Day 38 (4/28/11)

Our final Rome Walk began today at the Villa Borghese, which is one of the oldest remaining villas in Rome, and sits at the end of a pretty fantastic public green space. We met here and talked for a while, some of the interesting facts were how the building was designed in order to show the family’s art collection, not to live in, that the private green space was built to do the same thing for exotic plants, and that the reason for Rome’s many green spaces that are woven seamlessly into the city fabric is that after Italy’s unification, all of the massive estates were turned into public areas! After we talked we finally went in the building, where we were met with a great deal of pretty fantastic stuff (to put it eloquently).
The entry space was fantastic and filled to the brim with statues, wall paintings, and an extremely detailed mosaic floor. From here we were on our own to explore the exhibit, so we walked around both floors before heading outside. Some of my favorite features of the 1st floor gallery: a great statue made out of both black and white marble, a room where the walls were painted with architectural objects (trying to break the box again?), the series of Bernini statues including David, and an amazing circular staircase that had an elevator retrofitted in the center. The second floor was a little less interesting as far as the gallery, but the design of the spaces was pretty cool; as you ventured away from the stairs, the rooms transformed from a series of small little galleries filled with paintings (including a Raphael) into very large spaces for various works. This evolution helped pull you along, and emphasized how the building was designed for exhibition instead of living.
After finishing the second floor, we ventured outside into the garden. It was pretty nice, and the statues that lined the edge were cool as well. My favorite part was how the center axis running away from the building led from the very organized garden and into the very natural park space behind. It is a gradient type effect: from structure, to structured landscape, to landscape…pretty fun! After finishing here, we left for our next stop: Renzo Piano’s Parco della Musica. Along the way we saw the National Museum of Modern Art, which had a pretty great façade, the British Academy where OMA will be lecturing soon (A REALLY BIG DEAL!), and we walked through a newer residential neighborhood filled with pretty interesting duplex-style houses. We then stopped at a “masterpiece” of Italian modern architecture, which was pretty nice but by no stretch a “masterpiece.” After finishing the residential area, we paused for a moment at a fantastic church built in the early 1900s. It was a pretty cool mashup of the Pantheon and Hagia Sophia, and although we didn’t get to go in, I loved it a whole lot!
Finally, we made it to the promised land of true modern architecture! The Parco della Musica (or the pill-bugs as I will call them) is a pretty big complex of three bugs that house various music-related program (gallery, practice/performance spaces, a museum, etc.) surrounding a public space that doubles as an outdoor auditorium. The skin of the pill bugs is pretty great, and their steel contrasts very nicely with the brick of the rest of the complex.
After talking here for a little while we split up to explore. I first found a small exhibit on the ruins of ancient villas that were discovered during the construction of the project, and they even left the majority of them alone! From there I came to the small musical instrument gallery where there were tons of old instruments from all over, and even a group of people practicing at the end! After finishing up a very limited tour of the interior of the main bug, we walked around the outside (the area behind the outdoor space is raised up a level to create a park that houses the bugs). My favorite part of the buildings was the exposed structure (a Piano trademark), mostly in the form of staircases. These would poke out of the bugs like little legs, and the view into the skin from them was fantastic. In a crazy plot-twist, the shells turned out to be wooden on the inside, and the combination of wood and steel here was pretty amazing.
After finishing the tour around the space we met back up and set off for our final group stop: The Maxxi Museum. The building was designed by Zaha Hadid (yay more modernism!) and was fantastic! She is the champion of fluid architecture (not to be confused with Gehry’s blobs and crumpled paper), and although the original design was far broader in its intervention, the existing building is pretty great. We wandered around the exterior space for a while looking at all the pieces that she had designed and at all the awesome views through spaces. Once we were in, the building just continued to impress! The entry area was a massive space filled with flowing staircases that cut through the air at every angle (like MC Escher!). Every exhibit here gets its own gallery space, and this division creates the most wonderful procession of spaces imaginable; the architecture alone makes this building great, but with the art inside of it making an impact upon the space, it was just heaven! One of my favorite parts about the galleries was how the new-age digital art (I don’t really get it all, but it looks nice!) utilized sound a great deal, so there would be a series of sounds coming at you when you stood still in various places; a departure from the normal gallery. Probably the best part about the building on the inside was the shutter system that ran like an inverted river across the ceiling of every space. They could be modulated to allow various amounts of light in, and also acted as a cool guiding tool to get you through the building. Some random highlights: original Corbusier drawings (the Maison Domino which is a huge deal for us and really boring for anyone else), an exhibit on Superstudio, lots of furniture, some really cool movies (Dolls vs. Dictators was my favorite!) and even a supermodel being photographed in the uppermost gallery! After we finished here and said goodbye, we took the Metro back into the city for Italian class. But before we got there, as we passed the Spanish Steps we noticed something amazing!!!! There were three Lamborghinis sitting outside on display to advertise the release of the 2011 Aventador!!! The Aventador is my new favorite car by far (haha), and the contrast between it and the 1980s Lambo next to it (and the ‘90s one that wasn’t as great) was cool to enjoy. After we finished drooling over the cars we went to class, where we got to go out and ask real people for directions to places, as well as make fun collages and learn about ordering at a pizzeria (we are already experts). After class we took another peek at the cars before getting gelato again! From there Laura, Yun, Tiantian and I went to the studio to print our boarding passes for Barcelona!!! Sadly, the night got about a billion times more stressful when we found out that we couldn’t print yet and that the fee was 60 euro to print at the airport (damn you Ryanair!). But thankfully, we found an Internet cafe on the way back where we printed, so all was well. After some prep and scheduling, it was off to bed for a few hours before we leave at 6!!

Day 37 (4/27/11)

Today was our first official studio day, so at 9 (yay for sleeping in!) we met at the school. We are taking classes at Iowa State University’s studio located in the Jewish Ghetto of Rome. The area is pretty fantastic, and the studio space is amazing! It is located in an old Palazzo that sites on a piazza that has been here since 1823! The area is pretty cool, and during a brief introduction lecture we learned about how the area was changed from a secure, walled-off (done with the density of houses rather than real walls) community to a normal sector of Rome, thanks largely in part to the construction of the river walls. After we got a tour of the space and some more general info, we set off for a brief walk.
After walking through various streets and stopping to see some columns from during the 1st century, which had been embedded into a newer (only a few hundred years old…) building, we came to the Palazzo Spada. This was one of the earlier Palazzos, and it features a pretty great courtyard that was once a semi-public space where markets would be held. Now it is completely public, as it connects two main streets. We went inside to the only space that was open to us, but what it held was enough! We learned about Borromini’s mastery of perspective in our history class, and in this Palazzo he made a small installation that really messes with the mind. He used severe foreshortening to make a statue no taller than your knee appear to be a large statue very far away. Sadly, there were no pictures allowed inside, so all I have is one taken through a window. I would highly recommend you look it up, because it will blow your mind!!!!
Anyway, after drooling for a while here we walked over to the Palazzo Farnese, which is firstly a great historical space and secondly the French embassy (through a 99 year lease, during which the French government pays Italy 1 euro per month). We were lucky enough to get inside, since it is only open to the public for a very limited time very rarely (today was actually the last day it was open!). We walked through here for a long time, and we were given audio-tours, which was pretty neat! The main courtyard was fantastic, and the many different galleries had tons of statues, paintings, etchings, etc. (my favorite was “Venus of the Beautiful Buttocks” hahahaha). My favorite part in general was on the landing between the first and second floor: the space led out to a second piazza used to bring light in! After walking around the gallery and doing some quick sketches we left for our project’s site.
Sadly, we were still unable to actually get into the site (it seems that our instructors were as unaware of the construction fences as we were…), but we talked a little bit about the history and the current project: a parking structure (its like I'm back in Columbus!). The site has actually been the focus of many recent projects (none built), and will actually be creating an international design competition! And to top it all off, the whole site has housed a middle school, a high school (where Beatrice went to school!), a prison, an anti-mafia police station, and the headquarters of the Italian version of the CIA!!!!
After finishing our tour we came back to the studio to receive our brief (there really isn’t one, we are free to do what we feel is best for the site and for program, as long as we have good reasons) and review the readings. When we finished we broke for the day and took the tram back through the surprise thunderstorm. Once it finished raining I made a quick trip to the grocery store, did my Italian homework, blogged, watched a movie, and went to bed!

