The weather's warming up, and I have been trying to take advantage of all of my remaining time in Florence - only about one month now. The time has flown by like never before - I can't believe I've been here since January. I've been planning my week long trip after school ends here. Jim is coming! So we are going to Rome, then up into Paris and London. I am so excited to see all of those places, but it does make me realize that as homesick as I can be, I really don't want to leave Italy yet. I think it's because, unlike leaving Wisconsin, Neenah, or De Pere, I don't know if or even when I'll be back. So I've been taking lots of walks along the river and in the Oltrarno district of Florence (across the river, and a little less crowded than the historical center, and just really trying to enjoy the beautiful combination of ancient architecture, modern conveniences, and spots of nature that make up beautiful Florence.
I did finally make it to Pisa and it's nearby city Lucca through a school trip last weekend. Yes, the leaning tower is still standing! That tower is so iconic, it's really fun to see. But a funny tidbit: when I first started taking pictures, the tower didn't look like it was leaning as much to me in my camera - I finally noticed that I had been leaning the camera angle, unconsciously trying to compensate for the tower! The cathedral there is beautiful also, and interesting because it was the first cathedral built in the Renaissance-y style that all of the other cathedrals (in Florence, Rome, Siena, etc...) followed. Lucca is an interesting city because it has all of it's city walls (about three miles worth) still intact. In fact you can walk along the top, or even rent bikes and ride along the thick walls.
I feel like I've been mentioning church, religion, spirituality, and God quite a bit - but let's face it, I'm in Florence (the land of the roman catholic cathedrals), Italy has a very strong religious background, and I'm also currently taking a class called Women and Religion, and an Ethics class. So I'm being exposed to many different ideas right now.
On that note, my Women and Religion class went to visit the Jewish Synagogue and museum yesterday in Florence. I've been in so many religious space since I came here, but none have them have ever felt that alien to me. I will admit that I have never been in a religious space that wasn't Christian before, so I was really excited to see the similarities and differences. But when we entered, we had to go through possible the strictest security that I have ever been through (it was literally worse than getting into an airport.) Nothing metal or electronic was even allowed inside, we had to leave it all in lockers outside the area. Then, I just wasn't used to the customs of the synagogue, it started with all of the men being required to wear the yarmulkes, and ended with the guide telling us that during services, women were not allowed to sit where we were sitting, but had to be up on the balcony. The synagogue was beautiful though, and I learned a lot about the Orthodox Jewish religion, and their women's roles (which were in my opinion, extremely limited - I'm not going to go into anymore detail here at the moment thought.) I also enjoyed the museum, particularly getting to see an old, handwritten Torah. Apparently, this is extremely unusual, because Torah's are only used during the service, and once they are damaged and cannot be read properly are either buried or locked away in a separate room. This particular museum however, did have one on display that had been damaged during the Florence Flood.
I really just want to be able to document everything about this city - I think that soon I'll have to devote one day to walking my usually routes and everyday stores and just take photos - maybe even some video with the camera. I know that if I don't have that, I will definitely regret it!
I haven't been able to sleep yet tonight, but I do have an early class tomorrow morning - so I guess it's back to bed for me! Bye everyone!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Friday, April 9, 2010
Rolling and Crashing Waves
Cinque Terre - the Five Lands
Since I started telling people that I was going to be spending four months in Italy, a number of people began mentioning the Cinque Terre region. I had never heard of it before, but once I looked it up, I knew that it was somewhere I wanted to visit. Mom felt the same way, so we ended our week together in Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre is composed of five small towns all very close to each other, right on the shore of the sea and build up into the cliffs. The towns are all connected to each other by hiking trails and trains.
We managed to visit all five of the towns, and the thing that sticks out to me the most were the incredible waves. I finally understand where people came up with the phrase "rolling and crashing waves". The waves would literally roll up from the sea to the shore, and hit the rocks with a resounding crash - over and over again. It was incredible to see.
