Bretzel

Ok, so last night we spent a while with the girls from wisconsin playing cards and eating what the germans think is gelato.

This morning, we had our first actual sleep in day in europe. We slept until 930 and it was great. We cleaned up our stuff and put them in lockers so that the new roomates could move in without a worry. We had fresh pastries for breakfast, as we missed the one in the hostel, and headed to what is called the Residenz. The res. is the old castle of the german nobles. It was expamnded through the years, generally by weak rulers who wanted to put their stamp on historz. Anzwaz, it was pretty neat and huge. Many of the original things were destroyed in WWII, but many were also saved. There were huge halls, beautiful parquette floors. The intricate wood details in the desks were trumped only by the work in shell and stone. Too bad so much money was wasted on such a selfish thing.

We ate lunch at a pub called Weisses Brauhaus.It is reputedly one of the better beer halls in munich, and I have to agree. The prices were good, and after a bowl of potato soup, and a sausage platter split three ways. We were all full, and loving it. The sweet mustard and pretzels provided complemented the meal well.

We will now go back to our hostel to have a small dinner and see if others from our class arrived in the city yet. We have class tommorrow and will meet Astrid at the Glockenspiel, or Rathaus (town hall)tommorrow morning.

Bernese...I want one

Ok, so I have to apolologize. On my last update I forgot about yesterday. On the 22nd, when we took the train from Interlaken to Zurich. We went stopped off at the citz of Bern. For those who don't know, its name means bear, its where Einstein was from and where the Bernese Mountain Dog got its name. The city was set on a small river and was verz clean. I was reminded a little of New Orleans however because the artisan district sits below water level, and apparently had to be evacuated a couple of years ago. We only spent long enough there to see some views of the bernese alps, pout at the fact we dont have a bernese puppz with us, look at the rosengarten on the far side of the citz, gaze down at some of the large brown bernese bears {bear bear}in the bear pit and ride the lift that took us up and down the steep inclines of the city.

Ok, so today.
We are now in the country of Deuscheland in the city of Munich. We took a morning train from Zurich that wrapped around the lake, and through a part of austria...which we did not have a pass for. It was ok though, it cost us 5 euro to make up for that mistake when it was have cost 15 each had we done it properly. The land that we road through reminded me of areas of wisconisn, with the rolling hills and small patches of old trees. It was the view of the snowcapped mountains, european homes and fields of chartreuse mustard that belied my perception. We are staying at a nice hostel called wombats and are sharing a room with 2 nice girls from the wisconsin dells. The city is busier than zurich, but cleaner than rome or even florence. We learned quickly that if the road seems as though you could never cross as a pedestrian that there is probably an escalator down to walk below the road...oops.
We walked around to get our bearings that afternoon, and we were very glad to find that food it germany, unlike switzerland is affordable. We ate our lunch in a cafe in the 5th floor of a department store, and Andie was taught by the nice waitress how to properly cut open german sausage. It was funny watching the woman take over, just like "mom". I finally got the meat that I needed. Mary and I split some pork broasted in dark beer with potatoes on the side. Yum. The pretzels here are delicious, but we decided the cappucino was a little let down after the rich 90 cent ones in italy. Oh well, beggars cant be choosers.
We have one more day as a 'break' before we meet Astrid for class, just a few blocks away. Updates will also be easier in munich than in switzerland, as they dont milk our wallets to make cheese and chocolate here.
Tschus.

Bitte Warten

So, while my friends and I have made it to switzerland, my poor passport shows no sign of either my egress of Italy, or my entrance to the hills. We spent our first 2 nights in the town of Interlaken. It is small town that is nestled between two lakes. The city makes its money on the many activities that are found in the area. An active visitor could do anthing from canyoneering, to skydiving. Because we are poor college students tryingnot to spend all of our parents money, we did not choose to go parasailing, though i really wanted to. We toured some caves a boat ride away and to a ride down a track from the top of one of the mountains with only a hand break to determine our speed. We stayed at an old hotel called Funny Farm. It had beautiful views, and was probably once a beautiful place to stay. The building was old, and have some nice art deco paintings in the interior. The main staircase was made out of white marble, that had been protected with some cheap strips of burber carpeting. Our room, while large, was severely dated and the beds left us wanting. The view, again, was gorgeous and I sat down, while my roomies napped to draw it.

