My First Trip to Firenze/Florence - May 4, 2009

Aah. The birthplace of the rebirth. I LOVE the Renaissance time period - it seems to be the time when art came alive through the realism movement. Artists moved from to to three dimensions. So, needless to say, I am in heaven in Florence. Here are a few of my favorite photos:

VECCIO PALACE: This is the first structure I explored in Florence and it is stunning. Nearly every room in the palace had as much or more detail than is in this photo. I thought about how much time went into creating this several hundred years ago and that it must have been a huge investment of money and several decades to create.

A view of the dome of the Duomo out one of the windows of the palace.

I love the detail on these wood doors.

I like this wall because it is a mixture of frescos and sculpture. There is molding around the door, but everything else is painted on the wall.

I love the ceiling in this room.

This is called the green room - for obvious reason, but there is such amazing harmony between the colors used in the ceiling, floor and walls.

This is a grand hall and the ginormous walls are covered with ginormous frescos and marble statues line the sides by the lights.

Me and a view from the highest level porch of the palace.

The palace courtyard - I love the way the light enters the courtyard. Everything abot this structure was calculated to the smallest detail (like how the light shines through the open roof)

Another photo giving a better view of the detail on the columns.

An outside shot of one of the really hot statutes in the piazza.

Up angle of the San Maria Novella.

The Tuscan countryside out the train window on my way to Florence.

The Firenze Battistero and Duomo.

I can't figure out photos on this stupid blog. I uploaded a few more, but somehow deleted them and I don't have time right now to readd them. Ug. Stupid blogging program.

Orzignano and Pisa

ORIZNANO
This is the road to the house where I live. The house is in this photo just left of the tree that looks kindof like a wishbone in the center of the picture. I love the grape vines! Main Street in Orzignano

A mountain view of Orzignano

A side street

The church.

MY DAILY RUN

I have decided to be a runner and I run every morning and it is great. Yesterday I took my camera along to give an idea of the trails I take.

Last Sunday the McCreerys and I were invited to the home of one of their Italian friends for brunch. I stold a few photos of the house which was absolutely beautiful!
Backyard garden

An Italian kitchen..

PISA!

The Arno river.

These outside doors to the Duomo depict the life of Christ beginning in the bottom right corner with the three wiseman and the nativity scene.

The leaning tower does not look very leany from this view.. This photo displays the tower and the Duomo

MY NEW DIGS
The view from my balcony

The house where I am living. There are three windows on the very top and they are right above the sitting area outside my bedroom

My bedroom

Lucca - April 24, 2009

Lucca is about a 15 minute train ride from Orzignano, where I live, and is a charming little city. It is surrounded by a large wall, well there have been three walls built around the city to fortify the city against intruders or anyone else interested in attacking the city. The wall that stands today was built during the Renaissance and is not going anywhere in the next several hundred years. It is probably several hundred feet high and thick enough to plant trees, build playgrounds, and a road on the top of the wall. Napoleon loved Lucca and gave it to his sister as a gift. Lucca is known as the city of 100 churches. Rachel and I rented bikes and rode around the city on top of the wall – it was a gorgeous day and very fun. Lucca is every bit as beautiful as these pictures suggest. Also, I had my first gelato in Lucca. It was more than I expected. I am in love.

A street in Lucca.

Views from the wall:

The absence of light: As I enter these gorgeous cathedrals that were build centuries and in some cases, millennia, ago I cannot help but notice how dark they are. There is very little natural light that can be filtered through the stained glass windows and there is very little light coming from candles or other sources. I cannot help but contrast these experiences with my experiences in one of our chapels. There is so much light. Life is dark enough – I need the light.

View from the wall.

Puccini was born and raised and lived for a long time in Lucca. The city puts on Puccini operas every weekend. I plan to attend them all.

This is the church in the main square in Lucca.

A road in Lucca and Rachel.

The Renaissance Wall.

I like this photo because it shows different layers of bricks signifying different periods building/fortifying the wall.

The tunnel under the wall and me.

Arrivo a Italia

It took about 11 hours to get to Pisa from NY. I flew on British Airways and it was a dream! I watched Twilght and then Doubt on my personal television and was actually able to sleep some. I arrived in London at 6 a.m. England time, which was midnight NY time - I was so messed up (not that the time had anything to do with it). So I walked around Gatwick for an hour before boarding my flight to Pisa. Thank heaven the flight had about 7 people on it so I was able to lay down and sleep for a couple of hours. That flight took about 2.5 hours I believe. The trip was not too bad and I haven't had any jet lag, which is pretty amazing.
I arrived in Pisa around 11:30 and the person with whom I am staying was standing and waiting for me as I exited the baggage claim. It took about 20 minutes to get to the house, which is actually in a little village called Orzignano. I relaxed at the house and met a whole bunch of people that day - nannies, neighbors, friends - and went to bed around 10.
I woke up around 9 the next morning and felt a little tired so I laid down for a couple of hours before getting up and heading to the military base to take care of some logistics. Everywhere we go we see the tower of Pisa and the Duomo and I am exicted to tour downtown Pisa. I also signed up to play in a softball league on the base - they tour all over europe playing teams from other bases in tournaments - I just bought my cleats today.

NYC Yo! April 17 - 20, 2009

I stopped in NYC for a few days on my way to Italy and had a tremendous time - thank to my very good friend Diane Cannon. She let me follow her around to some concerts and tag along with her and her friends. I am pretty sure I was successful in ruining her reputation with her friends and fellow new yorkers. Although I was only in NYC for a few days, I was able to do some of my favorite things - read my book on the grass in Central Park, spend some time in the Met, get lost on the subway, wander through Brooklyn Gardens. I also saw two memorable concerts - Leslie and the Ly's (http://www.leslieandthelys.com/) and the Great Lake Swimmers (http://www.myspace.com/greatlakeswimmers). I was actually sad to leave NYC for Italy, because I had such a fabuous time (and Di's roommate is looking to sublet her room this summer) Thanks for such a great trip Di! I will see you next time I travel between SLC and Italy!