Frolicking in Florence: Day 1

November 26th-27th

While all you American types were celebrating Thanksgiving, Dan and I went on an Adventure up to Florence.  We drove up Wednesday after Dan got home from work, so nothing really exciting happened on the real first day.  We are therefore skipping to the first day of adventuring.

In which we visit the Uffizi Gallery, climb Il Duomo, and check out the Galileo Science Museum.

The Uffizi Gallery - 


The Uffizi Gallery is one of the most, if not the most, popular art gallery in Florence.  During high tourist season you may have to wait hours to get into the museum.  We were not in high tourist season, but we purchased tickets in advance just to be safe.

I don't know who this dude is, but look at his collar.  That's carved marble.  LOOK AT IT.  It's amazing (left). This is one of the hallways of the gallery.  Each ceiling was intricately painted and the hall is lined with portraits and statues (right).

This is a painting of the Seven Virtues by Piero del Pollaiolo (except for Fortitude who was painted by Botticelli).  From left to right they are Fortitude, Temperance, Faith, Charity, Hope, Justice, and Prudence. 

Botticelli's Birth of Venus.  Fun fact, the title Birth of Venus was only given to the painting in the 19th century.  Before then it was generally referred to as Venus Anadyomene.  It is a large painting measuring 5'8" x 9'2".  To give you an idea, I am 5'9".

This is a relief of the Birth of Venus.  It is for the visually impaired.  This way they can also appreciate great works of art.  Or feel up Venus, whatever floats your boat.

I also don't know who this guy is, but I had never seen sculptures use different colors of marble to represent color before.  I think it's pretty cool.

This is a view of the Arno River from the Uffizi.  It is also a view of the Ponte Vecchio bridge.

This is a rare example of Michelangelo's painting skills.  It is called the Doni Tondo.  Many people like to analyze it given the unusual positioning of the main characters as well as the naked people in the background.  Fun fact, Michelangelo's full name is Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarotti Simoni.  I can see why he just went by Michelangelo.  

This painting brings our artists who are also Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles list up to one. 

Okay, so this room I dubbed the Room of Terror because it is full of statues who look like they are being attacked or running in fear.  Later, when I found the placard for the room, it turns out I wasn't wrong.  They are all statues depicting the deaths of Niobe's children.  She was too boastful to Leto so Leto decided to have all of Niobe's children murdered.  Lovely, no? It also had some amazing ceiling artwork (above).

Super artistic hipster pigeon photo with blurred Italian flag in the background!  Woo (left)! So this lady is Isabelle Brandt, Peter Paul Rubens's first wife (it was also painted by Rubens (right)).  What I see is a lady feeling herself up while staring you down.  It made me uncomfortable, and I feel the need to share my discomfort.  You can always look back at the pigeon if it gets too intense.

Because who doesn't want Medusa's severed head painted on their shield?  I bet you didn't know Caravaggio painted on shields now did you?

So this is a bit cheating, but we also saw Raphael's (Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino) Madonna of the Goldfinch, but I failed to take a picture of it.  However, this does bring our artists who are also Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles list up to two.  We would have also gotten Leonardo (Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci), but his gallery at the Uffizi was under construction/restoration.

This concludes the Uffizi portion of our adventure.

Intermission, in which we find lunch - 

This is not where we had lunch, but the meat and cheese shop across from where we had lunch.

Many of the alleyways were decorated for Christmas, making the streets of Florence extra beautiful.  This is a photo of one of the major pedestrian walkways that connects the Palazzo Vecchio (which is next to the Uffizi) with Il Duomo.

Il Duomo - 

Il Duomo, also known as the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore (Cathedral of Saint Mary of the Flower) was constructed in the 13th century, but its claim to fame is the dome added by Brunelleschi in the 15th century.  Side note, any cathedral in Italy is a "duomo."  I'm not quite sure why the duomo in Florence became known as Il Duomo.

