We had a two week travel break. Decided to explore Italy. Hoorah.
An Afternoon in Pisa:
Cinque Terre:
Five towns situated on cliffs next to the ocean=absolutely beautiful. What sucked is that we couldn't hike up the trails due to landslides and rain. Not to mention our hostel was terrible. Power went out, the power outlets exploded, and weird stuff from the ceiling fell down on our beds. We got into a full blown argument with the owner to get our money back! I believe his final words to us were "Fuck you."
One day I hope to visit Cinque Terre (translated "five towns") again when the weather is better.
My travel buddy, Pablo, for the majority of the trip.
One of MANY pizzas I had in Italy. I had this one in Cinque and it was one of my favorites. White truffle cream sauce...to die for...
Milan:
Duomo
New Fair Trade Center in Milan. I really enjoyed this place. Conceptually it was the same as a studio project I had designed a long time ago (Arch students, please don't judge me...):
....but as you can see the building in Milan was executed like 10000000000000000000x better. I guess I wasn't as creative as I thought. HA.
Also in Milan, Castello Sforzesco:
There were also some GORGEOUS gardens behind the castle but my camera died at that point. But it was like New York Central park's squeaky clean and more relaxed alter-ego. And that to me is kind of perfect.
But I just want to say that even though I enjoyed Milan (most people didn't),I wouldn't visit there again. Don't be fooled, there is almost nothing to do there except some really expensive shopping and like one or two architectural walk-throughs.
Next stop, Verona:
Giardino Giusti aka Giusti Gardens. Uhm... we sort of nonchalantly snuck in. Very beautiful and very worth the 0 euro we paid.
All over Italy are bundles of locks locked onto public fixtures like railings or fences. Couples usually sign them and affix them somewhere in Italy to symbolize their everlasting love. Aw. How precious.
Castelvecchio: a medieval castle with a restoration by architect Carlo Scarpa. It's kind of huge and kind of a big deal. Plus we learned about it at Cal Poly. What. Up.
Venice:
That weekend in Venice, we ended up meeting up with SO many Cal Poly kids. Half the students from the Florence program were there, all of the Cal Poly Rome students were there, and almost all the Denmark (aka me) students were there. It was like a big Cal Poly reunion and it was kind of nice/surreal to see all the familiar faces. We all came to see the Venice Biennale, an architecture exhibition held in Venice every other year.
Canals, canals, canals everywhere. Very beautiful but also very smelly at times. Also, it was very confusing to navigate the streets of Venice. The paths were very convoluted and so easy to get lost in. Some say it adds to the charm of Venice and makes it feel like a exploratory maze. But some can also just say it's just confusing/annoying as fuck. Personally, I am split between the two views.
As for the Venice Biennale itself:
It was pretty cool. There were some of interesting pavilions with some inspiring work. Some of the creativity was very admirable.
And here's some of us sitting on Carlo Scarpa's work.
Rome:
I visited/stayed with one of my friends, Katie Lomax, who was studying in Rome for Cal Poly's Rome program.
Piazza Navona
Pantheon. It was getting restored/fixed, hence all the scaffolding. But makes for a semi-cool picture, yea?
Roman Colosseum
Sunset
Spanish Steps
Trevi Fountain
San Carlo Quattro Fontaine
St. Peters Square
Inside St. Peters Basilica. Pictured is Bernini's Baldacchino.
Maxi Museum by Zaha Hadid
Florence:
My final stop in Italy was in Florence to visit Hannah who studies in Florence.
I went up the Duomo. Here are the fresco paintings on the inside of the Dome
View from the top of the Duomo
Palazzo Vechio. Also went into the Uffizi museum which held a lot of Renaissance art and the original "Birth of Venus" painting. I ran into some of my friends in Florence who happened to be Art history majors and they toured/educated me about Renaissance art as we walked through the galleries.
Italy was a pretty lovely experience. The Rustic feel of the area was unreal and I really appreciated all the art, sculptures and cultural history. Oh and yes, the food was indeed super delicious.
