L'Ultima Cena

The Last Supper
From Left to Right: Bartholomew, James, Andrew, Judas, Peter, John, Jesus, Thomas, James the Greater, Phillip, Matthew, Thaddeus, Simon

View of the entire refectory
One of the coolest things I’ve done in Italy and by far my favorite piece of art I’ve seen is Leonardo da Vinci’s "The Last Supper”. I went to Florence and Milan with my da Vinci class to see three of his paintings in the Uffizi Gallery (Florence) and The Last Supper, or L’Ultima Cena, in Milan. The Last Supper is located in Santa Maria della Grazie church and from the outside you would never be able to tell that the church holds such a priceless work of art. The front part of the church has been totally renovated, so it looks pretty modern, but plain. The painting is in the refectory of the church, which was the dining room of lords and dukes of Milan. Only groups of 15 can go in at a time to keep a constant temperature and the room is totally dark except for the dim lighting on the painting. Pictures are strictly prohibited and a guard in the room will yell at you if you even breathe too heavy. When I walked in I was taken away by the size of the painting. Before this class I thought it was small and framed. It’s actually about 15ft. x 30ft and is painted across an entire end wall. It was almost eerie standing in a dark, silent room with this huge painting you’ve seen a million times in pictures and books. As awesome as it was, the painting is in pretty bad shape. Many faces are too blurry to see any features and all of the legs underneath the table are barely visible. Da Vinci loved to experiment with different mediums, using mixtures of varnish, oil, and sometimes even vegetable juices or egg yolks. These mediums, combined with the dampness of the church walls, explain why the painting is in such poor condition. Just having finished a 20 year cleaning in 1999, the painting should last for a long, long time.

Some interesting info about The Last Supper:

- The scene captures the moment after Jesus tells the disciples that one of them would betray him. Most of the disciples are reacting with disbelief, with questioning looks toward each other and Jesus.
- James the Greater has a finger up in the air seeming to say “One of us?!” One finger pointed upward is almost a trademark of da Vinci- he used this pose in many paintings.
- Peter holds a knife, symbolizing how he cut off a soldier’s ear during Jesus’s arrest.
- Judas is sitting lowest at the table and is painted darker than the rest of the disciples. He is holding a small bag representing the silver given to him for betraying Jesus.
- Judas’s elbow is knocking over a salt shaker. This is known as bad luck and foreshadows his death.
- Da Vinci usually had a “pyramidal” theme to his paintings. In The Last Supper, all the disciples are in groups of three (possibly signifying the Holy Trinity) and Christ is framed by the light from the window in the center.
- John sits to Jesus’s right and although he may look feminine, the figure is not Mary Magdalene! Da Vinci usually painted people to look very androgynous.
- It was painted in 1497, but by 1556 it was already so badly suffering that it was described looking like ‘nothing but a muddle of blots’.

- The painting survived a WWII air raid bombing. Church officials sandbagged the entire wall- the wall closest to the painting collapsed.
- It has gone through 5 cleanings and restorations, the first being in 1726. The most recent cleaning that lasted for 20 years removed all other artists’ work. All that remains now is da Vinci’s original painting.

Hello old friend

Buckingham Palace

Big Ben
Tower Bridge, London

The Eiffel Tower
Gardens at Versailles
Hall of Mirrors, Versailles
Biking in Barcelona

I guess I'm a failure as a blogger- it's been too long! Time has been flying by with mid-term exams, spring break, and my parents coming to visit, but I'll start from where I left off...

For spring break I went to London, Paris, and Barcelona with three friends. Each city was awesome in its own way, so I don't think I could even choose a favorite. We stayed in a cute hostel in London right by a Tube station, so it was easy to get around. we saw Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, The Globe Theatre, and the Tower of London. The Tower of London was probably my favorite- it was stange standing in the same place where Anne Boelyn entered the tower to be beheaded. Also in the tower were the royal crown jewels- can't imagine how heavy some of those crowns and tiaras are to wear. While in London we also bought cheap tickets to "We Will Rock You"- a "jukebox musical" with all Queen songs. The plot was kind of silly, but the music was great and everyone was stomping their feet at the end yelling "we will we will rock you!". The cast also did an awesome job singing Bohemian Rhapsody as an encore.

