Milan & Como

Friday we woke up and left for Milan at about 8:00. We went with a group of ten people, which made it more fun and more of a pain in the ass for me, the organizer. We arrived in Milan at about 11:00 and went directly to the hostel.

The hostel was a disaster. First time staying at a hostel and it was disgusting enough to not want to do it again, but I am going to have to. Matt, Mike, and I shared a room with three other guys and showers and toilets with about 30 people.

Milan is apparently the fashion capital of Italy, if not the world. Everything was more expensive and I was possibly the most underdressed person everywhere all weekend. Models and designer clothing were everywhere. The models looked exactly like they do on TV, about 5’8” and 90 pounds. Gucci, Louis Vuittion, Prada, it is crazy how much money some of these people had. It also reinforced my opinion about materialistic items; I don’t get it and have no care for that kind of stuff. Everyone looked the same with their Gucci bags.

After getting settled we went to the Milan stadium, which was pretty Modernist, so it wasn’t very nice to look at. Then we went to the duomo (huge church) and when we walked out of the subway tunnel there were 100’s of teenage girls screaming because we were on Italian MTV (TRL). That was funny, being caught in the middle o a spectacle like that. It’s like Times Square. The rest of the day was pretty average.

That night the group of us decided to go out to a club. Michael and I were leading everyone and they thought we got lost, so they sat down and said call them when we get there. We got there and they were on their way back to the hostel, too bad for them. This club was guest list only and nothing but class and good looking people. We talked our way through the bouncer somehow, I have no idea why he let us in. We couldn’t really talk to anyone because of the language barrier, but it was fun to look at everyone. Again, jeans and a polo shirt was the most underdressed there…me, and I still looked good.

The next day we went to the top of the duomo which was pretty awesome. It was an amazing view of the city and the square. We also went to the 1300’s castle that still exists. The coolest piece of architecture we saw was an Italian Rationalist piece by Giuseppe Terragni, I’ve studied this building and it was pretty cool to actually see it in its context. Then we walked around the city the rest of the day and ate McDonalds. The nicest McDonalds I have ever been too.

Sunday we woke up and took a train and hour north to Como. Como is situated on Lake Como which allowed for some pretty amazing views. There is another Terragni piece in Como that we saw. The Casa Del Fascio was pretty revolutionary piece of architecture during its time and I have studied this a lot in undergrad, so again, it was awesome to see in its context. Apparently, George Clooney has a cottage in Como, didn't see him though.

We arrived in Florence at about 9:00 p.m. Sunday night. It was a great weekend, better than it would have been in Ann Arbor!

Weekend trip to Venizia

Venice was unlike anything I have ever seen in my life. It will be hard to summarize because there is so much. So, if you have any questions…

First, all the myths are somewhat true. Yes…parts of it stunk, the water was dirty, and there were not any toilets or plumbing. I did not see any rats. It was crammed with tourists and people trying to sell stuff, which at times made it a little claustrophobic. All this included, it didn’t even matter.

The reason Venice is amazing is because of the cities relationship to the water. The streets are water, they use boats as their transportation and they walk everywhere else. The city is built to accept the rising and falling of tides through the materials it uses. Nothing like the tidal waves of Indonesia would ever happen to Venice because it is enclosed by another land mass that is built to accept the beatings from the sea. It is constructed on wood piles and since the wood piles are under water and receive no oxygen, they will never decay because they fortify. This is why it has never sunk and the foundations are as old as the city is.

I did ride a gondola with my professor and friend. The normal gondola’s are around 100 euro’s to ride in. This one was just to take us across the ‘street’ for 50 cents because it was for gondoliers in training. I can say I rode in a Gondola.

Friday, we took a train from Florence to Venice at 8:00 am and arrived in Venice at about 12:00. The first thing we did was check out the Calatrava Bridge. It was interesting, like all his other work, it was foreign to its surroundings. From there we took a water bus to the architectural biennale. The biennale was pretty awesome. Architect’s have a weird train of thought, you’ll have to look at some of the photo’s on flickr to get what I am talking about. I saw works by Zaha, Gerry, Scarpa, MVRDV, UN Studio… and so on. That night when we left the biennale a few of us took the water bus back to San Marco Piazza and checked that space out the rest of the night.

Saturday, we woke up at 5:30 to get to the fish market. This was probably one of my favorite moments during the whole weekend. The sight, smells, sounds, and disgustingness of the whole thing was remarkable. Again, check the photos. We spent a couple hours just watching the locals interact and cut the fish, octopus, sharks, squid, swordfish, and much more disgusting sea life. Then all day we toured San Marco, learned about the history of Venice, and toured some museums. After the fish market, it was a pretty standard ‘touristy’ day.

BUT, that night something awesome happened! My favorite moment of the whole weekend. One of our history prof’s is our tour guide and she has been doing this awhile. Somehow she was able to reserve San Marco’s Church alone to our group of 50. Mind you, during the day there are hoards of people trying to get in. Anyways, we were brought in the side door because the front was packed with people peeking in. We were walked through and seated in the church and they shut off ALL the lights. Over about ten minutes they turned the lights back on one by one. The suspense, reflectivity, magnitude, gold, and richness of this amazing space was revealed. We also we’re lucky enough to be able to go downstairs to see where the relics of St. Mark are stored. That’s a myth in itself.

Sunday, we woke up after a long night and finished up the tour of the biennale. After that, we went on a couple more tours with our art history professor. Then we finally came back at around 8 Sunday night.

Overall, it was a great weekend.

questions...

