Sunday (07/15/2007) — The kids and I went to Rome to meet Huguette at the airport and help her get the train to Camucia. And since we had not yet visited Rome, we stayed until Wednesday afternoon to tour the city. We loved Rome, and I will have to eventually create a post detailing everything. But for the time being, here is a quick rundown of our Rome experience…We stayed in the very simple yet very comfortible and very well located Hotel Pomezia at Campo di Fiori — just a couple of minutes walk to Piazza Novana and within walking distance to all the other sights in the Old Center. That evening, we had a great dinner at Piazza Novana, and the kids really enjoyed all the street performers.

Monday (o7/16/2007) — We pretty much spent most of the day at the Vatican City. We visited the Museum — the kids were a bit overwhelmed by its size, but they really enjoyed the Rafael Room and the Sistine Chapel; they played at the fountains at St. Peter’s square; we went up the Duomo; and we marveled at the scale, beauty and richness of the Basilica. We had a fantastic dinner by Campo di Fiori, and walked to the Patheon in the evening.

Tuesday (o7/17/2007) — We had another very busy day. We went to Galleria Borghese (my favority Museum so far in Italy); we then walked to the Spanish Steps area, where we had another awesome lunch; afterwards we walked to the Trevi Fountain and enjoyed some much deserved gelati — it was very hot that day. We then took the Metro to the colosseum, where we spend the rest of the afternoon. The Colosseum is simply fantastic, and the kids loved it. We then took a taxi to the hotel, took a nice nap, had dinner, and walked back to the Trevi Fountain, via Piazza Novana and the Pantheon, so that we could enjoy Trevi at night. It was a bit crowded, but it also very beautiful.

On our last morning, Wednesday (07/18/2007), we headed back to the Pantheon, since both times we went by it, at night, it was closed. We timed it just right, for as soon as we were leaving, there were groups of buses arriving and the whole piazza and building filled up fast. Not counting the Colosseum, the Pantheon is our favorite building in Rome. We then walked all the way back to the Colosseum through the Roman Forum — another fantastic site, and both kids enjoyed it. We then took a taxi back to the hotel, got our luggage, another taxi to the Roma Termini station, and headed back to Cortona. Like I already said, we loved Rome. It was very easy to get around; it is quite lively, and it is not as chaotic as it is famed for; Rome is “happening” — the Romans really seem to enjoy their town too.

Thursay (07/19/2007) — after sleeping in, we went to Camucia to enjoy their market day. We took it easy in the afternoon.

Friday (07/20/2007)– We convinced Huguette to conquer Via Margherita, or the “Goliath Hill” as the kids have come to called it, and the kids had to literally push Grandma up the hill. We visited the Church of St. Margherita, and then walked all around the mountain; we showed her the very nice place where Tina & Family stayed; the beautiful house where the author of “Under the Tuscan Sun” lives; and all around the park.

Saturday (07/21/2007), Huguette joined us on our last field trip to Orvieto, which turned out to be yet another fantastic place — very trendy. And did I mention, it is quite famous for its “vino bianco classico superiore”? (More on that later)

Sunday (07/22/2007), we went to mass at St. Domenico Church, and took it easy again.

Monday (07/23/2007), Huguette left early in the morning for Paris; and this evening we watched the sculpture class cast their bronze pieces. It was quite amazing, and I took some great shots. Again, I will post them after we return. (I’m afraid this is my last internet access until we are back in Athens.)

From Tuesday (07/24/2007) until Thursday (07/26/2007), we took advantage of the great spirit in the program, and thanks to Vince (ceramics professor) and Mary (jewelry professor), the kids were given the opportunity to create their own pottery and silver pieces. They turned out great!

On Friday (07/25/2007) the UGA Program in Cortona held their Exhibit Opening displaying everyone’s work. It was opened to the public, and it was nice to see many locals and visitors stop by. The students did a great job, and I was impressed with the quality of their work. All the kids were also given a chance to display one of their work, so Chloe displayed a beautiful photograph she took in Assisi (already posted at flickr), while Lorenzo displayed a very nice ceramic tree he created earlier that week.

