a pier coming out of the coast). It was 1 when we got in so we had lunch at this place called Blue Marlin. I had Trofie pasta with pesto (Cinque Terre is known for pesto!) and it was fantastic. Probably one of my best meals so far and well priced. We spent a good amount of time in Vernazza because we were so tired. We went out to the pier area, took some pictures, and relaxed on these big rocks for awhile. It was quite nice, but it was onto the final leg.
VERNAZZA TO MONTEROSSO:
This part was not as hard as the previous leg, but it was the second hardest and the most treacherous I think. I was so glad we started in the south though because our trip had a ton of steps at the beginning going up and then was pretty gradually downhill plus some small uphills. Meaning coming the other way it was a lot of uphill instead.
The trail here got pretty narrow for awhile and it had started to rain which made the stones that marked the path rather slippery. It rained for about an hour but it was refreshing since we were so hot from hiking the other two legs (particularly the first leg). My friend Allie almost fell down a hill from slipping on the stones, luckily there was a railing at that part (some parts do not have railings, this is not for anybody bad with heights).
This part goes through a lot of vineyards at the end which was fun to see. The grapes looked gorgeous.
The very end part of this was a TON of steps downhill (hence why I was glad to go down, not up). The rain had stopped but some were still slippery. We got into Monterosso and were so proud of ourselves for taking the 2 hours they say it takes to complete that leg that we celebrated with, what else?, gelato!
We ended up not exploring Monterosso but heading back to our hostel (which was really nice, much improved over last weekend) and showering before finding some dinner in Riomaggiore. I had gnocci stuffed with tomato and mozzarella which was fantastic. We wandered Riomaggiore's main street a bit before heading back up to our hostel (we were rather high up on the hill). We talked a bit before more or less passing out from exhaustion.
SUNDAY:
We slept in until about 9, and packed to leave by 10 (check-out time). Three of us headed back to Vernazza to explore the Castello Doria which had fantastic views of the area. We had lunch at Blue Marlin again because we loved it so much and I had anchovy pizza. Allie stared at me through my whole first piece since she thought I was crazy for having anchovies on pizza. We then headed onto Monterosso to explore for once.
The biggest thing with Monterosso is there is beach access. So we walked a little but we were so tired that we ended up wading into the Gulf of Genova (part of the Linguarian Sea) for a good amount of time.
We finished our trip with some gelato and our three hour train ride back to Milan thoroughly tired but with beautiful memories and pictures of the Cinque Terre!
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Milano Happenings
Here's some various things that have been going on since I've been in Milan:
Italian Class:
I have this every week day for 2 1/2 hours. It's pretty cool and we learn a lot, I feel decently comfortable ordering a bar (bars in Italy are for many things besides alcohol such as breakfast food or lunch food). One day we went in groups to Cattolica (the university) and had to ask Italian students (in Italian) various questions about themselves and about different Italian hand gestures.
I've also moved myself up when people ask me things in Italian outside of school from saying "non parlo italiano" (I don't speak Italian) to "non parlo italiano bene" (I don't speak Italian well). I think it's an improvement.
Wednesday, September 8th:
I went shopping for the first time! I discovered OVS which is a well priced, quality store that I've decided I love. I got two shirts, two sweaters, and a scarf to expand my wardrobe some since it's pretty small (I got here in one suitcase, remember?).
Thursday, September 9th:
It was Vogue's Fashion's Night Out in Milan so I headed to go see some of it. I only spent about an hour there and apparently we missed out on the awesome area, but the part we went to the stores were open later than usual and had DJs and other fun things going on. I ended up getting a bag for carrying books and such in at this place called Carpisa which I've seen a lot of women with. It's very well priced and I can say I bought something at Fashion's Night Out in Milan!
Friday, September 10th:
Well, you can read about Venice below, but I had my first horn lesson! My professor's name is Ermes Pecchinini and he seems very nice. He was complimentary about my playing and wants to work mostly on expression (which I expected since Italians are very expressive with music). I don't have another lesson for two weeks because of his traveling but I'm looking forward to it and am motivated to practice, particularly my expression.
Tuesday, September 14th:
My 4 euro for fruit last week was a rip off. I got two kilos of fruit (these yellow things I can't name and nectarines) for 3 euro! Yay!
Wednesday, September 15th:
I decided to culture myself and toured the Brera which is an art museum made mostly of Italian masters from the Renaissance to very early Impressionism. I enjoyed it a lot. They also have a small modern collection which was donated including a Picasso painting. I saw many Madonna con Bambino (Madonna and Child) and tried to count for my dad but, alas, I lost count. There had to be at least fifty and the museum wasn't tiny but it was a lot smaller than the Art Institute of Chicago.