Day 36 (4/26/11)

After an extremely restful long weekend, it was finally back to exploring the city! Today we met at Santa Maria in Trastevere, a local church that a few of my friends have gone to for mass! It is located in a pretty great piazza just off of the main street, and aside from the kinda weak fountain out front, the locale is pretty nice. It was also interesting to look at the urban build-up, as the church is thoroughly engaged between two (icky) new buildings that complement the old look of the church. The interior was fantastic, and the entry into the darkened church with just the altar lit (it was being prepped as we explored) was fantastic. We looked around at the many side chapels and the highly detailed roof, and after a little while the lights started to turn on; this added a whole new beauty to the space, as the contrast in lights and the sharp shadows created were awesome.
After discussing the church for a while we wandered around for a little while, just exploring the back streets of Trastevere. The color of these streets is mind-boggling, as the color palate of the typical American side street is poop and darkness. This area seems to me to be the Italian version of the suburbs, only no one has lawns and the space is better. We also saw the Via Lungare, one of the first axial streets (ever?), which was a primary influence in Sixtus V’s interventions in Rome. After a while we stopped at Villa Farnesina, a decent spot that is only interesting because of the new typology it created: the half-palazzo that incorporates an extended landscape into the planning (along with Villa Giulia, which we will see soon). The Villa was filled with paintings, most of which were designed to either fool your understanding of the space (none did) or work with windows to “break the box” (as cliché as this phrase has become, the concept is actually at play here as the paintings direct your gaze out of the windows, which causes you to leave the Villa momentarily).
After far too much time at this glorified art exhibit, we walked all the way back up Geniculum Hill where we met on our first day (years ago?). After a hellish amount of stairs and some great views out to the city, we stopped to look at our future site from afar. We know very little about this project, but supposedly we receive the brief tomorrow, so expect a full update then! From here we continued walking around the edge of the hill until we came to San Pietro. This church is the unsung home of the Tempietto, one of the more famous monuments in Rome as far as an architecture student is concerned. Designed by Bramante, the temple represented the beginning of the (truncated) movement towards centralized planning, and the disappointing transformation from plan to realization (mostly scale of the space) led to a lessened impact. However, the space is still pretty great: after entering through a small door you are presented with an up close and personal view of the round temple, which sits in a small square courtyard. The various views within and through the space as well as the building’s simple beauty made for a very nice space. My favorite part was examining the four corners of the courtyard, all of which were slightly different! After sketching and exploring, we moved over to the actual church (always second fiddle…), which was truly fantastic. As always, the interior and many side chapels were gorgeous, and the proportions of the space were pretty cool. My favorite part was the variation in the different ceilings, which transformed in scale from a simple decorated roof to a larger dome shape to a massive and well-lit space above the nave. This progression draws you along the primary axis of the church, and I hadn’t even noticed what was happening until I turned back to look.
It was here that we broke for the day, so Richard, Joe, Sam and I decided to just wander around until Italian. We walked along the lower roads of the Geniculum hill (sadly none of them brought us all the way down) before heading all the way down to the site. Unfortunately, the site is surrounded by a very high construction barricade, and after some furtive views in we think there is an excavation going on. From there we walked out to Campo di Fiori for some pizza, and on to Piazza Navona to study our Italian homework. Before doing so, I went back to the building built around the ruins (see day 28), but this time we found the interior of the building, which was pretty great. After an unsuccessful check on St. Nicolas (is it ever open!?) we walked back to the fountain. Sadly, it began to rain shortly after we settled in, so we had to take our studying to the only place we knew that would have both an education-fostering environment and little distractions: McDonalds.
We mostly went here because of the pure chaos, and the chance that no one would notice us taking a table and not eating anything. But of course we had to try the McFlurry (made with “real” gelato), which was great! Mine had cherry stuffing-type stuff with crunched up ice-cream cone and chocolate pieces! So we studied in McDonalds like typical Romans until it was time for class. Before heading in, we decided to stop in on Sant’Andrea al Quirinale, a church designed by Bernini. This gem of a church was an amazing find, and I can’t wait to go back! The contrast between the lighting of the various side chapels and the different scales of the main nave made for an overwhelming space. There was also a pretty nice cloister outside as well as an amazing dome, which is quite hidden from the exterior. Sadly, we had to leave for class, so the trip was finished prematurely.
Today in class we learned about asking directions and various other types of information, and on Thursday we will be heading out to the rough streets of Rome to test our skills! After class we came home, ate dinner, and goofed around for a while before heading off to bed!

Day 35 (4/25/11)

Whelp, not reading last night was a horrible choice, so there is not a whole lot to talk about today. In the morning Joe, Richard and I ran a little more than 9 miles through the city! We got to see the Colosseum, the Circus Maximus, the Arch of Constantine, the Wedding Cake building (still don’t know what it really is?), some amazingly crowded back streets, the Piazza Popolo, the Richard Meier museum, the Castle of Angels (we ran along the base of it at the original ground-level!), the Vatican, the Hospital Island, and back along the river until we got home!
After showering and gorging for a while, I settled in to read the rest of the articles. Sadly, my article was the only semi-interesting one, and the only one with a semi-acceptable amount of pages to read. So before I knew it, it was 8 o’clock and I had finally finished my summaries. After emailing it and watching some Jurassic Park in Italian, I went to bed. Worst. Day. Ever (only in Italy; that would have been a nice day in Columbus!).

Day 34 (4/24/11)

Happy Easter everyone!!!! Today I woke up and had my chocolate egg (my toy was super lame, which was sad) and left with a group to enjoy the market. When we first came to the city, we were told about the market that inhabits the area near our apartment, so we figured it was just the street in front. However, as we walked around, it turns out that it takes over at least 4 streets and two whole blocks in the area. We wandered for an hour or so looking at all the crazy stuff there (it was a lot like a flea market, just on roids) and laughing at the goofy stuff they sold. We ended up buying some awesome biking/running shirts (sarcasm) for about 85 cents, and giant rolls of paper towels for a euro. If anyone wants anything random, the market is every Sunday so I can pick it up for you!
Anyway, after we made it through the whole thing, we came back and washed our shirts while we ate. Tonight we are having a group dinner our apartment before heading to the biggest apartment for a big shindig. After a little bit of prep work, we began to cook. We worked on making a giant portion of mac and cheese using a bowl of shredded parmesan (doing it yourself is so much more fulfilling and delicious!) and a bowl of cubed provolone. We then baked it up with some breadcrumbs thrown on top and it was some of the best mac and cheese I have had! At the same time, some people worked on a salad with homemade Caesar dressing (ewwww anchovies!) and homemade croutons, while others worked on a zucchini dish for an appetizer. We made some garlic bread from a loaf that was about the size of a laptop (3.50 euro!) and some deviled eggs as well. To top it off, we also made a batch of lemon squares for dessert. Everything turned out unbelievably good; even the lemon squares, which ended up more like the top part of a cobbler filled with lemon goo, were fantastic (we are patenting this new dessert). We also made sangria with all the amazing fruit we could find: a white wine mixed with kiwi, strawberry, orange, and pineapple, and a red mixed with strawberries and blood-orange.
We had prepared ourselves for leftovers after seeing the feast we made, but to our surprise every single thing was finished! Next up it was time to roll ourselves over to the 8-person apartment for their dinner party. We made a fruit salad with all the fruits listed above plus apples and bananas, as well as two more bottles of sangria. Everyone schmoozed for a while over there (I couldn’t even have a bite of second dinner) and then came home for the ultimate buzz kill (and the greatest enemy of my ever-creeping food coma): theory readings. After finishing one, I cut my hair and went to bed, why work now when I can do them tomorrow?