On Saturday (07/26/2007), we decided to check Lake Trasimeno up close. We took a bus to Camucia and then a 15 min train ride to Tuoro. The Lake was just around the corner from the station. It was not Cinque Terre, but it was fun nonetheless. The kids were specially fond of the paddle-boat with a built-in slide. We paddled all the way to the middle of the lake and let the kids enjoy the slide. Fun!

So that’s puts us with a week left in Cortona, and a few days in Venice before we head back home. I can only say that I will miss this place. We had a fantastic time, and I do hope we get back here soon.

See you guys soon. Ciao!!!

We had a one day field trip, and we were quite aware we had to plan accordingly. So, we sat town with the kids the day before, and we came up with the following plan: Duomo + cupola as we arrived, followed by the Uffizi Museum to close the morning; lunch; Cappelle Medicee + Church of San Lorenzo in the early afternoon; then free time to wonder around the street markets as we walked toward Ponte Vecchio; ending the afternoon on a Specialty Chocolate shop another faculty tipped us about located across the Arno river at the Oltrarno neighborhood. But this is Florence, and the surroundings were so beautiful, we didn’t even do this much.

The school charter buses dropped us at the Ufuzzi around 9:30am, and we were given tickets for the museum with an 11:00am entry time. So far so good…With an hour and a half to kill, we decided to head to the Duomo, as planned. However, we never got further then Piazza della Signoria. As you walk toward the piazza from the Ufizzi, you are greeted by a huge statue of “Hercules and Cacus” by Bandinelli (1533), and as you walk around it for a better view, you are then greeted by a full size replica of Michelangelo’s statue of David, soaring 17ft high – the original one is now displayed at the Academia. You take a step back, look around, and you realize that you now have the Pallazzo Vecchio (Florence’s political heart-beat) as the background, the Neptune Fountain by Ammannati (1575) to your left, and the amazing Loggia dei Lanzi (1382) to your right. And that’s when you start to feel overwhelmed. The Loggia alone displays the famous Cellinin’s statue of Perseus (1554) holding Medusa’s head (our favorite in the piazza), the equally famous The Rape of the Sabine Women by Giambologna (1583), plus several other ancient roman statues. Needless to say, instead of rushing, we took our time at the piazza, and “rescheduled” the Duomo visit.

The Uffizi Museum is, rightly so, one of Florence’s main sights, and I was glad it was part of the field trip’s program. However, it is also quite large, and with two kids and a tight schedule, we were forced to stick to the main displays: Caravaggio, Vasari, Pierro della Francesca, Botticelli, Titian, Rafael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci – I must mention that Chloe especially liked Botticelli’s “Primavera” (1480) painting, while Lorenzo preferred the “Medusa” painting on a shield by Caravaggio; and they both enjoyed a roman statue of a “Boy Removing a Thorn from his Foot”. Time well spent.

Since the lines for the Duomo were still pretty long, we headed for the Cappelle Medicee, by the Church of San Lorenzo, the parish church for the Medicci Family. Now, we have talked to Lorenzo about the Medicci Family since he was a little boy — first to let him know how we came up with his name, and more recently about how the Medicci family was a major influence and sponsor of the arts in Florence. Needless to say, he got all excited to see that Michelangelo had designed the Cappelle and created the statue decorating the tombs of Lorenzo Il Magnifico’s family. We also spent some time admiring the Cappella dei Principi, the main dome of the Church of San Lorenzo. Unfortunately the Biblioteca Mediceo-Laurenziana, adjacent to the church, was closed. So we weren’t able to see the famous staircase also designed by Michelangelo.

After San Lorenzo, we had a wonderful lunch at a slice of air-conditioned heaven: mixed salad, pizza, picci, and a fantastic house chianti. (The chianti was so good, we brought some back to Cortona). After lunch, we walked around the open market, bought a few gifts, and headed toward the Duomo.

We have learned by now that the lines are much smaller in the afternoon than they are in the morning, and we were able to get into the Duomo rather quickly. (Although it would have been worth the morning wait.) It is another one of those places one must see and experience, and that I simply cannot describe on a post. It is massive, with extremely intricate marble inlaid floors, huge frescos by Vasari and a beautiful sanctuary. We truly enjoyed it.

We finished the day by climbing the 463 steps leading to the top of the Duomo, which is still the tallest building in Florence. It was a bit crowed at the top, but the vistas of the city were incredible. We took our time at the top. In fact, we almost missed our bus ride.