We went out for aperitivo again. I love this tradition. Especially because we do it the student way where we stock up on lots of finger food/appetizers and count that for dinner. For a buffet of finger foods and a drink it was only 9 euro which is great since the drinks were 7 euro alone.
Thursday, September 16th:
Registered for classes! Yay! I have 4: horn lessons, Music Performance Workshop, Italian 100, and a literature class called Finding the Author: Italian Masterworks in Translation which I'm actually rather excited about. I'm also excited that I have no classes on Thursday and I'm done at 11am on Tuesdays. Time to explore Milan? I think so! I've already started my lists. If you've been to Milan before let me know what you liked and I'll try to get to it! Suggestions are always welcome!
~
Other observations about Milan:
-It is not touristy. After the visit to Venice I've realized how much I love that most people in Milan are Milanese. Of course, we do get tourists. Often times they come up to people in the program to help them get somewhere (they're normally really bad at the metro). But it's much more real here with the fewer amounts of tourists.
-Speaking of the metro...it's crowded. And, apparently prone to striking. Oh joy. At least they still operate during the morning and evening rush hour (I can't even imagine how crowded it will be then)
-Even though I know the euro is more than the dollar, things (at least food-wise) seem cheaper here. At the market especially (see above) but at the grocery story we go to there are really good prices on pretty quality food. I buy a lot of pasta. Good thing I walk a lot and always take the stairs.
-They LOVE their dogs. And I love them for it. I see golden retrievers sitting on the metro with us and on the way to Venice this long-haired dachshund had its own seat. It was rather adorable. However, I'm unsure if it's in good Italian manners for me to pet a dog if I happen to be near it. Right now I'm just hoping for a dog to approach me first so I don't feel weird. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to strike up a short conversation in Italian with the owner!
Italian Class:
I have this every week day for 2 1/2 hours. It's pretty cool and we learn a lot, I feel decently comfortable ordering a bar (bars in Italy are for many things besides alcohol such as breakfast food or lunch food). One day we went in groups to Cattolica (the university) and had to ask Italian students (in Italian) various questions about themselves and about different Italian hand gestures.
I've also moved myself up when people ask me things in Italian outside of school from saying "non parlo italiano" (I don't speak Italian) to "non parlo italiano bene" (I don't speak Italian well). I think it's an improvement.
Wednesday, September 8th:
I went shopping for the first time! I discovered OVS which is a well priced, quality store that I've decided I love. I got two shirts, two sweaters, and a scarf to expand my wardrobe some since it's pretty small (I got here in one suitcase, remember?).
Thursday, September 9th:
It was Vogue's Fashion's Night Out in Milan so I headed to go see some of it. I only spent about an hour there and apparently we missed out on the awesome area, but the part we went to the stores were open later than usual and had DJs and other fun things going on. I ended up getting a bag for carrying books and such in at this place called Carpisa which I've seen a lot of women with. It's very well priced and I can say I bought something at Fashion's Night Out in Milan!
Friday, September 10th:
Well, you can read about Venice below, but I had my first horn lesson! My professor's name is Ermes Pecchinini and he seems very nice. He was complimentary about my playing and wants to work mostly on expression (which I expected since Italians are very expressive with music). I don't have another lesson for two weeks because of his traveling but I'm looking forward to it and am motivated to practice, particularly my expression.
Tuesday, September 14th:
My 4 euro for fruit last week was a rip off. I got two kilos of fruit (these yellow things I can't name and nectarines) for 3 euro! Yay!
Wednesday, September 15th:
I decided to culture myself and toured the Brera which is an art museum made mostly of Italian masters from the Renaissance to very early Impressionism. I enjoyed it a lot. They also have a small modern collection which was donated including a Picasso painting. I saw many Madonna con Bambino (Madonna and Child) and tried to count for my dad but, alas, I lost count. There had to be at least fifty and the museum wasn't tiny but it was a lot smaller than the Art Institute of Chicago.
We went out for aperitivo again. I love this tradition. Especially because we do it the student way where we stock up on lots of finger food/appetizers and count that for dinner. For a buffet of finger foods and a drink it was only 9 euro which is great since the drinks were 7 euro alone.
