Day 12-15
Trip Start
May 07, 2008
1
5
19
Trip End
Jun 23, 2008
Florence,
Italy
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
the Arts painting in Cosimo's tressure room
. The outer portion of the fresco is made to look like the Eucharistic tabernacle (used to hold extra wafers "Christ's body" then inside that is Christ on the cross with God behind him holding up the cross (just like the priest would hold up the wafer "Christ's body). Next to show the trinity the top of the cross disappears and blends into God's cloak, and for the Holy Ghost (the dove) it is made to look like it was part of his collar. The painting is beautiful on its own but have my teacher there explaining the meaning of it make the experience so much better he might be one of the best professors I have ever had. All of that was the upper portion it would have been over the alter that the priest was performing the family mass at. There was another portion below the alter that would have been eye level when people kneeled. It was a painting of a skeleton laying on a funeral alter this was to symbolize that Christ was above death and the original sin. The skeleton is said to be Adam's and there is writing above his skeleton that says in Italian, "I was as you are, you will be as I am." This was to say you will die and the only way to salvation is through Christ. It was a very cool experience. Jerry doesn't get out of class until 4:30 so the rest of us wait for him and we normally go get something to eat. Saverio told us about a little stand that sells lampredotto panini, so we went and tried them they were very good but it was a little to salty for me. For all of you asking what lampredotto is it is veal stomach that is stewed for hours in a broth with veggies
the Arts painting in Cosimo's tressure room 2
. The girls from up the street came over for dinner again tonight; I made cod with lemon zest, garlic, olive oil, and thyme. Then I added onions, tomatoes, and skrimp scampi after it was done I put it over penne and topped it with a creamy cheese sauce it was great Ti and I loved it. Then for the girls I made penne with the same sauce but added zucchini, tomatoes, onions, and peppers. They loved it of course and they came up with a new name for me Chief Evan or Chevan for short. Then Allison and I decided that we should go for gelato and of course everyone agreed. So we went down the block I got passion fruit and coconut ho gustato molto bene. Allison and I started talking about Nicole and she decided that we would have a shopping day and she would go around and pick things out that I should get Nicole as a gift, so I go to Italy for 6 weeks and I can't even escape going shopping. Day 13 (T) Woke up to the song of pouring rain, forecast for the next 10 shows rain, rain, rain, thunderstorms, rain, rain, showers, showers, partly cloudy, scattered showers. I had to wake Jerry up today his alarm didn't go off so he was running late so we couldn't get café this morning. Today in class we talked about the mafia and how it is different from what we think it is and how it resembles the stereo type. It was a fun lecture and I learned a lot of cool stuff. After class Dru, Ti, and I ran over to the train station with Alli, and Michele to get tickets for Rome.
the Arts painting in Cosimo's tressure room 3
Tickets were only 15.80 euros for the slow train, but the fast train only got you there and hour faster and it cost 35 euros an extra hour in Rome is not worth 19 euros. There are 14 of us going and we all got into the same hostel that is only 2 miles from downtown. On the way back Ti and Dru had a weak moment and they stop at McDonalds for lunch, Jerry and I are very upset with them right now, so in true Italian form, we as the cooks went on strike. Of course I kidding but you should have seen the looks on their faces it was funny. For dinner we just snacked on all our leftovers. All most forgot on our Cheerios box this morning we got a computer soccer game it is pretty fun.Day14 (W) I woke up early with Jerry and walked to get café with him this morning at Demis café. The bartisto is very nice we talked to him while we eat and drank café for 15 minutes. I took the extra time at CAPA to use the internet and update my photos and do some emailing it was nice to have that time plus we are going on a tour of the secret rooms of the Palazzo Vecchio. Art history class today, I love this course Frank might be one of the best teacher I have had. Today we are going to the baptistery of the Duomo, Bargello Museum, and OrsanMichele. First we started at the baptistery and talked about the Florence victory over Milan, and the idea of divine intervention. To commemorate this event they had a sculpture competition to design a sample panel of the of the new baptistery doors on the side of the paradise (the space between the Duomo and the baptistery
Lion holding flag of St. George Palazzo Vecch
. The finalists were Filippo Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti, Ghiberti would win in the end and Filippo gave up sculpting but later designed the dome of the Duomo. The original panels are still on display in the Bargello. The doors are of the New Testament and were moved to the North side after Ghiberti made the famous bronze doors that were placed on the east side facing the Duomo. Next we went to see the contest panels in the Bargello. They were very detailed and spectacular. They rules of the competition were the panel must tell the story of the sacrifice of Isaac, and include: 2 servants, an ass, bush w/ ram stuck in it, Isaac, Abraham, an angel and the alter. It was very interesting to listen to the story of the panels and have Frank explain the panels. Right next to the panels of the contest is Donatello's St. George. Frank told us the story of St. George rescuing the princess from a dragon after he had abandoned the pagan Roman army. He told us about all the hidden messages in the statue, I would include it but it would take up three pages. Then we went to see where the original was originally placed. It originally sat on the side of the OrsanMichele. The OrsanMichele was converted into a church from a grain market after a painting of the Virgin Mary appeared on one of the inside walls and protected people from the plague. After the plague the sight was deemed holy and the grain market was moved to the near by piazza and the market was turned into a church
