Italia... ciao bella!

We’ve been to Venezia (Venice) and Firenze (Florence)… we’re leaving for Roma tomorrow!

Venezia was really fun because it’s how I imagined Italia more or less. There are canals, gondolas, gelato, souvenirs of Murano glass, etc. It didn’t seem like there was much to do there besides see the cathedral and palace (which I didn’t even do). I was working a lot on a WWII paper so I mainly just hung out in Venice, went shopping, and went on a gondola with friends. We got to “drive” the gondola… which means that we climbed back there with the gondolier and held the paddle. We had fun walking through all the alley ways and over the many bridges of Venezia. We stayed on Lido, meaning “beach,” and actually got to go put our feet in the Adriatic Sea at the beach.

When we left Venice there was some protesting going on because the government wants to privatize education. All the high school kids ditched school to protest… good reason to get out of class. Anyway, the transportation was all backed up and we got out of Venice 10 minutes before they closed the road for four hours. When we got to Florence, we were parked and sitting in the bus trying to figure out where our hotel was (for an hour!) and protesters were marching by us. It’s kind of funny that we go to a private school while they are protesting the privatization of education. Well, we finally found out where our hotel was and had to walk all of our suitcases and carry-ons about 8 blocks through the center of Florence because we are on the main street.

Now we are in Florence. Ahh…Tuscany… Florence is a bigger city than Venice but it is still very walk-able. I went to the Uffizi museum and saw lots of Renaissance art. I liked Botticelli’s Primavera and the Birth of Venus. There were a lot of paintings of the Madonna and child and it was interesting to see how they changed throughout the centuries. One of Michelangelo’s Madonnas looked pretty buff. 

After the Uffizi, I went to the Academia to see Michelangelo’s David. I was so blown away by it. I really didn’t expect to love it as much as I did. First, I was impressed with how huge it is. It’s gotta be twice as big as the average guy. How did Michelangelo even carve it? And it was sculpted from one slab of marble. The proportions are really impressive. His hands might be just a little big. But I love it! David was such a symbol for Florence because he also fought bigger and stronger opposition like the Florentines. Michelangelo decided not to do David like others had with his foot on Goliath’s head. Instead, David is in thought and maybe reflecting on his victory to show that he won the battle with his intelligence and innocence. (credits go to the museum plaque)

Yesterday, I went up to San Mitiato Church on the hill to listen to the monks sing in Latin and get a great view of the city. Today, I climbed Il Duomo for another view. The bummer about the latter view is that you can’t see the dome when you are in it. I went to market earlier today and wanted to practice Spanish… so I just tried it out and all the venders spoke good Spanish. I kinda lied and said I was from Chile… I guess they have no idea that I don’t really look Chilean at all. It’s a small enough country that I figured I could play it off… then I felt bad about lying. Later, I went to a bigger market with friends and got a leather jacket!

Now I am preparing for finals (well, procrastinating by writing this) and our trip to Rome before we head to Jerusalem!