A Penny for Annie's Thoughts

WARNING: Blogging in Progress! Italy 2009

2009-03-01T14:54:00.070-05:00

Yes, David and I ARE in Italy - again!

It is our fourth trip in two years; do you get the idea we like it here?!?!?!?

We got great deals for our first three trips, which is why we went so often. For round-trip airfare, hotels, and train travel, we didn't pay more than $1,000 apiece. (I am the ruling QUEEN of finding travel bargains!)

But after our last trip last March, prices skyrocketed. A friend of mine went to Italy last June, and paid $1,600 just for airfare.

David and I weren't sure when we'd be able to afford to go again; but right after Christmas, prices dropped again, so we jumped at the chance.

We are SO lucky, and we know it.

This is actually a re-do of our first trip, in March of 2007. Same itinerary, anyway: 3 nights in Rome, 3 nights in Florence, and 3 nights in Venice.

The difference is that David is now a seasoned travel veteran and Italo-phile.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009 - Rome

We started out in my least favorite city.

I've always had a love-hate thing with Rome. On one hand, it's the home of marvels like the Pantheon, St. Peter's, the Coliseum. The problem is, those amazing things are plunked down in the middle of a big, noisy, rude city.

Our welcome to the city was the Hotel Porta Maggiore. It is rated three stars, but it was definitely the least "lovable" hotel of the trip. We stayed in the smallest, noisiest hotel room in the world.

There was a double bed with about 16 inches on each side and 2 feet along the bottom, and a teeny bathroom in which, if you sat on the toilet, your knees bumped the tiny little shower....

We're talking Small, with a capital S.

And the hotel is located on a busy traffic circle, and our room faced out to the road. Oh, and did I mention that it was near a hospital, so screaming ambulances sped by every two minutes or so...

On the other hand, it was looking out our windows that we saw the most amazing thing about the hotel - it is literally next to an ancient ruin built almost 2,000 years ago, in the year 52 - the Porta Maggiore, or larger gate. It is one of the eastern gates in the well-preserved third century Aurelian Walls of Rome, through which ran two ancient roads into the city.

The original gate was built by the emperor Claudius, and is formed by arches through two aqueducts.

You can see where the water flowed through channels in the top.

It was constructed as a monumental double archway built of white travertine marble. It contains inscriptions in praise of the emperors Claudius, Vespasian, and Titus for their work on the aqueducts.

Now cars drive through it!! Claudius must be turning over in his grave.

Here's a view of the hotel through the gate:

You just don't see that kinda stuff in Northampton.

So, the first evening, we walked down the street from the hotel, and walked by things like this:

I think this is part of the aqueduct system, which was so amazing in ancient Rome. Romans constructed numerous aqueducts to supply water to cities and industrial sites. They were amongst the greatest engineering feats of the ancient world, and set a standard not equaled for over a thousand years after the fall of Rome.

Now it's an impediment to local traffic.
Darn those ancient ruins, anyway.

Wednesday, February 25:

THE PANTHEON

Our first full day in Rome, we did the same thing we did on our FIRST first day in Rome... we headed for our favorite Roman building - the Pantheon - the temple that the Romans dedicated to all their gods.

It always tickles me how it seems to just appear like an ancient mirage as you are walking through the modern city.

Whoa, there it is!
I'd know that dome anywhere.

(Taken from the Piazza della Minerva with Bernini's Egyptian obelisk and marble elephant in front of the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva (you can see the back of the Pantheon in the photo).

The Pantheon, from above

We LOVE LOVE LOVE the Pantheon.

But then, we ARE architecture geeks.

Originally built in 27 BC, and rebuilt in its current form in 126 AD, it is the oldest standing domed structure in Rome, the best preserved of all Roman buildings, and perhaps the best preserved building of its age in the world.

And it is GORGEOUS.

The Pantheon is extraordinary not only for its architecture and beauty, but also the fact that it represents a true cultural revolution: It was the first temple built for the common people. In ancient times temples were only for vestals and priests. Regular people were denied access, under penalty of death.

The Pantheon overturned this concept for the first time, making a place of worship open to everyone. It can be considered the forerunner of all subsequent places of worship - churches, synagogues or mosques - to be built in the world.

Imagine building this 2,000 years ago!

How did they do it?

Take the 16 gray granite columns in front, for example. They were quarried in Egypt's eastern mountains. Each was 39 feet tall, five feet in diameter, and weighed 60 tons. These were dragged on wooden sledges over land, floated by barge down the Nile, transferred to vessels to cross the Mediterranean to the Roman port of Ostia, and transferred back onto barges and up the Tiber River to Rome.

And then they had to stand the darn things up. Yikes.

The base of a column - HUGE!

Much of the Pantheon’s greatness comes from its mighty dome, which was the largest dome in the world for more than 1700 years, and is still the largest unreinforced solid concrete dome in the world.

Raising it using bricks alone would have been impossible; the ceiling would not have withstood the weight and would have collapsed. And since the Romans didn't have reinforced concrete, they had to find another solution.

This dome was built with a single casting of concrete in subsequent layers. The concrete was lightened by mixing it with lighter stones as it neared the highest point: Initially with heavy travertine, going upwards using progressively lighter materials, up to the top layer made with light-weight pumice.

When you walk through the huge bronze doors, the effect is overwhelming. You find yourself in this huge empty space which makes you feel tiny.

I guess this is how you were supposed to feel in front of the gods for whom it was built 2000 years ago.

The space is a perfect sphere, symbolizing the vault of heaven. The height of the dome is the same as its diameter, creating perfect balance and unique harmony; it is round so as to place all gods at the same level of importance.

The only interior light comes from a big hole in that dome, called the oculus, or eye. As the sun moves, striking patterns of light illuminate the walls and floors of different colors of granite and marble.

One of the most impressive things for me inside the Pantheon is Raphael's tomb. Raphael was one of the most noted artists of the High Renaissance, and lived 1483 -1520. The inscription on the sarcophagus says it holds the "Ossa et cineres," or "Bones and ashes" of the great artist.

It is also inscribed with a beautiful epigraph written by Pietro Bembo:

"Ille Hic Est Raphael Timuit Quo Sospite Vinci
Rerum Magna Parens Et Moriente Mori,"

meaning:

"Here lies Raphael,
by whom Nature feared to be outdone
while he was living, and when he died,
feared that she herself would die."

I love that.

I also love the statue called "St. Joseph with Christ as a Child" created by Vincenzo de Rossi around 1550.

(Go, Sisters of St. Joseph!!!)

We spent a good long time at the Pantheon, just loving the architecture and the art and the history.

When we went outside, I got hit on by a GLADIATOR!!!

Here he is, walking around outside the Pantheon:

He walked up to me and said,
"Would you like to have your
picture taken with a Gladiator?"
Now there's a line I never heard before.

Then he said, "Would your boyfriend be jealous?"

I told him not to worry, since he
was the one with the sword.

If you know what I mean...

David took a billion pictures, which he was planning to make into a book.

Sadly, his camera was lost or stolen our last night in Rome, and with it, all those great photos. I feel so bad for him.

Church of St. Agnes in Agony

We left the Pantheon and walked around, and ended up in the famous Piazza Navona. Behind Bernini's Fountain of Rivers is the Church of St. Agnes in Agony.

This Church memorializes the site of St. Agnes’s suffering and death.

But the name of this church is unrelated to the agony of the martyr. In agone was the ancient name of piazza Navona ("piazza in agone"). It meant "in the site of the competitions," because piazza Navona was an ancient stadium for footraces.

Agnes, a young Christian convert, is honored as one of the four great virgin martyrs of the Christian Church. She died for her faith in 303, when she was only 12, during the reign of the Roman emperor Diocletian, who ordered the last great persecution of Christians. Rather than become the wife of a Roman prefect, Agnes died for the sake of her faith and her virginity as "the bride of Christ."

According to legend, hair miraculously and instantly grew to cover her entire body when her torturers stripped her in public. Her bravery did much to curtail the brutality of the Romans persecutions and sway public favor toward the Christians. She became one of the most widely honored of Roman martyrs and one of the most popular of Christian saints.

You can see Agnes' tiny skull in a silver box in one of the main chapels of this church.