A flight later and were in Paris. The first day we went to Versailles, the palace of many royals including Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. Every corner of every room was intricately decorated. The most amazing part of the palace was the hall of mirrors. It had ceiling to floor mirrors down a long hallway, with glass chandeliers covering the entire ceilling. The mirrors faced windows looking out onto the gardens. It was rare for most people to own a handheld mirror back then, so you can imagine how extravagant an entire hall of mirrors must have been. The most impressive part of Versailles was the gardens that seemed to neverend. You could literally get lost in the maze of trees, bushes, fountains, and ponds. The rest of our time in Paris was spent seeing the Louvre, Notre Dame, the Eiffel Tower, Champs Elysee, and the Moulin Rouge. It was incredible seeing the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo in person, but my favorites were 'Winged Victory' of Samothrace and da Vinci's 'Virgin of the Rocks' (I always want to say 'Virgin on the rocks', which sounds like some kind of mixed drink). The last thing we did in Paris was go to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It was a cloudy day, but the view was awesome.

There was so much to see in London and Paris we had to have every hour of every day planned out- which worked out perfectly, but was tiring. Barcelona was a great city to end with because we had no plans made beforehand. We slept in later, took our time, and enjoyed the warm sunny weather. The highlight of the trip was renting bikes and riding along the beach. We checked out some 'Gaudi architecture' and also went to a flamenco show on our last night. We returned to Perugia rejuvenated and with great pictures and memories. All in all, a superb spring break.

Napoli and Capri

Naples at sunset

Capri Capri at first sight... walking on the dock to the island

View of Mount Vesuvius from Naples
After a missed flight to Prague, (delayed trains and imaginary airlines- ever heard of Wizzair? Neither has anyone else... ) my roommate Nikki and I decided to make the best out of a bad situation and take a train to Naples from the Rome airport. Just two hours south of Rome lies "Napoli", a beautiful city on the coast, with Mount Vesuvius visible just an island away. After a lot of rainy and cold Perugia weather, it was exciting to finally experience warmth and lots of sunshine. After arriving in late afternoon, we spent the rest of the day walking along the water and watching the sunset. That night, we experienced out first 'dorm-style' hostel room- two girls in our room were from Australia and had been backpacking since November. The others were from England and Belgium.

The next day we hopped on a boat to the island of Capri. Botticelli painted the shore of Capri in "The Birth of Venus"- supposedly, she was born out of the water from a half-shell onto the shore. From first sight, Capri looked like a painting- crystal clear blue/green water, houses built into the mountain side, and the cloudy Mount Vesuvius in the distance. We walked on a long dock to reach the island, then spent an hour or so playing on a deserted beach with our shoes off and jeans rolled up. Although I could have spent all day watching the tide, we decided to explore the island. We took a bus up the winding roads to the city center. Carnevale, a festival like our Mardi Gras, was going on, so all the little kids were dressed up in costumes and throwing confetti everywhere. There was even a giant octopus moon-bounce. We walked around the hilly streets eating gelato and enjoying the nice weather. Later we took a bus to Anacapri, the highest point on the island. We watched the most beautiful sunset I've ever seen, then ate at a restaurant while waiting for our ferry. We also sampled limoncello, a lemon liqueur for which Naples and Capri are famous. It's an after-dinner liqueur served chilled in a small ceramic glass. Beware- it's verryy strong!

Although missing out on Prague was a big letdown, I probably wouldn't have gotten to see beautiful Naples or Capri otherwise. Sometimes things do turn out for the best...

Valentine's Day in Siena

Chapel of the Onda (Wave) Contrada. It's symbol is the dolphin, colors are blue and white. Before every Palio, the horse stands before this alter and gets blessed. (I told you they were serious...) The bell/clock tower in the piazza.

