Capri- and things that life throws you...

The island of Capri- wow, what a view!!  It was such a beautiful place and I got to go on three boat-rides.......


 and CUT!

Looking up

Life likes to veer off in annoying and unexpected ways and that certainly happened.  Nothing earth shaking for anyone except for me-  

I had phone issues, which is to say it fell in water, and if you can't figure out how that happened, then you can just message me or ask someone how that might have happened....  doesn't matter anyway.  I haven't written an Italy blog post for a couple days because I have several pictures on my phone that I want to use (notice- happily- that I use the word HAVE - present tense, not past!)   Anyway, this all happened on the day that there was a horrendous storm up in northern Wisconsin, farther north than I am.  And basically there isn't, right at this moment, a path to Bayfield that takes less than 4 hours.  I am thinking that should be remedied quickly, but you know what I mean.  Since the Mad-English Teacher and Mad-Science teacher and I were planning a trip up there next Monday, well..... that was just sad and depressing.  And it seems there are no open roads....  But like I said, that could be remedied quickly.

Oh yeah, so the phone, I have a new one and impressively, in just barely over 24 hours, I have a different phone and I have it set up and for the most part back to normal.  Sort of normal. There are some weird things, but that is fine I guess.  Sort of.  I've been told not to whine about the glitches.... haha, especially when I live  up here in the Tundra and I have a replacement phone without driving anywhere.... perspective.

Looking back towards Sorrento

ANYWAY- Capri!!

Action!!


I have to say that Capri (pronounced CAP ree by the locals), also known as the Mama Mia Island, was just gorgeous.  I also have to say, this was a little out of my comfort zone because of the heights involved.  From the lovely balcony in Sorrento to the high over look before we got to Sorrento to the SUPER high lookout at the top of Capri- well it made me a little squeamish.  I LOVED the boat rides involved though!!  My sister, who has no height issues, LOVED the views.  Lol- she's adorable.

Legend has it if you kiss your true love when you go under it - Idk, you will live forever or something.  haha- I couldn't quickly find the legend, so you can probably get the gist of this.  

I don't know if I mentioned the hotel in Sorrento at all, but we were up on the 6th floor and we had a fantastic view of the Mediterranean.  The reception area for the hotel was on the 5th floor- weirdly.  And the elevator was big enough for 2 people with a small bag- claustrophobia, much?  Actually we dragged our bags upstairs when we got there, so we did get our cardio in.

One of the caves

After piling into the bus in the morning, we headed over to the docks where we got on a BIG ferry (except no cars on that boat) and headed on over to the Island. Breathtaking views!  And we were a little squished- everything on Capri is squished and crowded.

A Roman "doorway" 

The Faraglioni

We got off that boat, met our really great local guide and headed over to a different dock to get on a tour boat for a fun little float around part of the Island. That was my favorite part- you know what they say about the blue waters of the Mediterranean?  Being so incredibly blue?? Its true. Apparently it has something to do with the limestone of the cliffs there- it was spectacular. We saw several caves, some tunnels carved into the cliffs from Roman times, and these massive stones that emerge from the sea on the south east side of the Island.  There was all sorts of cool things, but this is one of those times I was enjoying the view more than taking pictures.  And it was pretty humid, and therefore, hazy.

I took no photos of the hour we stood in line (read- massive crowd of people) to get on the cable car to the top the island.  That was sort of a miserable adventure.  Mostly it was hot- and a little smelly- but the crowds did not bother me that much.  It was nice to get to the top and see the beauty from above. There is lots of expensive stuff up at the top of that place!  But it was worth the trek up and down the hill to see the views.  Down at the bottom, we treated ourselves to some cute little bells  jewelry that are a symbol of the island, plus we found a nice place to people watch while eating their spectacular lemon granitas!!  We were happy to sit down by that point, as it was hot.   Note- it is REALLY hot from here on out on this trip. Second note- I want another lemon granita.

THIS was so beautiful- 

We had a nice little time on the island, but as I felt everywhere, it was not long enough.  We met up with Daniela and headed to a BIGGER ferry then and met up with our bus over in Naples.  Once we hit Naples, there is a change in the way that Italy looks.  Much more graffiti, more litter.... etc.  It was not bad, but definitely different.

Our boat trip from the Island to Naples was almost an hour long- we all almost fell asleep.....  ok, most people did fall asleep, and I in my usual way, did NOT- it was close though.  It was a very soothing ride, the ferry was so big that it was rhythmic and relaxing.

Naples and Mount Vesuvius!  Not as pretty.  lol  Vesuvius- EVERY one of our guides in that area said- Mt. Vesuvius is going to erupt again.  VERY SOON!! Not today or this week, but soon.  That made me smile.