Day 33 (4/23/11)

Ahhhh, our first day off! After a week of some intense walking, most of us decided to take the day off. However, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t productive! After I woke up and finished the last of my bread for toast and the last of my yogurt, I decided it was time to get some groceries. Anyway, after shopping I came back and went through some pictures and procrastinated my readings by watching Modern Family. After a little while we decided as a group to head out to the restaurant that we found during the week.
Before I get to that, I have some exciting news! Next weekend is our best opportunity to travel, since studio won't be in full swing yet and the tourists haven’t swamped everywhere yet. So four of us decided that Barcelona would be a great location! We booked our plane tickets and our hostel for two nights (we are leaving here on Friday and coming back Sunday night) for 210 euro! I am so excited, and we have started our itinerary now, so if you guys (not sure if anyone besides Grama has been) have suggestions, please let me know!!! We are also starting to figure out weekends after, and some trips we are looking at now are Turin/Milan for a few days (round trip flight between the two: 16 euro!) as well as the Amalfi Coast/Pompeii later.
So at eight we all trekked up there, only to be met with disappointment. The good thing was that the place was swamped, but the bad news was that the prices had risen 6 euro since we saw them last, and the place was swamped. So we ended up just walking back and grabbing some pizza. When we got back we all ate and goofed around for a while before deciding to play cards. We played Kemps, President, and BS, and it is a good thing that our neighbors were gone for the night, because it was a little loud. After a few hours we went off to bed thankful for the relaxing day.
PS-the pictures here are just some random ones of the buildings in our neighborhood, I figured the blog needed some spicing up after my lazy day :D

Day 32 (4/22/11)

Our 5th walk began at one of the gates to the Aurelian Wall, near a pretty fantastic pyramid! The pyramid was a monument and tomb to a Roman nobleman, and surprisingly fits right in with the city and its many obelisks (the pyramid was built here, not stolen from Egypt). We talked a little about the monument, the gates to the city, and the major road that runs through it: the Appia. Today’s walk will take us along the Appia Antica, which runs through Rome from the countryside to the sea and the harbor.
However, before we began our trek out of the city, we walked over to the Baths of Caracalla. This was one stop I was extremely excited about, since these baths were an amazing example of Roman engineering due to their crazy scale. We approached the Baths from above, which was a pretty great experience because we could see the entire site that they used to sit on (there is very little left of them, but enough to give the idea). We talked about the layout of the Baths and how they had been stripped of their marble by the Farnese family to build their Palazzo (so sad), and how there were no social classes (slaves and their masters came together) and no gender separations at the Baths, which was pretty cool. Anyway, we walked around the grounds for a while and saw the different rooms, which still had some of the marble mosaic floors left in them! After spending some time just enjoying the scale of the ruins for a while we left to begin our walk on the Appia Antica.
To get there, we were first planning to take a bus about halfway out and then walk, but we couldn’t fit our whole group on the only bus that came. So we decided to just walk it the whole way out of the city. This turned out to be an amazing choice, as we walked through some of the most beautiful countryside that I have ever seen! Our path took us through the main gates on the other side of the city, along very busy streets, through a huge field that had some neat ruins spread out in it, and finally to our planned first stop: a large crypt. Sadly, it was closed for the time, so we just kept walking. The road was littered with ruins and pieces parts of ancient stuff, and the views were pretty amazing! We saw a horse, a small town, and a pretty great tomb that had been turned into a castle during the Renaissance (the exhibit inside was pretty boring, but the building was nice!). One of the coolest parts about the road was how the surface was in continuous change, going from gigantic cobblestones to smaller rocks to very small bricks. Aside from looking cool, this kept me from daydreaming too much, since I had to focus on the ground as well as the beautiful day. When we finally made it to the “end” (about four miles later) we caught two busses back into the city where we split for the day.
After an early dinner, a small group of us left for the Coliseum so we could get good seats to see the Pope!!! The Stations of the Cross begin from the Pope’s mass in Basilica of San Giovanni, run through the Coliseum, then down a main path up to where the Pope sat. We got there about four hours early, and after a good deal of waiting and being herded like cows so they could do a security check, we ended up in the front row along the fence, about five yards from the Fifth Station (the first one outside of the Coliseum). The ceremony was unbelievable, there were more people gathered here than I have been a part of before, and the feeling was crazy. We were all given candles and a booklet with the whole thing in it, and the show began when we saw the flashing lights of the Pope’s cavalcade approaching.
We got to hear him speak (I could see him perfectly from my spot!!!!) before the Stations began, and after a while the procession passed by! It was led by a man in a wheelchair (not sure who he was) carrying the cross, followed by two people with torches, about twenty men of the clergy, and then some random people. The whole thing took about two hours, and after they finished the last Station, the Pope spoke for about ten minutes. When he finished, everyone clapped and cheered, and we began the slow penguin-march back home. It took about a half hour just to get some elbowroom, but we made it back to the Metro just fine. We ended up finding about half of the whole group on the Metro at various stops, somehow we all ended up in the same car! After we made it back, I had some dinner and went to bed, with the most tired feet I have ever had!

Day 31 (4/21/11)

Today’s Rome Walk began at the Basilica of San Giovanni, a pretty fantastic church that is actually the ecumenical church (mother church) for the Roman Catholics. The front façade is huge and a little imposing, and even though it is massive, the detail on it is unbelievable. It sits in front of a great public space and has a good view out into the city. The interior is, as usual, stunning; although it was pretty different than many others we have seen. There are five aisles running through it (one nave, and two smaller aisles on either side), which is cool. There are also twelve smaller niches designed by Borromini that contain statues of the apostles done by the most famous sculptors of the time. The ceiling here was also great, it had a thickness to it that we haven’t seen much of, as the coffering extends out a ways.
After a good bit of exploring here and much more architectural stuff, we wandered towards the Basilica of San Clemente. The entry of the Basilica still sits at the level of the old city, so the layering of this site was apparent immediately (more on that later). The entry was really great, there was a large open space dedicated to water and cleansing before entering the space, and of the 14 or so columns on either side, no two were alike. The interior was also quite impressive for the tiny church, specifically the floors, which was made up of a series of highly detailed marble mosaics. On to the layering, this space is actually the third building to have existed on this site, and the other two are accessible below. The second level is an old church that was transformed into the crypt for the new Basilica. The space was quite spooky due to the lighting (or lack thereof) and there were some amazing relics down there. The deepest level held the remains (amazingly preserved) of a first century Roman house. There was not much there aside from the walls, but even this was amazing. There was also a natural spring running through one part of it.
After we finished seeing the spaces and sketching, we left for San Teodoro, one of the only round-plan churches in Rome. We learned a little bit about the area, and one fact I found interesting was how the oldest churches in Rome besides the main ones are actually out away from the historical center. This is because Christianity was originally practiced illegally, so they built their churches in the undeveloped area outside the city. Then as Rome grew and enveloped the land, these churches were interwoven into newer areas. Anyway, after talking for a while, we went inside and talked. This church, while similar to the circular church in Perugia, is actually more reminiscent of the Latin cross due to its four entries, giving it the look of a Greek cross church. The interior was highlighted by a second circle of columns surrounding the altar, with seating in the in-between space. My other favorite part was the series of paintings that depicted various ways to torture/martyr someone…pretty neat!
Our last stop as a group for the day was the Palatine Hill. Using Beatrice’s Italian magic, we bypassed the tourist mosh-pit outside and got in almost immediately. The “Hill” is a gigantic complex filled with various ruins in varying scales of completeness, highlighted by the Roman Forum (adjoined to but very separate from the Imperial Fora) and some great spaces. We wandered around for a few hours and saw, along with great ruins of a stadium, some houses, and other public buildings, unbelievable views of the city. The most impressive was that of the Coliseum, which allowed us to see the back end, which is lower than the front, therefore giving us a view in. There was also a view into the excavation site of a giant complex that dug into the hill. They are investigating some of the mechanics of the space, and believe that one area was a gigantic rotating dining hall! As we worked our way down, the heat and fatigue really set in, which helped us decide on our next course of action: gelato.
We returned to Il Gelati, the place Lisa showed us, and couldn’t have timed it better. As soon as we got our ticket to order, a group of at least 50 school kids wandered in, which essentially shut the place down (the line was out the door and down the block by the time we finished eating). Today I had the best mixture ever: dark chocolate (the new bestest), white chocolate, and Oreo…OMG!!!! We ate and walked over to the Spanish Steps where we sat on a nearby fountain to study some Italian to prepare for class.
Today we worked on numbers and ordering at a restaurant, before going to a nearby bar and ordering something (I got a hard-boiled egg, or uovo sodo!!). We did some more activities (my group had the most points again, lowest common denominator…) before saying goodbye. Joe and I left to stop at an art store for pens before riding the train back. Still pretty exhausted from the day, I went back to salad and pasta, the old standby, for dinner. After some work on the blog and some reading for our theory class, I went to bed!

