La Capella dei Brancacci e La Basilica di Santa Maria del Santo Spirito

The Brancacci chapel's pretty and all, but is it bad that I didn't find it particularly extraordinary? The only frescoes I was really fond of and that stuck out for me were Masolino's Temptation of Adam and Eve and Masaccio's Expulsion from the Earthly Paradise. I don't know, maybe it has something to do with the fact that it was raining heavily earlier (pouring, even) and we had to walk in the rain to get to the chapel. And I was so starving therefore cranky that I was ready to slap a begging gypsy had I been presented with the opportunity. I was much more interested in seeing the rest of the church, but it was unfortunately roped off. The depth of the ceiling's design and detail was spectacular; there was an impressive illusion of a dome on top of the windows surrounded by cute little cherub sculptures. 

After that, we watched a movie concerning the background of the Brancacci chapel and Florence during the Renaissance in general; the first portion was exciting and informative and I was also entertained by switching between the languages (English, Italian, and French) on our personal little walkman thing. By the second half of the movie though, the novelty of the English narrator's voice wore off. Although the movie was still informative, it had a difficult time delivering the excitement the first half had (e.g., less neat 3-D illustrations and overdramatizations).

Santo Spirito, however, is the most gorgeous church I've ever been in. The exterior is relatively modest (bland) so I wasn't expecting the interior to be so grand as if God has personally blessed the church himself, despite the fact that it's supposed to be considered one Brunelleschi's greatest work. Everything seemed absolutely perfect: the alters especially, the pews, confessionals, and whatever else that's supposed to be in a Catholic church. Honestly, I was so overwhelmed that I almost wanted to bow down on my hands and knees (Muslim prayer style), not necessarily for God, but as an homage to these visionary gods, these artists themselves for having conceived such a beauty! I understand now how this may serve as religious propaganda; if every church back in Los Angeles made me feel like this, I wouldn't mind sacrificing my Sunday mornings. Unfortunately, photography is not permitted inside the church.

Chianti

(Click on the photo for full view; this blog's template likes to cut off my horizontal photos)

I wasn't able to fall asleep until about 3:30AM the night(/morning) before our day trip to Chianti and we had to meet at the train station at 7:30AM. You also have to give us time to walk to the train station, which is approximately an half hour walk. Needless to say, it was a bit of a rough morning. 

We met up with the rest of the group who booked this trip with Florence for Fun, a sort of travel agency that organizes trips for study abroad students. We had two guides with us, Remigio and Luca. The bus seemed more like a charter bus than say, public transportation, but I'm still pretty unclear about what kind of bus it is. It took about an hour to get to Chianti from Florence and the ride was scenic enough. 

Unfortunately, it was raining in Chianti, but only light showers while we were there. The mud just made the 4-mile hike through the vineyards a little challenging. The cold air was really nice though. I wish we could take more hikes in Florence instead of just walking all over the city. We took a 40 minute break during our hike at San Leolino church, a Romanesque church. A black cat was guarding it, which was both creepy and cute. Remigio gave us a nerdy recount of the history of Chianti and the church itself. The church land was established by Etruscans and Chianti is basically man-made. 

After the hike, a friend of Remigio received us for lunch and wine tasting. For appetizers, we had bread, naturally, and prosciutto and salami followed by two courses of pasta (pesto, pomodoro). We tried two different bottles of wine: Terre di Panzano Chianti, which is made from a combination of three types of grapes, and Granducale, which is made solely from San Giovese grapes. After the wine and our meal, they brought us biscotti and a shot of a dessert wine and then everyone's least favorite, a shot of grappa. I was able to polish off about 5 grappa shots because that's how brave I am. 

I'm not going to lie-- coming back to Florence was a little bit disappointing. The air is not as fresh and there are far too many people, but I got used to it again soon enough. It's definitely not as relaxing as Chianti, which I actually prefer to Fiesole as well. 

Kylie & I + wine

Yours truly + grappa

View from Piazza Michelangelo

Cool. (Click photo to enlarge)

Our apartment is falling apart!

Literally. (Well, maybe not literally...)

Earlier this evening, our power went out randomly. We weren't using more electricity than we usually do so my roommates and I were thoroughly confused. I called the landlady and she said she can't do anything about it until tomorrow morning. So we called Antonella, our program's "on-site coordinator," (basically our go-to woman if we ever have a problem or question about anything) and she told us to flip some switch and the power came back on. 