Bronze statue in Palazzo Vecchio
. Two stories were added on top to store grain and the four corners of the church are hollow and are used as silos. When the market was turned into a church the government gave the task of decorating the outside and inside of the church to the guilds. The richer guilds hired sculptors for the outside and the poorer ones hired painters or donated money. After class we went on the tour of the secret rooms of the palazzo Vecchio. We started up a secret stair case that was made when Cosmos the first built a new exterior wall, but he kept the old wall and the stairs were between them. The spiraled up to an old study of Cosmos that had a cool painting that represented how to balance fate, fortune, and ruling a kingdom. One of his heirs built a treasure room off of the study. It was built to look like the inside of a treasure chest. On the rounded ceiling right above the center of each side was a painting of a women and one of the 4 elements: earth, wind, water, and fire. On the walls below the pictures there were paintings that incorporated the element that was above it into the drawing very cool. So of the paintings are hidden cabinets, in which treasure would be stored according to which element it was. Diamonds were on the wind wall because diamonds were thought to be pure condensed in to a small space. Behind one of the other paintings was a door that had stairs in it that led up stairs to Cosmos' treasure room not as big as his heirs. In the center of the ceiling is a sphere with three blurred shapes in it representing the holy trinity as three separate things but part of one
Ceiling of a room in Palazzo Vecchio
. Below that right before the ceiling meets the wall there are paintings of the arts. The floor represents the earth and is made of the three nature stones of Tuscany. This room represents God giving human ingenuity to develop the arts and be better than other things on earth. That was the end of the secret room but we got to go to the main hall which was enormous. It was ordered to be built by Cosmos. There are great big paintings on the long walls of Florentine victories over Pisa and Siena. Cosmos uses them to compare him self as ruler to the republic. The paintings are very similar and both show victory showing that Florence is just as strong as a republic as with him as the ruler, but it means more he is say he is better since the victories were similar it took 14 months as a republic but only 13 weeks when Cosmos was ruling. On the ceiling the center piece is a painting of Cosmos this represents Cosmos as the keystone of the kingdom and with out him the kingdom would crumble. We walked through the rest of the public area in the palace and looked at the other rooms they were just as amazing I didn't know what the paintings meant but they were still cool to look at. If I hadn't done enough already today we went to a local bar to watch the champions league title game between Manchester United and Chelsea. It was cool watching it around a bunch of people that really like soccer. The game was amazing Ronaldo scored the first goal he was very good. Man U missed a bunch of chances to extend the lead and later the game was tied up which is how regulation ended
Ceiling of great room Palazzo Vecchio 2
. Both sudden death overtimes were exciting but no goals, so they went to a shoot out. Ronald went 3 and got his shot block so after 3 kickers for both teams the score was 3-2 Chelsea. It came down to the 5 guy for Chelsea their captain Terry if he hit it the game was over and they won. Earlier in the game Man U made some nice passes in the box and they had a wide open goal because the keeper feel, but out of no where Terry contorts his body backwards to head the shot over the goal, so he saved the game earlier and had a chance to end it. Well he slipped and missed so the game continued into a sudden death shoot out. First round both guys hit, second round Man U hit and then Chelsea's player's shoot was blocked by the keeper and the 6 Man U fans behind us went crazy it was a fun atmosphere to be in. Finally after a long day I went to my bed from the land of OZ (munchkins).Day 15 (TH) Today woke up early with Jerry again and went to Demis for some café and a cornetto. I used my free time at CAPA to use the internet and to do my school work currently I'm working on a project over Tuscan cuisine and a about the region of Emilia-Romagna. For lunch today I went to see my favorite gastomeria owners Stefanio and Stefania I got a panino with Spanish salami, smoked cheese, and tomatoes. After class I came home to do some laundry but it wasn't done before I had to leave to meet my group for research on Tuscan cuisine, not like I cared research involved going and getting dinner at an osteria. Afterwards we hung out for a couple minutes then I headed home we have to get up at 4:30 am tomorrow because we have a 6:45 train to Rome.
