First day in Vienna

After a long and exhausting eleven hour bus ride from Florence to Vienna, we finally made it into our hostel called Meininger City Hostel around 3:00 A.M. At least the hostel is not too ghetto- there is actually a personal bathroom and SPACE! A lot better than the hostels in Paris and Innsbruck. And the best part is there is free, FAST internet! Woo hoo!

After a very short sleep, I got up around 9:30 and then got ready quickly and ventured down to Breakfast. It actually turned out to be pretty good- I had some delicious tea, some granola and cornflakes with regular yogurt, and a roll with cream cheese. Georgina originally screamed out, "Laura! Look! Its bagels with cream cheese!" I gasped and said, "REALLY!?" (bagels and cream cheese are hard to come by in Europe)and then someone bursted my bubble when they said, "no, its actually just a roll..." oh well. It was still good; I barely made it out though because one of the workers said that I had to pay an extra 1 euro to take things out of the eating area. I just simply explained that I was in a rush and I was taking this to go... she ended up letting me off the hook but said I should come to Breakfast earlier next time haha.

We all met outside the hotel around 10 A.M and then got a one day pass for the metro. Peter (one of our student life guides) took us all around on a walking tour even though it was cold, windy, and rainy. He is really incredible- he knows English, German, and Italian fluently. He grew up in Austria so he knows all the nooks and crannies (haha Chris :-p ) of the area. The architecture in Vienna is absolutely breathtaking. I love it! We walked around the "Ring" (New Gothic Town Hall, Parliament, Theatre, Heldenplatz, Imperial Palace, Spanish Riding School, Judenplatz with the
Memorial to the Jews of Vienna, and St. Stephen's Cathedral). The tour was definitely long, but everything was worth seeing in my opinion. We took a pit stop at a Starbucks, which I was very excited about. I got a
grande nonfat raspberry latte. It was delicious! It was a nice taste from home. Is it sad that I really miss Starbucks? OH man... I am such an American haha.

After walking around a few more hours and taking pictures and stopping at various locations, a group of us went with Peter to a local restaurant and sat down for a lovely lunch. Georgina and I split the famous German/Austrian dish called Weiner Schnitzel. This is like the 3rd or 4th time I have had this dish- I absolutely love it! I don't normally like pork that much, but pretty much anything fried is good (that's probably why the only seafood I'll eat is fried calamari- go figure). We also had a yummy class of wine that Peter recommended.

Once lunch was finished, Georgina and I got directions on how to take the subway back to our hostel because we were tired from the night before and needed a break. The other group went to the amusement park and went on the huge Ferris Wheel. I think this would've been fun to go to- but at that point I just needed some time to relax and take a load off. The normal me 6 months ago would want to be go, go, go but now I have learned the beauty and value of a few hours of pure relaxation.

Once we took the metro back to our stop, Georgina and I walked around our area and peeped into a few shops. They were pretty fun- we went into a mall type place with the most random assortment of department stores. I ended up getting some Loreal hairspray that was much needed, and a cute black/white purse that is big enough to hold all my stuff. I am kind of sick of carrying the same black H & M purse that I have had since the beginning of this study abroad trip. You guys should see my huge collection of purses at home! Its insane... really... After our little shopping adventure we went into a grocery store and got some snacks to have for later. I hate being without snacks; I hate the feeling of hunger and I am more of a snacker than a huge meal eater.

And for the past few hours I have been relaxing, uploading pictures (check them out on face book), talked to Chris on skype, and now I think I am going to take a brief nap before dinner/going out. I think Georgina and I are going to go to a hot dog stand near our hotel and grab a bratwurst or something; something easy to save some money. Food eats up all my money over here! It's ridiculous!

Anyways, that's the main highlights of my day with randomness spilled in. Hope all is well with everyone!

bye bye

A tour to Piazza della Signoria, Davanzati Palace, Orsanmichele, and Dante's area

Today me and the Intro to Florence group went to the Piazza Della Signoria, which is located near the fake statue of David, and the Uffizi Museum. We learned a little background of the Piazza while we stood in the center of it. We learned that all Ghibelline tower houses were destroyed after their defeat in 1267. It was created by Arnolfo di Cambio, and it was originally built to house the Signoria or government of Priors (Priori). We are currently learning about all these people and the history of the government in class. Next we ventured to the Signoria's Loggia. This project was traditionally attributed to Andrea Orcagna.