We actually went to the second city first - Manarola. The city is built on the perfect place on the bluff, trickling down to the water that makes it the most picturesque city of Cinque Terre - at least in my opinion! Manorola also had some art that was exactly what I really like looking at - just really different yet simple. On the hills that were the vineyards of Manorola was a series of large, yet incredible simple wooden figures, depicting scenes from the Bible. Apparently a local artist had promised his father that he would replace the cross on the family grave, and just never stopped creating wooden religious figures that now decorate the hill. I also got the impression that the figures are rotated depending on what time of year it is - so as it was almost Easter, the main scenes being shown were the stations of the cross. I found it's simplicity so refreshing (especially after months of studying Renaissance art), yet it commanded attention.
We walked back to the first city, Riomaggiore (where our hotel was) as the sun was setting. The next morning, we took the train to the last city, Monterosso al Mare. It has one of the only sand beaches in the Cinque Terre area, and Mom did take that opportunity to go wade in the sea. As we were exploring the rest of the city, a mass began to take place outside one of the churches. It was Palm Sunday, and everyone was carrying intricately woven palms. Some of the designs were quite beautiful, I wish that I had more of an opportunity to look at them closely.
We then took the train to Vernazza, the fourth city of Cinque Terre. It's not the smallest or biggest, but to me it seemed like it had quite a bit of character. I can't quite but my finger on why, so I can't really expand on that statement here. I guess if someday you get to Vernazza, make your own opinion! We then hiked to Corniglia. The path went from almost sea level in Vernazza, very high up among the cliffs, and then back down to connect up with Corniglia. It wasn't a flat, easy walk, but the time spent was totally worth the amazing views that were rewarded from the cliffs. Corniglia (which is the smallest town) is the only town that is not on sea level, but entirely up in the cliffs,which creates a slightly different atmosphere than the other towns. But the train station is down by the water, so I managed to get confused and had a hard time finding the station so that we could catch the right train to get home! But it all worked out, we took a later train back to Florence instead.
Cinque Terre is definitely worth a few days of your time to visit - it's small, fun, warm, and beautiful all at the same time, and one of the most unique places I've ever been.
Since I started telling people that I was going to be spending four months in Italy, a number of people began mentioning the Cinque Terre region. I had never heard of it before, but once I looked it up, I knew that it was somewhere I wanted to visit. Mom felt the same way, so we ended our week together in Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre is composed of five small towns all very close to each other, right on the shore of the sea and build up into the cliffs. The towns are all connected to each other by hiking trails and trains.
We managed to visit all five of the towns, and the thing that sticks out to me the most were the incredible waves. I finally understand where people came up with the phrase "rolling and crashing waves". The waves would literally roll up from the sea to the shore, and hit the rocks with a resounding crash - over and over again. It was incredible to see.
We actually went to the second city first - Manarola. The city is built on the perfect place on the bluff, trickling down to the water that makes it the most picturesque city of Cinque Terre - at least in my opinion! Manorola also had some art that was exactly what I really like looking at - just really different yet simple. On the hills that were the vineyards of Manorola was a series of large, yet incredible simple wooden figures, depicting scenes from the Bible. Apparently a local artist had promised his father that he would replace the cross on the family grave, and just never stopped creating wooden religious figures that now decorate the hill. I also got the impression that the figures are rotated depending on what time of year it is - so as it was almost Easter, the main scenes being shown were the stations of the cross. I found it's simplicity so refreshing (especially after months of studying Renaissance art), yet it commanded attention.
We walked back to the first city, Riomaggiore (where our hotel was) as the sun was setting. The next morning, we took the train to the last city, Monterosso al Mare. It has one of the only sand beaches in the Cinque Terre area, and Mom did take that opportunity to go wade in the sea. As we were exploring the rest of the city, a mass began to take place outside one of the churches. It was Palm Sunday, and everyone was carrying intricately woven palms. Some of the designs were quite beautiful, I wish that I had more of an opportunity to look at them closely.