Thursday, September 16th:
Registered for classes! Yay! I have 4: horn lessons, Music Performance Workshop, Italian 100, and a literature class called Finding the Author: Italian Masterworks in Translation which I'm actually rather excited about. I'm also excited that I have no classes on Thursday and I'm done at 11am on Tuesdays. Time to explore Milan? I think so! I've already started my lists. If you've been to Milan before let me know what you liked and I'll try to get to it! Suggestions are always welcome!
~
Other observations about Milan:
-It is not touristy. After the visit to Venice I've realized how much I love that most people in Milan are Milanese. Of course, we do get tourists. Often times they come up to people in the program to help them get somewhere (they're normally really bad at the metro). But it's much more real here with the fewer amounts of tourists.
-Speaking of the metro...it's crowded. And, apparently prone to striking. Oh joy. At least they still operate during the morning and evening rush hour (I can't even imagine how crowded it will be then)
-Even though I know the euro is more than the dollar, things (at least food-wise) seem cheaper here. At the market especially (see above) but at the grocery story we go to there are really good prices on pretty quality food. I buy a lot of pasta. Good thing I walk a lot and always take the stairs.
-They LOVE their dogs. And I love them for it. I see golden retrievers sitting on the metro with us and on the way to Venice this long-haired dachshund had its own seat. It was rather adorable. However, I'm unsure if it's in good Italian manners for me to pet a dog if I happen to be near it. Right now I'm just hoping for a dog to approach me first so I don't feel weird. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to strike up a short conversation in Italian with the owner!
Gioca Jouer
So, these Italian classes are 2 1/2 hours long. Therefore, our teacher needs to entertain us. We wrote down all the words we could figure out from this song. And had a lot of fun watching our teacher do the dance (then we did it ourselves!)
Enjoy!
Enjoy!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Venice and Verona
My first time traveling for more than a day trip!
On Friday after my horn lesson (post on that later) eight of us headed to Venice. We took a train and got there in the early evening. We had a bit of an issue checking into our hostel (more like a camping ground, it was interesting) because some people didn't realize they needed their passport. However, things worked out, we got our stuff into our "house tents" and headed back to the main island of Venice (it's a lot cheaper to stay on the mainland area) to find some dinner. We got to pass San Marco (St. Mark's) in the evening which was pretty.
Saturday was our whole day in Venice. We started at San Giorgio which overlooks the rest of Venice and was very pretty. Then we headed to get some lunch on the mainland and while wandering (always keeping in mind where the Grand Canal was) we actually ran into the church were Antonio Vivaldi was baptized. That was pretty awesome so we poked around there a bit. We got some lunch and headed to see San Marco's.
This is when it got interesting...turns out that since Venice is sinking, at high tide Piazza San Marco floods. We had to take our shoes off and wade to a higher area and then only one entrance to the church was open since it wasn't being flooded. We had to walk in on these raised platforms for the entry areas. Luckily the actual church area does not flood.
After San Marco's our group decided to split up (we discovered that going around with eight people is really difficult) and my group spent time looking in at all the Murano glass stores around the Duomo area, getting gelato, and then heading over towards the Rialto.
The Rialto was the first bridge still standing to cross the Grand Canal and was the only bridge to cross it for about three hundred years. It's really pretty and has good views down the Grand Canal. The area was also the first populated area and we wandered around the market area. Finally, we headed about halfway down the Canal toward San Marco, got a nice drink before dinner, and then met up with the other group to go to dinner. I had a really good pizza with prosciutto on it which was really yummy.
After dinner we walked up the Grand Canal some, crossed the Accedemia bridge (the second bridge built to cross the Grand Canal) before getting on a vaporetto (a water bus and our main form of transportation) and head back to the bus stop to catch our bus back. It was great but I'm glad I know I'll be visiting Venice again because there's so much more I want to see.
The next morning we headed out of Venice and took a train to Verona. Verona is gorgeous and very quaint. It made a fantastic day trip and we had a really good time. We split up again and I started by heading to the castle that is there which reminded me a lot of the Castle Sforza in Milan, it's called the Castelvecchio. Attached to the Castelvecchio is the original defense system bridge the Ponte Scaligero. The bridge was actually bombed out in WWII and the city of Verona loved the bridge so much they went to enormous lengths to rebuild it.
We headed down the river and back across to see Verona's Duomo. The outside is beautiful but we didn't go in because there was an entrance fee. This is the first I've seen of an entrance fee to get into a church. We walked through the town some more (stopping for some gelato of course) and headed to the Piazza Erba which is a market place area and just down from the Casa de Guilietta (Juliet's House). We of course headed there next.