Can you see it?
It's in the round window in the chest at the bottom:

Construction of the church started in 1652. The interior is rich in precious marbles, gilded stucco,statues, and frescoes.

A stairway leads underground to where St Agnes was killed, and on the altar a marble relief records the miracle by which the martyr's hair grew to cover her body.

The tomb of St. Catherine of Siena is also in the church.

We didn't know it, but under the church there are substantial remains of an ancient Roman house with beautiful ceiling frescoes and a main altar cupola. To see the underground ruins, you need to apply to the Sacristy.

Pope Innocent X, the guy who bankrolled many of the churches and artwork around Rome, including this church and the fountain in front of it, is buried inside.

St. Thomas' finger is also here. Go figure.

The Roman Taxi Tango

Tonight we tangled with a Roman cabdriver. We took a cab back to the hotel after dinner. It was a short ride; it should have been about 8 euros. The driver told us it was 18. I told him in Italian that was too much - he started rattling off that there were surcharges for this and that and the other. We decided to just pay him and get out.
David handed him a 20, and we started to get out. The driver swung around waving a 5 at us, and saying we only gave him a 5. What a liar! That has never happened to me before, and I didn't know what to do. We shoulda just gotten out and left, but instead we argued with him. He intimidated us, and we gave him another 20. So our $10 cab ride cost us about $45. Damn cab driver.

Once burned, twice shy, they say.

Thursday, February 26 - Vatican City

Our goal today was to spend an entire day Thursday at Vatican city. I really wanted David to see the Sistene Chapel.

But we had a bit of a transportation issue.

There was a tram stop right in front of our hotel, and on the front it said "Termini," which means train station. We needed to get to the station to catch a bus to Vatican City, so it seemed like a good idea to hop on the tram. We knew where the station was, and what it looked like. We figured it would be easy to hop on, hop off when we saw it.

Tram stop in front of the Porta Maggiore,
which was right outside our hotel.

We got on and rode for a few minutes, and kept looking out the window for the station. At one point, most of the people got off the tram, and we wondered what was near that they were going to.

Then the tram did a u-turn and started going back toward our hotel. It occurred to us that the last tram stop must have been the closest you could get to the station. Even though we couldn't see it, it was the next block over. We missed the stop.

No problem, I said to David.
We'll just ride the loop,
and now we know where to get off.

How big a loop could it make?

Two hours later, from the far reaches
of the bowels of peripheral Rome,
we knew how big a loop it made...

A mighty freakin' big loop.

We spent the whole morning on the tram before we got back to the station. So much for our full day at the Vatican. But we saw parts of Rome we didn't know existed.

Anyway, we finally got to the station, and took our bus to St. Peter's. Then, we had to get to the Sistene Chapel, which is in the Vatican Museums.

It is kind of a big production to get in there. You have to walk around the Vatican city walls from St. Peter's almost a mile to get the entrance.

Walking around the Vatican walls.

The entrance to the Vatican Museums.

Then you have to walk about another mile to get through all the museums.

There are 54 galleries, or "salas" in total, with the Sistine Chapel being the very last sala within the Museum. Visitors need to proceed through the other 53 salas before earning their reward with access to the Sistine.

They put in a beautiful new staircase in the museum entrance a few years ago.

one of the rooms you pass through
on the way to the Sistene Chapel

Some of the most famous rooms you walk through are the four Stanze di Raffaello ("Raphael's rooms") famous for their grand fresco sequences painted by Raphael. (Remember him, buried in the Pantheon?)

The "Stanze of Raphael" formed part of the apartment on the second floor of the Pontifical Palace that Pope Julius II and his successors lived in.

The largest is the Sala di Costantino, dedicated to the victory of Christianity over paganism. The next room is the Stanza di Eliodoro, which represents the heavenly protection granted by Christ to the Church.

Vatican Museums - Raphael Rooms, Room of The Segnatura

The Stanza della segnatura brings into harmony the spirits of antiquity and Christianity, representing the wisdom and harmony which Renaissance humanists perceived between Christian teaching and Greek philosophy.

The School of Athens, which is perhaps Raphael's most famous fresco.
It represents the truth acquired through reason. He painted it when he was 27.

It's a collection of the most famous thinkers of the Greek Age; Plato is in the center pointing to the heavens while holding his treatise on the origin of the world. Next to him is his pupil Aristotle, holding a copy of his book, Ethics. Socrates, in the olive green robe, is talking to Alcibiades, Xenophon and Alexander the Great. Pythagoras is writing in a book. Diogenes, in a blue robe, is relaxing on the steps. In the lower right, Ptolemy holds an earth sphere while Zoroaster holds a celestial sphere. Euclid is next to them pointing down at a blackboard.

The fourth room, Stanza dell'incendio del Borgo, was named for the Fire in the Borgo fresco which depicts Pope Leo IV making the sign of the cross to extinguish a raging fire in Rome near the Vatican in 847.

FINALLY, we got to The Sistine Chapel.

It takes at least an hour to get in there, if there is no crowd. We were really lucky - there was NO crowd. That's unheard of.

It's a real show-stopper!

Michelangelo painted 12,000 square feet of the chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512, under the patronage of Pope Julius II.

We just sat down and tried to take it all in for about an hour.

Even though it is widely believed to be his crowning achievement in painting, Michelangelo made it known from the outset that he would prefer to decline. He considered himself first and foremost a sculptor, and believed his work in the Chapel would only serve the Pope's need for grandeur.

The Pope offered to allow Michelangelo to paint biblical scenes of his own choice as a compromise. After the work was finished, there were more than 300.

Michelangelo decided to use the ceiling to represent the history of mankind before the coming of Christ.

The ceiling has a series of nine paintings showing God's Creation of the World, God's Relationship with Mankind, and Mankind's Fall from God's Grace.

Years later, Michelangelo also painted the wall above the altar with The Last Judgement from 1535-1541.

He was in his sixties when he began the painting, which took 450 days to complete.

The Last Judgment is a depiction of the second coming of Christ and the Apocalypse. The souls of humanity rise and descend to their fates as judged by Christ and his saintly entourage. The wall on which it is painted looms out slightly over the viewer as it rises, and is meant to be somewhat fearful and to instill piety and respect for God's power.

The Last Judgment was an object of a bitter dispute between Cardinal Carafa and Michelangelo. Because he depicted naked figures, the artist was accused of immorality and obscenity. Carafa organized a censorship campaign (known as the "Fig-Leaf Campaign") to remove the frescoes. The genitalia were later covered by an artist whom history remembers by the derogatory nickname "Il Braghettone" ("the breeches-painter").

That Michaelangelo - he sure could paint...

...but most people don't know he had a wicked sense of humor:

The famous "God creates Adam"...

... look closer:
pass the remote!

Sorry; I couldn't help myself.

After we left the Sistene, we went to the Vatican's Pinacoteca gallery, which houses paintings and tapestries from the 11th to the 19th centuries.

We wanted to see the music-making angels by Forli, painted around 1480.

They were beautiful!

The gallery also features:

Bernardo Daddi's masterpiece of early
Italian Renaissance art, Madonna del Magnificat:

The Stefaneschi triptych by Giotto:

The front shows Christ enthroned with angels and cardinal Stefaneschi, between the crucifixion of St. Peter on the left and the martyrdom of St. Paul on the right. The bottom shows the Madonna and Child enthroned between two angels and the twelve apostles.

The Deposizione di Cristo by Caravaggio:

...and a million other masterpieces.
After awhile, it becomes too much to take in.

Then we left the Vatican Museums and walked the mile back around the Vatican walls to St. Peter's - a magnificent church if ever there was one.

As David said the first time we were here - if being here doesn't make you a convert, nothing will. The magnificence is overwhelming.

It is the world's largest church - able to hold up to 60,000 people, and has the tallest dome in the world.
Construction on the current basilica, over the old Constantinian basilica (which was over the grave of Saint Peter), began in 1506, and the finished church was dedicated in 1626.

It takes a while to move all around and see the art and religious items that jam every inch of the huge church.

One of the highlights for me is Michelangelo's Pieta, a depiction of the body of Jesus on the lap of his mother Mary after the crucifixion, carved in 1499 by the 24-year-old sculptor.

