Italy Part I
Italy was amazing. I loved everything about the place (minus the Italian language which I was sick of by the time I got to Venice) I think, it really is one of the most beautiful places in the world-Florence and Venice that is. The Leaning Tower of Pisa was great, but Florence and especially Venice took the cake. I could go on and on about Venice....the romantic atmosphere, the soothing calm of the water, my first Gondola ride given by a kind of hot Italian dressed in "Gondola garb" it was all amazing. Many a gelato did I have ( about 2 on the last day, and 2 on the first) I think that Venice is a place for lovers.....for married couples for people who have been together 25 or more years....it is remincent of magical times that even you may not have had before, but you feel nostaligia for.It was constructed in 1421 by barbarians, developed completely on marshland. Marshland! I didn't get a chance to capture anyone coming out of their houses, but we did see, on our Gondola ride, a group of Asians, sitting on what we would call the "porch" having agreat laugh. The water is a salty green....and the edges closest to the water are a bright green moss. When the sun shines on the water....wow, when the ancient buildings and wonderful architecture are illuminated by the plays of light and shadow......amazing. Angels, gargoyles, etc.....and Venice at NIGHT! The most astouding thing, so lumioius and beautiful to be surrounded by dark water and the cool breeze.
While in Italy for 5 days, we were blessed with ridiculously gorgeous weather..sun shining, puffy cumulous clouds.....gentle breezes. I am running out of adjectives. I took many pictures (144 or something) but none of them capture the essense of Florence and Venice.
The Italian's refer to Florence as Firenze and Venice as Veniezia, which I found really interesting, and I wonder now who came up with the "english" version of these names. Hmm.
We saw the original David that Michangelo sculpted. At first, I always wondered what is the big deal? It is just a sculptire! But then, when you see it...standing nude and so tall, David's powerful stance....the slash hanging solitarily over his left shoulder and down his back. The detail was compeltely amazing. I learned that Michangelo (and many artists at the time as well probbaly) had to analyze anatomy before learning to sculpt. This is evident in the sculpture because you can see the veins and muscles of the abdomen and other intricate features. That was pretty amazing as well. Now, I understand why it is such a classic.
Florence is filled with such architectural and classical history, that two days, although were enough to get the jist, I think one would really have to go on foot for Florence in order to capture everything, and probbaly for about 3-4 days max.
Pisa was a throw away town. Really was not impressed with all the grafiti on the walls and the general dishevelment of the place. The leaning tower was good, and as you get closer and closer to it, it really does lean. We even managed to climb up to the top of it, and as we did, we all kept leaning in the direction the tower was! It was hard to climb, and just when I thought we had reached the top, there was more. We took some cool pictures at the top, and even got on our knees to peer down through the glass that shows the insides of the tower from that view. That lasted about 2 seconds as we sooned backed away in freight.
I was glad when we left Pisa....too ugly and boring for me. Wow, I sound so jaded.....
posted by The Eternal Student @ 12:25 AM
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