All I can say about Juliet's house is that a lot of people were there. I got some pictures in but we all decided it was nice but we wanted out.
We headed to the center of the city to see the Arena which is like a mini-Colosseum. Unfortunately they'd just stopped selling admittance tickets because they were having a concert there (they often stage operas and have concerts) so they were closing down early. There was a festival going on the area and we listened to some drummers and walked around. I went with two girls back before the rest of the group because we wanted to save money by eating at home and have time to shower and relax before going to bed.
The weekend was wonderful and I can't wait for more like it!
On Friday after my horn lesson (post on that later) eight of us headed to Venice. We took a train and got there in the early evening. We had a bit of an issue checking into our hostel (more like a camping ground, it was interesting) because some people didn't realize they needed their passport. However, things worked out, we got our stuff into our "house tents" and headed back to the main island of Venice (it's a lot cheaper to stay on the mainland area) to find some dinner. We got to pass San Marco (St. Mark's) in the evening which was pretty.
Saturday was our whole day in Venice. We started at San Giorgio which overlooks the rest of Venice and was very pretty. Then we headed to get some lunch on the mainland and while wandering (always keeping in mind where the Grand Canal was) we actually ran into the church were Antonio Vivaldi was baptized. That was pretty awesome so we poked around there a bit. We got some lunch and headed to see San Marco's.
This is when it got interesting...turns out that since Venice is sinking, at high tide Piazza San Marco floods. We had to take our shoes off and wade to a higher area and then only one entrance to the church was open since it wasn't being flooded. We had to walk in on these raised platforms for the entry areas. Luckily the actual church area does not flood.
After San Marco's our group decided to split up (we discovered that going around with eight people is really difficult) and my group spent time looking in at all the Murano glass stores around the Duomo area, getting gelato, and then heading over towards the Rialto.
The Rialto was the first bridge still standing to cross the Grand Canal and was the only bridge to cross it for about three hundred years. It's really pretty and has good views down the Grand Canal. The area was also the first populated area and we wandered around the market area. Finally, we headed about halfway down the Canal toward San Marco, got a nice drink before dinner, and then met up with the other group to go to dinner. I had a really good pizza with prosciutto on it which was really yummy.
After dinner we walked up the Grand Canal some, crossed the Accedemia bridge (the second bridge built to cross the Grand Canal) before getting on a vaporetto (a water bus and our main form of transportation) and head back to the bus stop to catch our bus back. It was great but I'm glad I know I'll be visiting Venice again because there's so much more I want to see.
The next morning we headed out of Venice and took a train to Verona. Verona is gorgeous and very quaint. It made a fantastic day trip and we had a really good time. We split up again and I started by heading to the castle that is there which reminded me a lot of the Castle Sforza in Milan, it's called the Castelvecchio. Attached to the Castelvecchio is the original defense system bridge the Ponte Scaligero. The bridge was actually bombed out in WWII and the city of Verona loved the bridge so much they went to enormous lengths to rebuild it.
We headed down the river and back across to see Verona's Duomo. The outside is beautiful but we didn't go in because there was an entrance fee. This is the first I've seen of an entrance fee to get into a church. We walked through the town some more (stopping for some gelato of course) and headed to the Piazza Erba which is a market place area and just down from the Casa de Guilietta (Juliet's House). We of course headed there next.
All I can say about Juliet's house is that a lot of people were there. I got some pictures in but we all decided it was nice but we wanted out.
We headed to the center of the city to see the Arena which is like a mini-Colosseum. Unfortunately they'd just stopped selling admittance tickets because they were having a concert there (they often stage operas and have concerts) so they were closing down early. There was a festival going on the area and we listened to some drummers and walked around. I went with two girls back before the rest of the group because we wanted to save money by eating at home and have time to shower and relax before going to bed.
The weekend was wonderful and I can't wait for more like it!
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Friday Adventure, Market, and Pavia
My first Italian class went very well. My teacher's name is Linda and she will run off in Italian and then tell us just to try and understand what we can. I think this might be a pretty effective way for me to learn actually because it helps me to hear it a lot if I'm trying to speak it. The class lasts two and a half hours but we get a fifteen minute break, ours ended up being half an hour (Linda gave us the return time). Despite being a beginning Italian class we are expected to speak in Italian as much as possible. Luckily she taught us a bunch of classroom phrases we may need, such as asking her to repeat something or ask what something means.