Day 30 (4/20/11)

Day three of our Rome walks started at Piazza Popolo (there is one in every single town here), where we relaxed for about a half hour before starting. The Piazza is pretty great, there was the most unbelievable perspective view down the three main streets that make up The Tridente, which all terminate in the Piazza. It was pretty cool to look down them like slices through the dense fabric, as well as understanding the implications of them. Each terminates in an Obelisk, which was done as a part of Sixtus V’s series of interventions on the city in order to facilitate the pilgrimage to the four main Basilicas in the city; the obelisks direct the visitors through the city on the path.
After learning about this spot and the plan, we walked over to Santa Maria del Popolo. Although it was a pretty small church, the lighting inside was pretty fantastic and there were Caravaggio (the most important Baroque painter EVER) paintings inside as well. From here we just walked around for a little while, exploring the mains streets and some side ones, until we came to a small little private courtyard that either was or is extremely similar to the setting to Roman Holiday. From there we returned to the Spanish Steps, which were finally a little calm.
We learned about their design and the way they connect the multiple levels by creating their own interstitial zone, before heading up to the top. We also discussed the way they were designed as a series of transformations rather than a single decision. This style is very common here in Rome, and I find it interesting that site plays such an important role, which leads to the use of many influences when creating something. After spending some time on top of the Steps, we walked a ways to the Palazzo Barbarini.
The Barbarini family was very important to Rome and a good deal of Italy itself, and so this regal Palazzo was designed to show it. There are two fantastic sets of stairs designed by Borromini and Bernini, an impressive entry courtyard complete with a great fountain, as well as some amazing bathrooms (not original, but great nonetheless). However one of the most interesting parts of the building was how it differs from its typology: instead of a large courtyard to match the Palazzo’s grand scale, there is a very large exterior space out back. There is a small “donut hole,” within, but it is only the center of a stairwell. The building has been turned into a pretty great art museum, and the best piece was the ceiling of the main gathering space. The colors were unbelievably fantastic, and the figures looked three-dimensional! My other favorite part was the Vestal Tuccia by Corradini, which was far and away the most amazing marble sculpture that I have ever seen. The figure was wearing a veil, and the marble was cut in such a way that it appeared like a thin layer that was actually transparent! Unfortunately there were no pictures allowed so I urge you all to look it up!
After finding the great bathrooms we walked through some more streets until we found my most favorite church ever: San Carlino alle Quattro Fontane. Designed by Borromini (who else?), it was one of his later works and is actually different from nearly all of the churches we have seen so far. The façade is wavy, the interior is clean and beautiful, and the dome has the best coffering of any church I know (even better than the Pantheon!). We explored the pretty great courtyard, the crypt that featured a great view of the spiral staircase where you could see multiple levels because the wall had been removed, and then sat in the church for a while. After marveling in the beauty of this space we walked to Santa Maria degli Angeli.
The church was built in the remains of the Diocletian Baths, which was a gigantic complex of various public baths that incorporated this massive space as well as at least three more in the area. The best part about this church was how the interior was the typical highly detailed and gorgeous sight we are used to, while the interior was the untouched remains of the brick façade of the Baths. Inside the original columns that support(ed) the entire structure are still intact, and there are beautiful paintings above the altars that have columns painted so well that they appear real. There was a pretty big exhibit about Galileo and there was also an original astrological calendar on the floor! We got pretty lucky with this one because we were allowed to stay inside far past one o’clock, which is the typical closing time of churches in the city.
After we finished exploring, we broke for the day. A group of us walked around with Lisa for an hour or so, just exploring the city and seeing some great bakeries and markets that she recommended. We did stop at one pretty amazing church called Sant’Ignazio di Loyola that had a fantastic interior as well as some more great art. I followed signs to the Sacristy, since usually it is a very intimate and beautiful place, and ended up walking into the office of security…whoops! The best part of this church was the dome, which was actually painted on in perspective, so that only one vantage point inside gave the true feeling. There was also a pretty great model that appeared to be a massive church-like structure surrounded by every major church from around the world scaled down. Unfortunately we had to leave here pretty quick since they were closing to the public, so we didn’t get as much time to enjoy it as I would have liked. From there we walked through a market before heading back home. After some pasta for lunch Joe, Brian and I wandered around trying to find an art store. Sadly, we failed in that regard, but succeeded in finding a pretty great looking restaurant that had a menu featuring two courses, dessert, unlimited water and bread, and complementary wine for only 10 euro!!!! We are already planning our dinners here.
After walking back we relaxed and did some updates before going for a run. We ended up running back to the Campidoglio, along the Fora, around the Coliseum, around the Circus Maximus, and through a series of back streets until we made it back home. All in all it was a blast, and running in Rome is quite an adventure!! After a quick (but warm!) shower I made a salad with cheese fresh grated Parmesan cheese and oil and balsamic vinegar dressing. And for dessert I had a double-decker nutella and jelly sandwich. Before bed we worked on our Italian homework and I got a little reading done!