We departed Naples to head for Rome- the outskirts of Rome, that is.  We stayed in this next hotel for 3 nights, which was nice to have a little continuity, but since the hotel was in Palestrina, a good 45 min drive, and that is in good traffic, once we left we did not get back there again until after supper.  We had supper there that night and had a little time to ourselves, that could have involved wine!   A lot of it too. Haha.

Anyway, Daniele knew what sort of day we were going to have the following day, so we got to be in bed early. Which never happened, but we at least had some down time. A long day in Rome is coming and we needed the rest.

The houses are sort of stacks one on top of the other

Lovely sunset as seen from the Hotel La Meridienne!  

And then over an hour to the hotel and some supper and rest...  And now hang on- we are headed to Roma and traffic and crowds and bustle and a totally different and seriously cool experience.  I did like Rome.  A lot.

But that is for the next couple posts.... and that will be a joy.

ETA!  There IS a detour around the massive HWY 13 washout now and Bayfield is more easily in our grips.  :)  YAY

Florence finale and on to Assisi

Ok, I was just kidding about being done with the art geeking.  I have more.  I didn't want to scare you all!  I have a few odds and ends from Firenze and then we spent an afternoon in the tiny little city of Assisi.  Assisi was ADORABLE. Somehow the churches, which really were huge and grand, seemed a little underwhelming after Florence, so I didn't take pictures inside of them. But this will all come up later.

The "giant turtle" as we called it- Florence was displaying some new art along with the old. It was our meeting place- "be back at the giant turtle by 5:30 and we will go to dinner from there"

Florence's art was pretty impressive and I have some fuzzy, not good pictures of some of the things that I saw.  There was so much to see in the Uffizi gallery- so much- and we were motoring through pretty fast.  The statues and the paintings were plentiful, each deserving of its own admiration, but when one is on a quest to see Botticelli, well, one doesn't hesitate too long.

One of the things that made my heart quicken was to see the famous Renaissance painting Judith Slaying Holofernes by Artemisia Gentileschi.  She was a Baroque painter, and much of the point of this admiration and fame is that she was a FEMALE painter.  HIGHLY unusual-  she was the first female to be accepted into Florence's exclusive Academia di Belle Arti. In traditional art history- pre-Impressionism, it all was a story of dead white males, so she really is a departure from the norm.  I absolutely remember seeing this painting on the screen in good old Hibbard Hall, second floor, during art history class.  We had just learned about the paintings of Caravaggio and chiaroscuro and then in that lecture or the next, was this striking painting by Gentileschi.  I LOVE this painting, so much action and movement. And yes, she did depict strong female characters in history and lore....  And you can see the strong shading- here is that vocab word- or chiaroscuro.

Medusa- by Caravaggio OH so cool.

So for any of you who are not swooning over the beginning of mood lighting, shading, and all things Renaissance art,  you go ahead and skip this paragraph..... or maybe two paragraphs.....  Chiaroscuro is basically the use of shading.

There was a time when painting (think back or look back at those 14th c. wood panels from the first Florence post) was pretty flat and the figures were not very "modeled".  This is true of the handling of both the figure and the space that it inhabits.  The entire point of the art then was to illustrate Biblical/religious scenes/people or portray the religious leaders of the time- the popes, you know?! During the later 1400's and into the next 200-300 years, artists were being hired by wealthy, secular folk (the Medici family in Florence, for example) to paint/sculpt for them.  Artists began to have patrons that were not connected directly to the church. The move away from religion to humanism as a way of life changed a lot of the art.  Scenes from real life began to emerge as well as the depiction of mythology and other subjects that were used during ancient times.  Non-religious subject matter was a big deal, really.

We love humanism and the Renaissance, no?  Anyway, chiaroscuro is the use of shading to show three dimensions, usually when referencing drawing and painting, and in fact it all began with drawing.  Drawing on colored paper and adding the lights and darks with charcoal/chalk, while retaining the color of the paper as a middle tone (which is something I LOVE to do with my students) is how it was first developed and explored.  This quickly moved onto print making and painting.  Chiaroscuro, as I learned, was also a specific style of composition that an extraordinary artist named Caravaggio developed.  The result was that his paintings were fairly dark, but he would use a few rays of light to highlight the action that was happening in the piece.  Your eye has no choice but to look there first.  Oh I could go on and on.  I can't tell you how amazing it was to see these painting in OMG- REAL LIFE!!!   All these painting I learned about so long ago and me with my nose metaphorically pressed against the glass.  And perhaps a not so symbolic tear in my eye again.  I didn't cry much after Florence.

