Florence

I was prematurely excited upon finding that our rooms had its own computer with USB ports...sadly, the OS is linux and i lack the knowledge to figure out how to make it talk to my camera...so still no pictures...anyhow.

We arrived in Florence yesterday afternoon and decided to do nothing except relax all afternoon. I finished The Devil Wears Prada (meh) and started a new book called A Game of Thrones...so far very good. Its 28 discs should keep me entertained for the rest of the trip.

Florence is a lovely change from Venice. It feels like a real city that just happens to have a plethora of tourists. The duomo is incredible. Definitely awe inspiring. We also saw the Medici chapels and one of their palaces. They lived pretty richly. Florence is also a really good place to go for leather goods...better quality for less money than in the US, so i am now in possession of a lovely new jacket...so one of my goals has been accomplished. Just need the boots. But I'm not allowing myself to buy any until i ship all my mosaic stuff home...about 20lbs worth of glass, tools, completed art, and books (so many books). I just know i can't lug all that to the next city. So off to DHL i will go.

ciao

Venice = Disneyland

So Venice during the day feels like Disneyland. It's expensive, there's too many bloody tourists (mostly Italian and German, but lots of Americans as well). Granted, there is more water, and drinking is allowed in every restaurant, not just the most expensive one's, but it definitely feels overly touristy. Like anything that resembles the way Venice might have been once upon a time has been slapped on a t'shirt, or keychain, or disturbing pair of boxer shorts and put up for sale. I loved the city on the first day or two, and have since come to be excitedly waiting to flee. It's also really frustrating to not be able to get anywhere going anywhere near in a straight line...fun at first, but not so much when you're actually trying to get someplace. Anyhow.

B got in just fine. They ended up cancelling his original flight out of seattle, so instead of just 3 flights, it took 4 to get him to Venice...and amazingly, his luggage showed up as well. It's been really nice to have him along. I think 4 weeks all by myself would've been a little much. I would've gotten homesick really really fast.

The class went really well. Made 2 mosaics that turned out pretty darn good, if i do say so myself. And i got to go to a factory in venice that makes the glass materials, which was quite interesting. Their storeroom has about 3000 shades of glass, yes, that's 3 followed by 3 zeros. Their flesh colored shelves are amazing alone. And I walked away only buying 4 kilos of glass (1kilo of gold), unlike my friend who bought about 30 kilos of glass. She brought a suitcase with her and just looked cute to get help going up stairs. She's from switzerland, and drove down. I'll be shipping a large heavy box from Florence.

I finally found an internet cafe that i could upload pictures from, but the cord is in the apartment (which is really nice). So hopefully in Florence. We leave tomorrow morning on the 10:30 train.

There's a sold sign on my new house, which is pretty exciting...I'm already planning my basement studio to do mosaics as well as stained glass...the media room might disappear.

Ciao

Greetings from Ravenna

My class concluded today. In just a week we formed a little family, so it was sad to see it end. It was great fun, I learned a lot, and I am now much poorer. Made 2 pieces, one a copy of an ancient mosaic that is in one of the churches in town, and the other of my own design. again, no way to upload pictures yet, which is frustrating.

It rained the first few days, and since then, it has been in the 70's. And the food, ah, heaven. lots of pizza, lots of bread. We went to this restaurant and I ate little cheese raviolis in tomato puree and mozzarella mousse...it was incredible...i couldn't stop myself from eating it all, even though i was quite stuffed. SO good.

Have seen the inside of several churches, which were all pretty incredible, all mosaic based of course. Although the church in Milan had incredible stained glass windows. I am getting a little sick of churches though.

My bags have gotten noticeably heavier, but I am afraid to ship stuff home because the cost is going to be about $100...although the hassle of hauling the mosaics, tools, and books around Italy for the next 3 weeks doesn't sound good either...maybe I will send stuff home with B, who arrives in 2 days.

Am onto Venice tomorrow. One of the people taking the class is also going there so we are driving, as she is from Switzerland and drove down. No trains this time.

Anyhow, need to get ready for dinner, so ciao for now.

Have Arrived

I have arrived in Milan. Am currently sitting in the tiny lobby of my hotel writing on a slightly foreign keyboard (all the letters are in the right place, but everything else is different). The airport is a good 50 minutes from downtown Milan by either bus or train. So I did not arrive until after dark. Luckily, the area around the train station where my hotel is is not too sketchy (i can not find the apostrophy button, so no contractions for me).

I did some sightseeing today, but since my cold has not abated and I still sound a little like Kathleen Turner, I decided to sleep the afternoon. I will see La Scala tomorrow morning before I head out to Ravenna. I did get a chance to see the duomo (which is pretty incredible from the outside and the stained glass on the inside is gorgeous) and Sforza castle, which is a brick monstrosity that housed the Sforza family, who ruled Milan like the Medicis did Florence) and is quite ugly. I decided to skip the museum for a nap. They do have a wonderful city park where I saw someone getting married in a very puffy pink dress. It was very peaceful. And of course I did some window shopping (and am proud of the fact that I have yet to purchase anything). Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi, Timberland...all within a couple city blocks. I have happily yet to find a Starbucks...I have a feeling there coffee would not compete.

Tomorrow I head for Ravenna and start my class on Monday. No pictures to upload yet, as this machine does not have any USB ports visible. Hopefully in Ravenna, as I have a fun picture of a mosaic bull (torino) whose bad luck it is to have people spin on his testicles for good luck.

Ciao