We then took the train to Vernazza, the fourth city of Cinque Terre. It's not the smallest or biggest, but to me it seemed like it had quite a bit of character. I can't quite but my finger on why, so I can't really expand on that statement here. I guess if someday you get to Vernazza, make your own opinion! We then hiked to Corniglia. The path went from almost sea level in Vernazza, very high up among the cliffs, and then back down to connect up with Corniglia. It wasn't a flat, easy walk, but the time spent was totally worth the amazing views that were rewarded from the cliffs. Corniglia (which is the smallest town) is the only town that is not on sea level, but entirely up in the cliffs,which creates a slightly different atmosphere than the other towns. But the train station is down by the water, so I managed to get confused and had a hard time finding the station so that we could catch the right train to get home! But it all worked out, we took a later train back to Florence instead.
Cinque Terre is definitely worth a few days of your time to visit - it's small, fun, warm, and beautiful all at the same time, and one of the most unique places I've ever been.
The City of Water, this Time with Fewer People
I had spent a weekend in Venice earlier with friends for the Carnival which was amazing! But going back to Venice without the horrific crowds of people was wonderful also!
Mom really wanted to see the city, she had said that it just sounded so different and unique she really wanted to be able to see the place. So we made it our next stop together. The first thing that we did was just to take a Vaporetto, or water bus, ride along the Grand Canal and see the general city. I had some pages from a guidebook that I had ripped out, telling what many of the buildings were along the way (mostly gothic and baroque style palaces, if I remember correctly). I want to mention that in Venice, especially noticeable along the Grand Canal, the buildings literally come right up to the water, often without even a dock or a sidewalk separating the two. I didn't mention this before because for some reason it didn't really surprise or impress me until Mom mentioned that she hadn't expected to see that.
We spent our short time in Venice wandering, seeing some of the main sights, and shopping at the famous glass shops all over the city. The Frari Basilica had some amazing works of art namely by Titian (the most famous Venician artist), and of course a sculpture by Donatello. We spent a couple of hours in the Ducal Palace (which was amazing to see but also explained some of the government of the time) and walked through the fish market. As we were running out of time, I went into St. Mark's Basilica (which had been at the top of my list for Venice) because Mom still wanted to do some more shopping. I actually don't think that I've ever seen her that excited in a store in my life - Mom, I never have realized how much you love blown glass! Anyway, the basilica was really a sight to see, the entire ceiling was covered in beautiful gold mosaics, while the floor was covered in marble ones. You could go up onto a balcony overlooking the main alter, which actually brought you right next some of the mosaic work on the ceiling, demonstrating how detailed it was and how small each individual piece actually was. Every tile was no bigger than my fingernail, and some were so tiny they seemed to be just shards.
All in all, Venice was just a fun as it had been during carnival, but different. It's a tourist city, so it was still insanely crowded, but compared to the carnival weekend, it felt like you could do cartwheels down the middle of the streets without hitting anyone. (Don't try it because you probably couldn't without knocking out a fellow tourist, it just relatively felt like that!) But it definitely wasn't as lively as before, and I did miss some of the characters wandering through the narrow paths. I'm just glad that I had a chance to see both sides of beautiful Venice.
Mom really wanted to see the city, she had said that it just sounded so different and unique she really wanted to be able to see the place. So we made it our next stop together. The first thing that we did was just to take a Vaporetto, or water bus, ride along the Grand Canal and see the general city. I had some pages from a guidebook that I had ripped out, telling what many of the buildings were along the way (mostly gothic and baroque style palaces, if I remember correctly). I want to mention that in Venice, especially noticeable along the Grand Canal, the buildings literally come right up to the water, often without even a dock or a sidewalk separating the two. I didn't mention this before because for some reason it didn't really surprise or impress me until Mom mentioned that she hadn't expected to see that.