After class a group of us got some sandwiches for lunch and then we embarked on a journey. We headed for to the Castello Sforzesco (known as the Sforza Castle in English) which is where the ruling family of Milan (the Sforzescos) once lived. It is gorgeous and I took tons of pictures (they are up on facebook and Google - links on sidebar). We then walked through the park that is by the castle (apparently the second city park in Milan) to the Arco de Pace which is similar to the Arc de Triomph in Paris.
We then took the metro over to the Duomo and I finally climbed to the top! Okay, well, not the total top because there is renovation going on and I believe normally you can go higher, but I was on top of the main roof. It was beautiful up there and there were amazing views of the city. Again, many many pictures. We spent a long time up on the top, just relaxing and looking over the city (our feet also hurt and needed a break).
Yet, we continued on our awesome tour and took another metro out by my apartment to go to Cimitero Monumentale (or Monument Cemetery). Basically, it's the huge cemetery and everybody buried there has some elaborate tomb or grave with this beautiful statues and engravings. There are some famous people of Italy buried there although I did not knowingly find any of their graves. The place was huge and I wanted to stay longer but we needed to head out (plus it was closing soon) so I must make a trip back and see even more. I saw a picture of one that reminds me of the Leaning Tower of Pisa and I want to go see that one. I took a ton of pictures of everywhere we went and it was a fantastic time.
On Saturday morning I got up and went to the market on our street. We saw them setting up on Tuesday (the other day of the week for market) but could not go. I wandered around the whole thing (it goes a few blocks past my street as well) and saw everything there was. I bought a bag to carry my books in for school (so my horn can go on my back). I also bought fruit and for four euro I got a kilo of these yellow fruits I've tried and liked but cannot name for the life of me, two peaches, and then he threw in a bunch of green grapes. I had held off buying fruit at the store so I could go to the market and it was so worth it.
Then I met some people at the train station and we went to Pavia which is a half an hour south of Milan and has the third largest duomo in Italy (I guess it's bigger than the Milan Duomo). Pavia is also a very ancient city. Besides seeing the Duomo we saw a restored bridge that had been bombed out in WWII, more churches, and some of these torre medaevile (medieval towers) that are all over the city. And of course we got some gelato...yum!
We also wandered a bit (aka, got slightly lost, but Pavia is a small town) and ran across a European market. It seemed to be a special event and I got to eat some yummy Sicilian pasteries (according to my RA, Sicily has the best food - she's originally from Florence but her boyfriend is in Sicily and she has been to visit him). Then, we started heading back towards the train station and ran across the equivalent of Civil War reenactments in Italy...I think (after research) that it was a reenactment of the Battle of Pavia in like 1525 or something like that.
Sunday is going to be my day of relaxation after all this craziness. But don't worry, more is already planned!
After class a group of us got some sandwiches for lunch and then we embarked on a journey. We headed for to the Castello Sforzesco (known as the Sforza Castle in English) which is where the ruling family of Milan (the Sforzescos) once lived. It is gorgeous and I took tons of pictures (they are up on facebook and Google - links on sidebar). We then walked through the park that is by the castle (apparently the second city park in Milan) to the Arco de Pace which is similar to the Arc de Triomph in Paris.
We then took the metro over to the Duomo and I finally climbed to the top! Okay, well, not the total top because there is renovation going on and I believe normally you can go higher, but I was on top of the main roof. It was beautiful up there and there were amazing views of the city. Again, many many pictures. We spent a long time up on the top, just relaxing and looking over the city (our feet also hurt and needed a break).
Yet, we continued on our awesome tour and took another metro out by my apartment to go to Cimitero Monumentale (or Monument Cemetery). Basically, it's the huge cemetery and everybody buried there has some elaborate tomb or grave with this beautiful statues and engravings. There are some famous people of Italy buried there although I did not knowingly find any of their graves. The place was huge and I wanted to stay longer but we needed to head out (plus it was closing soon) so I must make a trip back and see even more. I saw a picture of one that reminds me of the Leaning Tower of Pisa and I want to go see that one. I took a ton of pictures of everywhere we went and it was a fantastic time.
On Saturday morning I got up and went to the market on our street. We saw them setting up on Tuesday (the other day of the week for market) but could not go. I wandered around the whole thing (it goes a few blocks past my street as well) and saw everything there was. I bought a bag to carry my books in for school (so my horn can go on my back). I also bought fruit and for four euro I got a kilo of these yellow fruits I've tried and liked but cannot name for the life of me, two peaches, and then he threw in a bunch of green grapes. I had held off buying fruit at the store so I could go to the market and it was so worth it.
