Oxford 06: Three Pearls of Italy

Things are moving apace and, at times it seems, even accelerating. More and more is happening and I have less and less time to even think about documenting it all in my blog. But, of course, the biggest news of the past two-and-a-half weeks is that I got to travel to Italy. Christy, Stephanie, Brooke, and I visited Rome, Florence, and Venice over six days.

We spent three days in Rome; on our first day, we visited the St. Peter's Basilica and the Vatican Museum in the Vatican City. The Vatican Museum was probably my favorite part of the entire trip. The Museum is massive--gallery after gallery full of marble sculptures, mosaics, frescos, tapestries, paintings, maps, modern art pieces, and so many artifacts. I actually saw Raphael's School of Athens and the Sistine Chapel--incredible!

On day two, we took the train down to Nettuno, a city on the coast of Italy. I swam in the Mediterranean. The only downside of the trip was that I left my umbrella on the return train ride. (I brought my umbrella because Italy is given to sudden and extemporaneous rain showers.) I was very disappointed to have lost that (as I'm sure you can imagine). That day we also visited the colosseum and the ruins of the Roman Forum.

On day three, we went to the Church of St. Peter in Chains where we saw Michaelangelo's Moses, along with (what are purported to be) St. Peter's chains. We did other miscellaneous sight-seeing and took the train to Florence.

Our time in Florence (days four and five) centered around the Duomo, a beautiful Gothic church and the Gallerie dell'Accademia where Michaelangelo's David is housed. We, unfortunately, didn't get a chance to visit the Gallerie degli Uffizi (another massive art museum). Dante Alghieri is a big deal in Florence (which is very cool) and in Italy generally. His picture is even on the 2€ coin. We came across many statues, paintings, and memorials for him, including a painting by Baldassarre Calamai that I liked very much.

In Venice we visited St. Mark's Basilica (where St. Mark is supposedly buried) and St. Mark's Museum. Gondola rides cost about 100€ (about $120), so we didn't do that. But there was still plenty to see and it made a great conclusion to our trip.

Of course, there's much more to be said--staying in hostels was an interesting experience--and many more pictures. I'll share more, in person, when I get back to the states.