A long weekend class trip to Florence

The Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore is the cathedral church (Duomo) of Florence, Italy, begun in 1296 in the Gothic style to the design of Arnolfo di Cambio and completed structurally in 1436 with the dome engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi. The exterior of the basilica is faced with polychrome marble panels in various shades of green and pink bordered by white and has an elaborate 19th century Gothic Revival facade by Emilio De Fabris.








Such a shame. I was too sick to enjoy it. I have been over the moon with all the "real live" just inches from my finger tips art history here in Rome and was very excited to be going to Florence to see the actual original 1504 Michelangelo's David and the Duomo, but by the time I got there I was delirious with fevers and couldn't have cared less. Also a shame is you are not allowed to take pictures in most museums and churches, usually I try anyway with out a flash but again to sick to snap. Bummer, but it is OK because I live in Italy now and Florence is only an hour and a half train ride away I'll just have to go another weekend. Oh yeah and the shopping and the leather, man it just makes me wanna cry that I couldn't participate. You know how it smells when you walk past a bakery and the smell of fresh baked goods just surrounds you and makes you drool? Well Florence is like that only with the smell of Leather, fresh leather smells just float out of every store and it smells fantastic.

Neptune is like, "You talking to me?"








Here is my "crazy" Renaissance Professor at dinner, the man is so inteligent and loves to say what ever he likes politically, sexually, about religion the world and it's history, nothing is too taboo. Now I (and most of the students) often don't agree with him but he definately keeps us on our toes and thinking even more about world affairs and politics than art history.

Even the taxis and doctors are wonderful here

So I am sick as a dog. ( that is such a stupid expression!) I went to the hospital today and was diagnosed with severe flu causing acute bronchitis and possibly strep throat. nice huh? And I thought I was really being a baby with all the crying and complaining I've been doing these last couple of days.
The up side to being on deaths door in Rome ( so dramatic!!) is I took my first taxi ride to the hospital, which was nice and fast and not to expensive and then I got to check out the local hospital. Salvator Mundi International Hosptial is not very modern looking, but the staff and doctors were extremely nice and I have confidence they know what they are doing.
So I'm supposed to be on bed rest for a week and take a ton of medication, so hopefully I'll be better in a few days if I am a good girl and rest up. It's hard to rest here though, I mean I can nap for a few hours but then I wanna go do/see something even if I am too weak to walk down the street, LOL!!

I have something to add to Annoyances in Rome blog

OK, I am living la vita dolce here it's true, but I have a problem. One thing Italy is known for it is shopping, unfortunately I am unable to partake in this joy of shopping here because as I have been told by many a sales person, "one size".

Huh? What do you mean one size? I have picked up probably hundreds of sweaters, shirts, jackets, even pants and tights only to thoroughly inspect them and find no size labels. When I ask the sales person about the size they reply, "one size". Then I ask do you have anything that will fit me? As I am not this "one size" which looks to me to be about a size 6. Sometimes they shake there head no, sometimes they try to convince me that I can squeeze myself into this tiny article of clothing. Yes, I have tried, only to end up feeling retched and repulsive and if i can get it on, then fearful I might have to buy it as I might not be able to get it back off, LOL!! Stupid Italy and their stupid one size!!

Yes, Rome is the home of la figura bella and looking fantastic is a way of life, and but these people are just small, not just around the waist either they are short too, I am 5'6" and I often tower over men and women. I don't usually feel that bad about my size at home but here I feel sad that I can't buy Italian clothes. I am loosing weight with all the walking I do every day, but not that much and not quickly enough to get in on the good sales. =/

Day trip Via Cassia

Ever seen such pretty coffees?










I signed up for the day trip Via Cassia. I had no idea what it was or what I would see but I want to take advantage of any and all opportunities the school is offering.

VIA CASSIA, an ancient high-road of Italy, leading from Rome through Etruria to Florentia (Florence). It is currently being closely followed by the modern highroad from Rome to Florence. The date of its construction is uncertain: it cannot have been earlier than 187 B.C., 2 when the consul C. Flaminius constructed a road from Bononia to Arretium (which must have coincided with the portion of the later Via Cassia). A milestone of A.D. 124 mentions repairs to the road made by Hadrian from the boundary of the territory of Clusium to Florence, a distance of 86 m.

Ron Huber a professor here in rome lead the tour, yeah he kinda looks a bit like Johnny Dep, only he is way more interesting because of his vast historical knowledge.
The first place we stopped at was an area called Sultri where there were ruins of a coliseum/roman amphitheather, not as big as the one in Rome obviously but impressive no the less.

Then is little town on the top of another mountain, the inclines and angles these streets were totally intense and you huff and puff your way up them while tiny little old Italian ladies stroll by with ease with their grocery carts in tow.
























Then we went to The Villa Farnese, also known as Palazzo Farnese or Villa Caprarola, is a mansion in the town of Caprarola in the province of Viterbo, Northern Lazio, Italy, approximately 50 kilometres (35 miles) north-west of Rome. It should not be confused with the Palazzo Farnese and the Villa Farnesina, both in Rome.

WC break at the Coliseum

It is truly amazing here, again and again I am just blown away. I didn't think the coliseum would be that big a deal, it is just ruins of an old stadium. So after a few hours of sketching the outside of the coliseum for a class I decided to just pop inside as I needed to use a bathroom. I had a ticket left over from seeing the Roman Forum the day before and they are good for 2 days at 3 sites so I figured why not? At least I'll get to use the potty.
Holy smokes is this place huge and something about the way the sun was shining down and highlighting the arena gave me chills, and called to mind the quote from Gladiator, " For those of you about to die, we salute you!" I only spent about 15 minutes inside as I had to get to my next class, but one could probably spend the day there, I will be sure to go back and take my time next time.

Nutella will be my downfall

Oh man, this is bad...
I wish had ignored how everyone here raves about Nutella. I wish I had never tried it. I thought I had tried it in the past, maybe when I was in Europe 2 years ago. I was pretty sure I didn't like it. I know they sell it at home in the US but it never even caught my eye, as I do not consider myself a chocolate lover. Unfortunately my curiousity got the best of me as all the students here, some of the professors and mainly the Italians are always eating it and saying how wonderful it is. So I bought a small jar yesterday, smallest one I could find about 200 grams. It's half gone.
Like I said before, I don't usually like chocolate, could take it or leave it really, but this stuff is addictive. I haven't even put it on anything, I'm just savoring it on tiny spoons (I have tiny 3"spoons for coffee). It's thinner in consistancy than peanutbutter but thicker than say a nice pudding, maybe the consistancy of something like icing/frosting from a can of duncan hines. Its just creamy chocolately goodness (don't taste any hazelnut) and it will be my downfall as now I am addicted
.