I first saw this sculpture when I was 8 years old, when it was the main draw for the Vatican pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair. I've never forgotten that. I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

I'm always grateful to see it again, intact, especially since it was damaged in 1972 by a guy named Laszlo Toth, who walked into the church and attacked the statue with a hammer while shouting "I am Jesus Christ." After the attack, it was painstakingly restored and returned to its place in St. Peter's, and is now protected by a bullet-proof acrylic panel.

I also love the Cathedra Petri or "throne of St. Peter," an enshrined chair which was claimed to have been used by the apostle.
When we were walking by it, I was suddenly so moved by the beauty I started to cry, and couldn't stop until we left the church.

Speaking of the saint, I really wanted to get on the private tour to see his tomb, which is two levels under the church. You have to apply to the Vatican excavations office months in advance, which I did - but did not get permission to visit while we were there. I was really disappointed.

Side view beneath the high altar showing the
relation to the remaining portion of Peter's grave.

We did go into the church grottoes - under the main floor - which holds the tombs of 91 popes, going back centuries.

I had not been down there before, and It was really interesting.

The most recent interment was Pope John Paul II, on April 8, 2005. The Vatican only opened the grottoes to the public after he died, because there was such a demand to see him. David really wanted to see the grave of JPII - who he idolized.

The tomb sits alone in an arched alcove beneath the basilica. A rectangular white slab of marble bears John Paul's name carved with gold in Latin script:

"IOANNES PAULUS PPII"

(PP is the Latin abbreviation for pope). It also gives the dates of his 26-year pontificate and has an interlocking X and P, the monogram for Christ.
There was a huge crowd of people there in front of it praying and crying. Very moving.

Friday, February 27 - off to Florence!

Friday, we took the train to Florence. YAY!
We're outta Rome!!!

It only takes an hour and a half to go between the cities, but the difference is night and day. Rome is NYC, Florence is San Francisco.

Our hotel, the Mediteranneo, was fantastic! It is on the banks of the Arno River just a short distance from the center of Florence. Definitely four stars. And our room and bathroom were HUGE!!!!!
Our room wasn't quite ready, so we walked down the street to a cute little place for lunch.

David had some chicken liver crostini as an appetizer.

Then we headed for the Duomo -
because, well, you just gotta.
It is the heart and soul of the city.

First we went into the Baptistry, which in four visits the the city, I had never done. The small hexagonal building is one of the oldest buildings in the city, built between 1059 and 1128.
The Baptistry is renowned for its three sets of artistically important bronze doors with relief sculptures by Lorenzo Ghiberti. The were commissioned in 1401 to commemorate the city's deliverance from the plague.

Michaelangelo called these doors "the Gates of Paradise" because of their beauty, and they were said to have begun the Renaissance. But inside, which most people don't see, the entire domed ceiling was covered in gold Byzantyne mosaics of scenes from the bible.

I was so glad we ponied up the 4 euros - it was magnificent.
The earliest mosaics, works of many unknown Venetian craftsmen (including probably Cimabue), date from 1225. The covering of the ceiling was probably not completed until the 14th century. The scenes on the ceiling depict different stories in horizontal tiers of mosaic : (starting at the top) Choirs of Angels, Thrones, Dominations, and Powers; stories from the Book of Genesis; stories of Joseph; stories of Mary and the Christ and finally in the lower tier: stories of Saint John the Baptist.

This mosaic cycle depicts in the three sections above the high altar, the Last Judgment with a gigantic, majestic Christ and the Angels of Judgment at each side, the rewards of the saved leaving their tomb in joy (at Christ's right hand), and the punishments of the damned (at Christ's left hand). This last part is particularly famous: evil doers are burnt by fire, roasted on spits, crushed with stones, bit by snakes, gnawed and chewed by hideous beasts.

Just think: Dante was baptized here, and grew up looking at these mosaics; these images of death and resurrection must have had a deep impact on him. (Anybody read The Divine Comedy?)

The Duomo

After we left the Baptistry, we did go into the church, which is surprisingly plain inside compared to its extravagant exterior. The relative bareness of the church corresponds with the austerity of religious life of the times.
We did go down into the crypt, where you can see the excavations of the earlier church. Brunelleschi's tomb is there - he's the dude that figured out how to construct that magnificent dome on the Duomo.

The inscription simply reads:
"Here lies the body of the great ingenious man
Filippo Brunelleschi of Florence."

The construction of the dome is an interesting story, which I read about in a great book called Brunelleschi's Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture.

"The problem arose because the citizens of Florence and their leaders intentionally placed themselves in a quandary by approving a plan for the church with an intentional flaw, an accepted flaw: the crossing for the dome was such a great span that the current technology did not allow the distance to be covered - the church would have no roof until technology caught up with the dreams of these optimistic citizens. Construction began in 1296, and by 1417 the builders and residents of Florence still had no solution to a problem created by their long dead grandparents."

In 1418, after more than a century of construction, the church was finished, except for the dome. The problem was that when the building was designed in the previous century, no one had any idea about how such a dome was to be built!

Up until that point some of the brightest minds in architecture had tried to solve the riddle with ideas as complex as filling the entire space with dirt and building the dome on top of it, to building in supports on the floor of the cathedral to hold up the dome.

In 1419, a competition was held to solve the problem.

Of the many plans submitted, one stood out—a daring and unorthodox solution to vaulting the huge dome. It was offered not by a master mason or carpenter, but by a goldsmith and clock maker named Filippo Brunelleschi, then 41, who would dedicate the next 28 years to solving the puzzles of the dome’s construction. In the process, he did nothing less than reinvent the field of architecture.

Work started on the dome in 1420.

Brunelleschi's solutions were ingenious and unprecedented: the distinctive octagonal design of the double-walled dome, resting on a drum and not on the roof itself, allowed for the entire dome to be built without the need for scaffolding from the ground.

Brunelleschi's design contained two shells for the dome, an inner shell made of a lightweight material, and an outer shell of heavier wind-resistant materials. By creating two domes, he solved the problem of weight during construction because workers could sit atop the inner shell to build the outer shell of the dome.

To support the dome Brunelleschi devised an ingenious ring and rib support from oak timbers. Although this type of support structure is common in modern engineering, his idea and understanding about the forces needed to sustain the dome was revolutionary. The rings hug both shells of the dome, and the supports run through them. Other than a few modifications to remove rotted wood, the supports still hold up the entire dome.

Brunelleschi used more than 4 million bricks in the construction, and he invented a new hoisting machine for raising the masonry needed for the dome. (He got the world's first patent for it!)

This enormous construction weighs 37,000 tons. It is still the largest masonry dome in the world.

David calls it the B.A.D. - Big Ass Dome.

When Brunelleschi started the project, his plans were mocked and called unfeasible by many other architects, including Ghiberti, who Brunelleschi beat out for the commission.

Brunelleschi, deeply offended, feigned sickness and left for Rome, leaving the project in the hands of Ghiberti, who soon had to admit that the whole project was beyond him. In 1423 Brunelleschi was back in charge and took over sole responsibility.

The rest is architectural history.

He engineered the perfect placement of brick and stone, built ingenious hoists and cranes (some among the most renowned machines of the Renaissance) to carry an estimated 70 million pounds hundreds of feet into the air, and designed the workers’ platforms and routines so carefully that only one man died during the decades of construction. And he did it all while defying those who said the dome would surely collapse.

This drama was played out amidst plagues, wars, political feuds, and the intellectual ferments of Renaissance Florence—from Brunelleschi’s bitter, ongoing rivalry with Ghiberti to the near capture of Florence by the Duke of Milan.

Denounced at first as a madman, Brunelleschi was celebrated at the end as a genius.

A huge sculpture of Brunelleschi sits outside in the Piazza del Duomo,
looking thoughtfully up towards his greatest achievement,
the dome that would forever dominate the panorama of Florence.

Interesting art history sidenote:

Besides accomplishments in architecture, Brunelleschi is also credited with inventing one-point linear perspective, which revolutionized painting and allowed for naturalistic styles to develop as the Renaissance digressed from the stylized figures of medieval art.

Dinner at the Famous Il Latini

Tonight, we wanted to have dinner at Il Latini, which David's sister Ruth said was her favorite restaurant in Florence. (I LOVE that Ruth has a favorite restaurant in Florence!) She told us it's also the favorite restaurant of Rachel Ray, and I hear Tony Bennett loves the place, so she's in good company.