We then walked over to the Palazzo Davanzati, which was currently under restoration, so the entrance view was waived. It smelled like rubber cement in the whole building because they are cleaning the wood to depose of termites. Yuck! I thought the mini tour of this Palace was very interesting though. The palace contained all its original furniture and artwork. The second story consisted of a main room with holes in the floor to watch the customers entering the shop downstairs. It also housed a portable safe with a very elaborate lock (see picture). We learned about how to tell which era the furniture came in based on the wood structure and colors. Pretty cool :) Like for example, the bed in the picture above is in the Baroque period because you can see the transition to using gold which means it was done in the 16th century.


Next we ventured onto Orsanmichele which initially had a small church in this area built during the Lombard period (c. 700). The interior of this church was gorgeous- one can tell that this was not born a church since there is no central nave like the other churches in Florence. (see picture). The exterior was awesome too; during the first twenty years of the 15th century the 7 major guilds and 7 of the 14 minor guilds decorated the exterior niches of Orsanmichele with statues of their patron saints. Here is a picture of a sculpture I took outside the church.

Towards the end of the tour we went to the Palazzo dell'Arte della Lana. The Lana Guilt or "Arte della Lana" was one of the wealthiest of the 7 major guilds. Lastly we went to Dante's Neighborhood. We saw the Torre della Castagna, or Chestnut Tower. It was the meeting place of Guild directors (Priors) to judge and deliberate on the most difficult problems in the guild corporations. See picture on your left :) Just down the street was the Santa Margherita dei Cerchi, which was Beatrice's Portinari's parish church. Beatrice was Dante's long lost love-- as learnt in class. He always had a spiritual kind of love for her, but back then marriages were prearranged and they both ended up marrying other people, although he always truly loved her. It made me sad to think that marriages a lot of times were not out of love. I am glad things are not the same anymore! Apparently marriages were prearranged until the early 20th century. Yeesh!

That pretty much concludes the tour for the day in a nutshell. I hope you enjoyed some of the history (thanks to my notes and handout from my Professor Carrara). The rest of the day will probably be spent catching up on homework and emails and such. I got my web cam to work, so I got to see Chris for the first time since I have left for Europe. It was very nice!

Uffizi visit with my parents

Today was a cloudy and rainy day in Florence. While I was in class, my parents walked all over town and went to Santa Maria Novella, the Santa Marco Museum, and a few other places. They definitely were on their feet all day!

My parents and I met up around 2:30 at their hotel and we walked over to the Uffizi Museum where we had reservations at 3:00. They recommended you to reserve spots to get into the Museum so that you can avoid the long lines that are formed outside the museum. It was definitely a good call! We walked right in and were on our way. My dad had his little Rick Steves book again, so he followed that throughout the large museum, and I listened to the audio version of the Rick Steves tour on my mom's ipod. She listened to it the night before so she could have a bit of the background before looking at all the artwork. I was very thankful to have the audio guide because it kept me from getting distracted (ha ha) and also it focused in on the highlights of the museum and the main pieces that are famous and have the most character.

After we walked around the museum for a good long time, we went into the bookstore and I got some postcards of my favorite pieces, as well a minature poster of my favorite painting called "Birth of Venus" by Botticelli. This piece is extremely well-known- but I was just struck by the colors and how the artist put all of them together so beautifully. I attached a picture of the piece :)

Anyways, we walked back and my parents got some overpriced, but very yummy gelato, and we took a couple pictures by the Duomo on the way back. Above is a picture of me and my mom in front of the Duomo. Even though I have been here for a couple months, I am still in awe of the church every time I am in front of it. It is absolutely beautiful!

So yesterday night me and Chris (bf) talked on the phone for quite awhile and we are starting to formulate his plans for his visit in February. I am so excited to see him! Its been way too long! He is going to leave Seattle in the early afternoon on Feb 1st (which I believe is a Sunday) and he will arrive in Florence around noon the next day (Mon). This is the same flight my parents took I believe... and then we are planning to go to Barcelona, Spain that next weekend. After my classes get out on Thursday we are going to leave, and then we will most likely get back on Sunday afternoon/early evening. I am stoked! Then he will go back home on Tuesday. It should be a nice trip.

