Month: November 2015 (Page 3 of 4)

Sorry for the delay of this post but there is just so much to type and I’ve been busy actually doing more today and slept like a log last night which cut into my usual hour or two of blog time. Ha

We started our day super early (for us, anyway) by hoofing it across the city to the Galleria dell’Accademia. The online sites make you believe you need advanced and “skip the lines” tickets to make sure you don’t waste your vacation waiting to get into these museums. Well, maybe you do in Summer…but in November, you’ll be one of 3 people waiting at the entrance at 8am, having paid $30 more for the same tickets and skipped breakfast just to be sure you weren’t late… But I’m not bitter. Haha

Michaelangelo’s David was awesome. I see what all the fuss is about. He’s like 15 feet tall, the elegance and easiness of his body positioning, the detail…. You can see veins running along his arms, tendons visible like they are showing through real skin… It really is worth all the hoopla unlike so many touristy things that people tell you that you have to see.  
  
    

I love the fact that this major work of art basically happened because Michaelangelo asked some church if he could have an old piece of marble that was laying behind their church. Sort of like if we asked some factory today if we could have some of their old pallets…but then we built a house out of them. Lol 

Behind the statue of David was a cool little room. It housed all of the plaster molds of famous works of sculpture that Lorenzo Bartolini used to teach students. He was a great sculptor himself who Napoleon discovered and brought to France…eventually he came to Florence, but he never quite made a name for himself with as many commissions as he would have liked, his style of sculpture just wasn’t “in style” at the time.

Outside of the teaching molds stands this plaster model of The Rape of the Sabine Women by Giambologna. Art is subjective, but in my opinion- this is one of the top 3 sculptures in the world. The model is amazing in itself…until you see the real one in marble…  What makes this interesting to me is not the detail alone, but the subject matter. When Giambologna finished the sculpture, it still didn’t have a name, one of his fellow sculptors suggested the title as it was fitting to the scene. Also, in a time of such religious and Christian themed art, this work was only to display mannerisms, human form and to basically create something different. This sculpture has a 360 degree viewing angle and the feel of the sculpture changes as you move around it, whereas almost every other sculpture to this point had been carved with one particular viewing point giving the most complete view of the work.   
After we left the Galleria we began backtracking through the city and found ourselves at the Duomo. This building is so big…. Even my wide angle lens could only get pieces. It took over 140 years to build this! They started in the late 1290s and didn’t finish until 1436    
    

The story of the dome has such a great story to me…it makes me laugh because hating your coworkers hasn’t changed in over 700 years. Ha    

Prior to the dome, in 1401, Florence had held a contest and the winner would be commissioned to complete the great Bronze doors of the Baptistry. Donatello was among the artists who entered, but the two finalists were Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi. The sponsors determined it was a tie and couldn’t decide so they gave the job to both artists to complete together. But….Brunelleschi was an egotistic jerk and would not stand for this…. So he quickly decided he was needed in Rome and left for the city to study architecture and Roman history. This would actually prove to be a great thing later in his life because without the mechanics and building knowledge he learned in Rome, he never would have been able to complete the Dome. Life has a way of working out. 

Ghiberti finished the bronze doors in a short 20 years. He was only 23 years old when he started. Fast forward and the doors were up. Ghiberti began working on a second set of doors. These doors were were so amazing that they replaced his original doors (which were moved to the north side of the building). Michaelangelo said that these new doors were fit to be “the gates of paradise”…and thus they were known. 

So this brings us back to the dome. In 1418, another contest was held in Florence for who would be the lead architect. In the end, having learned their lesson on ties, Brunelleschi “won”-but Ghiberti was appointed co-leader and paid the same wage as Brunelleschi and was promised equal credit in the completion. This didn’t fly with Brunelleschi…so he basically faked illness for months so that Ghiberti would have to focus solely on the dome and make engineering decisions and be forced to admit that he couldn’t do it. Once this happened, Brunelleschi magically was cured and began leading the project again. We call this phenomenon “McKinney-ism” in our house. Haha in fact when I told Kegan this story his response was “that’s awesome…good for that guy!” Haha I rest my case.