Then I met some people at the train station and we went to Pavia which is a half an hour south of Milan and has the third largest duomo in Italy (I guess it's bigger than the Milan Duomo). Pavia is also a very ancient city. Besides seeing the Duomo we saw a restored bridge that had been bombed out in WWII, more churches, and some of these torre medaevile (medieval towers) that are all over the city. And of course we got some gelato...yum!
We also wandered a bit (aka, got slightly lost, but Pavia is a small town) and ran across a European market. It seemed to be a special event and I got to eat some yummy Sicilian pasteries (according to my RA, Sicily has the best food - she's originally from Florence but her boyfriend is in Sicily and she has been to visit him). Then, we started heading back towards the train station and ran across the equivalent of Civil War reenactments in Italy...I think (after research) that it was a reenactment of the Battle of Pavia in like 1525 or something like that.
Sunday is going to be my day of relaxation after all this craziness. But don't worry, more is already planned!
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Orientation: Days 2-4
I figured I'm going to try and make fewer but longer posts, hoping it'll keep your interest (although, if you're my family you're almost obligated to at least pretend to be interested...)
TUESDAY:
Oh wow...lots of sitting. And people talking. However, they are not metal folding chairs like Blue Lake's orientation so that was at least nice.
We started the morning by going for a real Italian breakfast with our resident assistant Maria. She lives two floors up from us with five other girls in the program and helps us get around and such. I had a wonderful chocolate croissant (brioche) and un cappuccino. It was very yummy.
We have orientation meetings in a large meeting room at the Universita Cattolica (I cannot figure out how to do accents in this thing...) which is the main school associated with IES for those wanting to take either courses in Italian or English business courses (I think...). They also took us on a tour of the Cattolica. We all have student IDs for the school which is good because we can use their library. I learned that Italian libraries to check out a book you look it up, write down the number, and give it to the librarian. They go and get the book for you. I don't know if I'll get to try it but we'll see. We had lunch in the Cattolica cafeteria which was really good for cafeteria food. I had pasta with marinara, some type of fish, a roll, and a pear juice box.
After lunch is was more meetings. Most of us were pretty tired so it was kind of hard to sit through.
The best part of the day was in the evening. Our activity was to go to a spa called Terremilano which is a spa that believes in water doing the healing. They had pools and jacuzzis. There were these relaxation rooms that had different element themes so earth, fire, water, air (and I think I forgot one). Then the basement was what they called the "Wellness course." They had hydromassage jets in a jacuzzi (I really liked the ones that I could massage my feet with), this walk that goes through hot, then cold water to help circulation. There were also multiple saunas including one that smelled like lemon (very refeshing) and one that you took a handful of powdered soap in your hand, held it while sitting in the sauna for about five minutes, and then used the soap. It exfoliated and felt really good. Then you showered off. A lot of people thought that it would be lame but we all loved it, it was very relaxing and they had a "light dinner buffet" for us which was mostly fruit so I enjoyed that. Plus foccacia bread, and little chocolate cookies.
WEDNESDAY:
A bunch of us from the building (and our hard to pronounce street) made it to breakfast and to the Universita Cattolica all on our own without help from Maria (she had to wait for the electrician...I discovered we have two lights in the bathroom actually since he was here). We had more meetings but there were some more tailored meetings than yesterday. I got to attend the music meeting and learn that they have already contacted a horn teacher in Milan for me. He is currently out of Milan on a trip but will be back soon and then we will set up our first "appointment" as Walter refers to them. The music program here has many vocalists and only a few instrumentalists so our chamber groups will be pretty interesting. But I'm excited to start the music class.
In the afternoon we heard from one of the main people at the US Consulate in Milan and he talked about safety in Milan. Apparently Milan is much safer than most cities its size (Milan is a rather large city, it is actually bigger than Florence but Florence is more touristy since Milan is so north). The biggest problems are petty crimes such as pickpocketing and having bags taken when you're not look so he gave us some tips on that. Finally we got to find out our Italian language assignments. As I expected I am in Italian 100 but we have three classes of it since there are so many of us that know very little or no Italian knowledge. We have our first class on Friday and I am very excited to start learning. These next three week we will take Italian only. From 9-11:30 the first week and from 9-12 the third week.