Some things I photographed- some identified, some not-

One of the sculptures at the Palazzo Vecchio-Hercules beating the Centaur-

This cracks me up- the only picture - I think- that I took at the Palazzo Vecchio in the Piazza Signoria was of someone beating up this poor Centaur.  Seems a little rude, don't you think??  I will say every time I was here, it was to find a place to sit and crash for a while.  So picture taking wasn't always on the agenda.  The fake David is directly to the left of this particular area.  And the giant turtle is in the middle of the Piazza behind me here.

Sculptures at the Uffizi

Isn't this an amazing place?  I had to snap a few with the phone....  

Arianna Addormentata

Ok, so an unexpected treat that was discovered by my Seester-Rose and I on the second night in Florence.  We got back to the  hotel (we walked to the city center and back- Florence isn't too huge) a little early and I was on a quest for stamps.  Of course the little tobacco shops that sell them were not open, so that little mission was scrapped.  Then we decided to look for a Farmacia for something- bandaids for blisters I think- and had no luck there either.  But we did get directed to go "through the tunnel" to find some gelato.  Oh the gelato....  Anyway- you GUYS!!!  The BEST thing!!  The tunnel goes under the intersection of two very busy roads and it has outlets on all side of it and the tunnel intersects as well.  I would have to look at a map or something to understand what it looks like from above, but I understood how it works.  Anyway, the tunnel has beautiful graffiti. SUCH talent and it is from what I could see pretty respectful how they treated each other's art. It was open to foot and bike traffic....  and it was pretty clean, well lit and there was MUSIC!!!  What a treasure of a journey that was.  And gelato!

 And I found THIS LINK that discusses the tunnel- and we indeed saw the caretaker- Salvador!  WOW cool. It is evolving, changing, and fluid- art at it's best.  Read the article- so interesting.

The entrance that we used 

One of the AMAZING pieces that we saw.  I love this one

Looking towards the T intersection

Yet another piece- it was trippy, the whole thing.

That is definitely one of my favorite things!  If I can figure out how to attach a video clip, I will!!  

And I did!

I referred to the fact a long time ago that we stopped at the best little town along the way to Assisi and had a nice little treat.  A few of us went over to this coffee shop and had a little caffe and a delicious little sweet- sort of a cake with raspberry and all sorts of deliciousness.  Wow!  It was one of the most relaxing enjoyable stops of the trip..... and this in a trip full of favorites.

I took this pic so I remembered the town with the amazing little coffee shop- Passignano!

Enjoying our treats, though Paula hadn't gone to get hers yet.

Totally unedited but evokes the peace and loveliness of the town and lake

So Assisi- we continued further down the length of Italy to a region called Umbria.  Firenze was in Tuscany, which we have all heard of, and Umbria is equally as impressive.   We had a really cool pasta making demonstration when we were almost to the town, interrupted by an unfortunate emergency which turned out ok by the end of the day. I did describe the pasta making event before.  We had a great meal, some local red wine and a shot of Limoncello- ah life is good.

When we got to Assisi, we had a walking tour of this cute little place.  It was bookended by two churches, one at the top of the hill and one at the bottom.  We had a great tour, but the best thing was having free time and exploring the  town for a few hours.  It was so much fun- it has only 2 roads that run up and down the hill, but lots of side stairs and alley ways.  And the views were outstanding.

Gateway to the town

The views were amazing!!  And I am in total love with those street lights
Wish I could see them at night

View from the top of the hill to the church on the bottom.  There were even armed Polizia down at the Basilica of San Francesco 

Temple of Minerva in the Piazza del Commune: an ancient temple that was turned into a church

Oh those Corinthian columns!

Some of the frescos that are on the walls- and you can see the pink limestone that the area is famous for.  Very beautiful

LOVE the every day beauty the Italian put into their homes

LOOK!  1477!!! 

One of the many compelling little routes through the city 

What charm this little city had

Views for days!

Hidden treasures to see everywhere

We stayed only one night in Assisi, and it was down in the new part of the city below.  We ate at the hotel that night, had some local wine and prepared ourselves for the day to come.  Our next hotel's "lobby" was on the 5th floor. So we did some repacking and only took enough for the next night in a carry on type bag.  The rest stayed on the bus.  Adventure followed us everywhere. HA and I finally found my stamps in Assisi!! And bought two extra for an interesting lady who had a series of shall we say interesting things happen to her.... interesting people we traveled with- let's leave it at that.  Oy.

While the official architecture and art of the churches weren't my absolute favorites, the town itself was just amazing.  So cute, not so busy, though there were plenty of cars and people and full of charm.  These first 5 days were absolutely my favorite days.  I enjoyed the rest of the trip- absolutely!  But these first days were the best.  You might even say a joy.