Florence is indeed a special place, and it is famous by merit. We really enjoyed our day, but as you can see, we barely scratched the surface of what it is still there to be seen: the Academia, the Ponte Vechio, the Church of Santa Croce, the Baptistry, Palazzo Pitti, etc, etc, etc, and of course, the specialty chocolate shop. They will all have to wait – hopefully not too long.

By now, we have settled into a nice routine, which being on an Italian schedule, is a flexible routine. Depending on how tired the kids are, or if we are going on a trip, we might wake up anywhere between 6:30am and 10:00am. Breakfast is usually cereal with fresh berries and fruits for the kids; and coffee with toasts, cheese, and fruits for Ashley and I. Ashley usually wakes up around 6:45 and leaves for the school around 7:45. She teaches until noon.

While the professor is doing real work, I’ve been taking care of the household. Laundry has become a big part of it. As I mentioned earlier, our apartment is very small, but quite nice and very cozy. What I didn’t mention is that the refrigerator is the size of a dorm fridge, and that our washing machine can fit in our shirt pocket – which is a catch-22 when you need to wash several shirts in it. You can basically wash a day’s worth of dirty clothes, which translates into daily morning washes. We have no dryers. So we hang-dry everything on a line in the balcony. To my surprise, it hasn’t been an issue at all. It is so dry here, that everything gets done by lunch time. We make beds, wash a few dishes (again by hand) and head out to Piazza Republica, the center of town.

We gave both the kids their own digital cameras, so we have been walking around all the different “viccoli” taking picture of just about everything: alleys, steps, wall, doors, knobs, flowers, people, etc. They have taken some awesome shots with some really cool perspectives. Since we had several family come and visit, we have also been visiting the museums, churches, and many art galleries around town. We have also been enjoying the many, and I do mean many restaurants in town. Before I left Athens, I was a bit worried about gaining weight on this trip, since I knew I was going to try plenty of good food. I can honestly say that I haven’t tried anything that I didn’t like yet. But thanks to all the walking and the many hills, I still fit in my clothes. What concerns me now is that I will keep eating as much as I have been after we return, and of course there will not be enough activity to burn it all off.

Ok back to the routine…We meet Ashley for lunch around noon, and we usually have a salad, or pizza, or a pannini at the town’s park; we do a little shopping (usually fresh fruits, water, olives, cheese and bread, salads, wine…you know, the essentials); and we head back home for the mandatory Italian “siesta”. Most all shops close sometime between 1:30 pm and 4:30pm. Nice! We sometimes skip the siesta and stay at the park, play soccer until we start melting down, and the hit the park’s pool, which is ice-cold.

With the exception of the weekends, dinner is always at Tonino’s: a four course meal with plenty of local wine to go around. Cheers! It usually starts with one or two courses of pasta, followed by a meet dish with either salad or vegetables, followed by either fruits or cheese or deserts – or some combination of the above. Every night, I tell myself that I will not eat as much as the night before, but I haven’t been able to follow through yet. Like I said earlier, thank the Italian Gods for the Tuscan hills.

Finally, keeping up with a very Italian and local tradition, we finish the day with a passageata (a night stroll). And sometimes, I’m afraid to say, some gellato. (Limone still my favorite!).

Bona Sera Y’ALL!!!!