The Dome really is an amazing feat of engineering. Over 4 million bricks were used in the construction. Pulley systems were invented and patented for this job. Bricks were laid in a herringbone pattern to minimize the weight on the dome. He used chains to connect the ribs of the dome to minimize the pressure on it from “hoop stress”. Architectural issues that wouldn’t be documented with formulas for another two hundred years . So egotistical jerk or not, no one else could have done this. And when you’re the best and the smartest, are you really being cocky? Or just honest? 🙂

After the Piazza al Duomo, we continued walking through town. Passed this little slice of heaven. A literal wall of chocolate. Flowing like a waterfall. Talk about Gates of Paradise. 🙂
    
   
  

 Everything I read said that the local street food and local blue collar food was a Lampredotto sandwich. Oh. And Lampredotto is sliced up cow stomach. Ha

It was okay… But we also got a Burria sandwich which I think was beef. It was amazing. Best thing I’ve eaten in Italy. 
   

We were making really good time through Florence so we decided we had time to check out the Uffizi Gallery since we were walking by it and Norah was being good.

I could spend hours talking about paintings in this museum but I’ll spare everyone 🙂 Here are a few highlights:

Botticelli’s Birth of Venus

  
Leonardo De Vinci’s  Anunciation, one of his earliest works .

The Medici Tribuna- the center of what started the Uffizi Gallery. Originally, the Medici family created this room as a way to display their most valuable art for the public to see. These days you can’t even walk in because the marble mosaic floors can’t withstand the weight of so many visitors. 

 Piero Della Francesca’s Portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino. He was painted from the left because he lost his right eye in a tournament where he also broke his nose . Apparently in a very bad way judging from the painting. 

We saw lots of graffiti art done around the city based off of these famous works.   

A faun (or satyr) boy. Norah liked his ears.
   

 I wanted to include this little face because it’s a good reminder that history is only history as we know it and we trust others to tell us. Up until the 1940s, if you would have toured this gallery you would have been told that this was the earliest known work of Michaelangelo. Now, we know that his “The Head of the Faun” has never been found and this is not it…but it’s a good reminder that what we know now to be truth can change tomorrow with another discovery of history. 

I wouldn’t have included this sculpture but when we walked in Norah said, “Look daddy, it’s Mamma” I mean, I do normally lay around the house like this …so I guess I can see where she’s coming from 🙂   

   Raphael’s Portrait of Pope Leo X

 I find this painting amazing to look at. Photos can’t begin to do it justice. He painted this to play with textures and that is exactly what is so amazing- oil painting on wood and it looks like you could run your hands over the red velvet, feel the soft silk, the thick red tablecloth… Unbelievable talent.
  ….and lastly, my personal favorite from the entire collection. 

Bronzino’s Portrait of the Dwarf Morgante    

  Morgante was a common performer in the Medici court in the mid 1500s and he was one of the favorites of the court. He had a privileged life as far as dwarfs of the time went…but he was still effectively there for entertainment. He was forced to parade naked to demonstrate his “deformed body” and there is even record of being forced to fight naked with a monkey for the court’s amusement. 

However, the painting shows him in a very noble manner. Bronzino created this painting to settle an argument over which form of art was more noble- painting or sculpture. He obviously defended painting and set out to prove that painting could be beautiful no matter the subject matter, that painting could show multiple viewpoints just like sculpture (hence the front and back perspectives) and that painting could show the lapse of time (one side is before the hunt and the other shows the kill- Margante was a trained night hunter for birds)

The painting was just restored in 2010 because it was found to be indecent and painted over for hundreds of years. Only recently have we been able to see this in all of its glory 🙂

We promised Norah ice cream for being so good for 3 hours while I slowly perused every painting and sculpture in the gallery. 

  
She picked vanilla. Who’s child is this? Ha

That brought us to the Piazza Della Signoria. So so so much history in this square ….  

The Palazzo Vecchio. They used to hang people over the roof of this and let them dangle above the streets. I’m not so opposed to bringing this kind of Justice back. 

One time some people got the bright idea to overthrow the Medici…they plotted the murders of the two top brothers at the time. They attacked them while they were on their way to church but they only successfully stabbed one to death, the other managed to escape to their house across the square to safety. Needless to say, this didn’t end well for the would-be coup-ers and by the end of the day they found themselves slung over the top of this building as a warning to any who dare plot against the most powerful family in Florence. 