What is this two hours of socializing?
This everyday event is called 'La Passeggiata'. It is an Italian ritual where Italians, from about 5 to 7 pm, take a walk. They get dressed up and stroll around the streets and converse with each other.

It was very busy in the streets and the Sesto park we went to. The older men sat on the benches and talked while the young kids played in the courtyard. Also, I noticed there were a lot of mother's walking with their children...no signs of their husbands for some reason, maybe working? Most people either had a piece of pizza or a glass of wine in their hands. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. I went because my friend had to go and observe this for his class, and I was not doing anything at the time.

No i-pods or any other devices that provided people their personal privacy by taking them out of the social realm.

Any freaky animals or bugs:
No, no freaky bugs yet. They have a lot of lizards running around though. Mosquitos are bad too. Actually, I just remembered, I saw a jellyfish in the sea Saturday. Typical jellyfish, about 8 inches in diameter, that was really cool.

Favorite food and drinks:
The food at the villa is unbelievable, we have a chef, Nino, who cooks breakfast, lunch and dinner every weekday. Nino is actually a former opera singer and he sings happy birthday (in italian) when it is someones birthday, he's pretty damn good. Pasta and water every night, I need meat and coke though, so I go to the deli and get salami and a coke occasionally. They don't drink beer or have bars every street block like we do. People are looked down upon if they are drunk, so last night after Michigan lost was my first drunk here. They have 2 hours out of the day where everyone goes into the streets and socializes, crazy, I know.

The wine at the wine tasting was awesome. I also went out to a pizzeria and that pizza was amazing, still not comparable to Fricano's.

Interesting people:
I haven't met many people outside the villa yet. In cinque terra I was suprised, I ran into a few people from west michigan.

Ilsa, an old german woman, who I sat next to on the plane was an interesting meet. She talked my ear off. The students at the villa are a different breed but fun too, you can tell they all come from rich parents, they're from Duke and Wisconsin.

Girls:
I have some pictures. Nothing worth sending or posting, but some pictures. In general, they are much better looking, not to much McDonalds or obesity goes on over here. They dress much more promiscuously over here. That girl was our tour guide at the wine tasting, barely spoke english.

Cinque Terra

We went to Cinque Terra Friday. We were going to go to Carrera on Saturday, where there are literally mountains of marble and granite, but the train and bus drivers are on a strike apparently, we already have plans to go back.

Cinque terra (5 lands) was awesome. We took a boat to the last city and hiked to each of the next cities. I've never been a huge fan of hiking, but with views and trails like that, it was fun. The first hike was 1 and a half hours, next was 1 and a half hours, 45 minutes, (20 minute lost detour), 30 minutes, 30 minutes... The whole hike with stops in the cities took about 6 hours, needless to say I was exhausted. The views and the cities were awesome. It was amazing to think how the cities were set into the mountain sides and built on top of each other.

Also, it was funny to see the difference between Americans and Europeans. Americans are completely out of shape! All the students from the villa had the mindset that there was no problem they would make the whole hike and they sprinted up the first climb. About 3/4 of them hopped on the train the next stop to go to the next city. About 10 -15 out of 55 I think, made the whole hike, including me, which I'm pretty proud of. Europeans weren't even breaking a sweat and by the first hill I was soaked, I drank about 10 bottles of water.

Next weekend is Venice. We are leaving Friday morning and having all day to check out the Venizia Biennale. It's a huge architectural exposition known world-wide, can't wait.

Venice Biennale Link:
http://www.labiennale.org/en/

Cinque Terra Photo's:
http://flickr.com/photos/72096180@N00/

-----Be back next week with Venice...Dale

Siena & Florence

Yesterday, the villa took an hour and a half bus ride south to Siena. The town was beautiful and amazing. Everything was so jammed into each other, the streets were very narrow. The best part was when three of us decided to branch off from the group and get the to highest point possible in Siena. Which is shown in the picture, and yes I am happy, the sun was in my eyes and it was hot. It was a breathtaking view. After we left Siena we stopped off an exit and went to a wine tasting and tour of a villa in the middle of nowhere. Still haven't quite acquired the taste, but it was a cool experience regardless.

Today, we went into Florence for the first time and walked from San Mineato to the Uffizi and to the Duomo and saw everything in between. Every time I see these ancient buildings I imagine what I thought of the images when I read about them, books and lectures don't do it justice. To actually stand in front of these beautiful structures and feel the magnitude and construction of these structures around me, it hasn't ceased to amaze me yet. After the walk we stopped and ate. The restaurant we went to was too tourist oriented so my pork panini wasn't too good. The best part of today was the view we got when standing in front of San Mineato and had a complete view of Florence, it was unbelievable.

I am looking forward to our visit to cinque terra next weekend. These five villages are on the coast of the Mediterranean and we have to hike to each one.

Check my flickr page for some pics of Siena and Florence if you wish.

I'm in Italy!

The flight was great, sat next to Ilsa, an old German woman who talked to me the whole time. The views from the plane were great and the difference in the planning and light pollution between and American city and a European city was clear.

So, I am settled in the villa, except that the luggage was lost from Munich to Florence. Hopefully, I will get that tomorrow, so I can start feeling comfortable.

Tonight, after dinner, which was great, some others and myself went for a walk to downtown Sesto for the fair. It was like the Fruitport carnival except that people were having a lot more fun and kids could do whatever they wanted. Then on the way back we stopped and got some gelato (Italian ice cream/yogurt) which was great.

This weekend I will be traveling to Siena with some others in the villa and I will let you know how that goes.