Finally we had to leave. Sad part of the trip, but one trip starts but you never know when another trip begins.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
March 18 2011 (Friday)
This day we went into the Medici property. Sculptures here were very smooth and rough. We later went inside of the baptistery of the Duomo called “Basilica di Santa Maria Del Fiore” built by the most famous Engineer of that time called Felippo Brunelleschi.
The drawings made of marble on the floor, showed a horoscope. We saw also paintings representing hell and heaven. The biggest challenge was going through the stairs and reaching the top of the Duomo. There we walked the narrowest space in the whole Duomo.
As we reached near the end we could see how much work Domencio di Michelino put on these tall ceilings. Once we were on the top, we saw the most spectacular view.
Where excited to have reached the top. I could clearly see the amount of precision that was used to build this Duomo. Between every block on each column was a slack of cement about 2 mm apart.
After this long journey, we went and had dinner with our guides. We had a good plate of chorizo, beans and pasta. Of course we had to take final group picture.
It took seven decades to build this Duomo. We saw that this place had a lot of gold engraved on the walls with biblical stories. When we got into the huge Duomo, I felt a breeze of cold air.
March 17 2011 (Thursday)
This is a big day! We decided to go to Rome. We took the first Trenitalia off to Rome. When we got there, we were so anxious to take pictures of the famous “Colosseo”. It was amazing to see this ancient building
still standing after so many years.
We passed the Emanuele II mounument. This was historic building that shows statutes made of marble. After lunch we walk to the plaza called “Piazza di Novano” here we saw nice sculptures and fountains. We later took a walk to the Trevi Fountain. According to the locals, if you face your back to the fountain and throw a coin with you r hand to the side of your shoulder, to the fountain, this means you are coming back to this fountain. We later came to the famous Spanish Steps (“Piazza di Spagna”).
This is the widest stair case going up to a church in Europe. Later we decided to take the subway trains to the Vatican City! This was a big place; we walked into the entrance of the huge place. This place has hundreds of statues on the columns.
still standing after so many years.
We passed the Emanuele II mounument. This was historic building that shows statutes made of marble. After lunch we walk to the plaza called “Piazza di Novano” here we saw nice sculptures and fountains. We later took a walk to the Trevi Fountain. According to the locals, if you face your back to the fountain and throw a coin with you r hand to the side of your shoulder, to the fountain, this means you are coming back to this fountain. We later came to the famous Spanish Steps (“Piazza di Spagna”).
This is the widest stair case going up to a church in Europe. Later we decided to take the subway trains to the Vatican City! This was a big place; we walked into the entrance of the huge place. This place has hundreds of statues on the columns.
March 16 2011 (Wednesday)
This morning I enjoyed so much. We had breakfast near Dante’s Pizzeria, famous for their wine and great pizza.
After eating, the crew went to the Uffizi museum. This placed was packed with Renaissance paintings. But my favorite was the Primavera painting by Sandro Botticelli. This place also showed a lot of realism like the Abraham sacrifice from Caravaggio.
After that museum we went to the museum "casa buonarroti". This place was my personal favorite. This place showed the perspective paintings that was very popular back then.
Here we saw the famous David by Michael Angelo. We were amazed of how big this sculpture was created. His head and his arms are bigger than a normal person would have. This was made to emphasis on the strength and intelligence.
It was a coincidence that we were in Italy to celebrate it 150 year of Italy’s unification as a state. That night we saw a lot of celebration during Florence. That night we saw Florence’s musical and marching band.
After eating, the crew went to the Uffizi museum. This placed was packed with Renaissance paintings. But my favorite was the Primavera painting by Sandro Botticelli. This place also showed a lot of realism like the Abraham sacrifice from Caravaggio.
After that museum we went to the museum "casa buonarroti". This place was my personal favorite. This place showed the perspective paintings that was very popular back then.
Here we saw the famous David by Michael Angelo. We were amazed of how big this sculpture was created. His head and his arms are bigger than a normal person would have. This was made to emphasis on the strength and intelligence. 
It was a coincidence that we were in Italy to celebrate it 150 year of Italy’s unification as a state. That night we saw a lot of celebration during Florence. That night we saw Florence’s musical and marching band. This was a good performance. We walked into a store with a peculiar candy shop. I was so amazed of their “mazzapane” that a local was kind enough to share theirs with me!
March 15 2011 (Tuesday)
Waking up to a new day, we take a big bus to go to place called San Gimgiano. This place is located a few kilometers south of Florence. Arriving to this place we were able notice this town on hills with its huge bricked walls and towers that can be seen from kilometers away.
They are known for their white wine. Walking these narrow streets we saw a lot of pastries and small local restaurants.
The next stop that we encountered was Sienna. This was another old town that was built on a huge hill. This place is very characteristic because of its horse races in their small plaza called “El Campo”. Every year regions of this town would compete in this race creating a small track for the horse. Their peculiar rules for this race are that you can do anything in order to win this race. Competitors can corrupt the other players, push them while racing, all sorts of negative ways in order to win the race. Also in this town is where the world gets the ideas of banking. Bank comes from the word “Banco” which means bench. Back then people would lend money on these benches. When the person could no pay back the money they would have to declare “Banca Rota” which means bankruptcy.