I just got out of the shower and there were mysterious puddles of water: one in the bathroom right by the tub and the other in our "hallway" (it's not really a hallway; I don't know how else to describe it) that has no trail. Water is probably seeping from under the tub because it was poorly made and/or the overflow drain wasn't mounted properly. In any case, that's another issue we'll have to bring up with the landlady tomorrow morning. 

Now, I would like to share with you verbatim a special note she left for us: 

"WE SHALL   YOU DONT SMUDGE   OR ATTACK   ANYTHING TO WALLS (ARE AVAIBLE CORK-BOARDS  IN EVERY  ROOMS), OR TO DAMAGE OR DIRTY FURNITURES

EVERY DAMAGE MUST BE PAYD  AS  EXSTRA FEE   BEFORE   DEPARTURE 

WE HOPE   YOU WILLiLEAVE   THIS HOUSE AS YOU FOUND IT,CLEAN AND IN CIVIL ORDER

HOUSE   OWNER IS   COSTANZA MORANDUZZO(OLIVIERI), AND IS   AT YOUS DISPOSAL 

CALLING UP HER    CELL NUMBER 335 718[xxxx]

OUR BEST REGARS............AND ENGIOJ FLORENCE"

Oh, in other news, I'm going to Chianti this Saturday for hiking and wine tasting! It should be Fun!! "Fun!!" with a capital F and two exclamation points! 

I would also like to apologize for my lack of posts/photos. It turns out I'm a terrible and lazy blogger. Perhaps. And since my last post, I made a new friend, attended a wine and cheese reception, visited the Uffizi and the Ferragamo shoe museum. Perhaps I shall make posts on that later. Perhaps. (Probably.)

MY BEST REGARS.............. xx thip

In need of a guide

Where does one find heavy cream in Florence? Where are the gays? Where are the attractive Italian men? How do you differentiate between a homosexual and a heterosexual Italian man?Where do the cool kids hang out? Who are the cool kids? Most importantly, WHERE ARE THE MOVIE THEATERS?!

After hours and hours of research, I found that the movie theater (CinaCitta` CineClub) best suited to my taste is an hour and 40 minute walk across the Arno. I can't even bus it there it's so far. I'm going to have to save that trip for when I'm really desperate; I'll either take a taxi or, to save money, attempt to manage that trek. 

Maybe these questions will be answered in due time. It has only been a week after all. 

Impatient yet lazy and in need of a good movie-going experience,

xx thip

Fiesole

Today we went to Fiesole. It was roughly about a half hour bus ride from the Santa Maria Novella train station. Riding the bus wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I didn't get pick-pocketed and I've been in way more crowded buses back in Los Angeles. 

Fiesole is gorgeous. The air is so fresh and crisp. This was also the first time I've seen nature in Europe; there was plenty of beautiful trees and green grass. I want to live there. Because in Florence, there is hardly any grass and trees in the city. 

We looked at the Etruscan and Roman ruins at the Fiesole museums. I wish we could've explored more despite the fact that I was pretty tired and I just wanted to nap on the grass. I preferred the Bandini museum, which housed religious art, over the other museum (I forgot its name) that primarily had Etruscan and Roman artifacts. 

After the museum visits, we walked up a steep street to a spot that has a wonderful view of the city. The Duomo was visible from there. Unfortunately, the view was more smoggy than I would have liked, but we plan on going back again for some fresh air and hot chocolate. From the lookout spot, we walked up to a monastery, which was also pretty amazing. I wish we had access to more rooms though.

We didn't want to leave after being there for only about four hours, so my roommates and I grabbed some dinner and left around 7PM. We were able to get seats on the bus ride back home and as we were going down, the sun was setting and it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. 

Fiesole deserves more than a two-thumbs up or an A++.

Two of my roommates, Kylee and Apolonia.

Quick update

My roommate Stephanee has a three-day trial for wireless internet connected via USB port that can only be used from her computer. I may consider getting one on of my own or sharing-- we'll see how it goes.

I share an apartment with three other girls: Stephanee, Kylee, and Apolonia. There are three rooms-- two singles and a double. I share a room with Stephanee and the other girls get their own room. I don't mind. There's a nice dining room/den area complete with a sofa, dining table, TV, VCR (haha), and DVD player though we don't plan on watching much TV. The channels are mostly sports or news anyway. There's a decent-sized kitchen, washing machine, full bath, and balcony. 

I've been cooking for the past three nights. Pasta, pasta, pasta. We've also been walking EVERYWHERE... along the Arno river, to and fro from the Duomo, etc. We need to find a better, closer supermarket. 

We have cell phones now too. Will post photos of the apartment later, 'k? 

xx thip