Yo-Yo Ma

It's been a long time. About a month. Slacking a lot. So many great things have happened in Italy and beyond. Went to Milano to go see the Black Keys play and had an amazing weekend in Amsterdam two weeks ago. Unforgettable. Finishing up with classes and getting everything in order to head back home for the holidays.

Tonight was a memorable evening at Il Teatro Pergola. Went and saw Yo Yo Ma play with Katherine Scott playing the piano. Unbelievable. An amazing Cellist and Pianist all in one room full of emotion and beautiful music. Plus, three encores! The icing on the cake to the evening was an angry elderly Italian woman telling off a rude young Italian man, because his disrespectful behavior during the concert. Talking...not allowed during the performance. "Maleducati!!!!!" The intensity of the fight was Great! Loved it and loved the concert. So many great things all in one night. Yo Yo Ma is rocks the cello.  

Check out his 2nd Encore of the evening, The Swans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgRAA-ew0H4

OBAMA PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!!!

Most exciting news of the morning! Staying up in Italy to watch the incoming returns. The moment the West Coast took over, cheers and champagne! A  breakthrough in history, so ecstatic about the future of America!!!!!!!!!!! 

Free?!

This weekend in Florence at the Fortezza di Basso, literally, used to be an old Fort, there is a Creative Arts Festival going on. I ventured over there last night to find that the whole festival this weekend is entirely FREE! It came as a shock and a surprise, because it was such a large festival with capoeira dancers, art galleries, live djs and a huge stage with bands....best of all it was free.

Today, I'm taking the train to Roma, to meet up with the parental-units! It will be great to see them and show them around. 

A Porcini and A Fresco

Hey! So everything is beginning to calm down in Florence. The tourists are tapering off and it's such a relief. During the fall, Porcini mushrooms come into season and take a look at this huge GUY I bought at the Mercato San Ambrogio. It's like a small tree, granted it's a funghi. Delicious.....

Just wanted to let everyone take a look at one of the frescoes I'm working on in my Fresco Painting course. Still currently working on him, but here's a 

quick peek! It's the face of God, by Michelangelo. 

Siena

A change of scenery from Florence is a nice way to mix things up. Only an hour and a half on train or bus, Siena is gorgeous. The lack of trees in city center forms sort of a bubble with the change of seasons. It's nice to see the trees turn color when you travel from one town to another. 

A medieval town, Remus founded the city, where his brother Romulus founded Rome. Famous for the bare-horseback races in the Piazza del Campo, the sloping  piazza, where people CAN NOT lay down on their backs. Odd. There's some officer who regulates who is lying down and not. If you are, then you get yelled at. 

There was this crazy festival going on where Siena turned into a mix of the Middle East and Asia, walking through India, China, Afghanistan and Tibet. All the locals were dressed up ran into Osama bin Laden and the 40 theives. 

The Duomo there was beautiful as well. More intricate, but smaller than the one in Florence. There was this huge glass window in the middle where it looked like the sky shone through. The view of the rolling Tuscan hills were amazing. Tuscany is absolutely breathtaking. I'm always shocked by how beautiful this country is. 

Grom

I found the best Gelato place in all of Florence yesterday. Grom Gelato is situated right near my house which can become very dangerous. Freshly made gelato with fresh ingredients coming from their farms that are all over the world. Sooo good! Il gelato come una volta. 

Turista, Turista, TURISTA!

They're everywhere. I step outside to go to school in the morning cross the Piazza del Duomo and I come to complete halt. Late for class and I can't squeeze by with the large groups all stationary listening to their tour guide chatting away in the microphone. I can't complain too much because it's Firenze of course, but will it ever clear out? I give all the props to bikers, scooters and cars. I am amazed by people riding bikes because there is no consistency in riding in a straight line, dodge and stop, dodge and stop, ring the bell. A busy city, it's definitely a change from Seattle. 

Leonardo da VINO

My 2nd week of school went by quickly and smoothly. A great way to start the weekend I went to a winery/olive oil farm with my professor Lorenzo, from my fresco painting class and a few other studentessi. OF course, I woke up late and scrambled to get to school on time at  7 am, luckily they hadn't left yet... We drove to the town of Vinci, where Leonardo da Vinci was born, about 40 minutes from Firenze.  