She described her experience eating there:
A big crowd gathers outside the restaurant, eagerly awaiting the 7:30 p.m. opening. The atmosphere is festive; the restaurant staff brings out free wine and snacks.

The doors open, and the staff seats everyone at huge tables, mixing and matching guests into big groups. They don't even bring menus: the just bring platters and platters of a variety of wonderful food to be shared family style. Everyone is laughing and sharing food and wine, and it is fantastic!

Here was our experience eating there:
We arrived at quarter of 8 to find that everyone was already seated in groups, and starting to eat. The staff was able to seat us at a small table in the back by ourselves, and handed us menus. MENUS?!?!?! I want the big platters of stuff and the big tables of happy diners! Because we were alone, we ordered our two dishes, and that was that. The food WAS fantastic, though.

Next time we're getting there early.

Saturday, February 28 - Fabulous Florence

This morning we got up kind of late, and headed for the Ponte Vechhio, which was built in 1345, to have breakfast at a little cafe. It's hard to be us.

Then we strolled around and looked it the shops - I love the shoes and gloves!

Our goal was to walk up to the Boboli Gardens.

Located behind the Pitti Palace, the main seat of the Medici grand dukes of Tuscany at Florence, they are some of the first and most familiar formal 16th century Italian gardens. Basically it is an outdoor museum of garden sculpture.

The gardens are home to a distinguished collection of sculptures dating from the 16th through the 18th centuries, with some Roman antiquities. It is a huge park, and because of all the greenery, is known as "the lungs of Florence."

If you climb to the top of Boboli Hill, there are amazing panoramic views of the city of Florence.

You can always see that "big-ass dome."

... and the gorgeous Tuscan countryside.

There is a very interesting Grotto, built by Vasari between 1583 and 1593.

The Grotto's statues are remarkable examples of Mannerist architecture and culture (1520-1595), notable for its intellectual sophistication as well as artificial (as opposed to naturalistic) qualities. The damp grottoes were cool places to retreat from the Italian sun.

It is decorated internally and externally with stalactites, and originally equipped with waterworks and luxuriant vegetation.

It is divided into three main sections. The first one was frescoed to create the illusion of a natural grotto, that is a natural refuge to allow shepherds to protect themselves from wild animals.

Other rooms in the Grotto contain Giambologna's famous Bathing Venus:

...and an 18th-century Paris and Helen by Vincenzo de Rossi.

Helen and Paris

Neptune

We visited the Giardino del Cavaliere, The "Cavalier's Garden", with its monkey fountain. This is where Italy's first potatoes were grown, and silkworms used to be bred.

In that garden is the Museo delle Porcellane - the Porcelain Museum - housed in the 18th century Palazzina del Cavaliere since 1973. It has displays of Italian, French and German porcelain and a collection from Vienna formerly in the possession of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany.

There was a bookstore, and to my joy, a bookstore kitty!

and garden kitties!

I LOVE kitties!

... and I LOVE David!

At the exit gate is this humorous, ribald, and
famous statue of Bacchus on a turtle.
Called the Bacchino: it is Valerio Cioli's satiric portrait
of court dwarf Pietro Barbino as Bacchus, 1560.

Some say if Michaelangelo's David is the "before" picture,
this is the "after" picture.

Basilica San Miniato Al Monte

I had read that there was a beautiful old church on the hill overlooking Florence where the Monks did Gregorian chants everyday at 5:30. We took a cab from the gardens to the church of Saint Miniato on the Mountain.

Basilica San Miniato Al Monte stands atop one of the highest points in the city. It and has been described as the finest Romanesque structure in Tuscany and one of the most beautiful churches in Italy. Construction of the present church was begun in 1013.

The facade of the church is covered with white and green marbles, in the characteristic Florentine Romanesque style of the 11th-13th century.

At the top is a gold mosaic from 13th century representing Christ on a throne between the Madonna and San Miniato.

The unfinished bell tower stands testament to the siege of Florence in 1530. Charles V and Medici Pope Clement VII sent troops and laid siege to the newly declared Republic of Florence to reinstate the Medici dukes. San Miniato al Monte was a prime fortress on top of the hill, and was bombarded relentlessly.

Michelangelo was actually in charge of the defense of the Basilica. He took timber and cobbling and threw it up against the bell tower to deter soldiers from climbing it. To protect it from the force of cannon balls, he suspended mattresses from the sides to absorb the shock. He would spend his days up on the hill until the skirmish ended.

The interior is magnificent.

It is extremely unusual, with the choir raised on a platform above the large crypt. It has changed little since it was first built starting in 1013.

One of the masterpieces is the inlaid marble canopy over the altar, built in the 1400s. Inside the canopy is covered with Majolica medallions by Della Robbia.

St. Miniato was known as the first evangeliser and Christian martyr in Florence. He is thought to have been an Armenian prince who left his home to make a pilgrimage to Rome.

In about 250, he arrived in Florence and took up life as a hermit, but
became a victim of the persecutions of the Emperor Decius and was beheaded.

Legend has it that, after his decapitation, he picked up his head, put it back
on his shoulders, and went to die in the cave on the mountain where he had lived.

That cave is now the location of this church which bears his name.

Another highlight is the Sacristy, which is covered with frescoes which tell the life story of St. Benedict. They were painted by Spinello Aretino from 1387 -1388.

There is also a beautiful pulpit dated 1209.

On the side is an interesting column composed of a lion, a monk, and an eagle with outstretched wings.

The austere crypt, finished about 1062, is divided into seven small aisles by 38 slender columns (some of them coming from ancient roman buildings).

The remains of San Miniato are in the Romanesque altar of the Crypt.

The wrought iron railing dates back to the 1338.

The ceiling vaults were frescoed in gold by Taddeo Gaddi in 1342.

This is where the monks chant and sing Mass in Latin, a cappella, every day at 5:30. We gathered there a about 25 other people, and listened, spellbound. In this ancient crypt, we were hearing these monks chant and they have for the past 1000 years. It was incredible.

After the chanting, we went outside to look out over Florence.

There's a wonderful view of the city from up here.

The whole church complex is surrounded by defensive walls, originally built hastily by Michelangelo during the siege, and in 1553 expanded into a true fortress by Cosimo I de' Medici.

The walls now enclose a large cemetery, the Porte Sante, laid out in 1854.

It is very interesting.

Many famous Italians are buried here, like Carlo Collodi, creator of Pinocchio; politician Giovanni Spadolini, painter Pietro Annigoni, poet and author Luigi Ugolini, film producer Mario Cecchi Gori, sculptor Libero Andreotti, writer Giovanni Papini, and physicist Bruno Benedetto Rossi.

Some of the vaults and graves are just beautiful.

We walked around long enough to wait for the sun to set over bella Firenza.

We caught a bus down the steep hill and into town, and headed for our favorite restaurant, which is near the Piazza Signoria.

David wanted to get a hair cut, so when we passed a barbershop, we went in.

The barber didn't speak English, so I translated, and David got a great haircut - for 24 euros - about $30.

Bello!

We continued down the street, and found our favorite rosticceria.
There are cases full of the most amazing looking food... We said: we'll take one of those, and two of those, and some of that...

Then the owner put together these wonderful platters for us - pasta, chicken stuffed with sausage, porchetta, vegetables, potatoes: and all of it out of this world!!!!

We were the only ones in the place, and we started talking to the woman, whose name is Anna. She didn't speak any English. We talked for an hour - about Italy, and the US, and our trip, and she was very complimentary about my Italian. It was GREAT!!!

It was a completely
perfect day.

Sunday, March 1- Our Last Day in Florence

This morning, we got up early enough to have breakfast at the hotel, which is included in our package. It was a revelation! At the hotel in Rome, we got bread, sliced cold cuts and cheese, and that's about it. Here, we got everything from fabulous fancy pastries and fresh fruit to bacon and scrambled eggs. Yum.

Santa Croce
After breakfast, we headed for Santa Croce, one of my favorite churches in Florence.

It is called the "Pantheon of Italian glories" because of all the famous people buried here.

The French writer Stendhal was so dazzled by the beauty of Santa Croce that he was unable to walk:

"I was in a sort of ecstasy, from the idea of being in Florence, close to the great men whose tombs I had seen. Absorbed in the contemplation of sublime beauty, I reached the point where one encounters celestial sensations. I had palpitations of the heart ... Life was drained from me. I walked with the fear of falling."