Day 29 (4/19/11)

Today was our second Rome walk, and after a quick breakfast we took the train/walked out to our new meeting place: the Campidoglio. Designed by Michelangelo, it sits on top of the Capitoline Hill, one of the seven in Rome. The entry stairs are pretty great, and in the common half ramp/half stair format we have seen here. The space there was fantastic, filled with lots of great statues as well as a pretty wide variety of buildings around the periphery. After sitting here for a little while until the group assembled, we walked through a museum building to get up on top of the roof.
Up on top there were a few great architectural moments as well as some amazing views. The first architectural moment was a sea of glass that had covered up a hole in the building. In the middle was a raised area that became a new level. Underneath this glass addition sits the Temple of Mars, but were unable to get down to see it. The other moment was a modern structure that housed a dining area. It was built in a fashion very similar to the work of Mies van der Rohe (specifically the IIT campus building he did) and presented a pretty great juxtaposition sitting atop this old building. After checking these two moments out we looked out onto the city for a while, which was just great. We were able to see the domes of the Pantheon and St. Peter’s, as well as some great views into the city fabric. From here we moved on to the Imperial Forum, one of the most important works in Roman history.
The Forum consists of 5 different Fora (multi-use space that sits both outside and inside and almost always contains a temple) that were dedicated to different people and for different reasons over a series of time. Sadly, they are pretty much gone, and only recently were most of the ruins uncovered from city-planning interventions. We walked across a couple of them along bridges that had been built to compensate for the change in the ground-level (this is one of my favorite things in cities with preserved ruins) before heading to Trajan’s Market: an area that was just adjacent to Trajan’s Forum, which was the biggest and best of the Fora. A quick observation on this area: I think that the combination of preserved ruins, restoration projects, and new architecture that can be seen in every area in the city is the most interesting phenomenon that I have witnessed. The layering effect is pretty amazing, and is actually very similar to that which I experienced in Istanbul last year.
We wandered about the ruins of the Market for a while as well as looking through a pretty great exhibit that showed some original pieces as well as digital recreations of the spaces. At one point we were also allowed to get down to the original level of the Fora, which was pretty crazy considering not only the scale of the ruins left behind, but also the height change when seen from below. Unfortunately, this exploration was tainted slightly by the sight of workers rebuilding some of the “ruins,” which was a bit off-putting since we started to question some of what we were seeing.
Nonetheless, we persevered through it and moved on to the Presidential Palace. We were actually only in the Piazza outside/above it, but the views out to St. Peter’s and through many layers of buildings beyond were pretty regal. The fountain there was pretty great and the numerous angles of the surrounding buildings converging on this spot created a pretty neat experience. After a quick snack we wandered towards the Trevi Fountain, which was crazy!
Aside from the fountain itself and its fantastic scale, the space around it was one of the most jam-packed tourist spots that I have seen, and because of this extremely uncomfortable space we stayed for only a few minutes. Some quick observations: I really liked the way that it occupied not just the area in front of the building it sat with, but it played a part in the entire façade. The other point I found interesting was how the entire façade was highly ordered and as the fountain became more prominent, it became more natural in the way that natural (looking at least) rocks were used. This change from the very free but strictly designed fountains of the other piazzas was pretty great, and I can’t wait to go back in the morning when there are less people there.
After some more walking through a pretty fantastic mall, we came upon Sixtus V’s column, which is similar to that of Trajan, and pretty neat. We saw our second protest since we have been in Rome (my fourth since leaving the US), and this one was pretty awful since they just sat there and used the most obnoxious horns in the world nonstop. It was pretty funny because the area the were in was surrounded with four star hotels, so I guess no hot water isn’t so bad. Next we stopped at Lisa’s favorite gelato place and were treated to a gigantic triple-scoop with the most amazing whipped cream I have ever had to celebrate the birthdays of two people on the trip. This was the best gelato I have ever had, and since it is pretty close to our Italian class, we will be frequenting the shop often. Our last stop of the day was the Spanish Steps. These are pretty great, and unfortunately the shear number of tourists occupying both the steps (there were times when we couldn’t even see the stairs) and the area around it combined with the VERY pushy vendors made the space slightly uncomfortable. So after a little while we split for a few hours until Italian.
Our first stop was to McDonalds so that I could use the restroom. Sadly, the line was out of control, so I instead ordered a new item from the Euro menu: the McToast. It was essentially two pancake-like buns sandwiched around two layers of cheese and one of ham. It was pretty great, and the space of the McDonalds was one of pure chaos, which was pretty exciting. From there Joe, Richard and I wandered around for a while and saw some pretty neat churches and the ruins of a fort. We then came upon a modern building, which was a pretty swanky museum housing the ruins of some temple. The exhibit didn’t really concern us since it cost 8 euro to get in, so we just enjoyed the great space outside and sketched for a while.
After a while we worked our way back to the vicinity of the Steps for Italian class. We are being taught at an institute that has created a special program specifically for the Knowlton group (lots of architecture references…), which is meant to teach us situational language understanding, more for being able to get around and survive than really understanding the grammatical nuances of the language. My Spanish history is really helping here, since nearly everything about the sentence structure, grammar and conjugation rules, and even a good deal of the vocab is very similar. We worked on learning various phrases and other simple grammatical things while doing role-playing and reading exercises for a few hours before saying goodbye. We meet every Tuesday and Thursday for about three hours, so we should have a pretty good grasp on the watered-down version of Italian they are teaching us.
Our return trip was another adventure in which we took both the subway and a train, and involved a mad sprint through the Termini station to catch the train. But we did make it back with no problems, and after a pretty great group dinner we all did some work before heading to bed!

Day 28 (4/18/11)

Today is our first Rome walk, a series of group trips all over the city that we take every day for the next week or so. We started bright and early at 8:30 so we could get a lot done before the city gets crowded, and so we can have the rest of the day to ourselves. Our apartment left together to take the Metro into the city and walk to the Pantheon, where we were set to meet. This was absolutely amazing, since the Pantheon is one of the most famous buildings from Roman times. We stood outside the entry for a little while waiting for it to officially open, and when we finally got in we had the whole church to ourselves!! This was mind-blowing since it is almost always packed with tourists. The interior is amazing, Rafael’s tomb is there, the coffering of the dome is easily the best that I have ever seen, and the massive oculus provides the light for the entire space. We looked around here for a little while before continuing on our trip.
Our next stop was Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza, a pretty fantastic church designed by Borromini. The courtyard was probably the best feature because it had some great views of the Baroque-style dome and its spiraling tower. We walked around here for a while and the only issue was the sun’s persistent placement directly next to everything I wanted to take a picture of. From there we continued on to Palazzo Massimo, which was under restoration so we couldn’t get in. But the façade was really all me knew it for, and a pretty cool spot was just around the corner; there was a statue that had been used for many years as a place for complaints to city officials to be posted. However, as of a few days ago, posting was no longer allowed…hmmm.
After a little more walking we came to the Piazza Navona, which was pretty great. There we saw two great fountains, one called the San Quirinale Fountain that featured an obelisk! The space itself was awesome in that it was a huge space that is bordered so tightly by buildings smashed together around the edge that it could have been the interior of a giant palazzo. One of the bordering buildings was a great church by Borromini, but we couldn’t get in here either. As I am sure you have noticed, each city has a pretty predominant architect that I will be mentioning, and Borromini belongs to Rome.
We were given a few moments to wander around and we found some great stuff just outside the Piazza: the first thing was a building that had been built up around the ruins of the old stadium that sat at the original level of the city. They left some openings at street level so we could look down into the ruins, which was pretty great. We also found St. Nicolas: an amazing little church tucked away on a nondescript back street that had one of the best interiors that we have seen so far! After seeing some pretty awesome street performers (they actually just sat or stood there looking silly, but one was all silver and the other looked like a bush!) we set off for our next stop!
We stopped at Santa Maria della Pace first, which features a pretty great Bramante courtyard. We were very lucky to get in, since Lisa told us that it is rarely open to the public; we were even allowed to take pictures inside!! The interior was filled with Rafael paintings, and the dome was pretty great. Next up was Palazzo Taverna, which is an old fort that was turned into a palazzo and is now open to the public. Unfortunately we couldn’t get in, but we could see through to a pretty great fountain in the courtyard inside. We wandered around to some streets till we came to the Piazza dell’Orologio. Believe it or not, this was designed by Borromini, and even featured a courtyard! The best part was seeing the courtyard undergoing preparations for the release of the newest Lamborghini, which will take place after Easter, and which we will attempt to attend!
Lastly, we walked to Palazzo Farnese, another famous building that was pretty shocking to actually find. There was a great fountain out front and the interior was pretty beat up due to restorations. Another great part about it is its site: the Campo di Fiori, which is a pretty great area that featured an awesome market today! It was here that we split up, and after some wandering and sampling through the market, we walked back to the apartment.
I think that this walk really emphasized something that I had started to realize in Florence. We learn about all of these fantastic or important (sometimes both!) buildings and while we know what city they reside in, we never really understand this significance until you visit one and turn a corner and there is another. The experience of seeing the building as a part of a larger site context really changes the perception that I came with, and I think that this is going to be the best part of being here.
After stopping for some Kebab and relaxing at the apartment (we found Italian Pokémon!) we set off as a group for some grocery shopping! It was a blast, and even though it wasn’t as cheap as Eurospin, we got a lot of great stuff for pretty cheap. Lots of pasta, salads, and of course, nutella and jelly sandwiches! After coming back and organizing, a group of us set off for the Apple store (I needed an adapter for my power block others needed some stuff as well). This proved to be a fantastic adventure, as we took the Metro, a train, a subway and a bus with some walking sprinkled in to get there. The best part was that the cards we were given take care of all of that, so we can pretty much get anywhere for free! We finally made it to the mall, which we heard was one of the biggest in all of Italy!
We explored the mall (no adapter...) for a while waiting for my buddy’s computer to get fixed before leaving for home. Sadly, the return trip was much less simple, since the bus schedule was different and we had to take an extra one and sit in a parking lot waiting for another one, and the train schedule was much more spread out (which meant an extra hour of fun at the train station…). But we finally made it home, where I had a quick sandwich and took another cold shower (our water is weaksauce here) before heading to bed!