The most interesting part of interlaken was the way through which we knew where we were in the city. On our first day, we went to the store and bought cheese crackers and salami for lunch. We decided to eat it in the park where we sat at the edge of an unmown field and watched some children playing in the adjacent playground. As we sat there, something blotted out the sun..for only a moment. It was a paraglider coming in for a landing. The city keeps that field unmown for the numerous paragliders that come in the land during the day. So, throughout our stay we would look to the skies to see where the paragliders were dropping so that we could situate ourselves in the city.

Today, we are in Zurich, the city that literally means too rich. It is costing my dad 10 swiss francs for me to be here typing to you, but its the cheapest one we've seen yet, and its been a while.

When we got here yesterday, we checked into our small hotel above a shopping area, and spent the evening by the lake watching the sun go down. It was very realxing, and as this is a break from classes, i am ok with being realxed. Since we only have 3 beds for 4 people, we had two twins nexts to eachother and one at the end. We then spent the night lined up like sardines, but with space between us. The windows were open, and we learned how quickly zurich can cool off. The town was remarkably quiet at night. That is excepting the stupid ducks that make a horrible call that is oddly like a dogs chew toy. We slept in until 830 and then went on a boat ride this morning on the lake. We ate buffet salads at a store downtown and spent the afternoon shopping. Its funny how food, anmd internet is so expensive, and yet clothing, generally is cheaper, especially with the difference between dollars and francs. Ok well tonight we might be going to a movie, possibly 300 since it is being played in English. We also plan to splurge a little on dinner and get some good truly swiss fondue before we head out to Munich, or Munchén tomorrow morning.

Hopefully Munich's internet will be more affordable.

Prost

OK, so I am alive. I am in interlaken, Switzerland, but its very expensive for internet here, so I will give a thorough update when we get to Zurich, hopefully, tomorrow.

Ciao Bella

So as I am sure everyone knows, there was very bad thing that occurred the other day in Virgina. One of my classmates, Shelbie, however had one that was just as bad. Her brother attends virginia tech and was in class at the time of the incident. Her father called Joe right after the fact to have him tell Shelbie that her brother was ok. Apparently he was in the same building as the shooter, heard everything and spent the time, waiting for it all to stop. Im glad that he is ok, but I have to stop and pray for those that aren't.

This morning went rather well with the class of 17 crammed into our small apartment. We had a brunch of scrambled eggs, hashbrowns, fresh fruit, yogurt and juice. I was completely full, as i think everyone else was. We said our goodbyes to Joe, as he teaches class in SLO on monday, and many people left, heading on their own vacational route to Munich.

Mary and I spent the afternoon looking for boots. I was not successful, as the ones i like are always out of my size, especially when they are on sale. Oh well, im probably better without them. Tonight we will go out with Kelly for dinner to some sort of Italian appetizer buffet. Then, the first of our trains to Switzerland leaves at 7 in the morning.

I feel it, deep down in my sketchbook

It was a pretty easy day today. We met Joe across the city at the San Pito. When we all arived, we bought access to the Boboli gardens. I have to say it was more of an estate, it took Mary and I 3 hours to traverse it to our content, though i must admit there was some sketching involved in there aswell. The garden was built starting in the 1600s and was 'redone' in the 1800's. There ar long dark paths everywhere because the hedges and trees are so old. Mary and I decided it was rather like the Secret Garden do to its creation of quiet seclusion. The entry is based on a symmetrical layout. As we climbed up the hill, we saw some old stairways that seemed to lead to no where. When we traversed the stairways, there was far from nothing there. On a 'small' patio at the top of the hill, the whole 360 degrees of the city of florence could be seen. We had a good view of the Duomo, and could actually see the rolling Tuscan Hills. With the amber homes, old cypresses, and blooming, redbuds, it was quite a sight to see. AS mary and i walked down the steps, we passed a bride and groom walking the slope to get their wedding photos done.