This condition is now known as the Stendhal syndrome, and Florentine doctors treat dozens of cases a year.

The church was begun in 1294 and was completed and consecrated in 1442. But it remained faceless until the neo-Gothic facade was added in 1857.
The Gothic interior is cavernous, austere and chilly, with huge pointed stone arches creating the aisles and an echoing nave trussed with wood beams.

Inside you’re reminded at every step of the city’s vast cultural riches: here are the tombs of some really big heavy hitters in Italian history.

The most exciting is a mad contraption containing the bones of the most venerated of Renaissance masters, Michelangelo Buonarroti, who died of a fever in Rome in 1564 at the ripe old age of 89. The pope wanted him buried in the Eternal City, but Florentines managed to sneak his body back to Florence.

The three figures which sit in mourning for Michaelangelo
are his arts: Painting, Architecture, and Sculpture.

The tomb of Michelangelo is immediately to the right as you enter the church; he is said to have chosen this spot himself so that the first thing he would see on Judgment Day, when the graves of the dead fly open, would be Brunelleschi's dome through Santa Croce's open doors.

Standing opposite is the final resting place of Galileo Galilei, (1564-1642), the scientist who figured out everything from the action of pendulums and the famous law of bodies falling at the same rate to discovering the moons of Jupiter, and asserting that the earth revolved around the sun. This last one got him in trouble with the church, which tried him in the Inquisition and excommunicated him.

Galileo lived out the rest of his days under house arrest near Florence and wasn't allowed a Christian burial until 1737, nearly 100 years after his death.

Giulio Foggini designed this tomb for him, complete with a relief of the solar system -- with the sun at the center.

(The pope finally got around to lifting the excommunication in 1992. Italians still bring him fresh flowers.)

There is the tomb of artist Lorenzo Ghiberti, sculptor of the Gates of Paradise doors on the Baptistery near the Duomo:

This is the tomb of Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527), the philosopher, writer, and Italian politician considered the founder of modern political science.
A true Renaissance Man, he was a diplomat, musician, poet, playwright, politician, philosopher, and foremost, a Civil Servant of the Florentine Republic. His famous book The Prince was the perfect practical manual for a powerful Renaissance ruler.

This is the tomb of Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868), composer of the Barber of Seville and the William Tell Overture.

Near Michelangelo stands a 19th-century cenotaph to Dante Alighieri, Italy's greatest poet, whose Divine Comedy is the basis of the Italian language.

In 1301, Dante was exiled from his hometown Florence on trumped-up embezzlement charges, and spent 20 bitter years in Ravenna, where he died in 1321.

By the 19th century, the Florentines began to regret their decision, and built this tomb for his remains. Ravenna, where he had found refuge, would not give up his body, and he continues to rest there today.

The floor is paved with worn tombstones. Being buried in this hallowed sanctuary got you one step closer to Heaven, so the richest families of the day paid big bucks to stake out small rectangles of the floor.

The church also has a robe that belonged to St. Francis.

There is an elaborate pulpit (1472-76) carved by Benedetto di Maiano with scenes from the life of St. Francis.

Cimabue crucifix, 1288.

The Cimabue crucifix, one of the most famous crucifixes ever created, is here. This masterpiece was created in 1288 by the artist Cenni de Peppi, also known as Cimabue. It was incorporated into the incredible fresco artwork and design of the church of Santa Croce.

It was severely damaged in a flood in the church in 1966. It now is housed in the Refectory of the Museum of Santa Croce. Restoration of the painting has been considered, but current restoration techniques cannot yet repair the damage.

There are also many works here by Giotto.

One of Giotto's most well-known works, the Death of St. Francis, is here. Monks weep and wail with convincing pathos.

Unfortunately, big chunks of the scene are missing because a tomb was stuck on top of the painting in the 18th century.

Most people miss seeing Giotto's fresco, Francis Receiving the Stigmata.

There are also several masterworks by Donatello, a famous early Renaissance Italian artist and sculptor from Florence (1386 – 1466).

The Annunciation (1433) by Donatello.

In the Bardi Chapel, you can see this legendary Crucifix by Donatello, carved in 1425.

When he finished carving it, Donatello excitedly called his friend Brunelleschi to see this Crucifix. Brunelleschi, who shared the prevailing view that refinement and grace were more important than realism, criticized the work. "Why Donatello, you've put a peasant on the cross!"

"It's not as easy to make one as to criticize. So get some wood and try to make one yourself," Donatello told him.

Brunelleschi did, and when it was finished he invited Donatello to come to his studio. Donatello arrived bearing food gathered up in his apron. When he saw Brunelleschi's elegant Crucifix, he let the lunch drop to the floor.

After a few moments, he turned to Brunelleschi and said humbly, "Your job is making Christs, and mine is making peasants."

Tastes change, and to modern eyes Donatello's "peasant" stands as the stronger work.

(Brunelleschi's crucifix is at the church of Santa Maria Novella.)

Against the wall is an altarpiece of the Incredulity of St. Thomas by Giorgio Vasari (1572).

The painting shows Christ and St. Thomas in the center, framed by arches, with the subordinated figures focusing attention toward the narrative center of the painting.

Agnolo Gaddi, a pupil of Giotto and one of the most inventive and influential painters in 14th-century Florence, contributed many masterpieces to this church.

He frescoed the Baroncelli Chapel.

He frescoed a Legend of the True Cross cycle on the walls of the rounded sanctuary behind the high altar.

Discovery of the True Cross, 1380

The narrative tells the story of Christ's cross which, according to tradition, was made from a tree planted over Adam's grave by his son Seth.

The Angelic Announcement to the Shepherds (1328-30)

Gaddi also designed the stained-glass windows in the church.

Just outside the basilica in the main cloister is the Pazzi Chapel, a perfectly proportioned Renaissance gem designed by the great Florentine architect Filippo Brunelleschi (who gave the Duomo its dome).
The cloisters are home to Brunelleschi's Cappella de' Pazzi, the convent now given over to a famous leather school.

After leaving the church, we had lunch in a restaurant in Santa Croce piazza. It was located in this beautifully painted building, looking out over the church square. We watched everyone walk by as we enjoyed a fabulous lunch!

lots of good wine to choose from!

salad with pears and walnuts

grilled vegetables

pasta bolognese

pasta with sauce made with wild boar

After lunch, we walked to the Synagogue - officially known as the Tempio Maggiore Israelitico - but it was closed for the day. The synagogue was built between 1874 and 1882. It was designed by Marco Treves in the Moorish style with a great dome sheathed in copper, which has turned green.

The design integrated the architectural traditions of the Islamic and Italian worlds.

We read that inside the building, "every square inch is covered with colored designs," in Moorish patterns.

After that, we just walked aimlessly around the city. It was a rainy Sunday afternoon in Florence. We headed back to our hotel.

.... David's big adventure. ...
I'm going to ask David to write about it!

Monday, March 2- Florence to Venice

YAY! We're going to our favorite city!!!!

We love Venice!

The train station in Florence is nice - not too big; easy to get around.

Here's our train - coming into the station.

On the train, we were sitting across from a couple from Atlanta, named Marge and Bill. They were really nice.

I had seen them in our hotels in Rome and Florence, so I figured they had the same travel package that we did, through Gate 1 Travel. I asked them, and they said they did!

They had never been to Venice, or to Italy for that matter. I know how intimidating Venice can be, so I offered to give them some pointers, and show them where their hotel was, and what to do, and stuff like that.

They were traveling with another nice couple, named Carolyn and John.

On the two-hour train trip, David and I regaled them with stories of Venice, and places to visit, and how the city works.

I think it is really hard to find your hotel in Venice, especially if you have never been there before, so I asked them where they were staying. It turned out that they were staying at a hotel that was right next to ours, so we offered to walk them there from the train station.

We dropped them off at their hotel, the Arlecchino, and went next door to ours. We were staying in the Olimpia, where we stayed a year and a half ago. We loved it then, and we loved it this time too.

This is our charming room:

We had a nice big room and bathroom, wonderful big windows looking out over the gardens in back of the hotel, and a little attached sitting room.