Day 27 (4/17/11)

On the road again!!! We woke up extra early today and rushed through breakfast so we could hit the road early and get to Rome before the day gets extra hectic. We drove for a little while before stopping at a (guess what?) hill town for a quick excursion. However, all sarcasm and sleepy grumpiness aside, this was a pretty fantastic stop for us. We took a tram up the hill and walked through the square where we saw a chocolate festival going on in the main square (more on that later) towards the edge of the city walls. There we marveled at the view (never gets old) and talked about the city before heading into an old cistern.
Rather than the typical cave/tunnel that I am used to, this cistern was essentially a giant water tower that dug straight into the ground. The roof was open so the view down inside the hole was pretty awesome, and the structure was a double helix of staircases: one for going up and one for going down. We walked the whole way down to the bottom and marveled back up before dragging ourselves back up the staircase. From here we walked back through the square and through some nice streets before arriving at a pretty fantastic church. The Palm Sunday procession was going on, so we got to follow them into the church and snap some quick pictures before being shooed out since there was a real service going on.
After some observing in the piazza outside the church we walked back into the town for some lunch at the market. I got a donut (at least twice the size of ours in the USA) that had been cut in half and filled with some kind of crème, as well as some dried cherries, bananas and kiwis (which were amazing!!). After eating and some aimless wandering we rode the tram back down and set off for Roma!!! I missed the whole ride since I fell asleep (and I have a gigantic knot in my back as punishment) but once we got to the city we all woke up and looked around until we got to the hotel.
We all checked into our apartments, which are amazing!!!!! We are split up into an 8-person apartment, two 7-person apartments, and a 4 person. I am in one of the 7s, and as it turns out, the other 7-person room is joined to ours by a single door and tomorrow they will unlock it for us! The apartment is amazing, Richard and I are sharing one room (finally with a balcony!!!!) and the other 5 in our room are my good friends as well. We have a nice kitchen (way better than the closet I had in Columbus this year), laundry, two bathrooms and a main balcony off of the kitchen. We are in a pretty great area called Trastevere, which is just a few stops on the Metro (we have passes for that and the busses the whole time we are here) from the center of Rome! After getting used to our awesome new digs we set off to find some dinner. We ended up just stopping at a pretty awesome pizza place before wandering around the area for a while.
We were able to go to an island in the Tiber River where a hospital has been for an extremely long time. There is a pretty neat area down along the edge where you can walk along the water and get great views of the river, bridges and even St. Peter’s in the distance. Aside from the crazy amount of bugs down there it was pretty amazing, and we ended up just sitting there relaxing for a while. After our walk we got back, did some blogging and went through a lot of pictures before heading to bed!

Day 26 (4/16/11)

Holy cow!!!! Today was quite an adventure, filled with more sights than I could have imagined. Our final day of field trips brought us to Florence, and sadly we only had one day to explore this amazing city. After the bus ride in we walked down the waterfront into the city center, stopping to see the National Library briefly as well as the street that Lisa (our teacher/chaperone) lived on for a semester in the 80s. From there we came to our first major site: Santa Croche. This church, which sits on a pretty nice piazza that had been ruined by preparations for some festival or performance, is home to not only great architecture, but is also the burial site for many important figures (like the Westminster Abbey of Italy).
We walked inside for a while on our own, just checking out the various parts of the church and the tombs of the famous folks (most prominent to me were Galileo, Michelangelo, Dante, and Machiavelli!!!!) as well as the pretty great sacristy. After we finished inside we came to the cloister, which is home to the Pazzi Chapel, which is an extremely significant work by Brunelleschi, one of Italy’s most famous architects. We explored this area for a little while before continuing on. Before I continue explaining the day I should mention that because there is so much to see here, most of what we did was a brief glance (or a sprint past) in order to see as much as possible. We do plan on coming back a few times to explore specific sites.
Anyway, after Santa Croche we wandered through some streets to get back to the river and through a really cool space that was half street and half palazzo (a square donut-shaped building), which led us to the Uffizi Gallery. This was pretty amazing, the gallery was only a series of replicas but they were scattered throughout a pretty great piazza that was absolutely jam-packed. We checked a few of the statues out (a copy of the David was pretty cool) before squirming our way to the other side.
From here we continued along some streets until we came to a pretty great gate (ha!) that had a carousel next to it! We then stepped into an amazing palazzo that had at least a triple height “hole” in it before leaving for the Duomo. On the way we stopped at a pretty nice market that had taken up residence in an old covered structure; the primary feature here was a statue of a boar that we rubbed to get some good luck. The Duomo is easily the most identifiable site in basically all of Tuscany, and has to be second only to the Vatican/St. Peters in terms of fame. It is a complex consisting of the Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore, who’s dome was structured by Brunelleschi and is one of the greatest engineering marvels of the time, the Florence Campanile, and the Baptistery, who’s doors are very famous. Sadly, because the lines here are on the same level as the newest ride at Cedar Point, we only got to marvel at the sight in the Piazza. One of our return visits will be dedicated almost solely to this area so we can get into every part of it, including the walk up around the dome.
From there we walked to the Basilica San Lorenzo, a pretty famous church, also designed by Brunelleschi, that is one of the biggest and oldest in the city. It is also home to the Laurentian Library, which was designed by Michelangelo. We walked through the various spaces here for a while, from the entry to the library, which is famous only to other architects, since it looks pretty ugly (my first reaction in class was: meh?). After the library we walked through the main church, the old Sacristy (Brunelleschi), and the new Sacristy (Michelangelo). Sadly, no pictures were allowed here, and we even got scolded for sketching! After our quick tour we split up so we could explore the rest of the city on our own.
Our first stop as a smaller group was Santa Maria Novella, a small but important church just west of San Lorenzo. Unfortunately, it was a little pricey to get in and there was no guarantee that it would be anything new or exciting, so we skipped it. However, the courtyard that we walked through to find the price was pretty great, and the front façade was nice. The Piazza beyond it was nice, and there was a good market occupying the center. From here we walked to the main train station of Florence, both to see it for future reference, and because we heard there was something new there. Sadly, the station was pretty ugly on the outside and there was nothing interesting to be seen. However, the interior was pretty nice, and now we know our way around it pretty well!
From here we walked the whole way back to the river through some pretty nice backstreets, and then across the Ponte Vecchio. This bridge is pretty crazy, it has buildings attached to the sides of it, and as we found out, there are numerous jewelry shops occupying them. There were tons of people here, and it was a relief to make it to the other side. We continued on this main street for a while before coming to Piazza di Pitti, which is the home to the Palazzo Pitti (now an art gallery). The space was pretty cool, and the ground sloped up from the street towards the entrance to the gallery. Sadly, the line was out the door and beginning to curve around the Piazza, so we passed on that. Our next destination was Santo Spirito, a small church that was recommended to us.
Our approach made this recommendation seem like a joke, as the outside is the most boring and ugly shade of beige I have seen on a building, and the façade is as plain as can be. Even more unfortunate was the fact that it had closed a half-hour ago, and wouldn’t be open again for a few hours. So we decided to head to the Boboli Gardens (sadly not the home of any Baby Bobolinks…) to pass the time. The area was pretty much amazing, and yet again blew any park I have seen out of the water. There were tons of axes shooting off in every which way, and the central pathway was quite fantastic. We explored here for a while before climbing up the incredibly steep gravel slope to the summit. Up here there was a pretty great park-space that had some awesome relics in it, a great view out to the city, and more people making out than I have ever seen in a public space.
From the top we walked down to a pretty great fountain where we took some pictures and climbed back up. Finally we got to make the complete trip down the central axis to the main fountain at the bottom of the hill (we entered somewhere in the middle for some reason). The fountain was pretty great even though most of the water wasn’t running, and after exploring there we continued along the final stretch. On our way we saw the most fantastic statues! They were extremely goofy, and looked like an Internet meme focusing on the use of the words “Hurr” and “Durr.” After completing our trip through the gardens, we ventured back to Santo Spirito, where we saw some awesome musicians and finally got inside. The interior ended up being really great; the best part was an interior dome underneath the real dome with a small golden model within that dome (a dome within a dome within a dome…inception?). From here we set our sights on Monte alle Croci, the hill that features some great churches and the best view of the city.
We wandered up through some great streets until we came to the walls of the fortress (closed…) at the top of the hill adjacent to Croci. We heard about a great Villa up there but it ended up being (yep, you guessed it!) closed. So we left there and walked all the way down the gap between the two hills before having to climb right back up. The stairs were pretty great, and the whole time we had a view of San Salvatore al Monte, a pretty nice church at the top of the hill. When we finally got to the summit we immediately found a restroom (we hadn’t peed yet today…yikes) before walking around the Piazza Michelangelo, which is where the amazing views were. They truly didn’t disappoint, and the light was absolutely amazing! We finally tore ourselves away from the edge to head up to San Miniato al Monte, one of the more famous churches we had learned about.
After some more stairs we came to the church, which was pretty amazing both inside and out. The interior was very dark and spooky, but my favorite part was how there were three separate levels with that occupied the same open space. After exploring there briefly we walked back outside, enjoyed some more views, and started walking down. We stopped at San Salvatore, but there was Mass so we couldn’t get in. Finally we came back to the Piazza where we enjoyed some more views and left for the bus. We took some pretty fun switchbacks down which brought us directly to the waterfront. After some waiting we got back on the bus and slept the whole way home.
For dinner we decided to get some Italian food for a change, and after some adventuring to find a place (either our group was too big our their prices were too high) we settled on a small restaurant on the Piazza. I had some spaghetti carbonara, which was amazing, and we stopped for one last gelato on our way back. When we finally dragged ourselves into the room I showered and crashed immediately!