We spent our short time in Venice wandering, seeing some of the main sights, and shopping at the famous glass shops all over the city. The Frari Basilica had some amazing works of art namely by Titian (the most famous Venician artist), and of course a sculpture by Donatello. We spent a couple of hours in the Ducal Palace (which was amazing to see but also explained some of the government of the time) and walked through the fish market. As we were running out of time, I went into St. Mark's Basilica (which had been at the top of my list for Venice) because Mom still wanted to do some more shopping. I actually don't think that I've ever seen her that excited in a store in my life - Mom, I never have realized how much you love blown glass! Anyway, the basilica was really a sight to see, the entire ceiling was covered in beautiful gold mosaics, while the floor was covered in marble ones. You could go up onto a balcony overlooking the main alter, which actually brought you right next some of the mosaic work on the ceiling, demonstrating how detailed it was and how small each individual piece actually was. Every tile was no bigger than my fingernail, and some were so tiny they seemed to be just shards.
All in all, Venice was just a fun as it had been during carnival, but different. It's a tourist city, so it was still insanely crowded, but compared to the carnival weekend, it felt like you could do cartwheels down the middle of the streets without hitting anyone. (Don't try it because you probably couldn't without knocking out a fellow tourist, it just relatively felt like that!) But it definitely wasn't as lively as before, and I did miss some of the characters wandering through the narrow paths. I'm just glad that I had a chance to see both sides of beautiful Venice.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
The Hills are Alive
Yes, in America, Salzburg is probably most well known as being the setting for the Sound of Music, but when you actually go there the hills and mountains that surround the city really seem to create an atmosphere and bring everything to life. For some reason I have always really wanted to visit Austria, a desire that I think I can trace back to a report that I did in the fourth grade. So since Austria borders Italy, Mom and I took an overnight train from Florence to Salzburg - getting in at four in the morning! (I had an opportunity to go to Vienna later on this semester, so we choose Salzburg instead.) We ended up completely lost in Salzburg at 4:30 in the morning, eventually finding the historical center, where we sat and wandered until about 6:30. We then walked over to our hotel, and were able to check in early - so we dropped off our bags and spent some time at the hotel until things started to open up in Salzburg. The hours that they hold there are very short, things start to open around nine (sometimes eight), and everything except restaurants seem to close between four and five.
We stopped by a really beautiful cafe for breakfast, where we basically had danish and an absolutely delicious slice of cake with cream and nuts, and then headed over to the Salzburg Museum. While we were there, Mom was looking at a painting done of the famous Cafe Tomaselli in 19o8, only to realize that it was the same cafe we had just eaten at! That was pretty funny, to realize that we had been in a cafe that has been running for over 100 years and didn't even know it at the time!
If any of you have talked to Mom since she got back, you may have heard about the extraordinary number of churches that Europe has - and that includes Salzburg. So as we spent the rest of the day exploring the historical center of the city, we admired the inside of a number of cathedrals. We also took a tour of the magnificent music halls, wandered through St. Peter's Cemetary, and admired the many objects and stories displayed in Mozart's birthplace (which was amazing! I especially enjoyed seeing his first violin). We ended the night by walking through Mirabell gardens which surround Mirabell Palace. The gardens are well known for being one of the main filming locations used in the Sound of Music - Do, Re, Mi sequence, and sure enough I recognized them despite the many years it had been since I'd seen the movie. (Of course, I had to watch it the first opportunity I got after visiting Austria!) Actually, speaking of the movie, just watch the Do, Re, Mi scene and you'll pretty much see Salzburg in all it's glory. Seriously, pull out your copy, borrow someone else's, or look it up online, and just take the five minutes and watch it again. It's probably better than any photos I can put up, just keep in mind that in most of the sequences I can now say "I was there." or "I know what that is in the background."
