Paris - Jour 3

Day three we began with another museum, the Musee d’Orsay. This museum used to be an old train station and now houses more masterpieces all together then I have seen before.( The Musee d'Orsay (Musee D'Orsay) Is in France to ParisIn Rue de la Legion d'Honneur 1.The museum, famous for the many masterpieces'Impressionism and post-impressionism exposed to its interior, is situated opposite Louvre, In a former train station (the Gare d'Orsay), Built in eclectic style at the end of 'Nineteenth.) It felt like every turn had another important piece of art and I gushed over them all. I must recommend this museum over the Louvre any day. I always will favor modern art over anything else. Van Gogh, Manet, Gauguin, Degas, Monet Renoir… It was incredible these are the highest quality pieces of these artists, and more. Some of my favorite pieces were----
There was also an amazing Art Nouveau Exhibit that showed how early 19th century art nouveau was used all the way up to the 1960’s and beyond! Like in paper dresses, LP art and furniture. (Art Nouveau had its beginning in 1890. The name derives from that of a shop in Paris, "Art Nouveau Bing," opened in 1895 from Siegfrid "Samuel" Bing, Who sported some objects of innovative design, ie from the Far East, including furniture, fabrics, carpets and various art objects. The movement has its origins in the Anglo-Saxon aesthetic ideology Arts and CraftsWho had emphasized the free creation of the craftsman, as the only alternative to mechanization and mass production of objects of doubtful aesthetic value. L'Art Nouveau, reworking these assumptions, opened the way for the modern design and modern architecture. An important point for the dissemination of this art was the Universal Exposition 1900Held in Paris)
Next we headed over to Notre Dame! Another mind blowing thing to see in real life. It is so large and beautiful and all things good! You feel different when you are inside and at points you might need to stifle a “SANTUARY!” ( I really want to read ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ now) This is a must see for anybody going to Paris.
Before the sun went down we took the metro to the cemetery Père Lachaise, a famous cemetey because of all the famous people buried there. It was lovely, it felt like walking through a forest with ruins in some parks and a park in others. You would never be able to find the graves on your own so we came armed ith a map. My number one grave to see was Jim Morrison, but we also saw Muliere, Pissaro, Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Stein and her partner and Richard Wright. It was sad to see but also really AWESOME! I left him a little note- maybe in his other worldly dwelling he smiled.
Since it was still early we headed back downtown to see the fancy high end haute couture fashion stores. Chanel, Valentino, Jimmy Choo, Dior! Beautiful things for beautiful people. I was happy to see them.
We had dinner at a tiny whole in the wall vegitarian restaurant in Montemarte. It only had 5-6 tables and was run by one (very-nice) lady. It was that good lentil and barley type of vegetarian food and a welcome break from my regular diet of cheese pizza.

Monet - Manet

Van Gogh

Edouard Vuillard (first time I had seen this painting and I just fell in love with it) Monet - Cathedral Series

Nouveau Show - Mirror - Paper dresses from the Sixties

Posters

LP covers - Furniture

Notre Dame

Cemetery Pere Lachaise

Oscar Wilde

Jim Morrison

Chopin - Muliere

Pissaro

Cute little vegetarian restaurant

Paris - Jour 2

On day two of our Parisian adventure Amy and I went to the Louvre. It is the biggest art museum I have ever been in! You literally needed a map, and the throngs of tourists were insane. We all jumbled to the Mona Lisa first and gazed upon her from about a mile away… actually it was about 10 feet, definitely not proper viewing distance. There were many other paintings and sculptures that I was not aware that the Louvre had and I was delighted to see them by “accident”( like the Venus de Milo). We gave ourselves about two hours to see the specific things we wanted. I headed out to see the staple things I had covered in past , like the Sitting Scribe - The sculpture of the Seated Scribe is one of most important examples of ancient Egyptian art. It represents a figure of a seated scribe at work. The sculpture was discovered at Saqqara in 1850 and dated to the period of 4th Dynasty, 2620-2500 BCE.
It is exciting to see the things you study from slides in real life!
Next we went to the Eiffel tower, and like the David you are not prepared to see it in real life, no matter how much you have seen it in media. It is much bigger then you would expect and it is beautiful. We did not go to the top because the lines were absolutely horrendous. But Amy did enjoy some of her very Parisian meringues in the towers presence. We attempted to visit the Opera house where the Phantom of the Opera takes place but it was closed. We wondered the city and spent time in a café writing in a journal.