The first Medici- Cosimo the Elder, was even imprisoned here with plans for death basically because he was too popular and threatened the arostocracy. 
The Loggia dei Lanzi 

 The Medici lions guarding the statues of the Loggia dei Lanzi. These are the original lions, of which all other lion statues like this are based. One of the pair is of ancient origins and a sculpter cut it away from the rest of its background, then another sculpter copied it and created a second for the Medici gardens. They’ve been here since the late 1500s
   
    
    
 In 1498, they even burned a preacher here! Although, I’m kind of in agreement. A marble plaque on the ground marks the exact spot. Girolamo Savonarola was a preacher who preached heavily against the vanities of life- anything that might encourage one to sin. Mirrors, cosmetics, books that were amoral, excesses and riches. He had such a following that he became sort of the ruler of the city. He was so popular that he convinced artists to give up their own works for his Bonfires of the Vanities because if they didnt, his followers would make their lives miserable. I would hate to think how many great paintings, sculptures, etc were lost forever due to those crazies. In fact, give me the match I’ll do it myself 🙂 

  
Our last major stop for the day was the Church of Santa Croce with Donatello’s crucifix and Michaelangelo’s tomb.  
    

We crossed back over the river to the south side of the city where our rented apartment is. The bridge we crossed gave us a beautiful view of the river Arno through the city as well as the Ponte Vecchio bridge .

  
  Norah didn’t make it, so we stopped for lunch.  
A variety of bruschetta

 
Salami

   
Ravioli with sage butter

   
Tortellini with creme and ham 

We had a very relaxing night enjoying the apartment and discussing how this was an amazing place to vacation but that there was no way we could live someplace like this. So far, Ravenna was our favorite but it has been nice to see so much of the history I’ve read about Florence in person. We have one more day in Florence. Will post about that soon. 

 Today was a “light day” for my typical vacations. We only did one city! 🙂

We left Bologna and headed East to the wonderful and surprising city of Ravenna. 

Ravenna has been around forever. Was an Etruscan city and then part of the Roman Empire- being accepted in 89BC.

It’s greatest contribution to our modern culture is probably two different things.

The first is Julius Caesar’s “crossing of the Rubicon”. We still use this term to this day to signify that someone is making a risky move where there is no turning back… But there is (was) a real Rubicon River and someone did indeed cross it. 

Hold on to your nerd glasses, we’re going in the way back machine. 

Back in the days of the Roman republic, after Julius Caesar had defeated the Gauls around 51BC, he spend the better part of 2 years touring all the conquered lands they had seized and gathering and sending all of the spoils of war back to Rome. To understand all of the dynamics would be very similar to trying to explain all of the dynamics of our current congress as the situations draw a LOT of parallels.

The senate and ruling class was not very happy with Julius Caesar. They had spent the better part of two years trying to vote against him for his war with the Gauls stating that the Senate never authorized war in the first place so he was committing treason. (Afghanistan, anyone?)

Also, they were none to happy that all of the spoils of war flooding the city had driven down the prices of their gold to half of the previous prices. (Stock market? Bailouts?)

Also, prior to his conquest Caesar had run for office on a platform for the people, against the richest, promising change that would help the average Roman citizen. (ObamaCare? Tea Party? The 1%?)

The ruling elite were not too happy about his power, his success and his likability (ahem…Obama?) and were looking for any opportunity they could to exile or kill him. 

Only problem was that Caesar had the golden ticket. “Imperium” they called it- basically above the law and unable to be prosecuted. But his period of imperium was running out and he knew everyone in Rome in power was looking to chop off his head. His only chance was basically being elected to the council during the upcoming election by absentee that would grant him imperium in his new role, thus allowing him to return to Rome and still enjoy his diplomatic immunity.

He had one last ally- Pompey or Augustus. Or so he thought. Over the years since he left Rome, his friend and leader of  the republic had grown jealous at his successes and passed a law that started that no one could run for office by absentee, he must be present to declare- therefore throwing Caesar into a Catch 22.

This pushed Caesar into a corner. Laws, proposals, deceit, illegal votes and illegal processes all occurred that ended with the Senate declaring Julius Caesar an enemy of the state! 

So, that brings us back to Julius Caesar with his 13th Legion supporting him, standing at the northeastern border of the Roman Empire on the banks of the Rubicon River in 49BC in his conquered kingdom of the Gauls, a hero to the people of Rome and a great conqueror but a declared enemy that was to be killed if he entered Rome.

So, he rallied his troops, gave a great speech and said “Let the die be cast” and he crossed the Rubicon, declaring war on Rome.

We know how that ended. Pompey ran away like a scared little girl and Caesar easily took Rome. 

So, ummm….Ravenna. Yeah. 

The second contribution to pop culture was a song by Cole Porter called “Night and Day” was inspired but the breathtakingly gorgeous and intricate Roman, Byzantine and early Christian mosaics, specifically a ceiling in a Mausoleum at the Basilica de San Vitale. Which just happened to be our first stop in town.