By the way, I installed my web cam (thanks to my bro!) so for those that are interested in skyping with me and the web cam, I am down! :)

Well I am going to get ready for bed, its almost midnight here.

Buonanotte!

A visit to the Restoration Workshop in Firenze

Today me and my Intro to Florence group went to see the restoration site of several famous Florentine works. We got to see the original door of the bapistry of the Duomo and also the statue of Jeremiah by Donatello (see picture). It was really interesting! According to Thinkquest.com, many of Donatello's masterpieces are located in Florence. Some of these masterpieces include: St. Peter, St. Mark, Zuccone, St. George and the Dragon, St. John the Evangelist, Magdalen, and Angel with Tambourine. Other pieces considered to be some of his finest work are: Herod's Feast, St. Louis of Toulouse, St. Peter, St. Anthony, an equestrian statue called Gattamelata, and Jeremiah. A lot of his sculptures were Renaissance breakthroughs. David, for one, was the first nude statue of the Renaissance, and the equestrian statue, Gattamelata, was considered to be one of the best proportioned sculptures ever. In Donatello's Gothic style he used expressive ugliness to give the statue a life of its own. He used a powerful realism that gives his statues a distinct look.


It is going to be weird not really celebrating Halloween this year! Americans definitely decorate wayore than the Florentines. In America there is usually lots of carved pumpkins outside and decorations in stores and houses. In Florence you are lucky to see any decorations in any of the stores! I have noticed that there is some decorations in more touristy shops, but that's about it. My mom is going to be bringing me some Halloween candy though, so I am pretty stoked about that. One thing I really do is miss carving pumpkins! That is always a family tradition in the Maher family-- and my dad always cooks the seeds and salts them. So yummy! I wonder if me and my parents are going to do anything special for Halloween. Lillian's mom is here until Sunday, so we were thinking of having a family dinner on Friday or Saturday night. That should be pretty fun!

In the Ciao (our daily Gonzaga email newsletter), we heard the annoucement that we can actually choose our room mates for the Christmas tour. I am pretty excited about this, because usually they randomly assign us. But hey, it has its benefits too! Thats how I got to know my current room mate, Lillian! ANYways, so me and my friend Cierra are going to room together in our first location, Copenhagen, and then perhaps mix it up for Sweden. In St. Petersburg, there are four person rooms so I think we are going to try to room with a couple of our other friends too. We will see! I am really looking forward to the Christmas tour, but it is going to be so cold!

Well I really do not have much to talk about at this point. My life this week has been consumed with studying and preparing for midterms. I am still very tired, but I am relieved that after tomorrow I will have a nice, long weekend to relax! I think I might check out the new gym that is located in the basement of our school. I heard it is pretty nice, so we will see. I hope my foot is ok to use on the elliptical... hmm.

Ciao ragazzi!

A visit to the Cathedral Museum by the Duomo

Today, me and my Introduction to Florence class went to the Cathedral Museum (Duomo). It was interesting to see the history behind the historical building. For those of you who have not seen the Duomo, it is hands down the most beautiful structure in Florence (at least in my opinion). I was a little bummed because I forgot to put my memory card in my camera so I was not able to take many pictures, but I am sure I can look up things online.

My favorite piece in the museum was the Pieta, which was created by Michealangelo. According to Wikepedia, The Deposition (also called the Florentine Pietà, the Pietà del Duomo or The Lamentation over the Dead Christ) is a marble sculpture by the Italian High Renaissance master Michelangelo. The sculpture depicts four figures – the dead body of Jesus Christ, newly taken down from the Cross, Nicodemus (or possibly Joseph of Arimathea), Mary Magdalene and another, incomplete, female figure – rather than Mary in mourning with the body of Christ on her lap, which is standard fare for a pietà. The sculpture is housed in the Museo dell'Opera del Duomo in Florence. I am attaching a picture of it with my blog entry.