This place also had the Siena Cathedral. This cathedral was built one the highest part of the hill. This resembled that the higher the cathedral, the closer to god. This place had paintings from Michael Angelo, sculptures, and gold with the paintings on the church’s front part.
My favorite sculpture is the Angel standing with the sword on top of the cathedral. The last place we visited was called Appiano.
This place was definitely different from all the other places visited. We went to one of the vineyards up on the mountains. Our crew was able to try different wines. This place was very unique part of the Italian culture. In this place they would also grow and elaborate their own olive oils (sold suppressed, for those who are wondering what kind).
March 14 2011 (Monday)
The next day after a good breakfast, the crew headed to walk around the city to get familiar with Florence.
We then meet our history tour guide Elizabetha. She is a very prepared, curious and knowledge woman. I have to admit, that our guide was the best at explaining and pointing the most relevant parts of Florence. 
As we kept walking the narrow streets of Florence on Lungarno street, we were able to see how the businesses flourished on the bridge. One thing that caught my attention was the walk handles. These were not your regular handles. These handles were full of hundreds of locks!
Any type of lock you can imagine was on these handles. I will tell you the reason why these handles are here.
According to our tour guide, when a couple is in love and the guy wants to promise her love forever, the guy will find a lock and lock it on the bar handles representing his affection. This is not to be confused with a wedding ring. This does not have the same meaning.
We later pass onto the “piazza de la signoria”. This was built in the thirteenth century. We went inside the “Mvseo di Plazzo Vecchio” this monument was built to represent the civic monument in Florence. In this place we saw amazing paintings and sculptures such as the copy of the David, and Perseus (the slayer of Medusa).
It was amazing to see all these statues. It was interesting to see that a few of these statues are very white and clear. While other statues look old, green, dark and rusty. The reason is due because of the weather changes that have this effect on these statues. The crew asked questions on why the other statues aren’t white.
The answer is because these statues are cleaned with some chemicals that help preserve the marble properties.
We found particular old paintings still preserved. These angel paintings looked a little dull and almost faded into the yellow wall of the building. Walking inside of this building the crew and I could see old statues that resemble the lion.
Going inside this building we saw very elegant chandeliers and elaborated caverned brown doors. On almost every ceiling you would see paintings, carved columns, statues that would represent mostly angels, the people of Florence, and different forms and shapes. Currently there are politicians that still live in the building having conferences.
We then meet our history tour guide Elizabetha. She is a very prepared, curious and knowledge woman. I have to admit, that our guide was the best at explaining and pointing the most relevant parts of Florence. 
Our First stop was “Ponte Vecchio” (Vecchio Bridge). This place is known for its stores. Here we saw amazing designs of jewelry in gold. This bridge was the corridor to get to Uffizi gallery and was kept ever since.
Any type of lock you can imagine was on these handles. I will tell you the reason why these handles are here.
According to our tour guide, when a couple is in love and the guy wants to promise her love forever, the guy will find a lock and lock it on the bar handles representing his affection. This is not to be confused with a wedding ring. This does not have the same meaning.
We later pass onto the “piazza de la signoria”. This was built in the thirteenth century. We went inside the “Mvseo di Plazzo Vecchio” this monument was built to represent the civic monument in Florence. In this place we saw amazing paintings and sculptures such as the copy of the David, and Perseus (the slayer of Medusa). 
It was amazing to see all these statues. It was interesting to see that a few of these statues are very white and clear. While other statues look old, green, dark and rusty. The reason is due because of the weather changes that have this effect on these statues. The crew asked questions on why the other statues aren’t white.
The answer is because these statues are cleaned with some chemicals that help preserve the marble properties. We found particular old paintings still preserved. These angel paintings looked a little dull and almost faded into the yellow wall of the building. Walking inside of this building the crew and I could see old statues that resemble the lion.
The lion represented the strength that the city of Florence would demonstrate at that time.
Leaving this building we found ourselves walking a few blocks on to the street called “Via Santa Margherita”. On this famous street was the home of the one and only Dante the famous poet. According to our guide, this man gave a lot to the Italian literacy, and is considered a master piece of world literature. Seeing this street is clear example of the Italian streets in medieval times. This street gives the spectator a feeling of going onto a small town where neither electric system nor plumbing existed.
This Street had a small old church and small alley. Walking away from this street, we had the opportunity to go inside the house of Medici or the “Casa di Medeci”. Lacking information about the Medeci, our guide explained that this family was wealthy merchants that had big influence over the politicians in Florence. This family had a lot business and hired the best workers of that time to construct buildings, paintings, sculpture etc... Their ideas were that if the hired the smartest people of that time to create these things, then the people in Florence would believe and trust the Medici’s to govern the city.
Going inside this building we saw very elegant chandeliers and elaborated caverned brown doors. On almost every ceiling you would see paintings, carved columns, statues that would represent mostly angels, the people of Florence, and different forms and shapes. Currently there are politicians that still live in the building having conferences.
After all this time walking and learning, it was time to enjoy one of Italy’s famous gelato. This treat made all day’s walking worth it. This is creamiest ice cream in the world. Their amazing flavors vary all from banana and strawberry to “Cioccolata Fondente” and “Mousse alla Frabola”.
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