  
First, before the photos. The photos don’t do it justice. You have to experience these buildings. If you ever plan a trip to Italy and you are even remotely interested in art, Ravenna 100% must be on the list. The craziest thing is that we almost had the entire city to ourselves. We probably encountered 50 tourists the entire day. Ravenna. See it. Don’t let me down.

In 540AD, Justinian I- the Emporer of the orthodox Christian Byzantine empire- conquered Ravenna from the Ostrogoth King, Theodoric the Great. They were from  Byzantium, later known as Constantinople, now present day Istanbul.

The Byzantine Bishops went a little overboard and built all of these amazing buildings in the next 150 years. 

    
    
    
    
    
Outside of this basilica is the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, easily my favorite place all day. This is the Starry sky mosaic that inspired Cole Porter, who visited Ravenna on his honeymoon, to write Night and Day”.

   
    
    
 After this we happened upon a piazza with a carousel. Needless to say, we rode it. Ha
  
  
Next, we went to the Church de Sant’Apollinare Nuovo. This was the first original cathedral built by Theodoric the Great and is the oldest.    
    
    
  

The darn Catholics completely changed and probably ruined the original mosaics. This entire wall was a Catholic change with 33 virgins and 3 magi leading them.   
    
If you look closely you can see remnants of the originals. Look at the 3rd column on the right. It’s a hand. Call it a 5th century photoshop mistake. The Catholics didn’t like the Arian Ostrogoth rulers being shown in a cathedral…or possibly nudity being depicted…so curtains seemed like a natural replacement? Who knows.

    
   
Lastly we stopped by the Baptistry of Neon. Built on top of an ancient Roman bath.

  
     
  
After Ravenna we drove 3 hours across Italy to Florence. It was a beautiful drive.

 Watch out for those parachuting cattle though…they’re a doozy.

  Google Maps almost gave me a stroke when I realized I was on a pedestrian only side street and it was trying to route me across the Ponte Vecchio  bridge. (Pedestrian only, very famous…more on that tomorrow). It took us 1.5 hours to get around less than a mile to our apartment for the next 3 nights…but it was worth it.

It’s an AirBnb find. Penthouse, 4th floor, 2 rooftop terraces with views of both Pitti Palace and the Duomo. I may never leave 🙂

   
    
    
 
We ate dinner overlooking the river and Ponte Vecchio bridge and had the restaurant to ourselves. Great food.

   
    
   
We have “skip the line” tickets to see the Galleria Academia at 8:15am to see the Status of David amongst other great works of art. So…I should probably not be typing this anymore since it’s 2:30am.Goodnight 🙂

Today was small stops and walks through some small walled cities and a drive through some mountainous terrain.

We started with “breakfast” that came with our B&B. Apparently 4 shortbread cookies and 2 croissants is breakfast in Pisa. 🙂 We sat there for a while thinking surely this is like some sort of bread plate before the meal…nope. It was the meal. Lol

Also, I learned that when you ask for milk for a child, they will bring you steamed latte milk at lava temperature. Italians don’t believe in giving kids cold beverages, they think that it gives them stomach cramps. 

So after some googling, I figured out you have to ask for “latte freddo”. In this case, the waitress acted like she had an “a-ha” moment and quickly went back inside. Only to emerge with a tiny little coffee creamer crock of milk. Haha

So we laughed and improvised- pouring the 2 oz of cold milk into a water glass and then adding about 3 oz of the steamed milk and letting Norah stir it which she thought was awesome fun. She also got cookies for breakfast…so she thought the day was off to a great start.

We started out with a drive to the north side of Pisa towards Asciano to see the Medici acqueduct ordered to be constructed by Cosimo I Medici in the late 1500s. 

The Medici family name and crest is all over everything in the area as they were the wealthiest and most powerful family of their day. Even though Florence and the area was a replublic of the truest kind- elected officials and no ruler or King…at the  Medici family’s prime- no one in the area made a decision without the approval of a Medici. They were like the unspoken kings of the region through the 1400s but this status was initially achieved through kind acts, deep pockets, quiet demeanor and extensive education and business knowledge, not through military force or a takeover of any sort. They were also smart- the first famous Cosimo (Cosimo di Giovanni de Medici-it’s tricky- they named themselves all the same ha) knew the importance of humility and strategic alignment with powerful people and he often made loans without interest to the Vatican popes and sent exotic gifts to rulers of foreign lands. The history and life of the Medici family and its succession could span volumes but it’s enough to know that Cosimo “the Elder” was a self made man, who created an empire in banking by using his smart sense and with his 30 million dollar empire, financed a good portion of the arts of the Renaissance including many of the works of Donatello, Michaelangelo and many others. 