This is the hotel dining room, where we had breakfast:

We told our four new friends to check into their hotel, and then come down to the lobby, and we would take them to a Vaporetto (boat) stop, show them how to buy a boat pass, and take them on the boat to San Marco, so they could see how everything worked.

This is Marge, under the new Calatrava bridge.

We went right to San Marco. It's THE place to be!
I read somewhere that 75% of all people who come to Venice stay less than one day, and never see anything other than San Mark's. What a shame!
The first two or three times I came to Venice, that was true for me.
But on our four trips, David and I have spent 3 days, then 4 days, then 2 days, and now 3 days here.

And we haven't even scratched the surface.

We toured the church with our new friends. It's fun to watch people see these things for the first time! The church is all gold mosaic and incredible inlaid marble floors - absolutely breathtaking.

For its opulent design, gilded Byzantine mosaics, and its status as a symbol of Venetian wealth and power from the 11th century on, the building was known by the nickname Chiesa d'Oro ("church of gold").

Over the high altar is a baldacchino on columns decorated with 11th-century reliefs; the altarpiece is the famous Golden Pall, Byzantine metal-work of the year 1105.

The ceiling is a mosaic of bronze, gold, and jewels.

After leaving the church, we walked around St. Mark's square, looking in all the expensive jewelry and glass shops.

Then we set out to find a restaurant, since it was late afternoon and we hadn't eaten since breakfast.

David found a cute little place, and we had a great dinner.
Our four friends bought wine - it was really nice!

Then we took the Vaporetto back to the hotel, and said goodnight, giving them good wishes for their next two days on their own in La Serenissima.

Tuesday, March 3 - Our old favorite haunts

We started the day by heading for David's favorite square, the Campo Santa Margharita. We saw this little gondola parade from a bridge along the way.

Here's David, exploring a little alley.

I wanted to go back to the church of the Frari.

The church was built by the Franciscan Friars in the 1300s - hence the name Frari - and it was incredible in there. Titian was buried there, and his monument was, well, monumental.

David remarked, 'Titian's grave is separated from the rest of the church by a wrought iron par-Titian.' That boy is a laugh a minute.

There was a Titian painting, the Assumption of Mary, over the main altar that was breathtaking. It was painted in 1516 and is the piece that made Titian's reputation in Venice.

There is also a statue of John the Baptist by Donatello, carved in 1438, that I found really beautiful.

In the sacristy, there is a triptych by Bellini painted in 1488, and the light was exquisite.

The magnificent choir stalls were built in the 1400s.

It was wonderful to see it again.

wednesday, March 4- san pietro in the monsoon

Chiesa San Pietro di Castello

The main structure of this church dates back to the 7th Century, as does the fortress that gives this whole area its name. The church was re-built and enlarged in the 16th Century, by the addition to the chapels by Longhena for the Lando and Vendramin families. The front, as we see it today, was designed by Palladio. Peter's throne, made from an Arab sepulchral sculpture, is very interesting. Church San Pietro di Castello is on the island San Pietro di Castello – isolated and peaceful part of Venice. There were church at the same place since 7th century, first dedicated to SS. Sergio and Bacco, and then it seems that it was rebuilt by Bishop Magnus in honour of St Peter, and, in honour of the island, it was named San Pietro di Castello. San Pietro di Castello was the he Cathedral of Venice until 1807, when the title passed to St Mark’s. After several reconstructions, it was "redesigned" by Andrea Palladio in 1596. Paintings in this church are made by Tizian, Paolo Caliari Veronese, Alessandro Varotari Padovanino, Marco Basaiti…

There is so-called Throne of St Peter, presented to the Doge by Byzantine Emperor Michael III, in San Pietro di Castello. This throne, according to legend, was used by St Peter during his apostolic mission to Antioch of which he was the first bishop.

rosa
murano
2 churches
Gesuiti - Jesuits Church or Santa Maria Assunta
CANNAREGIO

Not to be confused with the Gesuati, which is located in Dorsoduro. This church is worth a visit for its jaw-dropping interior!

I first came across this church, while heading for Fondamente Nuova in June 07, and was quite stunned by the view from the bridge that crosses the Rio dei Santa Caterina of its white stone angels against a clear blue sky.
The church was closed at this visit, so I had to content myself with admiring the Baroque facade, created by Giambattista Fattoretto. The Manin family had donated the money for this and other work, as a tribute to themselves!

The Jesuits had been banned from the Republic (due to their alliances with the Pope) in 1606. In 1657, they were allowed to return. However, construction of new churches had been banned. They got around this by buying a 12th C. church that had belonged to the Order of The Crociferi, demolishing it and hiring Domenico Rossi to design a new church that would impress the Venetians. The Jesuits believed that Glory and Richness in this life, would be carried onto the next life
Opposite the Church is the Oratorio dei Crociferi built as a hospital for returning Crusaders

Wow! I wasn't prepared for the theatrical scene inside - columns and walls appeared to be covered in a damask pattern of green flock - closer inspection showed that this was intricately carved pieces of marble inserted , like marquetry. Marble was also draped in folds, again resembling pleats of rich fabric. Marble flooring is designed to look like woven carpets.
The altar is equally decorative with candy twist columns in grey stone, and a dome with marble globe. The ceiling is covered in frescoes, which wouldn't look out of place in a Theatre.

Titians 'Martyrdom of St Lawrence' which was painted in 1558 is located in the first altar on the left

This was for me, one of Venices most memorable churches , Even if it's a "poor" comparison to its sister Jesuit church in Rome, the magnificent Gesu, I Gesuiti (officially, Sta Maria Assunta), is worth a visit for its stunning baroque interiors featuring inlaid marble carved to resemble flowing drapes (see picture of pulpit) and twisted columns of the altar. But perhaps the church's biggest attractions are the paintings by masters Titian (Martirio di San Lorenzo) and Tintoretto (Assunzione della Vergine).

Its location in the less touristy district of Cannaregio also offers visitors a more solemn experience, further heightened by the soft background music of monastic chants (albeit, canned). Santi Apostoli - Church of X11 Apostles>

la burchelle

thursday, March 5- going home

The Blog from Prague; Sick as a Dog

2008-05-01T19:53:00.003-05:00

February 28, 2008

We are here in Prague, in the Czech Republic!

And we are happy.

It has been a frustrating couple of days, though. Firstly, our luggage decided not to come with us from New York. Don't know why; it just didn't. So we were without many things upon our arrival, like toothpaste, and contact lens fluid, and combs and brushes, our European cell phones - stuff like that!

When we arrived at our hotel, (Hotel Juno), we were exhausted, so we went right to bed for a nap. I woke up a couple of hours later sick with a very sore throat and swollen glands.

And on top of that, it is pouring.
Oh yeah, guess where our rain gear is?
Right -- in the suitcases, in NY!

This computer in the hotel is ancient, and we tried for an hour and a half to get email and/or blog with no success. Finally we managed, but it is very slow. and the European kezboard is different = which explains all the tzpos in this editor§s writing....

We had dinner in the hotel tonight - LOTS of cabbage and carrots and potatoes and dumplings..

...with a salad of shredded cabbage and carrots.

And everything is garnished with... cabbage!!!!!

Not exactly health food....

I don't know about this Czech food -
it's not good Italian food, that's for sure.

Let me tell you a little about this place.
The Czech Republic is a small country in the heart of Europe.

It shares the longest border with Germany, to the north and west.
It is also bounded by Poland to the northeast, Slovokia to the east, and Austria to the south.

Prague is in the north-central part of the country. The eastern half of the country is called Bohemia, and the western part, Moravia.

In Czech, it is called Praha; in English, Prague; in Italian, Praga; and in German, Prag.

In land area order, it falls into the 21st place in Europe, following Hungary, Portugal and Austria, and ahead of Ireland, Lithuania and Latvia. The 10 million inhabitants places the total population 14th in Europe after Hungary, Portugal and Belorussia, and ahead of Greece and Belgium.

Before World War II, Czechoslovakia was one of the 10 most industrialized states in the world, and the only central European country to remain a democracy until 1938. Czechoslovakia was occupied by Germans after WWII, and lived under communist rule for 40 years. In 1989, a student demonstration in Prague was brutally stifled by the communist riot police, beginning the so-called Velvet Revolution. Within a matter of weeks, it led to the peaceful fall of the communist regime and the start of a shaky democratic system less than 20 years ago.