We each had a meeting with Joe about where are designs are headed and how our independent study is going. It took most of the afternoon.

WE then walked as a class to a couple of other gardens on the hills of florence, and finally spent the last day of class at a cafe at the gardens of michaelangelo. All we have left with Joe is a breakfast that we are making at our apartment tomorrow for the class.

We bought our tickets to Interlochen today. :) Yay Snow.

Eternal Smile

Ok, so it's been awhile, i know. We made it to Venice, and it is everything you would think it would be, but more. The first thing was did when we got there was get lost. We had thought it would be a good idea to try to get away from the tourist area and in doing so, we walked ourselves right off of our tour book map. Luckily, we found an american who pointed us in the right direction and then we headed to Piazza San Marco. Its easy to observe that the city in in fact sinking. Many buildings have been raised and some doorways into homes have blocks places above the original threshhold to keep the rising waters out. Apparently, even ST marcs square is underwater many months out of the year now. But back to the point of interest. When you see photos of venice, you would expect that the photos were carefullr cooridnated because of how the canal winds, and the window boxes are planted. The photos are not of just a few choice canals in the city. Every..single..canal we looked down was beautiful, unique and photographable. I had to check myself from filling my camera card up too fast. One thing we learned that is different between roads and canals, is that you cannot just jaywalk accross a canal to get soemwhere. We spent several extra minutes trying to find bridges to the unattainable other side of the 'fence'. Overall, i would say venice is nice, but too expensive to stay. We spent one day and that was all we needed.
Yesterday for class joe took us to a small city in tuscanny known as Lucca. I had the most fun of the trip yet. The original city was an old roman (or etruscan) town that was built on a hill. The city was surrounded by a wall to keep the armies of florence out so many years ago. Today, the city has spread outside the walls, but the original ones still stand. The city has made the walls into a large city park. Where soldiers once stood, people now walk their dogs and ride their bikes. Just below the walls on the outside are fields, with the earthwork still apparent, that people lay in the feel the sun, or walk their dogs. As a group, we rented bikes to ride the 2.5 miles around the city. The day was clear and comfortable, the walls were wide and open, and I enjoyed myself so much that I just could not stop smiling.
We ate as a class and I had the best taste of Italian food yet, Lasagna. After lunch we climbed a tower that had 200 year old oaks growing on it. From the top of the tower, we could see some peaks of the southern side of the alps. There was just a little bit of snow left this far into april.
This morning we went to another tuscan town called Siena. Siena was built in the mountains, and is a mountain city all the way. From here, we could see the quintessential farm land so well known in Tuscanny. To start the day we climbed 400 stairs of the town hall that miraculously stands without a foundation. It hit noon when we were up there, so our ears got to feel the bells first hand. Because it is nearing the end of our time in Italy, we did not do much today. We have an assignment due tommorrow, then will basically be done with Joe. The 4 of us, Mary, Andie, Jackie and I will be heading out to spend a couple of days in Switzerland before we meet Astrid for class in Munich.
I made dinner tonight, as it was my turn. We had fresh bread with sausage and bree, to start our pasta with mozzerella and zuchini.

Ciao Bella

Observations of Italian Culture

Italian men think that they are God's gift to women. According to some reading it is because of Casanova. I think that it is b/c they are just what Mary calls, Skeezy. Instead of the American cat calls, men here will pucker their lips and make kissing sounds at women. They will also make hissing sounds and try to get your attention on the street. They complement profusely, just for attention and make comments about your appearence. Just as I walked in this internet cafe, the clerk, who sounds oddly like Apu said to me. 'you're beautiful.' Women walking will hear things like 'bella signora, signora.' Anyway, they full of it and its best to just ignore them and let them find another source of prey.