This is a view looking up into the elaborately painted inside of the dome.  It depicts the Last Judgement.  The bottom has quite graphic imagery of Hell.  

See those people down there, that is where I took the previous photo.  This is from the first viewing balcony when you climb the dome.  I made Dan climb the dome.  He was a bit grumbly about it. There is an art term for when you have two images from opposite vantage points of the same thing.  I cannot remember what it is, but this image and the one above are an example of it.  If you know what it is, tell me.  I'm looking at you dad. It turns out Florence is well suited to this kind of thing.

One of many photos I took atop the dome. From here you can see the Palazzo Vecchio and its tower to the right and across in the greenery on toward the left-hand-side is a little whitish strip.  This is the Piazzale Michelangelo.  We will get to both of these things later.

Dan outside Il Duomo.  It is very large and in the middle of a bunch of buildings.  It is a bit difficult without wide-angle lenses to get a full picture of it.

This is Il Duomo's Baptistery ceiling.  I was told my father-in-law thinks the Baptisry doors are the most amazing thing he's ever seen.  I think this ceiling, which is all a giant mosaic is pretty impressive.  It depicts the Last Judgment as well as various scenes from the Bible.

This concludes the Il Duomo portion of our adventure.

The Galileo Science Museum -

The Galileo Science Museum is a collection of scientific artifacts from the 15th and 16th centuries.  it is full of wondrous brass doodads that I would love to just have displayed in my house.  People would come to visit and say "that's an amazing doodad, what's it do?"  and I would respond "I don't know, but look how pretty and shiny it is!"

Anyway, the museum is really cool. They have a virtual tour of I think just about everything that is physically in the museum that you can check out here. You should definitely check it out sometime. This amazing doodad to the left is Antonio Santucci's Armillary Sphere.  It was built in the late 16th century.  An armillary sphere is a model of objects in the sky.  Now you know,

The Man, the Myth, the Legend, Galileo Galilei (above). For some of you out there, your lives are now complete.  You have officially been given the finger by one of the most important scientists in western history.  Yes, that is Galileo's middle finger (right).  The museum had some other bits of his, which was a bit odd really.

These are Case del Fulmine, or Thunder Houses.  They are models to demonstrate how a properly grounded lightning rod protects a house.  If it is not properly grounded the model house explodes open.  I'm not sure why I am so amused by them, but I do know that I like saying "Case del Fulmine."

This concludes the Galileo Science Museum portion of our adventure.  You should really check out their virtual museum.  Galileo Science Museum.

We ended our day with a walk along the Ponte Vecchio, which is where all the gold and jewelry merchants are.  The bridge glows from the lights from their shops.  This is a view of the Arno river looking back along towards the Uffizi.  Remember that two views thing I mentioned earlier?  Here it is again.  I've added the previous photo from the Uffizi for easy viewing:

A view from the Uffizi looking at the Ponte Vecchio (the center opening of the bridge is where the following photo was taken).

A view from the Ponte Vecchio looking at the Uffizi (the lit window in upper-left-hand side is where the previous photo was taken).

Today's count:

• 3 Museums 
• 1 Climb 
• 2 Same but Opposite Views 
• 2, almost 3, Artists who are also Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

How is Italy?

I have, in the past week, had several friends and family ask me how I like Italy.  This inquiry is usually followed with something like "is it amazing/awesome/fantastic/wonderful?"

Italy is fine.  

Parts of it are very beautiful, parts of it are covered in trash and debris.  I have only seen the little bit of Campania that we have been able to adventure to and around.  Most of my experience with Italy is while driving and let's face it, basing a country on its driving is not really a fair assessment of the country (for the most part).

HOWEVER.

Italy is like this:

Please note I do not normally take photos of my food, but this image really sums up what Italy has been like so far.

You may be asking, Italy is like a slice of pizza?  It's like a cafeteria? Or saying,  Maura, your photo doesn't explain anything.