1. Sunday (07/01) – We went to a wonderful party at one of the professors’ home. Rosaria (Italian Professor) had her family visiting from Sicily, and they were kind enough to invite all the faculty and their families for a “Sicilian Lunch”. It was wonderful — lost of food and good wine.
2. A Musica Sacra Festival also started this Sunday, with different performances every night at diferent churches, theaters, piazze, and museums around Cortona. It will end on Saturday with an all night event– all free btw. On Monday (07/02) we attended “Pur essendo Dio”, a vocal soloist accompanied by a classic guitar, performed by Paola Cecchi & Michele Santoro at the Museo Diocesano.
3. Tuesday (07/03) was Chloe’s birthday. So we spent the day accordingly. We started by giving her birthday gifts in the morning, then we headed to the park, then went to the pool, and we then we had a small birthday party at the apartment. That night Ashley gave a faculty presentation about her work, and Pam (the photography teacher) followed it up with her presentation. It was the first time I have been to one of Ashley’s talk, and she did a fantastic job — yep, I was very proud indeed.
4. On Wednesday night, we attended another concert — Concerto d’Organo del Maestro Andrea Macinat, performed at the Santuario di Santa Margherita, a beautiful cathedral on the very top of the Cortona hill. The accustics on these olds churches are just remarkable.
5. Thursday night, we attended “Dante: L’armonia delle sfere”, with lecture from Mons. Marco Frisina accompanied by pianist Maestro Carlo Michini, and snipets of the play performed by Lettore Fiorella Mezzetti. If one could get through the pretty long lectures, the piano and reading performances were excellent.
6. Friday we visited the Etruscan Museum in the morning, and took it easy in the afternoon.
7. On Saturday, Ashley, the kids and I went to the field trip to Arezzo & Sansepolcro, while everyone else went to Florence.
8. And this past Sunday, we all visited the city of Lucca, where Carole gave us a brief tour of the city wall, piazza San Michele, and the San Martin Church. Since we were on our way to Pisa, we didn’t have as much time as we would like to visit the city, and I would like to come back if time permits. Lucca has a lot to offer, and we barely touch all its focal points. We had a nice lunch, while listening to Brazilian Samba, and then we caught a train to Pisa. we pretty much stayed at Campo dei Miracoli, which is just phenomenal. We didn’t have early reservations to climb the tower, but just the sight of it is worth the trip. The cathedral and the Babistry are also incredible and I can easily run out of adjectives to describe this place. I will definitely make an effort to go back before we leave.

Hope everyone is doing well! Ciao!!

As with all field trips, the whole program gathers around a main piazza, and Liliana, our Art History Professor, always gives us an excellent introduction to the city’s history, architecture styles, and what to look for in the museums and churches we are about to visit. We are very fortunate to have her in the program. Our first stop was the “Museo d’Arte Medioevale e Moderna”, which is currently holding a great exposition about the master “Piero della Francesca e le Corti Italiana”. Very Nice! (As a side note, we shared the museum with the Italian former Prime Mister, Massimo D’Alema, who also happened to be touring the region. It was interesting to see how more relaxed his security team was.)

Our next stop was supposed to be Chiesa de San Francesco, which also hosts some famous frescos from Piero della Francesca. However, I befriended the very amicable Padre Vezzio (sp?), who insisted in giving us a private tour of his church, which also had several famous frescos from Master Vesario. Padre Vezzio was extremely funny and very proud of his church – to the point that we were hold hostage for quite awhile, and he almost made us miss our appointment at Chiesa de San Francesco — although they had to reminded that we were late, they let’s us in.

We then had a quick lunch and went to our usual stroll of the city. Arezzo has an internationally acclaimed jewelry industry. However, by the time we finished lunch, all the jewelry shops were closed for siesta – Ashley hinted that I timed it just so. Not true folks!

Sansepolcro is the opposite of Arezzo in terms of size. It is probably the smallest of the walled towns we have visited so far. Keeping with the Piero della Francesca theme, it happens to be his birthplace. Its main attraction is, again, Chiesa de San Francesco, and the Museo Civico. They are both very nice, and the town is, as you might expect, very cozy. However, a couple of the students stole the afternoon highlights.

For whatever reason, they decided to climb out of one of the upper level windows of the Museo Civico and get on the museum’s roof. Now, as in Arezzo, the Italian former Prime Mister was again visiting the Museo. And as you might have guessed by now, his security rushed to the roof and gave the kids a much deserved scare.

[What in the world were they thinking?!? We had just left the Museo for gelato, otherwise I would definitely have some pictures…]

Pienza was quite small and very quaint. It was the birth place of Pope Pius II of the Piccolomini family. Being the Pope, Pius renamed the town of

Corsignano to Pienza, and he commissioned the architect Bernardo Rossellino to re-design the village as a model for Reanaissance architecture.We took a very nice guided-tour of Palazzo Piccolomini, the Pope’s summer residence; visited the Duomo; walked around the village walls, where we enjoyed more fantastic views of Tuscany country side; and enjoyed visiting many of its specialized cheese shops. Pienza is known to produce the best Picorino in

Italy. So we took advantage of the opportunity and bought several different types of Picorino (different ages) to bring home.