Cars take precedence here, and the horn is more important than the brakes. You honk to turn, to stop to move pedestrians to or off the sidewalk. Sometimes, you even honk becuase you're bored and their are not enouigh cars on the road to nearly hit. Joe compared Italian driving to skiing. 'You only worry about whats in front of you, that you dont hit them. What is behind you is someone elses problem.' There is no correct side of the road, only right and left and what you drive on.

Americans are easy to spot. They wear shorts, not pants. Their jeans look right, not wierd and hanging off the buttocks. They wear flip flops. A waiter told me he knew I was american because, 'if a group of people is laughing, they are american.' Americans like their space. When in a line, people will be packed in tight neck, breathing on neck. Where the line opens up to wider spaces and individuals can be discerned, there are americans.

Coffee. Italians are coffee Nazis. They will not let you sit with your coffee unless you pay to do so. They do not drink Cappucino in the afternoon, only expresso, and they will roll their eyes if you dare to order a cappucino.

Italians, some anyway, like to cheat tourists of money, by giving back incorrect change, sometimes even american money, which does not compare. They will charge for a round trip, but only give a one way ticket. Joe had a fight with a train clek b/c the man had over charged then pocketed the money. But it was taken care of.

Some people are very nice where you wont expect them to be. A vender warned me of who could be pick pocketers in a plaza. A man helped me lift my bag on the shelf while on the train. Another taught us how to use the wierd key for our aparment and how to use the local phone.

Liz had a run in with a gypsy who was trying to pickpocket her, but all we got was a whack in the face and a group italians yelling at him. Plus the bag only contained chocolate. Ooops, wrong tourist.

So in total of what I have seen Italy is not culturally rude, its just different and more unstructured I suppose.


P.S. RIP Kurt Vonnegut

A starving artist

Andie and I went to bed before the rest of my roomies got back. I suppose this was a mistake. I had a rude awakening this morning when Jackie woke me with the words, 'We have 15 minutes to make the train.' I panicking for a moment and started gathering clothes. We decided that we would in fact take the later train, but because the later train was full, we put off the trip until tommorrow. So I will be waking up at 5 in the morning, then sleeping on the train. Anyway, since we were awake early in the morning, we decided to go to the large indoor market accross the plaza from our apartment. There was so much food in there, and as I was very glad to see, so much meat. The display cases were filled with large cuts of beef, chicken, fish, and rabbit. I was a little disturbed that tripe looks oddly like carpeting, but I hear it is actually pretty good, other than the oddity of the texture. The market was filled with so many different kinds of cheese, so we bought some brie, as it is the cheapest for our lunch and dinner. We also bought veggies and fresh made ravioli for dinner. We ate our salami sandwich lunch on the steps of the Church of St. Croce. This cathedral, that I have never heard of houses the tombs of several influential names from our past. Michealangelo rests here, accross the way from Da Vinci and Nicholai Machiavelli. When we were finished with our sketches we brought our things home and went to the bazaar near our place to get some little things for our people at home. I also bought a tshirt.

Kelly met up with us later and we walked to the best gelato place in town where i got a cup of rice gelato with chocolate orange and cream with choco chips. It was delicious. I also splurged a little on myself. Since this is a place of leather and artistry, Kelly knew of a little shop that makes leather sketchbooks. As my book currently is already half full, 1/3 into the trip, I am having one made. It is shaped to my liking and will have my initials embossed. The neat thing is, that it will not cost any more for the custom making, or for the lettering. The woman also gave me a student discount of 10 euro. The total price of a cutom leather book will be less than the price of two moleskeens, which are smaller and too popular for my taste. So, yes Im sorry, but the aroma of leather seduced me.

