The Stone Lemon Chronicles III

There are three photos above. One is the stone lemon (part 1, part 2) turned over and plopped into gesso for the next step. You can see that on the back the pieces of stone are held together with slate and temporary glue. You can sort of see the lemon on a bluish table.

The other two photos are of the boxes of precut stone that you look through to find what you need. Each box has one type of stone in one color, usually.

The maestro proposed a little “deal” to cut out the middle man out of the transaction if I wanted to continue with classes after my four weeks are up – so Italian!

Trattoria La Casalinga

We usually eat lunch at home, but today we broke down and stopped for lunch at the Trattoria La Casalinga today. We walk by the restaurant everyday going to and from school, located just off the north end of the Piazza Santo Spirito. For lunch today, we had arista di maiale and fagioli bianci and trippa alla fiorentina and spinaci. 

Florence Skies

There really is something about the quality of light in Florence that is beautiful. Above is a photo taken last Friday during sunset (tramonto). Tonight I was reminded of that as we were jogging (4th time) south of the city, past Forte Belvedere and the sky was beautiful.

Museo degli Argenti, Palazzo Pitti

 

We took a few hours this afternoon to visit the Museo degli Argenti located inside the Pitti Palace (which is about 6 minutes from our house). The silver museum’s attraction for me is not so much the silver or gold trinkets (okay, they are a much nicer than trinkets) but the frescoed rooms which use quadratura techniques to create scenes that are fun to look at. If you close one eye it removes your stereoscopic ability (?) and the trompe l’oeil is especially vivid.

Stone Lemon II

The stone lemon is coming along (my Florentine mosaic class). In the (cell phone) image above you can see a very flat lemon (very Japanese as another student said) with two leaves surrounded by brown. In total it is about 6 pieces of stone. I still have to pick out two more pieces to complete this first "attempt". In the picture above it is held together temporarily with slate and glue in back.

In this class, I’ve discovered several things:

• I can’t select two colored stones to go together to save my life (witness my jeans and gray tee-shirt daily uniform as an example of color issues)


• The stones I would like to choose are the ones the “maestro” shakes his head at and says “troppo forte” or something to that effect.


• I have very little patience for putting things together precisely (on several occasions I have thrown bricks together in our yard and said ta-dah a brick walkway and Mark shook his head, disgusted, and dismantled the mess and assembled the bricks correctly….)


• Stone dust is very drying to one’s finger tips.


• The glue used to temporarily hold pieces together when melted (as it should be) makes a cloud of smoke that you should not inhale.


• The girl next to me hums well to American rock music.


• Don’t ring that buzzer to open the front door to the studio before 3pm because the maestro isn’t going to be there. Come 5 minutes late.

Oh, I'm having a good time...

Bolzano = Bozen

We went to Bolzano for the weekend (anniversary time, 18 years). 

First things first, Bolzano was amazingly clean. Florence with all its abundant charms is not exactly the cleanest city. (Our teacher at school blames the tourists. I think it is partially the locals as well.) Anyway, Bolzano was clean (no trash, dog crap, and few to no Senegalese hawking sunglasses or Rolexes or Gucci – sorry but only so much of that I can take) and the city was quaint. The city is also very German as it was annexed in only 1919. You will hear more German than Italian. We were the only American tourists around for miles…. The Germans thought we were Italian and the Italians thought we were German. Stuck in the middle.

Bolzano is a city that brings to mind the word “utopia” – it was that picture perfect (for the two days we were there at least). I’m sure it has its warts but I could not get over the miles of bike paths and walking trails, cable cars to higher mountain towns, efficient roadways, direct train service, and stunning scenery to name a few things. Coming from a city like Seattle that prides itself on being bike friendly, I had to just laugh and cry at the same time walking around and riding around (on a hotel beater bike) – Seattle ain’t got it going one bit as far as I’m concerned. Of course the median income in Bolzano I’m guessing is pretty high and dictates that those amenities are put in place? There were paths that ringed the city (mostly flat) or paths along the mountain side that ringed the city or paths that climbed into the mountains. Well-maintained paths with water stops (Bolzano also has amazingly tasty water).

We arrived on Friday night and walked to the hotel – a bit far, but doable from the train station. Saturday we had a fabulous breakfast and took the funivia up to San Genesio. We hiked around for several hours in what we thought was jaw dropping beauty. Maybe we are easily amazed? The picture above is from that hike. There was great signage along the trails, so folks who come unprepared (like us) can get by without having bought the correct maps. (We also asked some German guys, in Italian, on the way up in the funivia what to do and they suggested the route.)

Sunday we just took it easy and chowed down again at breakfast and then hiked into town on one of the popular mountain trails that rings the town and killed time before our 1:31pm train.

The dark cloud in this story: the train back to Florence was packed. We could not get on the train we wanted and had to take another. Standing room only for 4 hours, as in many people standing, seriously overbooked. It wasn’t as bad as it sounds as we had a huge window to look out of. But, don’t get between an Italian and his or her seat reservation. Also, they’ll watch you pass out from fatigue before offering you a seat for a few minutes. Even some nuns had to sit on the floor between cars – they gave it up for a higher calling and they still didn’t catch a break. Tough crowd. Lesson here: book early. It was also a holiday weekend which wasn’t the best timing. Thursday and Friday (for many) were holidays and so many took long weekends.

We did not make it to the museum which houses Otzi which is also in Bolzano. Something to consider for next time.

Here are some relevant links:

The region:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trentino-Alto_Adige/S%C3%BCdtirol
The town:
http://www.bolzano-bozen.it/
San Genesio, a town we took cable car up to (about 3300 feet):
http://www.jenesien.net/
Hotel we stayed at:
http://www.hotelhanny.it/
Majestic trees above San Genesio:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larch
About the wine and grapes grown around Bolzano:
http://www.italyslowtravel.com/E/schedaAree.asp?ID=15
Dolomites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolomites
Lunch spot on Saturday during our hike:
http://www.gasthof-locher.com/

Accademia di Belle Arti Firenze and San Marco Museum

Today is a holiday (All Saints’ Day). Most workplaces are closed but almost all museums and restaurants (in centro) are open. We took the opportunity to visit the Accademia. Boy, did our Amici degli Uffizi cards pay off! We bypassed a huge line and walked right in and paid niente. (Okay we need to have a few more days like that to make back the cost of the card, but it was nice.) The Accademia was as nice as we remembered. Michelangelo’s David is still as powerful a sight as it was the first time. The museum has plenty of other things to see too. Last time we came in 1999, photos were still allowed; but unfortunately not anymore.

After the Accademia, we went to the San Marco Museum. (Free again because of the card.) It was a bit eerie for us. The rows of monk’s cells and the frescoes inside of them seemed odd. It was anything but contemplative for us, rather, it was more like a prison. I think the place got bad juju because of Savanarola who stayed at the convent until he was executed as depicted in this painting. He and his followers were the ones who carried out the Bonfire of Vanities.

The section of the museum on the illuminated manuscripts was more interesting to us.

Ribolitta Again?

We have been eating (and enjoying) ribolitta since Sunday now for dinner as well as a few lunches. Boy, that pot Mark made sure has lasted a long time. We are finally eating up the last bit of it now on Thursday (All Saints' Day) for a late lunch. The picture above is the actual ribolitta Mark made.