I am going to see the David statue next month with my parents at the Academia. I am very excited!

Not much else is going on today- I am going to be studying for midterms and fixing up my ethics essay which is either due tomorrow or Friday. Thanks mom for looking over it! Later tonight I am going to my first Opera which is the La Boheme. It should be very interesting! The operas here go on for a lonngg time though. It starts at 8:30 and then we will not be getting back till close to one! I am stoked though; I get to dress up! I think me and some friends will take a taxi because my foot still hurts, and that way we can be decked out in heels, dresses, etc.

The foot feels quite a bit better today with the meds. It still hurts to walk, but its not as sharp of a pain. My friends like calling me gimpy... so nice ha ha.

Well I am off to lunch- I wonder what it is today! I am starving.

Talk to you later!

BTW thanks Chris for the postcard! I loved it!

Southern Tuscany weekend

Southern Tuscany was absolutely gorgeous. I have never been to a prettier part of the world-- seriously! Although there was not much to do in this area, it was more than made up by the beautiful vineyards, the countryside, and the architecture.

We left for Southern Tuscany on the buses around 7:45 in the morning on Friday and the ride was about two hours (A lot less than past weekends). We first stopped at Montalcino, which is a small medieval town. It is known for their Brunello Wine. Once we got off the buses, Peter (one of my travel coordinators) led a group of us to a nearby historical castle (See picture above of me and Lillian in front of the monument). We then looked around for a cheap place to get something small for lunch. Me and Lillian stumbled across this little cafe which served sandwiches, coffee, and pastries. We ended up getting a caprese sandwich which consists of tomato, mozzarella, olive oil, and spinach on foccacia bread. It was so yummy!

We were there a little over an hour so we just looked around at the open-air market and local stores or bottegas as they call them in Italian. Once we all loaded unto the buses we were off to Sant'Antimo for a 1.5 walk, which led to a gorgeous Romanesque Church. This hike was mainly downhill the entire way and it first started off on a rocky path and then it narrowed down to a steep rocky terrain. I ended up getting quite a workout going on a downhill hike. I was actually very sore the next day! Quite the surprise... once the hike was over we visited the old church which had amazing architectural columns on the inside. There is a picture of the Romanesque church below.

We got onto the buses again and headed to Bagno Vignoni, which was the home of a small medieval spa that had hot springs. It costed quite a bit to get into the hotel-- 14 euro! But this included a lovely swim cap (see picture below of me and Lillian) that was required to wear inside the springs. I am still in awe of how the springs are continuously hot (like a sauna) all year long. How does it stay so hot all year?? haha. Apparently in the winter the hot springs steam all over. I think the hot water comes from underneath the earth or something scientific like that. Anyways, it was pretty cool and it was very relaxing. It smelled a bit like sulfer but it wasn't too bad.

We were at the springs for about 2.5 hours and then we finally headed to our hotel at Vescovado di Murlo. The town we drove into was extremely small-- there was only one bar in the entire town! It was almost refreshing though that there wasn't a huge night life; it allowed our group to finally relax and enjoy the nature surrounding us. We relaxed for about an hour and then our hotel provided dinner for us. It was alright-- we had pasta with meat sauce and then pork slices with gravy and green beans. The pasta was good but I am not a fan of pork so I was still pretty hungry after dinner. For desert we had ice cream cones. (kinda random-- reminded me of american icecream "drumsticks".) After dinner me and a few friends met at the one bar in the town and socialized for awhile and then me, Lillian, and my friend Elliot explored the town and my friend accidently fell in a construction site (see picture of her struggle below haha) She's OK-- don't worry! It was really funny at the time.