Winged Victory of Samothrace - Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa'a guards

Amy - Grande Odalisque

Liberty Leading the People - The Seated Scribe

The Lace Maker

Venus de Milo - Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss

Guy playen the slide guitar in the Metro

Ciao Amy! I will miss you more then you think I will- crazy sister. I am so happy that you were able to spend the holidays with me! Italy and France wow! Say hello to California for me!

Paris - jour 1

The begining of our free tour on our first day in Paris.

Notre Dame - And Amy

Department of Justice - Spire from Saint Chapelle

The Seine - Pont Nuef

Henry the 4th - The Bridge from last episode of Sex and the City

The Louvre

Our tour guide Colin- L'arc de Triumphe

View from the top

On top of the Arch of Triumph

Paris lights

The Louvre - Sacre Ceur (view from our window)

Christmas Eve in Florence

We started out at the Academia to see David. He really is everything that people say he is. Your jaw drops when you see him for the first time. He really is a beautiful sculpture, I sat a sketched him for a long time. The other sections of the museum included an instrument museum, including a Stratavira violin. There was also an exhibition of Mapplethorpe photography. As well as the old sculpture school filled with past student's work.
We had to go and run errands after but at four we went to a Christmas concert at the Theator Verdi which across the street from my house. It was all in Italian with a classical orchestra and choir and opera singers. It was lovely.
At six we ran over to the Duomo for Mass. I could understand some of the words put it was easy to follow what was going on. Tradition.

At the Christmas concert!

Just hang'n out with my sister in Florence....

Some of my Favorite Places in Florence

My Favorite caffe! Best cappuccinos and croissants in Florence! I go here for special treats.

The Flower stand, the hip couple that owns it has a basset hound puppy! I named her Gigi because I would feel stupid actually asking what her name is.

Another caffe with huge cappuccinos for cheap! It is more along the lines of a chain.

The roasted chesnut guys! A good snack on a cold afternoon.
Piazza della Republica

I like to go window shopping in the fancy couture shopping area in Florence- so Chi Chi!

snow day

Tuscany was dusted with snow.

Some pictures were taken my Micheal Thurin or Matias Cena.

Snow in Florence

I really can't believe it is snowing!I don't what to do with myself!

Amanda's 21st Birthday

For Amanda's 21st Birthday we had a Musache Themed party! Everyone either had one drawn on their finger, taped to their face or had one naturally. We even played pin the mustache on Amanda! It was a lot of fun!

Buon Natale Amici

We had our Roommate Christmas tonight! We all have family coming in the next few days and then traveling, so we exchanged our gifts tonight. I made homemade soup and gingerbread muffins and Chels made hot chocolate... with baileys!

Close-ups

Close-up and the last 2 are of the Whole piece.

I had my second critique yesterday. I don't really know how well it went, I got some good feed back but it was mostly my teacher telling me the things she personaly liked and what she didn't. Not sure what I am supposed to do with that.

Vasari Corridor

Ciao- I was reading this article on the Discover Tuscany Blog and recalled that I never shared that I have visited the Vasari Corridor. I went with my Museum Studies class two weeks ago. I would have snuck my camera along but our teacher took up a week early. It was really cool, basically it is a secret passage way over the river Arno that the Medici family used. It now houses their impressive collection of artist self-portraits. It is rare to be able to go on this tour and I feel very lucky to have such an opportunity.