Montepulciano was also very nice. It sits on top of one of Tuscany’s highest hills, and its valleys provide the best wine in the region — in other words, more vistas and Vino Nobile, definitely not a bad combination.

We visited the Duomo; we had a great lunch at “Grotta di Nano”; and, as usual, we walked from one end of the city to the other, looking at its many shops. This time we took advantage of the excellent wine tasting shops, and we bought a few bottles of their riserva line to share with family and friends soon.

Carrara is about 3 ½ hours from Cortona, but worth the trip. We took a tour of the “Cave di Marmo”, which brought us ~600m inside the mountain and ~450m beneath its peak. The guided tour described the process of mining 35 ton marble pieces, and it gave the students a first hand chance to visit the mines where some of their own pieces are coming from. The high-light of the tour came when the guide asked us to scream from the top of our lungs and instructed to pay attention to our echo. It was amazing!

We didn’t have much time to roam the streets — the Faculty had to be back in time to attend a dinner with UGA’s President, who was visiting the Cortona program for a couple of days. Carrara is mostly a mining town, but not without its charm. As expected, marble is used everywhere – on sidewalks, curbs, columns, window sill, door frames, etc. We saw several very nice antique shops and interesting buildings. Best of all, the ocean is only a short drive from the Piazza del Duomo.

Assisi is a medieval town and the burial place for St. Francis. Its main site is the Basilica di San Francisco, which is quite impressive. Like many other buildings in Tuscany, the basilica is perched into a hill side with sun flower fields bellow its valley. The structure is quite large with three very distinct levels: (1) the crypt, found at the lowest level, contains the tumb of St. Francis; (2) the mid-level contains the “lower church”, with several frescos by Pietro Lorenzetti and a small museum with St. Francis personal belongings; and (3) the top level with a beautiful Gothic Upper Church with an impressive choir and more frescos. Apparently the city was hit by a earthquake in 1997, but they have done a great job restoring it.

The kids loved Assisi. They had heard about it from Mrs Shouse, their first grade teacher, and they loved visiting St. Francis museum. Chloe made sure we saw St. Francis’ robe and slippers. Cute! We had a simple but delicious pizza for lunch with a very thin layer of pomodoro, cheese, and black and green olives; and we spend the rest of the morning walking through Assisi on our way to Sta Chiara’s church on the opposite side of town.

Perugia, like Cortona, is also a very old Etruscan town. We spend our time at the old city center. We visited the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria, with a very large collection of paintings from 13^th to 18^th century. We also visited the Etruscian Pozzo (well), the Fontana Maggiore, and the Cathedral of St Lorenzo — btw, Lorenzo gets a kick every time he sees his name, which is quite often I may add.

But the hight-light of the day was the antique market on the main square. The kids were starting to fade in the afternoon, so we took a break at a nice shaded bench at the square. We picked a good spot. Within a few minutes, we hear someone screaming “Ladrone…Ladrone”, and we were given front-row-sits to a very dramatic and funny chase.

Lorenzo and Chloe both have their own digital cameras now, and they must have taken about 100 pictures each. (I wonder where that comes from.)

We flew from Atlanta to Rome (9h15m) – no delays; and we met Ashley at the airport train station, where we took a short 30 min ride to the Roma Termini (central station). We were supposed to take a train to Camucia, a small town just outside of Cortona, but since their engineers were in strike, we took a 2hr ride to Arezzo instead; where we finally took a bus to Cortona. It made for a very long day, but it really wasn’t as bad as it sounds.

Cortona is absolutely beautiful – the ancient walls, the old stone buildings, the extremely narrow streets, and of course the piazze. As you enter the old city gates, she feels very intimate and cozy, but it is her panoramic views that will take your breath way. You are rewarded with a fantastic 180 degree view of pure Tuscany country side, with Camucia immediately south, surrounded by fields and fields of olive tree, sun flowers, wheat, lavender, corn, etc. To the east, you can also see the city of Terontola and portions of Lake Trasimeno. It is quite fantastic!!

And that is exactly the view we are fortunate to enjoy from our apartment windows.