"To good food, great company, extreme sketching, and catching trains"

Well, well… where do I begin? Last Friday morning began a wild and exciting journey throughout Northern Italy that seemed to never end. While the trip was full of once in a lifetime moments, beautiful sites, and countless adventures it was also quite exhausting and at times overwhelming. Reflecting on the trip now I can honestly say I am very thankful for the opportunity and will remember it forever. Here is a recap of CUAbroad Rome 2011 trip to Northern Italy (unfortunately, words cannot even begin to describe the time we had this past week).

Day 1: Firenze
Friday morning we were up bright and early to start our journey; we all met in Largo Argentina at 8:00 to catch our bus to Roma Termini to catch our train to Firenze (affectionately known as Florence). We arrived in Firenze around 11:00 and, after a short walk to our hotel from the train station, were able to drop off our luggage before beginning our exploration of the city. Our first stop was Santa Maria Novella to admire and explore the geometry of the facade and to do some sketching (frozen fingers and all).

Santa Maria Novella

Next stop was the long awaited Santa Maria del Fiore (aka the Duomo). Using the dome of Brunelleschi's brilliant mind as our beacon, as our guide, the approach to the Duomo seemed surreal; and then we were there.

The Approach

Santa Maria del Fiore

Standing in front of one of the most famous (and probably CUArch's most studied) piece of architecture/engineering in the world. But wait… it gets better. We then had the exhausting, yet awing, experience of climbing 463 steps up to the TOP. [Might I add that these steps varied. There were spiral steps, there were straight steps, there were extremely steep steps (verging on ladders) sometimes one kind of step met another type of step - aka spiral into straight which resulting in me falling on my face - but I'm pretty sure not one set of steps was actually 7:11 ratio. Just saying.]

Spiral Staircase of DEATH and claustrophobia

(and get me the heck out of here)

The climb was invigorating and exhausting but from the moment you climb out of the structure, step foot on the roof platform, and into the bright skies every step, the loss of breath, and burning legs are worth it (even the endless moments in the narrow spiral staircases of death and claustrophobia… which was horrible). But we all emerged into the bright sunshine (and turbulent-force winds) and if our breath wasn't taken away from the climb it was certainly taken away once we were able to look around at the view before us and out, over the city that lay beneath (463 steps beneath).

So happy to have survived the climb

 Doesn't get much more beautiful than this

 All the girls

 Katie, Kelly, and I being carried away by the wind

 Trying to stay grounded

 (our hair on the other hand…)

Move 463 steps down to our next destination and arrive in Piazza Signoria and Loggia della Signoria.

 Palazzo Vecchio e Quartieri Monumentali

Loggia della Signoria

Pass through the Corridoio di Vasari and pause at the water, look right and admire the bridge that is a road (or road that is a bridge??) Ponte Vecchio. [Also admire the numerous love locks placed along the chains between the ballards]

 Corridoio di Vasari

Love locked down?

End the day strolling around the Uffici Gallery, admiring such pieces as the Birth of Venus, followed by a quick rejuvenation at the hotel.  Then it's group dinner at Trattoria Bordino for some famous Florentine steaks. [Absolutely delicious, however, our restaurant's version of medium seemed much more med-rare (or even rare, I think I heard Kelly's moo) and I am so thankful it was pretty dim lit or else I'm not sure I would've even tried it. Mom, you would've loved it.]

Day 2: Firenze
The morning of day two started with a visit to San Lorenzo, both the old and new sacristy, which was right outside our door. We spent time sketching in the new sacristy and in the interior of the basilica. Afterwards, we traversed through the city and eventually came to the Galleria dell'Accademia which houses the original of Michelangelo's statue of David. After much awing and admiration of the David and other exhibits in the museum we moved onto the last destination. The day with the class ended at Piazza della Santissima Annunziata and the Ospedale degli innocenti. We were given the rest of the day to continue to explore the city, enjoy florence cuisine, and, of course, shop. Most of us left the city with leather jackets, bags, or other trinkets. I, myself, bought a leather jacket, four euro cut off gloves that become mittens (good for sketching), and some five euro sunglasses (giraffe print). On a somewhat side note, apparently many people in Italy think that I have blue eyes instead of green because throughout this trip I kept getting complements on my blue eyes or suggestion of things to match them… So there you go dad, you did get a blue eyed child!.. in Italy's opinion :) oh and I apparently have dimples as well… not.

Day 3: Venezia
Day 3 started with an early train ride to Venezia. After moving into our rooms we took a Vaporetto ride to take us half way to San Marco where we passed Ca d'Oro and underneath the Rialto bridge. Once we hit dry land we "derived" the rest of our way to San Marco. Unfortunately we were not able to make it into Basilica di San Marco when we got there so instead a few of us went to mass since it was Sunday (though I didn't understand most of the homily) while the rest of the group grabbed lunch and walked around. Upon reconvening we went and visited Querini Stampalia Scarpa where we stopped for a while to sketch in the museum and then warmed up with tea.
After tea it was time to head back to San Marco for a visit to the interior. Luckily, those of us who went to mass were able to see the church lit up which is a totally different experience. When we went in as a group, all the lights weren't on so we weren't able to see the mosaics sparkle and all the details of the church. When we were finished in the Basilica we moved out to the piazza and talked about the existing architecture and how the piazza was developed by the three different architects in three different periods.
To finish the day as a group we once again traversed the city all the way to the point where we took a couple group pictures and admired the islands of Venice around us.

 Rialto Bridge

 Rialto Bridge in the afternoon

Loggetta in Piazza San Marco

Scarpa 

Scarpa 

At the Point

*****(Will finish writing when I have more time)******

Day 4: Venezia 

Pink and green street lamps? My kind of city

Day 5: Verona

Baco Populare

(Architect: Scarpa)

Statue of Juliet under her balcony

(Setting of Romeo and Juliet fictional)

Statue in one of the piazzas

Castelvecchio Museum

Jojo sketching in the tower's courtyard

Day 6: Vicenza

View of Vill Rotunda from the road

View from the entrance

Sketching at Villa Rotunda

Photo by Eric Jenkins 

Photo by Kelly Corcoran 

Theatro Olimpicio by Palladio

Photo by Kelly Corcoran

Day 7: Milano

Interior of the Duomo in Milano

On the first level of the roof

Another photo on the roof

The Galleria

Triumphal Arch?

Piazza del Duomo and exterior of the Dumono

Day 8: Milano
Milano Architecture Tour

Renzo Piano

Trespassing on private school property

More trespassing; Murano Glass display

Photo by Kelly Corcoran

Kelly excited to get back on the tour bus 

 So colorful

While the past 8 days were fun filled, adventurous, memorable, and life changing, I can truly say I am quite happy to be back in R(h)ome sweet R(h)ome. Although… I definitely didn't miss the cold showers and ant powder...