The evening activity was part of what they call Milano "Tuttifrutti." It is generally a cultural experience in Milan and varies. We got to experience a very Milanese tradition of the aperitivo. It is basically a time before dinner that seems like a "happy hour." IES provided us all with finger food at this place called Noon and we each got one free drink. I enjoyed something called a spritza (that might be incorrect) which was prosecco (an Italian sparkling white wine) and something else that I forgot and nobody could translate into English for me. It was quite good. Then I went with a few girls for my first gelato of the trip...definitely two days too late. However it was wonderful and I think I remember where the store was. They had other chocolate fare as well which I must try. We saw them making a crepe with chocolate when we left. Yum!
THURSDAY:
We didn't have anything until 10 and my roommates were out late so I was the only one up when I decided I wanted breakfast so I successfully got my own breakfast ordering in Italian even. However, when I went to pay I didn't know how to say I wanted to pay and ended up saying it in the English. The guy kind of laughed and said a few things to me in English anyway.
At 10 we met at the Duomo for a tour of Milan. We saw the Duomo and the very fancy shopping area next to it. We saw the outside of La Scala and the old medieval meeting area which also used to be a market place. When then got very good Italian fast food which was called panzetta I believe. Mine was mozzarella and prosciutto. It was kind of like a sandwich but looked like a calzone. I enjoyed it very much.
We had a 2:30 tour of the music school so before that a bunch of us went and got gelato and went to one of the apartments that is much closer to the IES Center than mine is. I finally managed to figure out which gelato is dark chocolate and it was wonderful. Then we went to the music school which takes about half an hour to get there. We took the metro and then a streetcar and then walked. Luckily I don't think I'll actually be at the Academia because my lessons with probably be at IES. It is a beautiful building though. It was first someone's villa outside of Milan before Milan grew. Then the Nazi's used it for a base so it was bombed during WWII. The City of Milan (Comune di Milano) decided to rebuild it and they're actually working on the facade still so there is a large scaffolding all of it (so I didn't take pictures).
There was a tour at 4 of two of the oldest churches in Milan, however it took so long for the Academia tour and then getting to and from (plus we left late) that I wasn't able to make it. I will have to make it to the churches on my own (one is the one with The Last Supper but I don't believe they were actually going to see that part, the other is near the IES Center so I will have to stop in after Italian one day these next three weeks). So after I took the metro back to my apartment with two of my roommates to relax a little.
After relaxing I went with some girls in the building and we found the very cheap (yet good quality) grocery store we can get to on one of the streetcar things. I'm glad to finally have food in the apartment. We went back to the apartment upstairs and Maria made what they call "student pasta" which is pomodoro sauce (tomato), tuna, and pasta. It was so good. I never would have thought to put tuna in pasta but it's good. It's also very cheap, hence the name. We talked and had a lot of fun making and eating dinner, even if we didn't eat until 10:30. I'm still getting used to eating late, but hopefully I'll adjust.
If you don't have facebook I've posted the pictures on Google Picasa too. The link is on the sidebar, someone let me know if it doesn't work.
Next adventure: 1st Italian class!
TUESDAY:
Oh wow...lots of sitting. And people talking. However, they are not metal folding chairs like Blue Lake's orientation so that was at least nice.
We started the morning by going for a real Italian breakfast with our resident assistant Maria. She lives two floors up from us with five other girls in the program and helps us get around and such. I had a wonderful chocolate croissant (brioche) and un cappuccino. It was very yummy.
We have orientation meetings in a large meeting room at the Universita Cattolica (I cannot figure out how to do accents in this thing...) which is the main school associated with IES for those wanting to take either courses in Italian or English business courses (I think...). They also took us on a tour of the Cattolica. We all have student IDs for the school which is good because we can use their library. I learned that Italian libraries to check out a book you look it up, write down the number, and give it to the librarian. They go and get the book for you. I don't know if I'll get to try it but we'll see. We had lunch in the Cattolica cafeteria which was really good for cafeteria food. I had pasta with marinara, some type of fish, a roll, and a pear juice box.
After lunch is was more meetings. Most of us were pretty tired so it was kind of hard to sit through.
The best part of the day was in the evening. Our activity was to go to a spa called Terremilano which is a spa that believes in water doing the healing. They had pools and jacuzzis. There were these relaxation rooms that had different element themes so earth, fire, water, air (and I think I forgot one). Then the basement was what they called the "Wellness course." They had hydromassage jets in a jacuzzi (I really liked the ones that I could massage my feet with), this walk that goes through hot, then cold water to help circulation. There were also multiple saunas including one that smelled like lemon (very refeshing) and one that you took a handful of powdered soap in your hand, held it while sitting in the sauna for about five minutes, and then used the soap. It exfoliated and felt really good. Then you showered off. A lot of people thought that it would be lame but we all loved it, it was very relaxing and they had a "light dinner buffet" for us which was mostly fruit so I enjoyed that. Plus foccacia bread, and little chocolate cookies.