So once we arrived we were welcomed in by a sweet Italian family and the owner, a vivacious well-worn older gentleman. We were served breakfast with wine, a little early to drink wine, eh? Nah...if your Italian it's a great way to  start the day at 9am. It's better to work with some wine in your system before you start the day. That way your happier to do your job. i.e drunk. But, I could get used to that. It seems to be that every Friday is Rain day. So due to the piove, rain, it restricted some of the events of the day, but we went out to the vineyards picked some grapes and ate some grapes. I didn't realize all the variations there were in size, taste and flavor.          

 Amused by a black kitten for quite some time. Cute little guy. Had the best 3-hour lunch yet in Italy. Stuffed to the brim, with delicious Tuscan food, freshly made vino rosso, and great company, accompanied by the accordion at the end of the meal. Eventually the rain lifted, but already arrived back in Florence. Luckily, I came back with two bottles of wine. Not too shabby. 

Pisa Pie

This weekend it's been a bit rainy. A nice reminder of home. Travelled out of the city today and decided to explore Pisa. It's only and hour train ride from Santa Maria Novella train station in Florence and drops you right off at Pisa Centrale. It's an easy walk from the train station to the Leaning Tower, cross over the Arno River, meander through side streets, stop and take a look at vendors merchandise and voila!, you catch a glimpse of that leaning tower. It was definitely a nice break from all the crowded streets of Florence, Pisa had quite a few people there but I didn't feel as cramped. The deal is that you have to buy a ticket to get into all of the buildings, the tower, cathedral, baptistery, and the campsanto, cemetery. The catch though is that you can pick and choose which ones you want to go into based on price. So I decided to explore the cathedral and the cemetery. During WWII the cemetery was bombed and in attempts to save the frescoes that once lined the walls they removed them and put them in safe hiding. But today you can still see some underlying drawings of where the frescoes used to be. The cathedral built by Giovanni Pisano became a model for Romanesque churches throughout Tuscany and characterized the Pisan-Romanesque style. There was a great mosaic of Christ in Majesty staring down upon you when you enter the cathedral, breathtaking. Right when I left the cathedral the rain started to fall again so I ran for cover and my shoes got soaked. 

Duomo Duh Wha?

Florence has been hot and humid this past week. It's slightly cooled off. The streets are packed with tourists, strollers, cars and horses. It's a maze to get through everyone. The city is gorgeous, the architecture breathtaking, and the gelato amazing. 

Started school today. Going to be a great semester, first class, Drawing for conservators, so interesting. I'll be learning and using all the different techniques and tools that artists used during the Gothic and Renaissance period. Pretty cool. 

 

Here is the view from my window:

                                                   

Via del Corso seen from my room

                                                  

The Duomo

 
                                                   

If you get lost, just look for the dome. 
                                                   

When BUGS attack!

Moved into my apartment in Florence a few days ago. Nice place with nice people apart from the fact that the kitchen has some unwelcome visitors of the six-legged kind, baby cockroaches and some small unidentifiable black bugs. Told the landlord about our infestation and in came the spray cans.......thought they would do the job. Pas du tout. 

The best part, is coming back at night and turning on the lights and all over the counter are BUGS EVERYWHERE! Just as they see you coming they merge in two different directions and a shoe flies at them and they are frozen in action plastered to the counter. Today we had our place bombed by professionals, alas a few there have been a few sightings of our un-welcome visitors. A fine perk to living in Florence. Can't complain to much when the Duomo is right outside your door step. 

Rome

Buongiorno! Still trying to get my bearings with all this blog stuff. Safe in Italy after leaving Seattle on the 27th of August. It was a long day of travel but finally made it to Rome safe and sound. Everything went very smooth until I left the Stazione Termini schlepping all my luggage around for an hour looking for my hostel, Yellow. I find that sleep deprivation makes it really easy with directions.

Checked into the hostel. I have to say, probably one of the best one's I've stayed at yet. http://www.yellowhostel.com/index.php

There were so many sights to see in Rome. Funny how time plays with you even though I was only there for 5 days it felt like forever. Especially after the first. The top three sights on my list are definitely:

Trevi Fountain

                                                                                                          

Sistine Chapel (Blurred because not supposed to take a picture, had to sneek it)

                                                          

This doesn't do the Sistine Chapel any justice but it's amazing. As well as the Pantheon. Ancient Rome's best preserved-building. Dating back to AD 120, it's been standing for over 2,000 years. Whoa...

                                              

The ceiling inside. The oculus, the hole in the center isn't covered. Originally built by the emperor Hadrian, dedicated to the Classical Gods, it was converted into a Christian Church in 608.

                                                          

There were so many things to see I wish I could show them all, but those were just some favorites.