The central piazza where the Palio takes place. (Notice the sharp turns!)

My Valentine's day was spent in Siena on a class field trip. Siena is a very small town divided into 17 contradas, which are like neighborhoods. Each contrada has their own animal or symbol, which they are named after. The contradas date back to the Middle Ages, so each one has a long complicated history; even feuds between the contradas go way back- many Sienese don't even know why some contradas are considered their "enemy" contrada.

The main event in Siena is the Palio, a horse race around the central piazza, where jockeys ride bareback. The sharp turns make for an exciting race- mattresses line the buildings surrounding the piazza so the horses and jockeys don't get too badly bruised. If this race sounds familiar, it was the opening scene in the latest James Bond movie. This was a reenactment though, and the "race" only took place on one side of the piazza. Sienese live for the Palio- it happens twice a year and whatever contrada wins can torment the other contradas until there is a new winner. The Palio is taken very seriously; men and women will cry and comfort each other if their contrada loses, and the winning contrada throws a celebration dinner, with the horse as the guest of honor.

P.S. Thanks to UUMC for the birthday card!

Chianti and Firenze

Tuscan countrysideBiodynamic Farm

Gatto in the sun...
Taco the wiener dogPonte Vecchio

Morning on the Orno
Smallest car I've seen yet...
On top of the DuomoView from the top of the Dome- check out the shadow! Fresco in the Dome- "The Last Judgment"- doesn't it look the Gods are coming out of the painting??

This past weekend we did our first “real” traveling. I woke up at 6am on Friday to go to a field trip with my “History and Culture of Italian Food” class. My teacher is awesome- he’s from Germany but lives in Florence, and has a really thick German accent that all the students try to imitate. We took a bus to Chianti, a region in Tuscany; the ride there was amazing- rolling hills, vineyards, and rows and rows of olive trees- exactly what you would imagine Tuscany to look like. Our first stop was a biodynamic farm. Biodynamic agriculture is a method of organic farming; manure and compost are used instead of chemical fertilizers, and seeds are even planted during certain lunar phases. We were able to see goats and cows- only used for their milk- and I fell in love with the farm wiener dog named Taco. (Why am I always taking so many pictures of animals?) After touring the farm, we sampled cheese that was made from the cow and goat milk. I wonder what the farm workers would think of our powdered cheese that comes in the Kraft macaroni boxes…

After we said goodbye to Taco, we were off to lunch at the Macelleria Cecchini- a butcher shop run by world famous butcher, Dario Cecchini. He greeted us with tons of excitement and a huge smile. I’ve never met someone with such a love for meat… Dario has been a butcher for the past 33 years, and butchery has been in his family for 250 years. When he started speaking, it was evident how much he loved being a butcher and how he wanted to share his love of meat with us…or with some of us. At one point he said, “And to the vegetarians… I quote Hamlet: to beef or not to beef, that is the question.” Good one Dario…
You can read more about Dario and see pictures here:
http://www.latimes.com/features/food/la-fo-cecchini12mar12,1,4734851.story

Lunch marked the end of our field trip. The bus took us to Florence, only 45 minutes away, and dropped off those who wanted to stay for the weekend. My friend and I met up with our roommates who had taken the train earlier that day and we walked to “Hostel Veronique”… only 14 euro a night! Veronica, the owner of the hostel and past model, showed us to our room- not much to see, five beds and a chair in a room- pretttty good… I was expecting a blanket on the floor for 14 euro a night…

We only had one full day in Firenze, so all time was spent wisely. In the morning we walked to the Orno River and took pictures by Ponte Vecchio, Florence’s oldest bridge. Then we visited the Uffizi Gallery, where we saw amazing artwork by all of the Ninja Turtles- Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello. The “Annunciation” and “Adoration of the Magi”, both by da Vinci, were incredible to see in person, but “The Birth of Venus” by Botticelli was my absolute favorite. Right next to Venus was “Spring”, also by Botticelli. Seeing such famous paintings in person was kind of mind boggling… I just sat and stared.
Birth of Venus: http://abm-enterprises.net/artgall2/botticelli_birth_venus.jpg

