Home Sweet Home

After a twelve hour flight, a two hour layover, another two and a half hour flight and a one hour drive, I am finally home! It was a long day but I couldn’t be happier to be here. To all who read my blog, thank you for your patience and support and I am sad to say that as my trip came to end so must this blog! Thanks again, and I hope one day you all will be able to travel to all the places I have been and more and I look forward to hearing your stories. One last time …

FROM HOME SWEET HOME (U.S.A.), WITH LOVE GRACE

Roman Around

About 29 km outside the city of Rome is Hadrian’s Villa. A complex that was used as a retreat and eventually became the permanent residence of the Emperor of Rome, Hadrian, and his court. It is now, obviously, a pile (for lack of a better word) of ruins. Rome is one of the bigger cities we’ve been in, but much more pedestrian friendly than Paris … or maybe I’ve just gotten used to walking by this point. We started out our day in the city with a walking tour visiting small piazzas and churches, but the first major thing I did was go to the Coliseum. Although it was very large and much taller than I thought, somehow it still seemed smaller than what I was picturing. Later that evening we visited the Trevi Fountain at night first and later in the day. That was also very different from my expectations, from the pictures I’d seen I’d expected it to be in a large flat plaza however it seemed like buildings were cramped around it and there were stairs leading to it … not that I was disappointed in the least, it was still the Trevi Fountain, after all. The next day was spent at the Roman Forum, where the Emperor’s actual residence should have been/was prior to the Villa construction outside of Rome. That could have been more enjoyable if it wouldn’t have been for the rain. It rained every day we were in Rome, except for the last, and it was never a drizzle and it always happened first around 2:30pm and second at 5:30pm … kind of put a damper in our day/week. On Tuesday we spent the whole day at the Vatican, in St. Peters, the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. St. Peters and the Museum lived up to my expectations but, I regret to inform you that the Sistine Chapel was a major disappointment. There is not an accurate enough description of how awfully disappointed I was, but I don’t blame it on the work of Michel Angelo, but on Mrs. Gilpin: former art teacher of the 6^th and 7^th grade at Southwood Middle School in Miami, Florida cried during our lecture on Michel Angelo over how brilliant he was. Anyways my disappointment was quickly cured by the work of Borromini in S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane. Somehow I didn’t think it would be as great as it actually was, and I wasn’t even planning on visiting it until it happened to be on the way to the Spanish Steps. The Spanish Steps along with the Piazza del Popolo, were great plaza and provided such different views of the city that they were both great, I probably preferred the Piazza del Popolo more actually. My trip in Rome, Italy and Europe ended with one last visit to the Trevi Fountain (one more wish couldn’t hurt) and with a final cup of Gelato. Ciao!

FROM ROME (ITALY), WITH LOVE GRACE

Sienna

On our way to Sienna we stopped in Tuscany! It was a perfect fall day; everything was yellow, orange, and dark red. The people were loud and you couldn’t tell whether they were yelling or laughing. It completely lived up the expectations I had built up from Under the Tuscan Sun (the movie, of course.) Once we got to Sienna, we immediately went to Piazza del Campo; it is a very famous plaza at the center of the city where a horse race is held twice a year. Its shape is between a circle and an ellipse and the city ripples out from there. A bit further from the Piazza is the Sienna Cathedral, designed in Italian Gothic, meaning that the materials were used as a form of ornamentation rather than adding sculptures. On the outside the Cathedral looked a bit like Candy Land from all of the pink stones, but on the inside everything is black and white striped marble. Sienna was unexpectedly a pleasant little city.   

FROM SIENNA (ITALY), WITH LOVE GRACE

Florence

Most of our time in Florence was occupied by leather products and Il Duomo. It is four-hundred and sixty-three steps to the base of the dome and regardless of age or health you sound like a panting dog by the time you get to the top. However, it provides one of the best views of the city and happens to be the perfect place for a photo opp. Another great place is the Ponte Vecchio it is unlike most bridges because from the outside it looks like a block of houses, but it is actually filled with jewelry shops and has a really pretty view up the river towards the mountains.

FROM FLORENCE (ITALY), WITH LOVE GRACE

That's Amore

Although I did not get to go on a gondola ride, Venice was definitely Amore. It’s my favorite Italian city so far! Everything about our time in Venice was perfect, it was fall and the weather was blue sunny skies and cool air. The colors everywhere were amazing … the red and yellow leaves, the blue water, black and red gondolas, the terracotta and gold colored buildings, the rainbow masks. Getting into Venice was probably more difficult than most any other city, except for London, we took a monorail into the outside of the city and then we walked a few blocks and two bridges (which are stepped and not ramped-don’t know who came up with that idea) over and were in our elevator-less hotel. Once we got settled in the days were amazing and getting back out was not as bad. I was actually sad to leave Venice, I could have easily skipped out on the other cities and spent the rest of my semester there! Buttttt, what would my life be like without some leather ... Florence is next.

FROM VENICE (ITALY), WITH LOVE GRACE

Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone

It's a love story baby just yes .... or We're in Verona! On our way to Verona we stopped at the Olympic Theater by Palladio and Villa Rotunda. The Olympic theater is known for its set which has three different forced perspectives and Villa Rotunda was very influential for Thomas Jefferson when he found the University of Virginia. The coolest place we went to in Verona was a Scarpa Museum that was actually an old castle/fort that was renovated into a museum. Scarpa's approach for the design was quite clever; never allowing the new materials (concrete and steel) to come into contact with the brick from the old castle, a clear separation between the two. And last but not least we went to Juliet's House, obviously it's not really her house since it is a fictional story but you would be surprised how many people actually second guessed whether or not that was a true story.  Anyways there's not much to it, except for graffiti from star-crossed lovers and Juliet's statue. It is supposed to be good luck to touch Juliet's chest when you visit, but since it's only the most tragic love story of all time I refrained.

FROM VERONA (ITALY), WITH LOVE GRACE

Como Si, Coma Sa

So although we were staying in Como we actually saw very little of Como. We spent two days in Switzerland and one in Milan. Our first day was spent in a small town called Montecarreso, in what seemed to be the countryside of Switzerland … but then again I am not sure what a city in Switzerland looks like. The best part of that little town was its castle, located at the top of a little mountain in the middle of the town center, providing great views of the Alps, the town, and the sky. In order to get to the castle you have to walk through a tunnel that is carved into the mountain and take an elevator up. Since you can’t see the castle from the ground, it is a great surprise when you finally step out of the elevator and are surrounded by castle walls. The next day we spent in Milan! It was Sunday so there was not too much to do but we did get to see the Milan Cathedral which is beautiful from the outside, but not so great from the inside (in my opinion anyways.) The most shocking thing about Milan was the number of pigeons in the cathedral plaza, there are gypsies and little kids everywhere palming a dozen or so kernels of corn to feed the pigeons. The only thing there was more of in Milan was fashion! The following day we spent in Reva San Vitale visiting students from Virginia Tech … it was refreshing to see some new-old faces. You think The Real World is crazy try traveling around Europe with the same thirty-five people for two and half months. Our last day was the only actually spent in Como, Italy and unfortunately it was pouring rain the entire day. I am sad to say that Como was not the best start to Italy, but I am looking forward to Verona!

FROM COMO (ITALY), WITH LOVE GRACE