Oh, but it explains everything.  Notice that there is a 1/4 of a pizza.  Notice that there is a 1/4 of a pizza shaped plate.  NOTICE how the pizza is not aligned on the plate.  This is what Italy is like. 

They have plenty of reasonable systems and policies in place, but they choose to just do whatever they want, in everything.  They do not form lines, they do not use roundabouts properly, they do not wait for anything.  If a highway has 2 lanes marked on it, they will make it a 3, and sometimes 4, lane highway, because they can. 

Italy is like a 1/4 of a pizza tossed all higgledy-piggledy onto a 1/4 of a pizza shaped plate.  The pizza is delicious mind you, but still.  (Food here is delicious, so that furthers my point.) 

I think I should have ended up in Germany.  The nonsensical disorder of Italy is really troubling the organized OCPD engineer in me. 

Musings on Italy Thusfar

November 20th

Random thoughts about Italy:

• The only rule for driving here is "Don't hit the person in front of you."  All else is game.  Streets signs are optional.

• Closets are a foreign concept.  We have one closet in our house, and that is rare in and of itself.

• Italians seem to be very happy to talk to you in Italian, even after you have told them you don't speak Italian.  This does not matter.  Little old ladies will cheerful chat away at you.

• There is something delightful about the pizza here that does not get old like American pizza.  After the third time having American pizza in one week you don't want to see pizza again for awhile.  Not true here.  Also, pepperoni is an American construct.  Pepperoni pizza does not exist here.

Small incidences:

• The other day a man came to our parco and tried to sell me fish out of the back of his van.  The fish were not vacuum sealed, they were not frozen, I'm not even sure they were on ice.  They were just laying in a pile on the metal floor of his van.  He was very pleasant though.  

• Anytime something ridiculous (by our standards) happens here, Dan and I have given up trying to figure it out and instead have started just saying "Non so. `E Italia."  Which we think means "I don't know.  It's Italy."  This at least makes us less frustrated when silly things happen while driving.

• Demijohns are these glass bulb shaped containers that are used for wine or olive storage.  They are very popular among the Navy folk.  During Area Orientation (AO) the Personal Property Office (PPO) came to talk to us.  It mostly boiled down to "If you have questions, concerns, or problems, please come talk to us."  There is a Facebook group dedicated to those living in Naples and while it has great information, it also has a lot of complainers.  PPO told the story of one lady who complained on the Fb group that PPO wouldn't move her demijohns back to the states.   Others then chimed in and it became a hate fest towards the PPO.   Dan and I sum-up this exchange as follows:

                      Offended Lady: Personal Property won't move my demijohns!
                                 Stranger:  Demijohns!  I LOVE demijohns!  I hate Personal Property!

        It turns out that her deminjohns were from the side of the road and filled with dirt and other                 gross things, which the Navy will not move.  So moral of the story, talk to PPO first.

I'm sure I have other musings and small incidences, but I cannot think of them now.  So.....yeah.   Move along.  Nothing to see here.

Pompeii

November 10th

We had a 4-day weekend for Veterans Day, but because of having recently moved into our house and being up to our elbows in boxes and packing paper, we did not go on any extended trips.  However, we did make it to Pompeii which is about 45 min south-west of us.

We didn't take a tour, and didn't get a guide book, so we mostly wandered around on our own.  Our biggest guide was a multi-cache geocache that I wanted to do.  If you are not familiar with geocaching you should check it out; it's a lot of fun.

Anyway, here are some photos and what I remember about them.  Also note that these photos are more gathered by subject material than in order of the path we wandered around through the city.

Pompeii and Vesuvius! Weeeeeeeeee!

These are photos from the Amphitheater of Pompeii.  It is the oldest Roman amphitheater.

This is a view from the amphitheater going into the city (left). Dan in the casa del giardino D'Ercole or the House of the Garden of Hercules (right).  I supposed he's really in the giardino del giardino D'Ercole.