And the art geeking continues- DAVID- edited

Oh PLEEEEZE forgive me while I finish off this spasm of art pleasure- looking at these pictures is just the best. Let's go back to that Tuesday in June when we last saw our art teacher silently weeping over the Botticelli gallery and imagine her excitement to head on over to what she REALLY was wanting to see, and that of course was the David at the Galleria dell'Accademia,  just a little ways across town.

Mmmmmm- balsamic!  Tried some of these lovely things!

In between the two museums we headed on over to the Central Market, which was fun to see and we eventually shopped there- hello olive oil and balsamic vinegar- but we ducked out to find a really nice little restaurant a few blocks away.  SO much fun to do that.  Pick a place and see what they have!  Never a disappointment.  Anyway, after a leisurely lunch, we met the rest of the group at the Accademia for our entrance time.

This menu lured us in- we were on a quest for fresh food- no pizza for now, please

WELL- look who has the crazy eyes! 

We had a LONG wait in the hot sun, though.  Ok, total transparency:  we had a hot wait in the shade while silently mocking the people who didn't have the foresight to make reservations first and they had to stand in the sun.  Maybe that small hiccup in my usual positive outlook on life and other people colored my karma and ironically gave me a heat burn on my legs in Roma later in the trip whilst waiting in the- you got it- hot sun, but I digress.  And I have a rich imagination.  hehe.

Waiting waiting waiting.  We finally got in- went through security, again, and I was sort of desperate to see the David, and the auxiliary sculptures of the slaves that I knew were near him.  I didn't realize that it was such a small museum, but really,  do they need more?

Sweaty selfie with David

I will take this moment to say, wow there is a lot of security at places like this.  So many metal detectors, yo.  AND my sister was none to happy to have to relinquish her bottle of olive oil and such to the guards- but we easily recovered it when we finished up our visit. 

That museum knows how to put on a show. The statue is placed in such a beautiful location.  It is stunning.  I rounded a corner, not really knowing where I was going- and saw in front of me one of the slave sculptures that I really really love.  After admiring that for a moment, I turned my head and there he was.  David is placed in the middle of a space under a dome, on a pedestal, and there are arches and columns framing him on all sides as you look at him.  There are also windows above which does give one some lighting issues if you are busy taking pictures, but gives all the highlights and shadows necessary to properly admire the skill of the artist.

His left foot was damaged by a crazy guy who attacked the statue with a hammer.  

You can see the veins in his arms, the ripple of muscles, the bones of his ribs-  a male carved in stone that looks at once soft and hard.  I had to look carefully  to perceive the proportional anomalies that Michelangelo purposely used, as the statue was originally intended for the roofline of the Florence cathedral.  His head and hands are larger than is correct, as it was supposed to be looked at from below- in an effort to make the figure look natural.

He is at once the young David of biblical lore and also what was perceived as a political statement- his eyes glaring in the direction of Rome, warning them off of the city of Florence.  In art speak, this is one of the finest representations of the figure standing in what is called contrapposto position.  Contrapposto is the human body standing with its weight on one leg, the other shifted for balance.  This will cause the back to curve, dipping the shoulders, tilting the hips and the head then leans counter to the weight shift.  This is representative of the High Renaissance figure sculpture- and can be contrasted against earlier sculpted figures, which showed less implied movement.  The Renaissance sculptors were looking back to their Hellenistic predecessors  who perfected this S curve in their figure sculptures.  An example of which is the Venus de Milo, where you can instantly see the similar curves.  It was an extraordinary day.

As the rest of the group scattered and my dear sister settled herself on a bench, I must have walked up and down that hall 5 times, walking around the statue, going back to look at the unfinished slaves, coming close to it, backing up and looking at it from afar, trying to recreate that moment of a quick inhaled breath.  This is indeed a grand, beautiful piece of artwork.  

There were other parts of the museum, but I will say I barely remember them. I am glad I got a few photos....  Not many but a few.

This was one of my favorite things- a whole room full of statues and busts!

Bearded Slave

Palestrina Pieta maybe by Michelangelo

Atlas Slave

The unfinished Slaves/Prisoners that were in the gallery with David were very interesting to me.  I loved seeing the progression towards the finished work that he was making.  These were intended for the tomb of Pope JuliusII.   They are rough and unrefined, such a contrast to the main event in that gallery.  They are the work of the mature artist and the expression of emotions in these unfinished works is just exquisite.

Ok, anyway, I am very excited to go on to the next set of photos, but I actually have one more Florence post, but I don't know if I am going to write that next or wait for a few days.  We shall see.  I sort of need to bathe in the glow of these moments first.  

Joy was the word of the day here in the fair city of Florence. I plan to go back someday in the not so distant future.  And spend much more time with David.