Florence

Well we finally made it back!!!

Over the last ten days we have traveled over the central part of Italy; from Genova, to Florence, Siena, and then Rome. This was an amazing journey through a lot of familiar places.  I am going to try to give you a shortened summary of the trip and mostly pictures to explain some of the stunning sites we saw.  It might take me a couple days to get it all together so just keep checking in.

  

Second Day Trip...

On Tuesday we had our second day trip of the semester.  We traveled by bus to Pavia and Vegivano.  Both of these stops are smaller Italian towns north of Genova.  Our first stop was at an active monastery that was originally built in 1396 called Certosa Di Pavia.   A "monk" who was originally from New Jersey gave us a tour through the cathedral and then throughout the monastery.  It is a very interesting life that these men live. Here are some photos from the monastery.

Later we toured some local universities and also some public squares.  Pavia and Vegivano are both well known for great universities.  

Sorry for the lack in detail but during the trip i became deathly ill with a two day virus so I have been recovering the last couple of days.  Friday morning we are leaving for Florence, Siena, and Rome, for ten days.  So, I won't be able to up date my blog until we get back on February 10th.

Dance

Well, we found some ice in Torino, and tried a little dancing...

Pictures...

 this is me a few moments later...
 this is me skiing... 

Here are the ski pictures that didn't post...

Skiing on the Alps in Bardonecchia

This past weekend was absolutely amazing! First of all I want to report that everyone returned from a weekend of skiing in one piece.  Saturday morning we boarded a train to Torino, Italy for a day of site seeing ad then off to Bardonecchia on Sunday for skiing.  Torino is a beautiful old city in Northern Italy, about two hours above Genova.  My first experince on the train went smoothly as I slept most of the way.  After getting to Torino, we found our hostel and check in.  I was a little nervous about staying in a hostel because this was also a first but to my surprise it was very clean.  At the cost of 15 Euro a night it was really good.  The rest of the day was spent site seeing.  Since we will be going to Torino again for one of our "Day Trips" for our architecture history class we focused on seeing a lot of the more modern architecture.  Torino was the site of the 2006 Winter Olympics so there had a been a lot of new improvements to the city in the last couple of years.  Early the next morning we boarded another train to Bardonecchia.  After about an hour of traveling deep into the Alps we reached a skiers paradise.  I had never seen as much snow that was on the ground in my life.  It was up to my shoulder in places.  Whole houses and cars were almost or completely covered with snow.  Camp Smith, the ski resort was bustling with people of all ages.  It boasted 40 runs and 20 lifts all of which were open.  Making it very easy to get up and down the mountain without any waits.  After a few minutes of confusion and trying to communicate with Italians we rented our gear and headed for the slopes.  Only skiing a couple of times in North Carolina I considered myself a beginner and wanted to head to the "bunny slope" for some warm ups.  But some of my group insisted that I would catch on quickly and that there was no need to waste time on the "bunny slope."  So we jumped on the chair lift and headed up the mountain.  When reaching the top I was amazed at the amount of small children.  Most of them could not have been any older than 5 or 6 at the most and they knew exactly what to do.  I was embarrassed to try to ski next to them.  They were very impressive and skillful skiers.  The first couple of times down were miserable for me. I slid down the slope more than I skied.  But it did not take to long before I caught on.  It was really a great time.  I have attached a few photos from the day below.

Well I'm back in Business...

The last couple of days have been really busy with class.  But it has been really exciting and interesting, so I have not minded. First of all I have finally made it to the Mac store and retrieved my charger. So I am able to use my computer whenever I need t

o.  Yesterday we went on our first "Day Trip" which we will do every Tuesday.  This trip consisted of touring the port and surrounding area of Genova.  When we got up it was pouring down rain and very cold but that did not stop our professor. He was ready to face the elements and we were not to complain. So we trotted through the wet and cold streets like little soldiers, ready to learn about great Italian architecture.  Our first stop was just a quick tour and background of the harbor.  From there we took a boat out of the harbor and toured the port and surrounding site from the water.  Several sites that we visited were, the Genova Light House (La Laterna), the Prince Palace (Palazzo Del Principe), and La Commenda Di Pre' a important hospital centre for knights, monks, and pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land in the 12th Century. My favorite stop of the day was at the Prince Palace.  This place was the mansion and headquarter

s of Andrea Doria from 1466-1560. The architecture, art, and interior design in this palace was amazing.  I was especially interest in the molding and fire place mantels.  The mantels were made of a black marble that was one of a kind, from this region of Italy.  The gardens surrounding the palace were also beautifully manicured.  Lemon and orange trees framed the building in a typical Italian terraced style garden.  The day was most enjoyable despite the weather and I look forward to future day trips.