We had a curfew at our hotel for 11:30 so we made sure to get back by then. This is not your typical "hotel". The hotel was apparently opened just for our group because this is not a typical time of year that tourists visit. I'm not sure why-- Fall is so pretty in Southern Tuscany! The next morning we had breakfast at our hotel as well. It wasn't really a very satisfying Breakfast though-- it was just a croissant and yucky coffee. I really miss American breakfasts. We are talking your typical bacon and eggs, and omelets! Oh yes, and of course pancakes and syrup. I am not much of a Breakfast person, but I sure do miss my dad's eggs in the morning! (or the cog's omelets back in Spokanistan) Once we all got on the bus and headed to the vineyard where we were having our wine tasting. Peter suggested for us to where comfortable shoes, so it probably wasn't the best idea that I wore my cute new flip flops, but I ended up being OK (Hopefully the tendinitis foot doesn't come back!). It was quite the schlep up the mountain to the vineyard but it was definitely worth it. This place was phenomenal! We tried three types of wine: a white, a red, and a reserve red. I am not much of a wine drinker yet, but these were pretty good. I ended up buying the white and the red for my parents so we can share them when they come up here on the 31st.

After the tour and tasting at the vineyard, we stopped at the smallest town I have ever seen, Murlo. Basically we walked around an Etruscan museum for like half an hour and then walking around the town literally took less than 5 minutes. The town did not have any stores, or restaurants... just a museum and cute little houses and a great view of Southern Tuscany vineyards. The last thing we did as a group is visit Pienza, which is a Renaissance town of Pope Pius II. We were given a ridiculous amount of time at this location-- almost 5 hours! Me and Lillian basically just went shopping crazy and had a bite to eat at another local cafe. The town was quaint and had another great viewpoint of the countryside, but we were exhausted from walking around for that long. After Pienza we had dinner at our hotel again which was friend pork, french fries, and some red-sauce pasta. It was alright-- I am not always a fan of the planned dinners but at least I dont have to pay any extra out of my pocket.

That night I just hung out at the hotel (because there is literally nothing to do except go to that bar) and just chatted with some friends. The next morning I had Breakfast, and as a group we made one final top at San Galgano where we visited the abandoned Cistercian Abbey and the Chapel of Monte Sipei with the sword in the stone. Now don't get too excited-- the stone is one of five that claims to be the "real one". There is a picture of the abbey below.

That pretty much concludes my weekend in a nutshell. Sorry the entry was so long- its hard to write one post about an entire weekend that was full of things that I saw and did!

Ciao raggazzi!

A tour on the streets of Florence

Today we went on our walking tour throughout all of Florence. Most of the places I had walked around before but I was not aware of all the history behind all the buildings and statues. A few of the places we saw was the column of St. Zenobius, the baptistery of St John the Baptist, and the Roman theater. I will post more of my pictures on facebook for all that are interested in seeing more of the tour.

I still very much have my cold. Hopefully it will be over before this weekend. I don't want to be sick while traveling! I just checked the room listing today and apparently I am living with 7 other girls. We are living in a hotel that has an 8 person room. How bizarre! At least I am friends with 3 of the girls in my room. It should be fun; I just hope the weather is good!

Me and my friend Cierra are going to go to the theater tomorrow after Italian class and getting our "Maggio" cards. Basically its this amazing deal for students where you pay just ten euro for the card, and for every ballet, opera, etc we only have to pay an additonal ten euro for each show. Talk about a deal!

Today we had the best lunch ever! We had gnocchi (which is like small potato dumplings) with tomato sauce. It was deliciouso! For our main course we had grilled chicken with herbs and green beans. For desert we had a yummy orange. I loved it!

Not much else is new. Lots of people went out to the bars/clubs last night but I am sick so I had to stay behind. It was a pretty lonely night for me; I can count the times on one hand that I have felt really homesick but last night was definitely one for me. As much as I love it here, sometimes its nice just to have the comfort of the familiar. I talked to several of my friends from the states yesterday and its hard to know they are so far away. I guess this really is a true learning experience though. Hard times, good times... you gotta have them both to grow right? I just have to stay positive.

One thing that is exciting is me and my friend Cierra are in the process of making a trip to France one of these weekends to visit my cousin Julie. I have never been to France, so I am pretty stoked about it. She said she would tell us all about the area and perhaps she will give us a few tours! We are thinking either Oct 24th weekend or Jan 30th weekend. Its nice being able to travel on the weekends. I can't tell you enough how great it is having Friday's off of school!

Well I am going to maybe get some journal entries in for my Ethics and Introduction to Florence class. Next week I have my first marketing test, hopefully its not too hard!

Keep in touch everyone!

Arrivederci!