Wash Your Face & Drive Me To Firenze...

I think I’ve figured out why Italians, along with most other Europeans, are so melancholy with their pace of walking, working, and life all together. It’s not because life here is “slower” or “more relaxed” or anything like that, it’s because every damn person here smokes. So What, you may say, well, because they all smoke, they’re out of shape and can’t really move super fast w/o getting out of breath and having to sit down. Hence, they always move slowly and appear to be ‘relaxed’ when in reality they’re simply trying to maintain the physical capability to work while not exerting themselves too much so that they’re not out of breath and can’t do anything. The best part about it is that it’s illegal to smoke indoors in Italy in public buildings, highly ironic considering I haven’t met a single Italian who doesn’t smoke. That legislation must have just sneaked up in there covered with a giant pile of money to go un-noticed by a cancer stick addicted society like Italy’s. Just a funny thought.
Anyhoo, this week I had another Finance exam, that rocked…except not because it was A) and exam, B) a finance exam, and C) I was fairly sick when I took it and studied for it. So hurray that it’s over, I guess we’ll see how that went Monday when I get the test back in class.
Also worth mentioning was the fact that Tony’s, the restaurant that we eat at at least 1-4 times a week had it’s last day of operation on Wednesday until December. This is not good news, now I have no clue as to where to eat. I feel like a lost puppy w/no one to feed me, and Lord knows that I can’t cook for myself, so that’s out of the question. I’ll have to find some place to temporarily replace my addiction to what is the best restaurant ever. You know, should be pretty easy, eh?
Friday, I went to Firenze (Florence) w/a few friends who had an on-site class there for the weekend. I didn’t go to the classes or anything, but tagged along w/two other people who also went w/o having class. Got to see the Duomo of Florence(http://www.mega.it/eng/egui/monu/buq.htm), fairly impressive, though I was a little taken aback by the simplicity of the interior compared with all the churches in Rome that I’ve been in. The ceiling wasn’t completely covered in gold along with the walls and statues everywhere. Regardless, the dome that towers over the rest of the city was pretty cool, and was decorated much more ornately than the rest of the place.
We also went to the Accademia(http://www.mega.it/eng/egui/monu/buq.htm) that evening and saw The David, which is huge. 15 meters tall, much larger than the pictures you see depict it. It’s also pretty cool to be able to actually see statues like that in person because the amount of detail you can pick up that photos don’t necessarily capture, including the muscle detail such as the veins on the arms and stomach, tension in the neck and what not. There were some other cool paintings and statues there such as the Ratto Delle Sabine, by Giambologna, which pleasantly translates to The Rape of the Sabine Woman, which was one of the first statues to make you view it from all around the base instead of having a specific point of view, which was accustom then so that elites could get the best view of all statues.
After the Academia, we ventured over to Ponte Vecchio(http://www.mega.it/eng/egui/monu/buq.htm), which unfortunately was closing by then, but we still checked it out. Quick history lesson, Ponte Vechio was the only bridge in Florence that wasn’t destroyed by Ze Germans in WWII because the general thought it too beautiful to destroy...which it is (you can thank my aunt&uncle for that one). Lot’s of shops and what no on the bridge and just a cool little place.
Friday we woke up real early and went to the Uffizi(http://www.polomuseale.firenze.it/english/musei/uffizi/Default.asp) to check out some more paintings such as The Birth Of Venus and The Primavera, pretty famous stuff. It was also really nice, except for the stupid audio tour we rented…it sucked, don’t do it. Get a real tour guide instead so they can actually tell you things other than who commissioned a painting, when it was commissioned, and when it was placed in the Uffizi.
Following the Uffizi, it was time to get lost in the immensity that is the Gardens of the Pitti Palace. They’re freaking huge. There are many statues in said garden, so, of course we had to take pictures mocking the statues. When I get them from whomever took said pictures, I’ll put them online…eventually.
And I think that’s pretty much all that’s ‘important’ that I’ve done in the past week or so. Keep on rockin it out across the pond.
Ciao,
Jon Boy

P.S. here are some recent photos... http://www.flickr.com/photos/myjonboy/sets/1305438/