He once said, “All those things have given me the greatest satisfaction and contentment because they are not only for the honor of God but are likewise for my own remembrance. For fifty years, I have done nothing else but earn money and spend money; and it became clear that spending money gives me greater pleasure than earning it.”

…and spend it he did. He started the first library in Florence, he commissioned the Duomo (I’ll show you that in a couple days), he commissioned Latin translations of ancient books including the complete works of Plato. 

*Random fact- Italics font as we know it today, with its script form and slanted letters is almost entirely based off of the style of handwriting that the “transcriptionist” of the Medici family, who travelled all over the world copying texts and scrolls for their great library and the further education of Florence, used in writing these first books. One guy, spending months at a time in underground cellars and towers of monestaries copying and translating any book he encountered but couldn’t immediately just purchase and take with him, is responsible for the look of our modern day letters. I find that absolutely mindblowingly fascinating…

I picture a guy in a robe, riding in his wagon with his horses, with his chest full of Medici money for buying off anything of value that he could and another full of antiquities and books he’s collected for his return to Florence. Just the mechanics is amazing. How did they keep the books dry during weather? How many months did it take to travel these mountains and hills of the areas? Can you imagine sending someone out on a quest for books and that it would take you 5 years to see what kind of return you would see? Was theft a concern? In a time where no one could hardly read I wouldn’t think many seedy individuals would see much value in paper and leather… Was it an entire commissioned force, I wonder? With gaurds to protect the money and navigators to keep their bearings? 

But I digress, So much the learn, not enough time.

Anyway- acqueduct. The acqueduct was ordered by Cosimo I (not the first Cosimo, but the first Duke of Tuscany) 200 years later after lots and lots of politics and struggles and murders played out.

By this time, the Medici still had money and definitely had fame and were actually part of the ruling class of the area. 

   
 The acqueduct carried water from the mountains in the distance all the way to Pisa. I loved the public fountain along the way, although I have no idea how old it is compared to the acqueduct. 

We continued on to Lucca- “the walled city”. Also birthplace to Puccini, famous for his Operas. It existed since a Roman times- founded somewhere around 200BC and thrived because it was a perfect resting point from those traveling to Rome. 

The walls existed but were really reinforced into their current form during the Middle Ages- 1200 or so.

   
The giant metal doors and retractable metal gates are just amazing.    
    
    
 

Lucca is famous for its “tower houses”. Call it a …ahem… Show of power. The bigger your tower, the mightier your family’s power. Men…
   
 

This was so true, that if you lost your fortunes, they would tear down your tower. As a demonstration of your fall from greatness. But- those still standing today are a very cool architectural style to look at. A very distinctive style for the city.

We stopped in a little side street cafe for espresso and we hoped some proper breakfast, but anything hot or containing protein is just not to me found before lunch. Pastries, tarts, coffee. But that’s it. 

The owner was awesome and he loved Norah. (In fact everyone here loves he little curly blonde wonder…we have at LEAST 30 conversations a day about her)

   
He sold a lot of random lights and techno type things….she thought it was awesome she got to have a “dance party” in the back room. Pay no mind to the wall of creepy mannequins on the back wall. 😳

  
Norah needed to go potty, so I asked if he had a bathroom and just like it was a totally normal bathroom pointed me around the corner. To this.

What the heck are you supposed to do with this??? Haha I mean… I KNOW…. But srsly? How do you explain this to a three year old who is barely using the real type?!
 
I told her we were gonna act like dog and pee on the ground. Haha then proceeded to try to hold her at a very weird angle and complete the deed. Needless to say, she peed her pants before we got there. Lol

(She’ll thank me for that info being shared publicly when she’s older)

We got cleaned up and proceeded on an hour drive to Pistoia. Not famous for much other than it may be the root of our word Pistol which seems to be where they were originally manufactured. 

Let me google it… Yup. Where the first pistols were made.   