From now up to the 18th of December, the Vasari Corridor is once again open for visits but only with reservations. These visits, guided by special staff from the Supervisory board, are only offered for short periods of time during the year for small groups but at a reasonable price (14 euro which includes entrance into the Uffizi, which you can visit beforehand).
The famous corridor, built in 1565 by Giorgio Vasari to celebrate the wedding between Francesco I de’ Medici to Joan of Austria, connects Palazzo Vecchio to the Uffizi Gallery and to the Palazzo Pitti. It was a special passageway reserved exclusively for use by the Medici so that they could move freely from their residence at the Palazzo Pitti to Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of government.
Read more about the Vasari Corridor >>

Midterms are this week here at CSU Firenze. I am not to worried about it (yet), I have my large painting pretty much finished for my Tuesday critique, and on Wednesday and Thursday I will have the bigger tests. Then Winter Break!
I will have my sister here with me for most of the time and we will be going to Paris and Rome! I am always excited to go and see a new country.
I have pretty much finished with Christmas shopping; everything is wrapped in newspaper and ready to go.
I attempted baking this week: Cranberry Orange Bread! A traditional Christmas treat for my family. I hit a few snags: we don't have a bread pan, the stores here don't sell fresh cranberries, I didn't know what 'baking soda" was in Italian and we have no measuring utensils in our house either. So I got Orange Currant Muffins that turned green. Can you explain this to me? Because I don't know how that happened!
Today I am going to attempt Gingerbread! I already got the translations for my ingredients but the grocery store will probably be closed...

Bargello

V. Comito- (fisher boy)

Lorenzo Ghiberti & Filippo Brunelleschi Competition panels for bronze doors of the Bsptisary.

Donatello's David- 1439

Donatello's David - 1408


Donatello's Attis

CSU Firenze Christmas Party

Colleen & Rosie - Chelsea, Toby & Gwenneth

Kate, Me & Micheal - Gwenneth, Me & Chelsea

Me & Amanda - Amanda, Chelsea, Rosie & I

These are some of Florence's natives. They are actually kind of rare to see, but Tuesday morning they were out in force. I think they look like big rat- Or R.O.U.S.s. (any one get that) Here is a better definition:The coypu, or nutria (Myocastor coypus), is a large, herbivorous, semiaquatic rodent and the only member of the family Myocastoridae. Originally native to temperate South America, it has since been introduced to North America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, primarily by fur ranchers.[2] Although it is still valued for its fur in some regions, its destructive feeding and burrowing behaviors make this invasive species a pest throughout most of its range.

http://www.youtube.com/user/soysurfer10

Go to this site for my videos- that I have made while abroad.

Ravenna

San Giovanni Battista Church

Mausoleo di Teodorico
Located originally outside the city, near the cemetery reserved for the Goths, stands today in a park in the immediate vicinity of the center of Ravenna.
First, it differs from all other architectures Ravenna for the failure to be constructed in brick, but with blocks of Istrian stone. It is circular, echoing the other type of Roman mausoleums (see Mausoleum of Cecilia Metella), And is characterized by two kinds:
The first is externally decagonal, with niches on each side covered by solid arcs, while the interior is cruciform;
The second is smaller, reachable by a ladder and once surrounded by a walkway with columns that made him the most graceful and of which only traces remain nell'attaccatura of arches on the wall. It is also shaped decagonal outside and move inside, where they were housing the remains of Theodoric. Today there is a circular tank in which the king is thought to be buried. His remains were removed during the domination Byzantine.
The most striking feature of the building is the cover formed from a single huge monolithic dome-shaped, stone-d 'Aurisina 300 tons and 11 meters in diameter, carried by sea and hoisted on the building with twelve loops.- It is a characteristic "Titanic", a symbol of strength and military strength typical of Germanic cultures.


San Giovanni Evangelist

San Vitale

Dante's Tomb

We're tired and cold!