WEDNESDAY:
A bunch of us from the building (and our hard to pronounce street) made it to breakfast and to the Universita Cattolica all on our own without help from Maria (she had to wait for the electrician...I discovered we have two lights in the bathroom actually since he was here). We had more meetings but there were some more tailored meetings than yesterday. I got to attend the music meeting and learn that they have already contacted a horn teacher in Milan for me. He is currently out of Milan on a trip but will be back soon and then we will set up our first "appointment" as Walter refers to them. The music program here has many vocalists and only a few instrumentalists so our chamber groups will be pretty interesting. But I'm excited to start the music class.
In the afternoon we heard from one of the main people at the US Consulate in Milan and he talked about safety in Milan. Apparently Milan is much safer than most cities its size (Milan is a rather large city, it is actually bigger than Florence but Florence is more touristy since Milan is so north). The biggest problems are petty crimes such as pickpocketing and having bags taken when you're not look so he gave us some tips on that. Finally we got to find out our Italian language assignments. As I expected I am in Italian 100 but we have three classes of it since there are so many of us that know very little or no Italian knowledge. We have our first class on Friday and I am very excited to start learning. These next three week we will take Italian only. From 9-11:30 the first week and from 9-12 the third week.
The evening activity was part of what they call Milano "Tuttifrutti." It is generally a cultural experience in Milan and varies. We got to experience a very Milanese tradition of the aperitivo. It is basically a time before dinner that seems like a "happy hour." IES provided us all with finger food at this place called Noon and we each got one free drink. I enjoyed something called a spritza (that might be incorrect) which was prosecco (an Italian sparkling white wine) and something else that I forgot and nobody could translate into English for me. It was quite good. Then I went with a few girls for my first gelato of the trip...definitely two days too late. However it was wonderful and I think I remember where the store was. They had other chocolate fare as well which I must try. We saw them making a crepe with chocolate when we left. Yum!
THURSDAY:
We didn't have anything until 10 and my roommates were out late so I was the only one up when I decided I wanted breakfast so I successfully got my own breakfast ordering in Italian even. However, when I went to pay I didn't know how to say I wanted to pay and ended up saying it in the English. The guy kind of laughed and said a few things to me in English anyway.
At 10 we met at the Duomo for a tour of Milan. We saw the Duomo and the very fancy shopping area next to it. We saw the outside of La Scala and the old medieval meeting area which also used to be a market place. When then got very good Italian fast food which was called panzetta I believe. Mine was mozzarella and prosciutto. It was kind of like a sandwich but looked like a calzone. I enjoyed it very much.
We had a 2:30 tour of the music school so before that a bunch of us went and got gelato and went to one of the apartments that is much closer to the IES Center than mine is. I finally managed to figure out which gelato is dark chocolate and it was wonderful. Then we went to the music school which takes about half an hour to get there. We took the metro and then a streetcar and then walked. Luckily I don't think I'll actually be at the Academia because my lessons with probably be at IES. It is a beautiful building though. It was first someone's villa outside of Milan before Milan grew. Then the Nazi's used it for a base so it was bombed during WWII. The City of Milan (Comune di Milano) decided to rebuild it and they're actually working on the facade still so there is a large scaffolding all of it (so I didn't take pictures).
There was a tour at 4 of two of the oldest churches in Milan, however it took so long for the Academia tour and then getting to and from (plus we left late) that I wasn't able to make it. I will have to make it to the churches on my own (one is the one with The Last Supper but I don't believe they were actually going to see that part, the other is near the IES Center so I will have to stop in after Italian one day these next three weeks). So after I took the metro back to my apartment with two of my roommates to relax a little.
After relaxing I went with some girls in the building and we found the very cheap (yet good quality) grocery store we can get to on one of the streetcar things. I'm glad to finally have food in the apartment. We went back to the apartment upstairs and Maria made what they call "student pasta" which is pomodoro sauce (tomato), tuna, and pasta. It was so good. I never would have thought to put tuna in pasta but it's good. It's also very cheap, hence the name. We talked and had a lot of fun making and eating dinner, even if we didn't eat until 10:30. I'm still getting used to eating late, but hopefully I'll adjust.
If you don't have facebook I've posted the pictures on Google Picasa too. The link is on the sidebar, someone let me know if it doesn't work.
Next adventure: 1st Italian class!
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