Spring: http://arturovasquez.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/botticelli.jpg

Visiting the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore was probably the coolest thing we did in Florence. Construction of the Basilica began in 1296, and it was not structurally complete until 1436. This cathedral is larger than life… 375 feet tall. I was on a bus with friends when we rounded a corner and saw it for the first time- everyone let out a simultaneous gasp. After viewing the inner architecture, we decided to take the 436 steps to the top of the dome. The view of the city was unbelievable. You could see for miles and miles. One million pictures and 45 minutes later, we decided it was time to leave and began the 436 steps down.

Overall, Florence is a beautiful, beautiful city, but I’m glad to call Perugia my home. Florence is very touristy and it was strange walking around and hearing English being spoken. I love the small shops, family-run restaurants, and seeing the accordion-playing man with dreadlocks on a daily basis. It was good to be “home” after a weekend of travel.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

Beautiful Day in Perugia

A view on the way home from school

Basilica of San Pietro

Perugia was very lively today. Today was the "Festa di San Costanzo"-- the festival honoring Saint Costanzo, the patron saint of Perugia. There was a small band of little old men playing in the street and tents set up in the Piazza. There were also a million booths selling anything from puppies and turtles to underwear and cheese... the latter not together of course.

We went on a walk with my Italian class through the market and then visited the Basilica of San Pietro. The frescos were stunning (as usual) and the Basilica holds some of the most important pieces of artwork in Perugia. Very cool.

Classes have been going on for a full two weeks now and I already feel like I've been here forever. I also think I'm in love... with Leonardo da Vinci. "Leonardo da Vinci" is the title of one of my classes and it is too cool. He was an all-around genius and probably one of the most interesting people to read about. I will be going on an overnight field trip with my class to Milan and Florence in March to see his artwork.

I'm visiting a biodynamic farm in Tuscany tomorrow with another class and will be posting those pictures soon! Now for some fun Italian facts:

Doors open the opposite way

Italians are obsessed with "Nutella"- a chocolatey frosting-like spread

Milk comes in bottles no bigger than a litre

Wine is cheaper than water

The color purple is IN- every store window displays purple everything

Italians love shiny shoes and jackets...

That's all for now. Ciao!
XO

Assisi

Basilica of San Francesco from the top of AssisiConquering Assisi

Sunset from the top of Assisi

Yesterday I came pretty close to heaven.

Or so it seemed... Nikki and I visited Assisi this weekend, which is the birthplace of St. Francis. It is an absolutely beautiful town and just a 25 minute train ride from Perugia. It actually looks pretty similar to Perugia- same narrow and winding streets, but much more hilly. There are also little shops everywhere selling the most crosses and rosaries you could ever imagine... along with tons of weird souvenirs- think fake pistols and t-shirts with kittens on them... We took a bus from the Assisi train station to the city center. After dining on delicious paninis, we started our walk toward the Basilica of San Francesco.

The ceiling and frescoes in the Basilica were stunning. No pictures were allowed inside, otherwise, I'd probably post about 20 pictures of the frescoes on the walls depicting St. Francis's life. St. Francis was the son of a rich cloth merchant. After he had a vision of Jesus telling him to "repair 'my' house", he devoted his life to the church and gave up everything he owned- he even stripped naked in public to make his point. The man giving us a tour made sure to point out the fresco of him doing the Full Franky.

Many of the frescos were painted by Giotto. He was one of the first artists to ever experiment with depth perception, so some of the paintings looked a little "off". The lines didn't quite match up and some of the people in his paintings looked as tall as the buildings. Michelangelo also studied under Giotto. It's crazy to think these frescoes were done in the 1200s... Americans think anything from the 1800s is old!