The next morning, we took a bus out to Untersberg Mountain, and then took a cable car up to the top for a beautiful view of the Austrian Mountains. It was that perfect kind of weather where it was warm and sunny, yet there was still a ton of snow everywhere because it hadn't yet melted. Unfortunately, I didn't have good shoes for walking around in the snow, and kept slipping all over the place! Back in Salzburg, we took the Funicular (a steep train track) from the city to the giant Fortress that dominates the landscape of Salzburg. In one of the rooms, they had a small marionette museum set up, and there was one that you could attempt to play with. I learned that if I ever wanted to be a puppeteer, I would need a lot more practice! By the way, each of those marionette's are made out of hard wood, and they are heavier than they look. We stopped by St. Sebastion's cemetary, and then took a trip out to the Hellbrunn Palace. It was still the off-season for tourism in Austria, so the actual palace and the other buildings were closed, but we spent quite a bit of time wandering around it's gardens and then walking up a hiking trail. I was randomly following the signs to something that I only knew as the Stone Theater, more just to have something to aim for. I'm still convinced that that was the best impulsive thing that I have done in a while (so thanks Mom for just following me)! To me, the stone theater was completely amazing and a source of great amusement. It is just as it sounds, a theater made of stone - carved into the side of the cliff. But it's not only a stage, it has steps, multiple entrances that all lead back into a dark room (that probably functioned as a sort of green room) and a passage from that led out the side into the canyon that the theater was built into. It was kindof like a stone playground, with small tunnels, steps to climb, and short but twisting passageways that all seemed to connect up with either the main stage or one another. I felt like I was playing on the playground back in elementary school again.
Our overnight train to Vienna was going to leave late that night (actually I think it was technically early the next morning), so before heading over to the train station to wait, we were wandering around the city one more time. Mom wasn't hungry, so I just decided to grab a sausage from a street vendor for dinner. Those are so common in Austria. Of course, when I got there, everyone getting food that late at night all seemed to be locals, and I didn't have the slightest idea what anything was. I ended up literally just asking for the first type of sausage listed, which you get with a roll and your choice of a sweet or spicy mustard. It was actually very good, and was my most "authentic" Austrian meal while we were there. All in all, a good way to end our short but incredible stay in Salzburg.
We stopped by a really beautiful cafe for breakfast, where we basically had danish and an absolutely delicious slice of cake with cream and nuts, and then headed over to the Salzburg Museum. While we were there, Mom was looking at a painting done of the famous Cafe Tomaselli in 19o8, only to realize that it was the same cafe we had just eaten at! That was pretty funny, to realize that we had been in a cafe that has been running for over 100 years and didn't even know it at the time!
If any of you have talked to Mom since she got back, you may have heard about the extraordinary number of churches that Europe has - and that includes Salzburg. So as we spent the rest of the day exploring the historical center of the city, we admired the inside of a number of cathedrals. We also took a tour of the magnificent music halls, wandered through St. Peter's Cemetary, and admired the many objects and stories displayed in Mozart's birthplace (which was amazing! I especially enjoyed seeing his first violin). We ended the night by walking through Mirabell gardens which surround Mirabell Palace. The gardens are well known for being one of the main filming locations used in the Sound of Music - Do, Re, Mi sequence, and sure enough I recognized them despite the many years it had been since I'd seen the movie. (Of course, I had to watch it the first opportunity I got after visiting Austria!) Actually, speaking of the movie, just watch the Do, Re, Mi scene and you'll pretty much see Salzburg in all it's glory. Seriously, pull out your copy, borrow someone else's, or look it up online, and just take the five minutes and watch it again. It's probably better than any photos I can put up, just keep in mind that in most of the sequences I can now say "I was there." or "I know what that is in the background."
The next morning, we took a bus out to Untersberg Mountain, and then took a cable car up to the top for a beautiful view of the Austrian Mountains. It was that perfect kind of weather where it was warm and sunny, yet there was still a ton of snow everywhere because it hadn't yet melted. Unfortunately, I didn't have good shoes for walking around in the snow, and kept slipping all over the place! Back in Salzburg, we took the Funicular (a steep train track) from the city to the giant Fortress that dominates the landscape of Salzburg. In one of the rooms, they had a small marionette museum set up, and there was one that you could attempt to play with. I learned that if I ever wanted to be a puppeteer, I would need a lot more practice! By the way, each of those marionette's are made out of hard wood, and they are heavier than they look. We stopped by St. Sebastion's cemetary, and then took a trip out to the Hellbrunn Palace. It was still the off-season for tourism in Austria, so the actual palace and the other buildings were closed, but we spent quite a bit of time wandering around it's gardens and then walking up a hiking trail. I was randomly following the signs to something that I only knew as the Stone Theater, more just to have something to aim for. I'm still convinced that that was the best impulsive thing that I have done in a while (so thanks Mom for just following me)! To me, the stone theater was completely amazing and a source of great amusement. It is just as it sounds, a theater made of stone - carved into the side of the cliff. But it's not only a stage, it has steps, multiple entrances that all lead back into a dark room (that probably functioned as a sort of green room) and a passage from that led out the side into the canyon that the theater was built into. It was kindof like a stone playground, with small tunnels, steps to climb, and short but twisting passageways that all seemed to connect up with either the main stage or one another. I felt like I was playing on the playground back in elementary school again.
