Everybody remember the last time I posted and said I was terrible at keeping up with journaling? No? Maybe you should go back to that and reread it...and maybe just check the difference in date between that post and this one. Eight days, guys. I never claimed to be good with keeping up. So this post will mostly be comprised of paragraphs summarizing the days...it might be a little lengthy, but I'm hoping to get caught up.
All right, where did I leave off...Thursday, September 29th. The morning dawned cold and blustery, the sky dark, filled with heavy clouds just waiting to open - no, wait, this is an art history blog. But it was funny, right? Right? Never mind. At any rate, that day just so happened to be Vatican day. And let me tell you, the Vatican is rather amazing. I got a first rate tour of it, sightseeing with only my good friend Becca and two of my professors. The things we were saw were, first and foremost, exactly what most people expect to go and see when they visit, plus thousands of other things...which I might remember a quarter of. By far the best thing I saw there, surprisingly, was a Dali painting. It's called Angellic Landscapes, look it up. But I don't know what to tell you...at that point, and definitely right now, I just feel that I've been exposed to so many masterpieces that I can't bring myself to be really struck by everything anymore. It's a little heartbreaking, but I still see things that do impact me deeply, and I continue to learn. I just simply couldn't really into all that much detail about the things I've seen. Sorry, sorry. But....the Vatican. Yes. Definitely worth a visit, but make sure you have a whole day for it!
I'm just going to gloss over these next two days...on the 30th, we had a free day and so we repacked everything and sat around. We had a semi-fancy Italian meal that later made me sick, but it was still a good time. Saturday, the 1st, we all boarded the train to Firenze (That's Florence, for those who don't know.). And Florence...is better. The air is terrible, and incredibly smoggy, and there are a lot of people still. But the markets, the people, and just the atmosphere is much, much better I think. I'm currently sitting in a small Cafe, maybe ten minutes walk from our hotel writing this, and I love where I am. I plan to pursue writing in coffee shops more often when I get back from Europe.
So the 2nd dawned bright and early for us, and the day's activities included the Florence Cathedral and the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo...Museum of the Dome or something like that. The Florence Cathedral is beautiful, and I will be posting pictures later, so you may see for yourself...but let me just go ahead and say now that everything I've seen in Florence has been much emptier than the things I saw in Rome. Maybe because my enthusiasm for the sightseeing is taking a steep dive, but I haven't seen many things to be impressed by. Definitely not this day, past the initial "Wow, that's really beautiful!"
Tuesday, the 3rd. The day of the Uffizi. Which should definitely be a book title. Just sayin'. At any rate, I'm just going to say that the Birth of Venus is absolutely beautiful, and Botticelli is quite an artist. I would also like to say how incredibly happy I am that I was able to stand a foot away from the Venus of Urbino. It was Gorgeous. Note that capital G. Those are perks...aside from that, I have to beg forgiveness on not much more detail. It was a beautiful museum, but only a small group of paintings held any deep meaning for me.
And now for today's events! The morning was spent in an archaeological museum, which housed the Chimera. I also saw the Kouros, which was an unexpected surprise. The Chimera was definitely the highlight of that museum for me...everything else was just another passing blur. It really almost made me want to cry with frustration, that I can see so many amazing things and be so completely numbed to it all. But that's another story. Afterwards, I ventured up to the top of the Dome with Johan and Shane...which was so worth the 8 euros we paid. The view from the Dome is unbelievable. It truly is. Even after the hundreds of incredibly steep, stone steps one must climb to get there. Perhaps I'll change my blog picture to one of the pictures taken there later on. After lunchtime had passed, we also carried on to the Cappelle Medici, the main point of which was Michelangelo's "Night and Day". As I earlier told my teacher, I felt very...neutral towards the sculptures. I've almost come to the point where I think Michelangelo's a pretty cool guy, but not quite as spectacular as he's always been made out to be. Call me blasphemous and hang me for heresy, but there's my current opinion. Then again, I haven't seen David yet...that's all tomorrow. But I can't predict the future, so you'll have to wait for that to unfold later.
For now, I leave you with this summary of my days and my sincerest apologies for not continuing to update daily with my activities. I'm really trying to get better about it! Ciao for now~
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