Northern Italy

Even though I'm missing out on watching the Caps beat the Penguins, I've been pretty occupied here in Italy. We returned last night from our 10 day excursion around northern Italy. We left friday morning for Florence. The train ride was actually really nice. Everyone was always excited to hop on the train and escape the snowy/rainy weather! Even though the weather wasn't the best, I loved every minute of the trip.

Florence was absolutely beautiful! The hotel was really nice, and the room I shared with Anna had a stunning view. One of the first things Anna and I did upon arriving in Florence was purchase cheap rain boots, which turned out to be well worth the purchase with the amount of rain and snowed we trudged through! We visited the Medici library and climbed to the top of the Duomo, where we got to overlook the city.

We stopped in Bologna for a day to sketch. The only problem with sketching was that it was snowing the whole day! So in the end, a day of sketching turned into a day of snowball fights. So we took a bunch of pictures and I sketched on the train ride to Venice. Even though I managed to lose my umbrella, I thought it was a cute town, and the arcaded streets were outstanding.

Venice was a lot different then I remembered. I visited once three summers ago, and it was too overcrowded, and hot. This time, it was cold but less crowded, which definitely made it more enjoyable. We traveled on a metro-like boat system down the water channels, which allowed us to see all the colorful facades of the buildings. A couple of us went to the Peggy Guggenheim museum and saw some Picasso and Mondrian paintings. We had a long discussion with an intern at the museum about Mondrian's minimalist design, that detoured from the Cubism movement. We got to see Palladio's San Giorgio Maggiore, which was by far my favorite Basilica that we saw on the trip. Everyone in the group climbed...well took the elevator...up the bell tower. The view was great! At the end, we all got together for a group shot from the tower. I'm in the "A", with my huge black backpack!

Vicenza was our next stop on the trip. We got the chance to go visit Villa Rotunda. The exterior and interior are both simply beautiful, I can't even find the words to describe how perfect it is. The central hall has a domed ceiling, and the walls are painted in a "trompe l'oeil" fashion. We learned that a family still lives there in the summer. Quite the summer home! Are they looking for any new family members?!

We had great weather for our short stay in Verona. We went to the Castelvecchio Museum, designed and restored by Carlo Scarpa and also saw Juliet's balcony. In Milano, we were very fortunate to see the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. The mural is actually about 15 x 30 ft, I was not expecting it to be that big! Reproductions of the mural do not do it justice, it's stunning in person. We went to Como to see the Casa del Fascio by Giuseppe Terragni, which was great! We also saw lots of snow, with perfect star shaped snowflakes! On our last day in Milano, we went to Il sole 24 ore Headquarters designed by Renzo Piano. I have a new found respect for Renzo Piano, that building is beautifully designed.

Overall, I thought the trip went really well. It made me realize how lucky I am to be studying architecture in Italy. Everywhere you go, there's something beautiful to see. I'm excited for our next trip, but after living out of a suitcase for ten days...I'm happy to be back in Rome.