Our overnight train to Vienna was going to leave late that night (actually I think it was technically early the next morning), so before heading over to the train station to wait, we were wandering around the city one more time. Mom wasn't hungry, so I just decided to grab a sausage from a street vendor for dinner. Those are so common in Austria. Of course, when I got there, everyone getting food that late at night all seemed to be locals, and I didn't have the slightest idea what anything was. I ended up literally just asking for the first type of sausage listed, which you get with a roll and your choice of a sweet or spicy mustard. It was actually very good, and was my most "authentic" Austrian meal while we were there. All in all, a good way to end our short but incredible stay in Salzburg.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Depth of Faith (and Buona Pasqua!)
I know that this probably isn't the blog that you were expecting, but I've been thinking a lot about something for the couple days, and wanted to make some comments about it. More about my spring break is coming soon.
On Friday, I decided to take the train to Assisi for a little bit. Assisi is famous for being the home of St. Francis, and in fact the Basilica of St. Francis is the main attraction of the city. It is made up of two separate churches, one built on top of the other. I had been really looking forward to seeing the famous fresco cycle depicting the life of St. Francis in the upper church, which definitely did not disappoint. There was a Good Friday service beginning in the lower church, so I was only able to see half of it at the time. I spent a hour or two wandering up the main street, getting gelato, sitting in a piazza listening to a street musician and doing some sketching. I also wandered into another couple of churches along the way.
Finally, I headed back down to the train station early, with the intention of stopping by the lower church of the basilica again to see if the service was done so that I could see the rest of the church. Sure enough, the procession out was taking place just as I entered, so I hung around. I was watching the police and friars putting the church back into it's usual order after mass, when suddenly the priest appears directing four other men who were carrying a statue of the dead Christ on a bed, with a canopy of blood red velvet. After the statue was set in front of the altar, people started lining up to approach the statue. I become completely enthralled by watching these people and their rituals, many would kiss the feet and then the chest, some would cross the statue and then themselves, some would touch the wound in the side, and others just got down on their knees next to the bed and prayed. I don't think that I've ever been to a church on Good Friday before, and I wasn't sure if this was a usual practice, or fairly unique.
To be completely honest, I was literally brought to tears while watching this, without really a good explanation. I was raised going to Catholic Church, but to be honest, over the past couple of years I have found myself growing more distant from Catholicism and some of their beliefs and practices that I don't entirely agree with. Every so often I feel like I couldn't even be considered a true Christian. I would consider myself to be a spiritual person, but not necessarily religious. So the fact that I was so spellbound by what was taking place and emotionally affected by it was very strange.
At the time, I thought maybe I was just tired from the long train ride, and overly emotional in the first place because of being away from home at Easter time. But after a few days of thought, I think it was more of a feeling of envy. I could see how deep the faith was of some of those people lined up at the statue, and it reminded me of the depth of faith of other people that I know. I'll admit that I have always craved being able to unconditionally believe in something, or more importantly trust in something or someone. I've been struggling with that feeling for a while, of never fully trusting anything or anyone. Maybe they just come across that way, but it seems to me that people who have some kind of higher or spiritual being that they absolutely believe in, have that level of trust. Yet, you need to have that absolute level of trust to really believe in something also - it's a never ending circle. It's something that I just don't understand.