    
    
    
 We had pizza at the Cafe de Duomo on the square. My Italian is markedly improving as the days ago by. I don’t think anyone spoke English today until we got to our hotel tonight. And we survived, so I’ll call it a win. Although I don’t think anyone will give me any awards for my Italian anytime soon. Ha
 That made someone happy 

 we travelled on to Bologna, up a little mountain for what was supposed to be a scenic view of the city. Too much smog to see anything unfortunately in the picture but it would have been beautiful.

  
We stopped for a wine and cheese snack at a little restaurant at the top   

    
 The main attraction was the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca, a church that has been here since the 1200s  

The really amazing thing about this church is the arched walkway that leads all the way from the city of Bologna up to the church. 666 arches to exact. Creepy.

I had seen photos of this before but didn’t even know what it was until we got there. 

  
*i realize now that my photos are lacking, so here’s some that aren’t mine to show a little better:   

    

This path goes forever

  All the way from the city to the top. And there were better people than me walking the entire thing. 

 There used to be a cable car to take you up to the top, but it stopped in the 1970s when they paved a road to the top  

Lastly, we headed into Bologna for the night.  It was a little grittier than I expected but nothing where I felt unsafe. Lots of Graffiti, very fast pace… Reminded me a lot of Belfast, which wasn’t my favorite place. We drove downtown and after a few narrow alleys and near death experiences, we found our hotel- Il Canele.

The only place on the only canal in Bologna (like a little mini Venice)

The hotel clerk moved a “tow away zone” parking sign to make room for our car. However I looked at the spot and thought No.way.ever. Would I fit there. So I told the guy he had to park it. So he did! He had to get out and move some scooters…he just started picking them up and dragging them around by hand…haha but he did it!

 
The room was very cool. Regal almost if we were in the early 1900s but man do the beds feel like they are from the early 1900s lol.  
 We went out walking down Via Independenze where all the shopping is towards the Piazza Maggiore, basically the old city center. I had to laugh at the giant Lamborghini logo lit up on the side of the building. Reminded me of the movie Idiocracy where they advertise the Gaterade stuff on the moon….

 
But it turns out there was a festival they were prepping for and it was sponsored by Lamborghini. We even saw them unloading the cars for the event.   
   
The fountain of Neptune was really cool.   

Even their public drinking fountain has major character.  

There was a Disney store along the way and Norah had to stop and go to the “Inside Out” store since that the latest and greatest movie craze. We got lots of ideas for Santa.    
  The hotel clerk recommended a restaurant around the block called Victoria. We had the house red wine and sparkling water   

An antipasto platter with mortadella, fresh mozzarella, Parmesan prosciutto and bruschetta. Norah had pizza.    
I ordered “beef ribs” in a sauce. I received some sort of pork like steak… But whatever. It was good. Haha

   Kegan had some sort of beef medallions and mushrooms. The Italians could teach the Irish a few things about potatoes. They were amazing.

  We finished up with a little scoop of Nutella gelato from a “gelateria” we passed on our way back. 

  Norah was ready for bed quickly. Ha

 So were we after a few glasses of wine. I quickly fell asleep but because of the time change, here I sit awake at 4am writing this 🙂
Tomorrow is the city of Revenna with some amazing art and architecture and we arrive in Florence in the evening. 

Today we started out fairly early. Had breakfast on the rooftop terrace of the Marriott. I didn’t take any pictures of breakfast, but I did capture this cutie who was in a great mood this morning after some much needed sleep.   
 
We hit the road, heading north out of Rome with our first stop being Cerveteri to see some ancient Etruscian ruins. 

If you’ve never heard of the Etruscans, they were the people before the people. We were influenced by Romans, and Romans were greatly influenced by them. They invented city grid layouts, dug water reservoirs to increase their water supply and therefore their crop yields, invented the arch as a sturdy architectural building form, they dry farmed and they invented tile roofs. 

They were also sort of strange. Their men and women dressed alike. They were fat. The Romans called them “pinguis”, the Greeks called them “Tyrrhenioi” both of which mean pudgy. Ha

They also believed that groups of people only had a finite amount of time on the planet given by the gods. So when the Romans showed up in 1BC, they basically just gave up and became Romans, believing that it was the Roman’s time. 

They were also big believers in afterlife and seemed to put a big emphasis on death. We toured an excavated necropolis or “city of the dead” discovered somewhat recently. Hundreds of tombs, some with wall paintings…and very old, most over 2000 years old.

   
    
    
  
History says that Emporer Claudius was the last person alive that still spoke Etruscan, even researching for years and writing a 20 volume text about their history, culture and language. Like a true scholar he interviewed elders over the years- even married an Etruscan woman because he believed in the importance of preserving their culture. 

