I was really tired last night and went right to bed when I got home, but my day started at 5:30 yesterday morning to make it to the train station for an early train to Padua. We took an express train to Bologna and then switched there, but the express train was the nicest train I'd ever seen! Too bad we were only on it for a half hour, and then switched to a not as nice train. But I slept the entire way so it really didn't matter!
By the time we got to Padua it was around 9:30 (though it felt more like 2:30 in the afternoon). We
walked into centro with Paola, our TA tour guide, and stopped for coffee at this cafe that was opened in 1863 with the intention of being open 24/7. The first McDonalds if you will. Cappuccinos and pastries were on the class, so we woke ourselves up at this very class and elegant cafe. Apparently there are different rooms in the cafe that are decorated based on different time periods (Egyptian, Roman...) as well as rooms decorated by color. Back in the late 1800s this is where the unification leaders of Italy would meet in these rooms and discuss, well, the unification of Italy. So this cafe had a big historical significance as well as great caps! I did a little sneaking around, and unfortunately I couldn't find a single one of these rooms though...We made our way to the Arena Chapel/Scrovengi Chapel which is Giotto (who is arguably the forefather of the Renaissance due to his brilliant developments in fresco paintings) and it was a breathtaking experience. First we had to go into this de-ionizing room and sat in there for 15 minutes as it sucked all the humidity and micro pollutants out of the air and cleaned us of any harmful molds we might be carrying. Then we entered the chapel where we were allowed to walk around without lecture for 15 minutes. Standardly, you're only allowed 15 minutes in the chapel to look around. So a bell went off after 15 minutes, but we got to stay because our professor had booked us a double ticket for the Scrovengi Chapel, so while everyone was being herded out we were still drop-jawed in awe of checking out these fresco cycles. Giotto's fresco cycle in this chapel is one of the three most famous fresco cycles in the world, the other two being the Assisi fresco cycle (which probably influenced this fresco cycle) and the Sistine Chapel. The coolest part is I've already seen Assisi, and will be seeing the Sistine Chapel in the future! We were invited to a private viewing of the sacristy which Paola said was a real treat, but it wasn't nearly as exciting as the chapel, it only had a painted statue (ha, listen to me, it's was only a painted statue...which are like impossible to find dating from pre-black death era...)
Anyway, we made our way back to the city center and were treated to lunch on the class, and I enjoyed this Italian version of a salad bar with grilled Mediterranean style veggies galore! We were given two hours for lunch (which was way too much if you ask me) so we spent the rest of our hour and a half walking around the markets of Padua, where I got Jackie a pashmina scarf for a steal of a price.
It's a gorgeous lavender color. So I'm set on souvenirs for J, I'm still on the look out for a cute scarf for Tori. I'm kinda stumped on what color to get her. I've seen this lovely red color that I personally think would look stunning with the khaki and navy (thinking about getting for myself now that I think about it) but I don't know if she'd like that...We then proceeded to the Baptistery of the Padova Cathedral to look at the fresco cycle by Menabue, as an example of post-Black Death fresco and compare the regression in style. I like the apocalyptic scenes by the altar most, I'd seen Last Judgment's depicted before but this with the 7-headed beast and stuff was new (and possibly an indicator of how the people felt post-Black Death).
We made our way to our final site at the basilica of Sant'Antonio, your favorite patron saint of lost causes. It houses several chapels with a variety of examples of art from different time periods, but we focused on the Baroque reliquaries holding the tongue, voicebox, and jaw of Saint Anthony. It was cool to see the relics, but not so much spiritual as it was sort of weird and creepy (the tongue was this black and yellow shriveled thing...Happy Halloween?). The tomb of Saint Anthony was definitely the more spiritual part of the pilgrimage, with statues by Donatello decorating every inch of the marbled space.
We headed back to Florence at 5:55 on another class first class train, on which Courtney and I slept the whole way, and got into Florence around 7:30. I met up with Hannah and Sarah and Caitlin for dinner by the steps of the Duomo, Sarah was going to take us to this really cheap and really good Italian place (one of those places locals like to keep a secret), but Saturday nights are THE night Italians go out to wine and dine, so there was no way we were able to get a table at this place without a reservation. So we decided to save that spot for another night and Hannah and I took Cailtin and Sarah to Il Gato e La Valope for a delish and cheap dinner anyway! By the time Hannah and I caught the bus back to Oltrarno though, it was about 11, so I'd had a very busy day and had to crash, hence why this email had to wait until today.
I've been locked up in the library with Hannah since 11:30 this morning (again, we woke up at 9:30...just to give you a point of reference of what a production it is to get to school...) and I'm considering this a semi-study break. I've finished one out of three projects I need to work on, but I'm headed to print out boarding passes in a minute, yet another check off my list of things to do!
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