Several buildings had these tables/benches that were covered in opus sectile which is an art technique of inlaying material into walls, floors, tables, etc.  None of the other tables were as colorful as this one though.

A view into what was an interior courtyard, I think (above). A main street of Pompeii.  The big stones in the middle are for crossing the street.  In the day (aka Roman Times) it would not be uncommon for the street to be flooded with all sorts of ick that you would not want to have to step in (right).

Another main street of Pompeii (left). There is a cafeteria in the middle of the what I'm going to call Downtown part of Pompeii.  We got snack there to so we can say we ate in Pompeii (above).

Pretty sure that's a penis with wings (above). Legs for a table.  We believe this artist had seen actual lions, unlike previous sculptors (right).

Ceiling art from two different bath houses.   The one above had little statues of men holding up the ceiling.

Mosaics/Paintings! BEWARE OF THE DOG! (It's being cleaned or preserved or some nonsense so you can only see it through a little hole in a tarp that's covering wire.)


A collection of water spigots. My favorite is the bull thing.

Here's the token proof that I was on this adventure.  As Dan was taking the photo, you can tell I'm not quite sure what he's doing.

General thoughts on Pompeii:  

• Next time we need to get a book/tour guide pamphlet thingiemabob.
• We went on a Monday in November.  There were still a fair amount of people visiting.  I cannot imagine what this place is like in the summer when it is very hot and packed.  
• After awhile you get a bit ruined out.  It would be nice to go find the museum that is holding all of the good bits from Pompeii.
• I would like to see Herculaneum which is the nearby town that was also buried when Vesuvius erupted in 79AD (did I mention that that's when it was buried?  Ooops! Now you know!).

P.S.

I found my geocache, in case you were wondering.

Sunsets

October 31st and November 2nd

I just wanted to let you know that we do not yet have internet at our house.  It can take up to a month to get internet, if all goes well.  So updates will be spotty as they have been.  Good.  You're used to it by now.

To mollify you for lack/sporadic/bunch updates here are some sunset photos from our house.

Enjoy!

October 31st:

November 2nd:

A House!

Mid-Late October

I know, I know, I'm terrible.  I showed you all the places we looked at and told you we were going to make a decision, and then disappeared and didn't tell you which house we chose.  This was mostly due to me not wanting to jinx us getting the house (the process is a being confusing and tedious) and a little bit to inconsistent internet and laziness.

To sign a lease is a multi-step process, like everything else here.  There is a pre-contract, an inspection, a contract, a utilities set up, a PFTF delivery, and a House Hold Goods delivery to arrange before you can move into your property.

Luckily for us, the pre-contract and inspection went very quickly.  This enabled the other steps to also go quickly.  FYI - PFTF is Partial Full-Tour Furnishings.  These are items that we are allowed to borrow from Housing for the duration of our time here.  Things like a stove, a refrigerator, washers and dryers, and other items.  They will not completely outfit your place, so they are partial furnishings for the full duration of your tour.  Dan thinks the name PFTF is confusing.

All has gone fairly well and our Contract signing is scheduled for the 24th of October.

So without further ado, we chose....

The Banana House in Licola! 

It has plenty of space for guests, so y'all better be planning to come out and visit us, or at least use our sleeping spaces.

Bananas! WOOOOO!  Bananas for EVERYONE (left)! Front yard and front door patio thingie (above).

This is also the house with a pool. We will need to figure out how to take care of a pool.

Divine Hat

Early on in our time in TLA, when I had nothing better to do, I made a hat.  It has been some time since I have been able to make anything.  I start to get itchy and restless when I haven't made something in a long time.

I used the directions found here. It was pretty easy to follow and now I have a hat. I'm ignoring the fact that it's still around 70-80 degrees outside and very sunny.

I also don't really know how to do the selfie thing.  I'm not sure DSLR cameras are meant for selfies.

The hat!  Look at those curves (above). Me wearing the hat and selfie failing (right).

The End.