Ironically, there is no evidence of this 20 volume history today. We misplaced it somewhere amongst the conquering. Barbarians…what do you do?

After that we drove past some thermal baths I had read had been used by the Medici…but it was a full parking lot and a bunch of old Italian men in speedos so we decided we were all set and headed for Siena.

The old city is surrounded by medieval city walls built in the 10-11th centuries mostly to defend itself against Florence- it’s traditional sworn enemy. Driving is extremely limited in all of the old city centers so we probably walked 3-4 miles and just crossed our fingers our luggage would still be in our car when we got back. And it was! Even though when we got back there was a guy leaning on our car which freaked me out a little. Ha

    
    
    
    
  
For a while I thought we were the only people in the whole city.  
    
The Piazza Del Campo is the main square. Everyone was already just hanging out here.

 Norah found the water of course…
  
She wanted to take our picture. Who am I to argue! I never end up in the pictures because I’m always the one taking them!

 The Siena cathedral was unbelievable. Black and white marble gives it such a cool look and the intricate sculpture on the front can’t even be given justice in photos edited on my iPhone.

  
We couldn’t go inside but there are sculptures by Michaelangelo and Donatello and I grabbed this photo from Wikipedia to demonstrate just how amazing this building is:

  It’s a gothic style church built in the 12-1300s and was designed to be the biggest and best Christian church in the world

  
   I don’t know the real name of this sculpture but I’m calling it “Fat and Happy”. Like I am this week in Italy.   🙂 

 Butcher. Looking butchy.  

Had our first proper gelato  

 
   
We went to a Prosciuteria for lunch and got a sampler board of meats, cheeses, fruits, olives, sun dried tomatoes… It was glorious.

 When we got up to leave, we tucked Norah in with my scarf because it was getting chilly. She kept pretending to sleep every time I took her picture and then begging to see it. Already with the theatrics….
  
Next we drove another couple hours up to Pisa for the night and decided to check out the Piazza di Mircoli and its famous bell tower.

It’s amazing that a whole city has been reduced to the folly of an engineering mistake in the 1100s. Haha 

 The engineers knew they screwed up quickly- the tower was leaning by the time the third floor was built. Trying to correct it, they put the project on hold. Budgets came and went, wars happened…delaying the completion hundreds of years. Future engineers tried to compensate for the lean and actually tried to cut the stones shorter on one side but the weight of the additional stories just caused it to lean more. Poor tower.

The irony is that if the tower had been completed without the hundred years gap, it most certainly would have fallen over…so we can be thankful for no one knowing how to fix it long enough for the ground to compact and support the future additions. 

 The tower gets all of the attention, but the cathedral and baptistery on the grounds are also stunning- both with very ornate and amazing marble work.   
          
  After that we walked a few blocks off the square to find a little restaurant for some authentic Italian food. We succeeded after basically interviewing the managers and and inspecting the menus of a few places,  decided on an empty restaurant where the owner was super friendly, spoke a little English and recommended the veal ribs. 🙂  

 Traditional Tuscan food was all he made , so we had Beef Tartare, Kegan had a pork steak of some sort and awesome potatoes and I had a porcini and clam pasta dish. So good. 

    Tomorrow it’s across to Bologna. Foodie paradise. Better get my stretchy pants out of the suitcase. 🙂 

Wow. What a full day. I feel like we just did most people’s whole vacation today after an overnight flight in which Norah slept a whopping 2 hours. Which translated to us each getting about an hour each. 

 
Kegan felt terrible all day. I think I felt fine because there are a lot of nights with work that I only get 2-3 hours. I’ve acclimated. Lol

We hit Rome around 9am local time and we were in our rental car headed to our hotel for tonight by 10:30am.

Norah discovered a “playground” with her laser vision by baggage claim so we had to take a 10 minute detour for that.

   
 
Security was extra “military” today in Rome in light of the Paris attacks yesterday. Full gear and machine guns on display almost everywhere there was a crowd. 

Once we checked in we walked to Piazza Spagna via the Medici Palace. More about those Medici once we get to Florence. 

      
 
Norah’s love for water extends to fountains and we always have to play in any water feature we encounter. This could be fun in a country with as many per capita fountains as people. I swear if she dances naked in a fountain in Italy, you guys will be the first to know. 

