Southern Italy

This picture shows a little bit of the architecture that we saw in the area. There was a strong Islamic influence in the South of Italy and it shows in the arches in this courtyard. Many of the villas that we visited had similar patterned archways and palm trees.


The landscape in the Amalfi coast is fantastic. The mountains plunge into the crystal blue waters of the Mediterranean. The sky and sea are the main events in the landscape. This picture was taken on a hike that a group of friends and I took down the mountain. By hike I mean that it was about 1000 stairs down to the beach.


This is Sam, Steph, and I in front of our hotel, that's right, in front of our hotel. Again, the scenery was simply breathtaking. Even though it was the South, it really wasn't that warm, we did wear our coats most of the day but the sun was gorgeous.

Florence pictures have arrived! These are pictures taken during the aforementioned Valentine's Day weekend spent in Florence. This is the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge over the Arno River. Both sides of the bridge are bordered by jewelry shops where we oggled jewels and dreamt about what we wanted to buy some day.

These pictures are a little out of order, so you will have to forgive me. We snoozed in the Boboli Gardens for a while in the afternoon. It was delightful to sit in the sun. Below is are Wendy, Carrie, and Sam basking in the sun around a fountain.

We also found a cat in the gardens. We seem to find cats all over Italy. I am gathering a collection of photos of Italain cats which I plan on showing my dad as soon as I arrive at home. Carrie and this cat, whom we dubbed Latte (or milk), bonded as you can see. They both seem to be in a state of dreamland in this picture.

I really like this picture. It shows the reflection of the sky in the pond around a fountain. The perfect illustration of a beautiful day!

This picture is for my mom. She took so many pictures of English gardens this summer in London that I had to show her a glimpse of what gardens are like in Italy, i.e. lots of statues and oddly pruned trees, but beautiful.

We climbed to the top of the dome of the Duomo in Florence, and it was totally worth it! The view and experience were amazing. It was sunny up here too, so we hung around for a while and warmed up. This is Steph and I overlooking the city and, I believe, the Palazzo Vecchio is in the background.
And finally, a sunny view of the Duomo in Florence. It was even cooler, on the outside, than I imagined it. The inside is pretty sparse, except for the dome interior because they have moved all the artwork to the duomo museum. Once I get good at watercoloring, I might try my hand at this one.

St. Valentine's in Florence

I spent the best Valentine's Day, ever, in Florence this year. Although in reality I really don't have any too compare it too, I imagine that this year's day will live on in my mind for years to come.
The six of us, including me, Steph, Sam, Carrie, Christie, and Wendy, took our time exploring the city in the morning. We ventured into an English bookstore where I purchased A Room With A View, which I am enjoying quite a bit. We also stopped by Zecchi's, a prolific art supply store, and Grom, the best gelateria in Florence. After lunch at an authentic Italian eatery, we toured the Boboli Gardens at the Pitti Palace. They were beautiful! We sat, read, sketched, and basked in the sun for about an hour by a beautiful fountain. We lounged in a cafe for a while, waiting for the best pizzeria in Florence to open for dinner. The night was capped off with a romantic dessert of chocolate and champagne in our hostel room. I am so thankful for great friends and opportunity to spend time with them here!

When in Rome...

I thought it was about time for some more pictures. My fans, i.e. my mom, are eager to get a taste of what I've been experiencing here in Italy. So here is an antipasto of our recent trips to Rome.


For those of you who are architecturally inclined, or at least wish to be, here is one for you. This is the dome of a baroque church by Borromini, I believe. I was pretty pumped to go inside this one as I remembered it from history class. We have seen a lot of churches so far, but this one is my favorite, for now.


More recognizable is the remains of the Colosseum. It was pretty cool to see this one as well. The weather was great this day which contrasted our viewing of it the night before in the rain.



Steph and I in front of the Pantheon, that image of the magnificence of Roman design and engineering. Unfortunately for the Romans, this picture was quickly followed by the statement "Pantheon Shmantheon. I need a granita!" The Piazza Rotonda is also famous because of the location of another majestic invention: frozen espresso mixed with frozen whipped cream. A delight and more sugar than I've ever had in one cup!


Ahh, the Trevi Fountain. C'e bella! Sam enlightened us with the suggestion that we each through 2 coins into the fountain, one for a wish to come true and the other to wish to return to the spot again. How romantic.


And finally, a photo to prove to you that I am enjoying myself. Here are Steph, me, Carrie, and Sam on the Spanish steps. I hope that this will assuage my viewers for little while longer. Prego!

Citta di Orvieto

The city of Orvieto sits on a "precipitous tuffa craig," or for those of us who don't speak geology a cliff of volcanic rock. In the mornings and sometimes in the evenings the valley will fill with a haze and when the sun bursts out of the clouds the view is spectacular. This is a photo looking out from the battlements of the medieval city.
The icon of Orvieto is definitely this church, il duomo. I wish I could remember the name of this church as that would be more impressive, but everyone calls it "the duomo" so that will have to do. The sky was a magnificent shade of blue in the evening and the duomo begged to be photographed. That's all the pictures for today, the internet is pretty spotty in this cafe.

Food

I thought I would explain to you how much food the ladies in my house and I have eaten in the past week. To expand on my last post, I think what I've heard is correct: the male students that visit Italy loose 10lbs. and the female students gain 10lbs. The ladies of my house, Stephanie, Carrie, Christie, Sam, and I have eaten a lot of food this week! We tried to count it out and it looks like we have consumed 5 loaves of bread, an entire wheel of cheese, a bottle of olive oil, 3 bags of crostini, 5 bags of pasta, and about 7 bottles of wine. Monumental to say the least. Well, I need to go, we're off to go purchase more food for dinner!

Pictures

Well, I am sitting in the "blue bar" in Orvieto using the internet on Christie's computer. I just enjoyed a delicious hot chocolate that was more like a chocolate pudding. All the food here is so delicious, but I think I won't gain any weight, mom, because of all the walking I have done today. Anyway, the pictures are from my cooking class. The first is with the restaurant's cat, Mio. Spinner should be jealous because this cat lives in the courtyard of the Zeppelin and gets fed pasta and salumi. It was so cute and jumped on my lap when I started petting it.

This is the "squadro pane" with our creations. Brad and Ryan are fellow architecture students and we had a great time learning to make the bread.

Here I am kneading the dough. The chef that helped us told me I was a natural and that he knew a few "artisan bread makers" who could take a lesson from me. I guess I have a backup if I can't find a summer job!

This is a picture from the market in the Palazzo Popolo. They sell dried goods at this vendor and they let us taste a lot of things because we were with the chef from the Zeppelin.