The Czech Republic used to be part of Czechoslovakia, but split in 1993 and became a separate country from the Slovak Republic, to its east. It entered the European Union in 2004.

Manufacturing is still a major economic activity, especially the production of automobiles, machine tools, and engineering products.

The language is Czech, which has LOTS of consonants.
It's totally beyond me.

There are tourist arrows everywhere, but they are all in Czech with no English translations. It makes you feel like you really accomplished something when you actually find where you want to go.
David was pretty good at it, actually.
But I just kept staring at them, looking confused.

Friday, February 29 -
Happy Leap Year!

Today we ventured into the city (in the rain with no raingear!) We figured out the metro to get there: there were reeeealllllly long escalators down to the trains.

Our metro pass cost about $30 for five days:

We were at the Staromestska metro stop. All the stations have these cool metal walls - very industrial looking; some of the circles are indented, and some extrude.

It was fun to walk around, and the city is very pretty in an Art Nouveau way.

We emerged from the metro in Wenceslas Square (Vaclavske Namesti), one of two main squares in the city center. It is half a mile long and 66 yards wide, and full of hotels, restaurants and stores.

It was laid out more than 600 years ago during the reign of Charles IV, and was originally the main Prague horse market. Over the years it has been a parade ground and gathering place; it holds up to 400,000 people.

At the top of the square there is a statue of St. Wenceslas (903-935) on his horse. ("Good King Wenceslas" of Christmas carol fame.) Wenceslas is a Czech national hero who was murdered more than 1,000 years ago by his brother. Behind his statue is the national museum.

After wandering around all afternoon, we had a nice Czech dinner in a lovely Art Deco restaurant, the Pelikan. It was gorgeous inside, and we got a table next to the big windows that looked out over the Square.

I thought I should try the traditional Czech specialty - goulash with potatoes... tasty, but very rich and heavy. The small amount of meat was kinda tough, and the spices were very intense.
It's not really my taste, and David REALLY dislikes it.

But our biggest complaint is that everyone in the dining room was smoking. Yuk.

When we came back to the hotel, we found our luggage had arrived!
And it has stopped raining!!
And I got on the Internet in less than an hour!!!!

I just know things are going to turn around now!

More tomorrow, when I hope to actually have some adventures to report, instead of misadventures....

Saturday, March 1 - Muchos Mucha

The thing David most wanted to do was to go to the museum of Alphonse Mucha, one of his favorite artists. So that was our goal for today.

Mucha Foundation website

Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) achieved international fame as a master of Art Nouveau, the decorative style of sensuous and opulent decoration that captured the fin-de-siecle world. His poster art remains familiar over 60 years after his death.

Mucha biography

Our tickets to the museum cost 240 crowns - about $15.

The Mucha Museum, dedicated to the life and work of the world-acclaimed Czech Art Nouveau artist is housed in the Baroque Kaunický Palace in the very heart of Prague.

A selection of over 100 exhibits comprising paintings, photographs, charcoal drawings, pastels, lithographs and personal memorabilia provides a privileged view into the universe of the artist.

The exhibits include countless artworks showing Mucha's trademark Slavic maidens with flowing hair and piercing blue eyes, bearing symbolic garlands and linden boughs.

Mucha is most often remembered for the prominent role he played in shaping the aesthetics of French Art Nouveau at the turn of the century. As a relatively unknown artist of Czech origin living in Paris, Mucha achieved immediate fame when, in December 1894, he accepted a commission to create a poster for one of the greatest actresses of this time, Sarah Bernhardt.

Though the printer was apprehensive about submitting Mucha´s final design because of its new unconventional style, Bernhardt loved it and so did the public.

´Le style Mucha´, as Art Nouveau was known in its earliest days, was born.

The success of that first poster brought a six-year contract between Bernhardt and Mucha.

In the following years, his work for her and others included costumes and stage decorations, designs for magazines and book covers, jewelry, furniture and numerous posters.

Sunday, March 2 -

Tower of Power

When we were at the Mucha Museum yesterday, we saw this big tower down the street. So we came back today to explore it.

It is called Jindrisska Vez (St. Henry's Tower) and it is the highest separate belfry in Prague at 217 feet high and has 10 floors. It was originally constructed in 1472, although has had several rebuilds and alterations since.

At the top, we climbed up to the belfry, and were there when the bells chimed on the hour. That was cool.

This is looking straight up at the bells through the original wooden rafters from 1879. The carillon plays 1,150 preprogrammed melodies, and also has a keyboard so can be played by hand.

And the views from the windows were beautiful.

Love the Pepsi mural!

We had lunch in a 22-seat restaurant on the 8th floor, set in the original wooden trusts of the belfry. It is built around the only existing original bell, St. Maria, from 1518, and is called the Restaurant Zvonice-Praha. (Click on that link to take a look at the very interesting menu, with its traditional Czech specialties such as wild boar, vension, and fallow deer.)

David climbed upstairs into the rafters and took this picture of me:

The menu says "Choose your favorite taste,
and we shall offer you dishes you would love to eat."
David had one of his favorite dishes: carpaccio - sliced raw sirloin with parmesan shavings and basil. It was a little pricey at 350 czech crowns, or about $22.

Because I still wasn't feeling tip-top, I just had a bowl of soup: "Old Bohemian potato soup with roasted real boletuses and marjoram croutons - 130 czc." I don't know what real boletuses are, but the soup was delicious. It was about $8.

***
Absinthe
"After the first glass you see things as you wish they were.
After the second, you see things as they are not.
Finally you see things as they really are, and that is the most horrible thing in the world." -Oscar Wilde

Everywhere we go, we see big displays in store windows of Absinthe - the potent liqueur that was so favored by artists and writers in the the Belle Epoque Europe, and blamed for the insanity and hallucinations of many of them.

It is the drink made famous by the likes of Vincent Van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec, Pablo Picasso, Oscar Wilde and those who were inspired by the arts, a Bohemian lifestyle, and the elusive Green Fairy.

Absinthe is a strong-herbal liquor distilled with wormwood and anise that originated in Switzerland as an elixir. It can contain other aromatic herbs like star anise, anise seed, fennel, licorice, hyssop, veronica, lemon balm, angelica root, dittany, coriander, juniper, and nutmeg. It is said that the wormwood causes hallucinations and insanity.

'Absinthe Drinker' by Viktor Oliva:
it hangs on the wall of the historical Cafe Slavia here in Prague.

The legendary anise liqueur has been illegal in the U.S. since 1912,
and has been banned elsewhere in the world as well.

The end of the Green Fairy (1910):
Critical poster by Albert Gantner illustrating the absinthe ban in Switzerland.

But it is everywhere in Prague, and
they truly understand that it is a curiosity
(and a profitable opportunity) for Americans.

For me, it conjured up images of naughty green fairies, straight jackets, and mad googlie-eyed artists. After all, Ernest Hemingway used to toss back a bunch of these before running with the bulls.

The great French poet Paul Verlaine was a notorious absintheur. Verlaine began drinking as a teenager, and was already an alcoholic before he found absinthe. His disastrous on-again, off-again relationship with Rimbaud aggravated both his alcoholism and his mental instability, and culminated in a 5 year prison sentence for attempted murder. In prison he had sworn off absinthe, and for several years after his release drank only beer and worked steadily at his poetry. But by the 1890's he was drinking heavily again, and had become a well-known and pathetic figure in the Latin Quarter, sitting in a corner at the Cafe Francois Ier on the Boulevard Saint-Michel or at La Procope, nursing absinthe after absinthe.

"For me my glory is an Humble ephemeral Absinthe Drunk on the sly,
with fear of treason and if I drink it no longer, it is for a good reason."
-Verlaine

David was very curious. He said that since he was in high school, and read how it was to have inspired so many artists, he was curious about it. And now that he had a chance to try it, he wasn't going to miss the opportunity. So in one of the little stores we passed with a huge window display of Absinthe, we went in and bought two small bottles to try, and also a slotted absinthe spoon.

The idea is, you rest the spoon on top of your glass of absinthe, put a sugar cube on top, and pour ice water over it, which drips into the glass, sweetens the bitter brew, and causes a chemical reaction called "Louching" (looshing) - clouding up and becoming milky.