 
There are citrus trees just growing alongside the road full of fruit. I wanted to pick an orange… But I refrained. I’m guessing prison outside the US is no joke…

Did you know that Rome has more obelisks than any other city in the world?? Yeah, neither did I until I researched the history behind this one. 🙂 Apparently this a copy of some great obelisk made by Ramses II is 400 BC or so and brought to Rome after the defeat of Mac Anthony and Cleopatra around 10BC. But we didn’t see that one. We saw this one and thought it was that one. Haha This one was made for some private collector back  in the 1500s when they decided to re-erect the original during the Renaissance. It says that the Roman workers who made the copy accidentally transcribed some of the hieroglyphics upside down or transposed since they were looking at the hieroglyphics while it was on the ground horizontally, taking notes and carving later.  

M     The famous Spanish steps are closed for renovations.(In fact, a lot of sites had scaffolding up right now…must be the “construction season” of Rome)

  The Piazza do Spagna, where a lot of the designer shopping is centralized. Versace, Prada, Valentino, ya know…the stuff no one can really afford.

Awesome doors. Note the military present on the side. They were pretty prevalent today…and I was okay with that.

A
A street vendor roasting chestnuts. It was tempting….

We ended up with doppio espressos and pressed sandwiches for lunch which were amazing.
   

The Latin inscription on the side of the Santa Maria in Trivio church from like 600AD.  It’s the oldest church in Rome although most of what you see was redone in the late 1500s 

The Trevi Fountain. The fountain where the water from the ancient aqueduct ended in Rome; the Aqua Virgo. The water then fed in to the ancient Baths of Agrippa and worked for over 400 years. The acquisition was rebuilt as the Aqua Vergine and now ends in this fountain. This photo really doesn’t do it justice if you’ve never seen it. This is with my extremely wide angle lens…and still barely fit in the frame. Each of those figures is probably 10-15 feet tall . Massive marble sculptures. Gorgeous up close. But so.many.people….I can’t imagine coming here in the middle of the summer in tourist season.
 
This was probably my favorite thing today. Why this isn’t more famous and in a museum somewhere….I don’t know. The Marcus Aurelius column.    

The column was finished in the year 193AD. 1800 years ago!! (Restored in the 1500s). Took over 15 years to make.  It tells the stories of the “Danubian” wars in a spiral relief across 27 blocks of Carrera marble. Unbelievable carvings of war and victories… Just amazing. Apparently in the Middle Ages people used to climb to the top as a challenge. It got so popular that they started auctioning off the rights annually to sell tickets at the site for people who came to climb it. Seeing it in person….no.way.

  
The holes are actually windows  to the hollow interior spiral staircase that leads up to top viewing platform.
 
A bird that also enjoyed the column.   

A girl. Watching the bird.

 Such old streets. You can just feel history with roads like these. (My feet could feel history, too. Haha They are seriously sore this morning from just walking over uneven stones for miles yesterday)  Temple of Hadrian built after his death by his son Antonius Pius in 145AD. Only the columns now remain and have been built into the building behind. Such a cool way to preserve ancient history!

 The side of the Panteon as we walked up.
   
The front from the Plaza Nuvona.

“M.AGRIPPA.L.F.COSTERVTIVM.FECIT”is the enscription in the front. 

M[arcus] AGRIPPA L[ucii] F[ilius] CO[n]S[ul] TERTIUM FECIT

Meaning

“Marcus Agrippa, son of Lucius, made this building when consul for the third time.”

However, it’s not entirely true. The original Pantheon Agrippa built was destroyed and only the front facade remains. This Patheon was built by Septimis Servius and his son Marcus Aurelius Antoninus in 200AD

Amazing metal doors two stories tall.
 
The Panteon holds the record for the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world   

A perfectly circular, dome shaped ceiling with an opening in the high center. To this day, when it rains it rains right inside in the middle and down a drain.

Norah NEEDED a picture with the elephant. There is a monument at every corner. I have no idea what this one is. Ha

Then she needed to take my picture while I’m trying to be nice and get my camera ban before she drops it. Haha
   

I have no idea what this is but was just very cool on the side of a building  

The Altare do Patria (Alter of the Fatherland)    

The ancient excavated ruins were very cool to see in person versus a textbook.
    
    
    

The Colliseum was even more massive than I had envisioned. What an amazing feat of engineering.
    
              

 
Norah made it to dinner after a nap through the Colliseum. Just barely. Girlie was sleepy. Haha   
   
W

We went to sleep very shortly after dinner and had some much needed sleep. Tomorrow is Siena and Pisa with some stops along the way.