There are too many good artists here. Its about 6 euro for a good potrait.

A firenze

Well, on Thursay morning we took a two hour train to Florence. All of us were spread out in the train because the train service in Rome was less than helpful. I sat next to a guy that we have dubbed Europunk. He decided his foot room and elbow space on the armrest were more important than anyone elses comfort. Jackie sat next to a nun, and we mostly slept the whole way here. When we got to the city, we stepped out of the station and finally understood that we had left Rome. The city was clean. It did not smell like urine, or beer and the people, and the cars were friendlier and generally more open to Americans and tourists in general. Our apartment here is so nice. There is a pillow for each person and bedspace made to suit as many people as we have. No more sardines.:)The company left a bottle of wine and a bowl of fruit for us to enjoy as we look out over the plaza below our window. We met with Joe at the city's Duomo and walked around the city for a little while. Joe had booked tickets for us at the Accadmicca and we got in to see Michaelangelo's David. The statue is huge, which is odd considering the idea of david being so small. But I understand why the work is so revered. I cannot believe the detail old Mikey put into it at the age of 29. Davids right hand in particular, the strong one, is so detailed that the veins pop and you almost expect the see blood flowing under the surface of the marble. We were given a while to sit down and draw David. I felt though, that my work is basically inadiquate to compare with David, and I would not want to see his beauty marred on a page in my book. I wandered instead and found quite a nice sculpture of Magdeleine. She was put in the back corner of one room behind other sculptures, and she was, in genereal. ignored by the wave of people that came through the room. As there were no chairs in the gallery, i plopped myself down on the floor and drew her for probably 45 minutes. I was amazed at the number of people that spent time looking at her increased once my presence there seemed more important. I had many people looking over my shoulder at my work, but generally, i ignored them and kept skecthing. I am pretty sure it is one of my better drawings of late. The issue with the people watching has to make me wonder what else I could make tourists stop and look at, just by sketching them. When I left, I thanked the guard for not making me get off the floor and we left to go to the Duomo {dome}. Joe joined me and my roomates on a 463 step trek up the dome. The view was quite beautiful and the late afternoon haze created an almost surreal perspective of the Tuscan hills. We spent awhile up there then headed down and went to dinner, without Joe. Andie and I shared a bowl of roasted wild boar, which was quite tender, and therefore probably not wild. The waiters joked with us by singing american songs as they passed by and generally we had a good evening. Because we had to work on our regional roman wrap up for the morning we went to a bar to get some euro cappucino before we got to work. We stayed up until about 130 working on reviews and diagrams while below, outside our window the restaurant had live music playing. I showered, with actual continual hot water and went to bed.

This morning i had a rude awakening when a truck tried to fit inside a candy jar. Well, knock it over anyway. The hustle and bustle below us started early but since i was awake anyway, i didn't really mind. We met joe again, at the duome, since it is the most visible place in the city and walked around the city comparing ren architectuire to gothic. We looked at some plazas and spent some time at the river sketching the Ponte Veccio. While I was sketching, a nice young australian told me my work was "gorgeous" But I think he just wanted to sound like steve irwin. As I stood at the wall by the river, i saw atleast 4 different groups of poeple skulling on the river. I was sad though as there space was limited and they had to keep turning around. After the Ponte Veccio we walked to a church where my roomies and I gave our wrap up of rome and therefore finished all the work for the quarter for LA 411. Its pretty nice to have that out of the way. We were set free early and we met up with Kelly who is studying here and walked with her through the many markets and venders in the area. We bought produce and groceries and Jeff Yuen made us 5 girls dinner for the 4th time, which we ate happily around the table in our cute apartment above the plaza.

Tommorrow we hope to take a day trip to Venice but as the train system is on strike today, it might not happen. I do hear that these strikes are frequent and quickly ended, so, here's hoping.