After seeing the Basilica, we trekked to the very top of Assisi. Located at the top is a castle- Rocca Maggiore. The walk was intense- we weren't even walking on roads, but on a very narrow path on the side of a hill through mud and rocks (and rain!). We reached the top at the perfect time because the rain had stopped and the sun had just started to shine through the clouds. It seemed as close to heaven as we could get. The view from the top was beyond incredible- I think I took 30 pictures from the exact same spot. We sat for the longest time and just watched the clouds shift. Definitely heaven on earth!

More blogging and pictures to come soon- I'm going on a field trip to Tuscany this Friday!

Baci! (Kisses)

Lake Trasimeno

This past weekend we took a day trip to the nearby Lake Trasimeno. It was a little dreary, but still so beautiful. I couldn't take enough pictures of the hills, trees, and this fluffy little white dog running around. There was also the cutest 7 month old horse. The Italian man showing us around said the horse and little white dog are partners in crime and are always causing trouble. We were shown how to make pasta- a long and bruising process (who knew it took so much arm work?) and got to sample some of the best olive oil in Italy- Michael Schumacher, the famous race car driver, even has bottles shipped to him from this place!

Exploration

After a lot of cold and rainy weather, yesterday was sunny and in the upper 40s- a perfect Friday for exploring and picture taking! (We don’t have school on Fridays either- whoo!)

Perugia is abuzz with media- we even saw an NBC van. The trial concerning the female student who was murdered last year is going on, so there are policemen everywhere and it is the front page of every newspaper. We walked to the courthouse, but the entrance was barricaded and there were too many people to see anything. The turnout will be interesting, as I have heard different sides of the story. You can read more about it here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/photogalleries/localnews2008636417/

I had my first gelato yesterday! We even asked the owner to take our picture to document the occasion. She also sells delicious pastries (think chocolate croissants from the Coffee Grinder, but better!) and espresso- this place could be dangerous.

That’s all for now, but I will leave you with some observations I have made since being in Perugia:

- Everyone has a dog.
- Everyone dresses their dog in clothes.
- Italians (and I’m pretty sure all Europeans) LOVE Obama. They even have a song about him.

- The word “prego” can be used in almost any situation… and I think it is the equivalent to saying “no worries”.
- The older man who works at the small grocery store by our apartment might just be the nicest person alive—he ran after us down the street when we forgot some groceries and even gave us two free bottles of wine!

Ciao!

Greetings from Perugia!

Ciao!
It is only my third day in Perugia and I already know I'll never want to leave.

We arrived in Rome where it was warm and sunny and then rode on a charter bus for three hours through beautiful hills. We stayed in a hotel our first night and moved in our apartment the next day. Italy is veryyy different from the U.S. in so many ways. One of the most noticeable differences is how much they conserve resources. We only receive 7 hours of heat a day and since the weather is very cold, we wear all the layers we can around our apartment. Last night, my four roommates and I were eating dinner at our little kitchen table with hats and mittens on... a funny sight to see. Also, the water heater turns on and off so we've started to wash our hair in the sink in order to make our freezing showers as quick as possible! Little things like the water, very little lighting, a little laundry machine that we thought was a dishwasher, and a sink on the floor of the bathroom by the toilet.... will just take a little getting used to!

This week we are only taking our Italian class. We go from 9am-5pm, but with many breaks in-between. They are teaching us how to "survive" in Perugia; we are learning how to say things like, "Two tickets for l'autobus" and "Sono Americano"... these are the only things I could think of off the top of my head- obviously I am not very fluent yet. Usually I just speak Spanish and can get along okay. The Umbra Institute I is about 25 feet from our apartment door. There is also Umbra II, where I go for two of my other classes. It is about a 15 minute walk down winding, narrow, and STEEP cobblestone streets- quite the leg work-out. All classes start next Monday, so I am eager to see what they are like.

Internet access is limited, but I hope to be posting pictures and maybe a walking video tour of our apartment soon. More to come later!

Much Love,
Jenna