I'm reminded of a quote that I always found fascinating from Star Trek (what else?!). I think that it always stuck with me because I never really understood it: "That's the thing about faith. If you don't have it you can't understand it, and if you do - no explanation is necessary."
I'm not sure why I'm writing this all out here, I guess that I've just been really trying to sort everything out that I felt like if I wrote it down for others, maybe it would make more sense to me.
On a different note, I want to say Buona Pasqua to everyone - Happy Easter! It surprises a lot of people, but Easter has always been one of my favorite days of the year, and because I was missing out this year I've definitely been feeling homesick. I really wish that I could be at Busia and Jaja's to help get all of the food ready to take to blessing, laugh at everyone being showered with water inside St. Agnes during morning mass, and enjoy polish sausage with my entire family. So I woke up early this morning, and was still feeling really down. Therefore, I decided to go walk around the city a bit and get a cream pastry before heading over to the Piazza del Duomo to watch the "Scoppio del Carro" Easter celebration. I still ended up getting there much early then I planned, and people were just starting to line up along the fence so I ended up literally right one the fence line with a really great view (and a long wait - but there was a girl next to me that I talked to for a while).
The Scoppio del Carro (also known as the exploding of the cart) is a tradition in Florence that has been taking place for over 300 years. A huge, tall, and colorful cart called the Brindellone is laced with all kinds of fireworks and pulled through the streets of Florence by white oxen. It is escorted by drummers, flag bearers, and over a hundred other costumed performers. The parade stops directly in front of the cathedral, where Easter mass is held. The cart is then connected to a white dove shaped rocket hanging above the alter inside the cathedral by a wire. During the service, the dove is ignited and flies across the wire, igniting a show of fireworks on the cart that lasts 10-15 minutes. Obviously it was in fairly close quarters, nothing over a lake. But they had amazing sparklers, bangs going off, and even smoke colored red, white, and purple. Like me, any pyro would have appreciated the display! The force also propels the dove back, and if it makes it all the way back to the alter (which it did!) it is supposed to be a good omen for the coming year.
Late tonight, all of the SNC students got together for an Easter dinner. It was so nice to really have more of a good, home cooked meal! Sarah made a delicious ham, potatoes, asparagus, and an amazing berry lemon cheese pie for dessert. It was really nice to be able to sit around a table with people on Easter, and the mean game of spoons afterward wasn't a bad way to have some fun! (I do just have to comment that once I got all four cards first, yet when I went to grab the first spoon I knocked it away on accident - therefore, I ended up being the one without a spoon! Still not sure how that happened but it was pretty funny.)
I put more photos up of Assisi and the Scoppio del Carro. I've been trying to add a video on Flickr also, one of the dove hitting the cart, but it always seems to get stuck at "99% complete" when loading. Oh well...
On Friday, I decided to take the train to Assisi for a little bit. Assisi is famous for being the home of St. Francis, and in fact the Basilica of St. Francis is the main attraction of the city. It is made up of two separate churches, one built on top of the other. I had been really looking forward to seeing the famous fresco cycle depicting the life of St. Francis in the upper church, which definitely did not disappoint. There was a Good Friday service beginning in the lower church, so I was only able to see half of it at the time. I spent a hour or two wandering up the main street, getting gelato, sitting in a piazza listening to a street musician and doing some sketching. I also wandered into another couple of churches along the way.
Finally, I headed back down to the train station early, with the intention of stopping by the lower church of the basilica again to see if the service was done so that I could see the rest of the church. Sure enough, the procession out was taking place just as I entered, so I hung around. I was watching the police and friars putting the church back into it's usual order after mass, when suddenly the priest appears directing four other men who were carrying a statue of the dead Christ on a bed, with a canopy of blood red velvet. After the statue was set in front of the altar, people started lining up to approach the statue. I become completely enthralled by watching these people and their rituals, many would kiss the feet and then the chest, some would cross the statue and then themselves, some would touch the wound in the side, and others just got down on their knees next to the bed and prayed. I don't think that I've ever been to a church on Good Friday before, and I wasn't sure if this was a usual practice, or fairly unique.