Day 25 (4/15/11)

After our normal pre-adventure routine, we were on the road again! Today we are headed for Volterra and San Gimignano, two smaller towns that, believe or not, are on top of hills in the middle of the Tuscan landscape! Sadly, we found out today that Italy does in fact have bad weather, as it was rainy and cloudy again. This was unfortunate in more than just personal comfort terms, because the whole reason we came to Volterra was for the fantastic views out to the sea as well as the great landscape that surrounded it.
But, as we are architects and prepared for disappointment, we made the most of the situation and persevered. We stopped in a few churches that were nice, one that was very fake; the columns were made of concrete with some kind of marble cover on them, and the striping of the “brick” walls like the Duomo of Siena were just colored on. After we split up a few of us decided to head to the ruins of a Roman amphitheatre that was out along the city walls. It was pretty neat, and even through the fog we were able to see the pretty great remains (sadly the pictures don’t do it much justice). From there we wandered around aimlessly for a while, saw a pretty nice fountain, some great stairs, and wandered through an extremely peaceful park. Upon our return to the drop-off point the sun finally began to poke through, so we were able to see a little bit of the view as well as some of the towers in the city that had been hidden before.
Once we all got back to the bus we set off for San Gimignano, another hill town who’s claim to fame is the many towers that are scattered throughout. The weather here was a little better and the views of the different towers (just big rectangles, nothing ornate) were nice. We wandered and talked as a group for a little while before a bunch of us went to the remains of a Medici fort. The best parts of this trip were the trees in the courtyard that smelled unbelievable (everything here seems to smell cleaner and better in general) as well as the view out from the viewing platform that we could climb up.
After some more wandering around we came back to the main piazza of the city where we found a gelato place that apparently had won the “world championship” of gelato twice, most recently in 2009. So not really needing a reason to but enjoying the glory, we got some. I had praline, frutti di bosco (mountain fruit) yogurt, and a mystery flavor that had a dark caramely taste with little crunchy things in it. The gelato lived up to the hype, and we were all very content. Someone got a white wine flavored scoop, and apparently it tasted exactly like it, alcoholy aftertaste and everything. After enjoying our remaining time here we all wandered back to the bus for the ride (nap) home.
Once home we took some time to relax before meeting as a group to discuss details of our stay in Roma! After a long talk a big group of us decided to go out to a Mexican (please don’t judge me…again) place we saw a couple of days ago. This ended up being a fantastic idea!!! The place was great (about as Tex-Mex as you can get…Italia-Mex?) and had a giant basement filled with seats, which was a relief because there weren’t enough in the restaurant itself. We all ordered off the “Gringo Menu” and got a pretty great combo of one entrée, a nacho dish, and a drink for less than 10 euro. I had a Mexican rice and chorizo burrito with guacamole nachos and water. We had a blast, and they even took our picture and put it in a cheesy frame for us. On the way home we stopped for some gelato to cap off the fantastic night and went to bed!

Day 24 (4/14/11)