Did I mention that it's 124 proof?
That'll make you see green fairies, right there.

Albert Maignan’s "Green Muse" (1895):
A poet succumbs to the green fairy.

We took our cute little bottles back to the hotel. I was too sick to try the stuff (I was curious too), but David braced himself and took a sip. (Based on the look on his face, I'm guessing it was not very tasty.) We waited anxiously, but no green fairies arrived on the scene. It was kind of anti-climactic.

We poured the rest of the stuff down the drain, and took home the pretty little art deco bottles as souvenirs.

Monday, March 3: Bus-ted

I was still really sick today, so we decided to take a bus tour around the city. It was nice to just sit in the van and look at all the highlights of the city, and the tour guide was very informative. We got a chance to see many famous landmarks, like the "dancing" building, the Powder Gate, the Charles Bridge, and some of the churches.

The "Dancing" Building
We were fascinated by the famous Dancing Building, built in 1996 by architects Vlado Milunič, who had the original idea for the building, and the celebrated American architect Frank Gehry, perhaps best-known for the stunning Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

The curved lines of the narrow-waisted glass tower clutched against its more upright and formal partner led to it being christened the 'Fred & Ginger Building.'

I like Ginger's high heels.

Powder Gate

Built in 1475 as a ceremonial entrance to the city, the 213-foot tall Powder Gate stands on the site of one of the original 13 gates into the city. The tower marks the beginning of the Royal Road, the traditional half-mile route along which medieval Bohemian monarchs paraded on their way to being crowned in Prague Castle's St. Vitus Cathedral.

The name comes from its use as a gunpowder magazine in the 18th century. Josef Mocker rebuilt, decorated, and steepled it between 1875 and 1886, giving it its neo-gothic icing.

Early in the 20th century, the tower was the daily meeting place of Franz Kafka and his writer friend Max Brod.

St. Nicolas Church
St. Nicholas Church is one of the most beautiful buildings of the "Prague Baroque" period with a dominant dome and a belfry. I would have liked to see the inside.

Charles Bridge
The Charles Bridge, begun in 1357, is the oldest bridge in Prague. Its construction was commissioned by Czech king and Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV.

The bridge is 1,690 feet long and 33 feet wide, and both ends are fortified by towers. Gradually from 1683 to 1928, 30 sculptures of saints were set on the bridge piers.

(We walked across it later that night.)

But the highlight of the tour was the Prague Castle.

It was founded in the 9th century and has been developing continuously in the 11 centuries since then. A national cultural monument, it is a huge complex of ecclesiastical, fortification, residential, and office buildings representing all architectural styles and periods.

It was originally the residence of princes and kings of Bohemia, and since 1918 has been the seat of the president.

It covers 111 acres.

As part of the tour, we were to leave the bus and walk down to the castle to watch the changing of the guard. I decided that even though I was sick, I could manage to walk for an hour, so we set off with the group.

But in keeping with the "cursed" nature of the trip, as soon as we started walking, the skies opened up, it began pouring, and the winds kicked up something fierce. Since I was already having chills, I was pretty miserable.
As we stood outside the castle gate, we heard the sound of boots on the cobblestones, and turned to see the guards marching towards us through the rain. It was kinda scary.

There was a military band, standing inside so as not to get wet (you can see them in the windows), playing what sounded to me like a John Williams march, or the theme from Star Wars.

It was a flurry of ceremony, and then the soldiers left the way the arrived...

...and the band slipped out the back.

When we got back to the hotel, I was shivering so hard that David covered me with three down comforters.

We heard on the news that night that it was record-setting bad weather, with flooding and 100 mile-an-hour winds. The wind blew over a tram, and 10 people were killed.

How do you say "cursed" in Czech?

Tuesday, March 3: The Cathedral

Today is our last day in Prague, so we decided the two things we most wanted to see were the cathedral and the astronomical clock.

St. Vitus Cathedral is located entirely inside Prague Castle. Although it was begun in 1344 and appears Gothic to the very tips of its pointy spires, much of St. Vitus Cathedral was only completed in time for its belated consecration in 1929. Only 600 years to finish... that's longer than it takes me to get to my laundry.

It was pretty inside.

The highlight for us was an Art Nouveau stained-glass window by our boy Alfons Mucha.

The window depicts scenes from the life of St. Cyril and St. Methodius who brought Christianity to the Slavic area. It also shows St. Wenceslas kneeling next to his Grandmother St. Ludmila. This window was sponsored by the Slavic Bank (Banka Slavic).

It was spectacular, and so different from most stained glass windows.

I was also impressed with the the silver tomb

of St. John of Nepomuk with its draped canopy and cherubs...

Sarcophagus of St. John of Nepomuk

Saint John Nepomuk (1345-1393) is the patron saint of the Czechs. He became vicar-general to the Bishop of Prague in 1387. When John learned of King Welceslas' plans to reward an unworthy subject with an abbey, he moved quickly and organized the monks into electing a new abbot before King Welceslas' plans were even set into motion. Upon learning of this treachery, the king ordered John's death. He was burned, tied to a wheel and plunged into the River in Prague.

People often invoke John of Nepomuk when discretion is needed, based on an incorrect fable that has the reason for his death being his refusal to inform King Welceslas of his wife's confession.

According to legend, when he was exhumed in 1721, his tongue was found to be not only preserved, but pumping with blood. This tale likely served a political purpose: the Church and the Habsburgs needed a new folk hero to replace the reforming heretic Jan Hus. A few years later, Nepomuk was canonized and buried with great ceremony in the present 3,700-pound ornate silver tomb. His tongue was enshrined in its own reliquary.

David loves this stuff.

Chapel of St. Wenceslas

Also beautiful is the ornate Chapel of St. Wenceslas, a masterpiece of Czech Gothic architecture. It is dedicated to the patron of Czech lands, St. Wenceslas, a Bohemian Prince from the Premyslid dynasty. Charles IV built the chapel as an honor to him.

The chapel was built on the former Romanesque rotunda where Wenceslas was buried, and now holds the relics of the saint.

The lower parts of the walls are decorated with more than 1,300 gems mined in Bohemia. The joints between them are covered with gold.

The ornate Gothic frescoes on the walls cover the area of more than 2,500 square feet and show scenes from St. Wenceslas’s life and from the Bible. Charles IV is immortalized on the picture depicting Jesus Christ’s crucifixion.

In the middle of the Chapel is the beautifully decorated tomb of St. Wenceslas. His relics can be found in a case on the tombstone.

This is such an important site that the Czech kings went to pray in this chapel before every coronation, and then went into the coronation chamber, behind a door in the southwest corner, which holds the Crown Jewels of the Czech Republic.

There also used to be night masses here when the Czech nation was in danger. Masses are still held here, but only on September 28, St. Wenceslas Day.

The chapel is not open to the public, but you can see it through the door.

Astronomical Clock

Possibly Prague's most famous tourist attraction with it's 14th century animated clock. It is in the Old Town Square (Staroměské náměstí) on the side of the Old Town Hall (Staroměská radnice).

There's a zodiac ring, a 24-hour clock, sun and moon indicators, and even a part showing "Old Czech Time," which starts at 1 every time the sun sets. In the top part of the astronomical clock, the 12 apostles appear every hour between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.

On the hour, a big crowd gathers in front of the clock, which is located on the tower in the center of this photo, to watch the action.

The show goes as follows:

The Apostles come out in a procession in the top part of the clock, and then go back inside.

Once the windows close, a bird flaps its wings and crows in an alcove, and then the chimes of the hour can be heard.

In the lower parts are the other fixed statues representing the four things which are despised - Death represented by a skeleton pulls the bell cord, and a Turk shakes his head. (I don't know the background on the Medieval bigotry involved there...)

Vanity admires himself in a mirror, while a miser is watching his bag of money.

It was a great show.

But I was never able to tell what time the clock displayed.

I read about it in the guidebooks,
only to come up more bewildered than before.
You can try reading about it here if you want.
Maybe you can understand it.

There are plenty of arrows all over the clock,
but I think they are secret pointers to the best pubs in town.

So I recommend studying the Astronomical Clock only long enough
to decide which direction to go for the next beer.

Tomorrow -- ITALY!!!!!!