To be completely honest, I was literally brought to tears while watching this, without really a good explanation. I was raised going to Catholic Church, but to be honest, over the past couple of years I have found myself growing more distant from Catholicism and some of their beliefs and practices that I don't entirely agree with. Every so often I feel like I couldn't even be considered a true Christian. I would consider myself to be a spiritual person, but not necessarily religious. So the fact that I was so spellbound by what was taking place and emotionally affected by it was very strange.
At the time, I thought maybe I was just tired from the long train ride, and overly emotional in the first place because of being away from home at Easter time. But after a few days of thought, I think it was more of a feeling of envy. I could see how deep the faith was of some of those people lined up at the statue, and it reminded me of the depth of faith of other people that I know. I'll admit that I have always craved being able to unconditionally believe in something, or more importantly trust in something or someone. I've been struggling with that feeling for a while, of never fully trusting anything or anyone. Maybe they just come across that way, but it seems to me that people who have some kind of higher or spiritual being that they absolutely believe in, have that level of trust. Yet, you need to have that absolute level of trust to really believe in something also - it's a never ending circle. It's something that I just don't understand.
I'm reminded of a quote that I always found fascinating from Star Trek (what else?!). I think that it always stuck with me because I never really understood it: "That's the thing about faith. If you don't have it you can't understand it, and if you do - no explanation is necessary."
I'm not sure why I'm writing this all out here, I guess that I've just been really trying to sort everything out that I felt like if I wrote it down for others, maybe it would make more sense to me.
On a different note, I want to say Buona Pasqua to everyone - Happy Easter! It surprises a lot of people, but Easter has always been one of my favorite days of the year, and because I was missing out this year I've definitely been feeling homesick. I really wish that I could be at Busia and Jaja's to help get all of the food ready to take to blessing, laugh at everyone being showered with water inside St. Agnes during morning mass, and enjoy polish sausage with my entire family. So I woke up early this morning, and was still feeling really down. Therefore, I decided to go walk around the city a bit and get a cream pastry before heading over to the Piazza del Duomo to watch the "Scoppio del Carro" Easter celebration. I still ended up getting there much early then I planned, and people were just starting to line up along the fence so I ended up literally right one the fence line with a really great view (and a long wait - but there was a girl next to me that I talked to for a while).
The Scoppio del Carro (also known as the exploding of the cart) is a tradition in Florence that has been taking place for over 300 years. A huge, tall, and colorful cart called the Brindellone is laced with all kinds of fireworks and pulled through the streets of Florence by white oxen. It is escorted by drummers, flag bearers, and over a hundred other costumed performers. The parade stops directly in front of the cathedral, where Easter mass is held. The cart is then connected to a white dove shaped rocket hanging above the alter inside the cathedral by a wire. During the service, the dove is ignited and flies across the wire, igniting a show of fireworks on the cart that lasts 10-15 minutes. Obviously it was in fairly close quarters, nothing over a lake. But they had amazing sparklers, bangs going off, and even smoke colored red, white, and purple. Like me, any pyro would have appreciated the display! The force also propels the dove back, and if it makes it all the way back to the alter (which it did!) it is supposed to be a good omen for the coming year.
Late tonight, all of the SNC students got together for an Easter dinner. It was so nice to really have more of a good, home cooked meal! Sarah made a delicious ham, potatoes, asparagus, and an amazing berry lemon cheese pie for dessert. It was really nice to be able to sit around a table with people on Easter, and the mean game of spoons afterward wasn't a bad way to have some fun! (I do just have to comment that once I got all four cards first, yet when I went to grab the first spoon I knocked it away on accident - therefore, I ended up being the one without a spoon! Still not sure how that happened but it was pretty funny.)
I put more photos up of Assisi and the Scoppio del Carro. I've been trying to add a video on Flickr also, one of the dove hitting the cart, but it always seems to get stuck at "99% complete" when loading. Oh well...
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