To The Top of the Dome

Sorry about not getting around to posting a blog up yesterday everyone, but I was starting to feel a bit under the weather and never really got around to doing a blog.  Actually, I am kind of sick at the moment and hopefully it will go away pretty soon.  As a result, today has not been the most productive or adventurous on my part.  On the bright side, the extremely high temperatures have cooled off into the 70s (degrees F, of course) down from the 90s.  Since I didn't take any pictures today, I can post up some of the wonderful views I got from yesterday.  I hope you enjoy them!

I made this photo bigger since you can actually see our place in this photo.  Literally dead center of this picture, you will see a little terrace on top of a building that is white.  That is where I live.  Feel free to click on it to get a better idea.

Michelangelo's "Pieta" at the Duomo Museum.  Stunning work of art.  Michelangelo is the figure above Christ as a self-portrait.

Absolutely stunning wooden statue made by Donatello of Mary Magdalene.  It's hard to believe that during the bad flood in the 1960s, this was picked up by the water and just floating around.  So thankful it survived.

Tomorrow, we go to Pisa and Lucca for the entire day starting at 7.00 am until 8.00 pm or so.  It will be a really long day.  As a result, I need sleep.

Ciao!

Inside the Duomo and Some Random Organ Music

Yesterday, we went inside the Duomo for the first time as a class and saw the beautiful, harsh, and enormous interior of the cathedral.  It was quite spectacular and not nearly as crowded as the outside of the building would have suggested, since nearly all of the Piazza was full of tourists.  The murals in the Dome itself were amazing (see some of the pictures below and make sure to click on pictures to get a better overall detail) and the amount of art and work that went into the cathedral was stunning.  Basically, take a look at some of the pics I took.  I would have uploaded more had it not taken almost 10 minutes to upload 14 pictures just now...ugh.

Inside the Dome of the Duomo

A famous painting of Dante in the Duomo

The view from underneath the Dome and looking back into the Duomo

Some detail of the Hell scenes on the Dome

Alter at the Duomo

Another wideshot of the Dome

 Also, today I was walking back from class and lunch at the other student apartment and walked past some intense organ music coming from a church.  Curious, I stepped in and sat down and was immediately hit by one of the loudest, most impressive organs I have personally experienced.  A JS Bach work (which I could not identify...) was being performed by a lavish organ, with pipes spread throughout the church.  You can see some of them in the pictures I took below.  The piece behind the alter also had pipes sticking out of it in different directions and the "surround sound" effect that was intended was effective.  For something I randomly stumbled on, this was one of the more impressive musical experiences of my life.  It is easy to tell how people were drawn to the Church with its ability to awestruck people with music.

Another tip: if you are curious about it, go to it.  Simple as that.

Santa Maria de' Ricci - where there is random amazing organ music in the afternoon and nights

For a small church, there is some great art

The wonderful organ...at least part of it

This is the church with the organ music for future reference

Also, here are some pictures I took on the walk back to the apartment.  They looked nice, so there you go.  I really like the "Musica" sign down below that looks like a truck may have hit recently.  The Florence Gelato Festival starts today which could be extremely dangerous to my overall weight.

Piazza della Repubblica

Add caption

Some more Duomo

Neat sign for a music shop in Florence

Umm...

No real update for today, other than I am quite tired and about to sleep.  I have some great new pics of the Duomo from the inside today but uploading pics here in Italy takes much longer than it does in the States.  I'll do my best to upload some up tomorrow, so perhaps when you wake up in the morning in America, there will be some more pictures.  In the meantime, I miss all of my friends and family back home and hope everything is going well.

Ciao!

First Day of Class

I was going to spend some time speaking about our first day of class but I think it would be better to point out some quick observations on Florentine life.

1. People here are generally friendly and willing to speak English with you if you attempt at any Italian.
2. There are a lot of tourists here, many of whom are American, but they are superseded by the local people.
3. There is art and history everywhere.  Everything has some sort of background to it which adds intrigue to the entire "downtown" portion of Florence.
4. Prices in Florence are generally pretty good, especially for a city of this size.  If you travel here, don't plan on pricey living (though I imagine that housing could be expensive).
5. I either look like a bad pick-pocketing target or I just simply have no seen any pick-pocketers.  I have heard this is a big problem here in Florence, and I don't doubt it, but none of the people on this trip have had issues with getting mugged.
6. Drinking is socially acceptable at any meal and as a result, has much less of a stigma than in the United States.
7. The weather has been extremely gorgeous the entire time I have been here, which may be more luck than anything to be honest.
8. It's amazing how much there is within a one to two mile radius.

Those are just a few observations thus far.  I am sure that I will find more in this beautiful area over the next few weeks.  For now, enjoy some pictures from dinner on Sunday night made in the apartment and some random wanderings out near the mercado centrale. 

 

Sorry for this one being dark...I didn't have the time to lighten it up quite yet.

Ciao!!

Trip to Fiesole

Yesterday, we went to Fiesole, a hill town that is right outside of Florence.  At one point in the history of Fiesole, it was a more prosperous city than Florence before eventually being taking over by the Florentines.  If you plan on being in Florence at some point, plan a visit to Fiesole for a few different things: the views, the history, and a wonderful gelato store called Il Tucano.  Here are a few of the photos from this trip:

[FYI: Any photo can be enlarged by clicking on them.]

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them about some of the pictures.  It's really tough to go through and specifically write about each picture.  I may go back sometime this week and write a bit of a caption for some of them to try to make it more comprehensible.


My next goal is to include more people in my pictures.  Pictures of locations are nice but really stand out when you have a human subject.  Anyone out there have any suggestions that I might not be aware of here in Florence or the surrounding area?

Ciao!