Today we had the morning off until 10:30 when we leave for the wine tasting. So Richard and I got up a little early and went back to the fortress so we could take pictures of the awesome views we saw last night. The weather here is my absolute favorite: chilly but sunny. We walked up along the wall for about an hour and a half just taking pictures of the views all the way around. It was pretty nice there this morning since there were only a few people running or walking compared to the throng of people all over the place yesterday. After finishing the lap around the walls we walked back and relaxed until it was time to head to the bus.
We rode for a little while through some more beautiful Tuscan landscape (a silly side note, the fact that the pronunciation is TuscAHny not TUHscany means that Pizza Hut pronounces it correctly, which makes me chuckle) before climbing up some treacherously narrow roads and making it to the winery. We first got a tour of the various cellars and got to learn a bit about the production of wine and what the different sizes mean. We even got to see their oldest bottle of wine; it was from the first year of production in 1870 (the family business had been around since the 12th century, but this particular winery began in the 1800s)! After the brief tour, we sat down to try some wine! We had various meats and cheeses with some Tuscan bread to give us a little something in our stomachs as he told us about the types we would be trying and demonstrated proper wine-tasting etiquette.
We were given a Rosso di Montalcino from 2009, a Morellino di Scansano from 2009, and a Brunello di Montalcino from 2005. The Brunello is their specialty there and was my favorite. The Morellino was also pretty good, but because they were presented as a sort of scale from good to best, after my initial tastings of the three it was difficult to go back to the first. All in all, it was a blast and I actually like the wine a lot, it did take a little while to get used to it (my first sip was not so good…). After finishing our tasting we had the opportunity to purchase some before getting back on the bus and going back to Siena.
When we got back home we just relaxed for a little while before deciding to venture out to the city to find the mysterious McDonalds of the city. We remembered seeing a sign or two pointing us in the direction of it, so we ended up wandering around for probably an hour having been guided by a total of two signs. At one crossroads we split up into 3 groups to look, and the Amazing Race was on. My group ended up getting to explore a ton of the outer area of the city, but no McDonalds. We actually ended up just beyond the track that Richard and I ran to yesterday, but it seemed much farther today because we were hungry, tired, and rained on. But no sour grapes here, any time I wander the city I am happy.
So we finally made it home after about three hours, where we found one of the other groups had already returned to look up the location on the Internet. So after they found it, we decided that a second try would be more fruitful. After finding the area that Google told us it would be, however, we were again McDonaldsless. We asked a British gentleman about it and he said it was about 40 minutes out and we would want to take a cab. After finding one and learning that it would be 20 euro for the trip, we finally gave up. As it turns out, the area where we all split up was only ten minutes away, which we earned when the third group came home to gloat. Anyway, after some organization and goofing off we all went out to dinner at a nearby Chinese place (don’t judge!).
It was pretty fantastic, I had shrimp fried rice and sweet and sour chicken with water and some pretty great little rice patty things that were kinda like flattened out packing peanuts. After dinner we walked back home and enjoyed some more relaxation before bed!

Day 23 (4/13/11)

Ahh, our first day in Siena! We woke up nice and early to catch the free breakfast downstairs, which was pretty much the same as in Ascoli Piceno (some cereal, fruit, various sweet pastry items) and still very good! We set off for the main palazzo of he city first, with high hopes because Beatrice told us that it is the best in Italy. When we arrived, I was not disappointed! It is very different than any we have seen before; an all the changes make it better. Rather than being isolated in the dense city fabric of the area, it sits along a major roadway and is so large that it is not isolated but quite inclusive. The next major difference is its surface. It slowly slopes down away from the major roadway, creating an amphitheatre-like environment (it was and still is used as such), which is pretty neat because it begins to take on multiple active roles in the community, rather than just being a little niche somewhere. One last interesting point about the location: this Piazza is actually the center of the entire town that was created after the area was settled. Rather than a single city center, there were three distinct nodes around which people gathered, and as the area became more populated, the nodes grew towards a common center, which became this space.
The area itself is, of course, stunning; the edge opposite the major road is framed by a massive building that was once the headquarters of the government, but is now a museum. The way that the program of this building interacts with the space is also quite interesting, because rather than having the government be isolated from the public, it is surrounded by it. This was done to reflect the state of the city at the time, as it was the only area in Italy to not convert from a republic to a dictatorship. This lead to a more people-oriented government as well as a more productive society. These trends have continued in the area, as it is one of the most forward-thinking and safe areas in Italy. Ne interesting note about the forward-thinking note, while the area is known for its research and development in high-tech fields, the city itself has remained in an almost perfect state of completeness since Italy was united.
Anyway, after our history lesson we sat and sketched the area for a little while (this was extremely frustrating because every building around the Piazza curves around something, so all of the facades had some wacky appearances before I tried to draw them!) and gathered down inside the Palazzo de Publico (the building I described earlier). We explored the interior courtyard as well as the pretty neat art galleries (pictures of Baby Jesus and Dead Jesus for a change!) that showed a lot of the heritage of the area as well as some preserved originals from the building before its conversion. We split up here, and a group of us finished some of the gallery before heading back down to find the entrance to the tower which would provide some great views because it sits very high compared to the rest of the city. Sadly, it cost 8 euro to walk up some stairs, so we used their bathroom and left.
A few of us decided it was lunchtime so we wandered around looking for something to eat. We ended up finding a pretty great little bakery/pizzeria that had some fantastic sandwiches (mine had prosciutto, lettuce and tomato) as well as pesca baked goods, which were fantastic again! After we ate we went back to the Piazza to sit and enjoy the sun until the group got back together. I ended up taking a nap on the slope, which was absolutely great! You never truly appreciate a nap until you aren’t doing it out of necessity but because you feel like it!
After I grudgingly woke up we got back together and set off for the Duomo of Siena. Along the way we walked on a very interesting street that was filled with tons of different shops varying from local goods to name brand stores like Champion; it turns out that this road is actually one that runs from here through Italy to France, and it has always had a very trade-oriented makeup, and still does today. Up next came my favorite part about Italy: turning a corner in some random alleyway and seeing some jaw-dropping building chilling at the end. This was my reaction to my first glance of the Duomo, a stunning piece of architecture. The Duomo itself is a series of parts: a main church at the level of its own piazza, then a crypt below and a Baptistery at the level of the ground opposite the piazza. We assembled here for a while and talked about the beauty of it; some parts I can relay to you about the exterior are an absolutely gorgeous front façade that is the definition of a menagerie, fantastic black and white striped walls everywhere else, and a massive tower that appeared to sit at the same level as that of the Palazzo de Publico.
Finally, after talking for a while we got to go inside, and it did not disappoint. The entire interior was at least a quadruple-height space, filled with amazing decorations and gigantic sets of bundled columns that held up a series of arches that hold up the building in many directions at once. The most unique feature of the church aside from the black and white striping (see the Josephine Baker house for a comparison) was the decorations on the ground. A unique style of painting was used that incorporated the mixing of different colors of marble to create a floor surface that was also art. There were a series of these massive floor-pieces throughout the space, and a fantastic postcard that I got has the plan of the church overlaid by all of them in their places. After wandering around here with my jaw hanging open we got back together and went outside.
We were given a pass that gets us into the features of the Duomo as well as the adjacent museum and panoramic viewing platform, so of course that was our first stop. The museum was pretty great, instead of all Baby Jesus paintings it was filled with original statues as well as the first plans made for the marble “paintings.” However, the art had nothing on the viewing platform; after some ascension similar to that of St. Paul’s in London, we arrived that the top of an adjacent archway that gave us a complete 360° view of the city as well as a great view of the Duomo. We stayed here for a while, took an O-H-I-O picture as well as far too many views of the city, and went back down. After finishing the exhibits we worked our way to the crypt.
Sadly, it was quite disappointing aside from one view that looked up into the church proper above. We left there and worked our way down more stairs to the Baptistery, which was pretty nice but still a little lame (and filled with the most oblivious tourists I have ever encountered…). Lastly, we came back up to the entrance and relaxed on the stairs with a few other people that we found. From there Joe and I decided to venture all the way down to the bottom tip of the city to a small Basilica that we saw from the panorama platform. The walk was much quicker than we expected, as this is a semi-small town compared to some of the others we have seen. But it was a great decision to venture here, as the church was pretty great. It had been converted into part of a school, but retained most of its glory inside. However, the most interesting part was the façade, which was a great collection of different brick patterns, most of which have decayed significantly; this leads to a semi-decrepit, semi-dignified look that I found quite fantastic. The other great part was the fantastic view back to the city from this spot, which we reveled in for a while before sitting down and sketching. After we finished our drawings, we got back together and walked back to the hotel.
Richard and I went for a run next, and it was one of the most fantastic runs that I have been on! We began by going to the walls of an old Medici (a prominent family in Italian history) fort where we got up on top and ran the periphery before snaking our way down through the city towards the entrance gates. While this part was pretty great, we ended up regretting it later as almost the entire second half of the run was back uphill. However, by blind luck or natural direction-senses, we ended up getting to run around the outside edge of the city, which gave us some pretty great views, and still ended up exactly where we needed to be. After we finished the run we showered, got some blogging and picture sorting done and went to bed after a pretty amazing day!