Ponte Vecchio

The Ponte Vecchio, in English means "Old Bridge". It is the oldest bridge in Florence, crossing the Arno river. It is a beautiful covered bridge that sticks out among the crowd of other bridges along the Arno. It has a lot history in Florence, as it was originally built from wood and then later rebuilt from stone in 1345. The view from the center of the bridge, I thought was incredible. You can see way down the coast of the Arno on either side, and if you look to either end you see the busy streets of Florence, and off in the distance you can see the beautiful Tuscan hills.
One thing to notice on the Ponte Vecchio is the abundance of fine jewelers. You will only find gold and silver shops along the bridge now because the Medici family sought to connect the Palazzo Vecchio with the Palazzo Pitti. In 1565 Cosimo de'Medici commissioned Giorgio Vasari to build the Vasari Corridor on top of the bridge. To enforce the prestige of the bridge Cosimo prohibited butchers from selling there in 1593. The gold merchants immediately took up the space and have monopolized it to this day.

The David

During our last week in Florence we visited the Academia, home of the David. This magnificent sculpture was constructed by Michelangelo from 1501 to 1504. When we entered the room in which it is displayed it appeared as this enormous man with bright light just bouncing off of him. It is most certainly the center of attention in the building.

I took particular interest to the sculpture because having taken an art history class I spent a lot of time studying Michelangelo, his artistic style, and the David. I couldn't believe how intricate the details were on his body, or how positively gigantic the structure was. I knew it was large, but I was completely in awe of its size. I could not stop staring at it, trying in my head to imagine how he carved this masterpiece out of a single piece of marble. It is truly a totally different experience seeing a picture versus standing under this towering giant chiseled man who is so famous throughout history. I also find it particularly interesting that the David served as a sex symbol during the Renaissance.

The rest of the art in the Academia was beautiful as well, and seeing it all gave me even more of an appreciation for artwork, especially from the Renaissance era.

Amsteredam and the Anne Frank House

On our free weekend, Ana, A.J., Ross and myself went to Amsterdam. Getting there was quite the journey, from Pisa to Milan, to almost missing our flight only to find out it had been delayed, and then finally making it to Amsterdam. Once we got there and Ana and I got to our hotel, we went to meet the boys who had, true to form, ditched us. We then walked around and explored the city for a little while before finding ourselves at an Irish Pub in the Red Light District. Being that we had only been in the city for about an hour, this was quite a shocking sight to see.

The next day we went all around the city, trying to take in all that it had to offer. One thing i had never realized about Amsterdam was just how beautiful it was. The canals running through all the streets, and the bridges over top of the old boats, it was incredible. I would have been perfectly content just taking a whole day to just look at the scenery, but given that all I had was one day, we wanted to make the best of it.

One thing we made sure that we did was visit the Anne Frank house. This was an incredible experience for me because I have been learned about her multiple times, and my grandparents were survivors of the Holocaust who were hiding in an attic in Poland, similar to Anne Frank. For this reason I was moved by the experience. We walked into the museum and made our way toward the doorway covered by the bookshelf, which was the entrance to their hiding spot. I have never seen stairs quite as steep as those. We then walked through all the bedrooms and the kitchen and saw where Anne slept and ate as well as her family. It was unbelievable to see the conditions that they lived in for so long. I was very happy that I got to see that, in case I never make it back to Amsterdam, seeing that is an experience I will always have.

The rest of our trip in Amsterdam consisted of exploring the streets and the food, where Ana and fell in love with chocolate covered waffles. It was a sad sad day when we had to leave those behind...

Pisa... it leans

On our second Friday in Italy, we took a class trip to Pisa. Our first stop there was the synagogue. One thing that stuck out about this synagogue was the overall sense of comfort I felt sitting in there. It was small, and felt as though if you prayed there, you would be close with the other members of the Jewish community that prayed there with you.

We then passed by the Leaning Tower, which does in fact lean quite a bit, to make our way to the Jewish cemetery. The cemetery is located outside the city walls because during the time which it was constructed, Jews were not allowed to be buried within the city. The cemetery was very interesting because of how far back the stones dated. It was very apparent that this was a place full of Jewish history. The tombstones themselves were very beautiful and ornate. There was one that had a piano and music notes carved into it, which I believe was the tune of the Hatikvah, although I would not bet money on that being correct. The occupant of the grave however was a musician. I thought that was very cool, most tombstones are boring and don't give any visual representation of what the person was like. Our tour guide at the cemetery also told us an interesting story about one of the older tombstones that had fallen. Apparently, some rabbis came to see the cemetery and thought that it was inappropriate for the tombstone to be the way that it was, and then a few days later it fell. We also did grave rubbings in the cemetery, which was a very different experience, but I am glad that we got to do it.

After leaving the cemetery, we proceeded back to the leaning tower to take the typical "hold the tower up" tourist picture, and then made our way to Amsterdam.

Bologna

On the Monday following our trip to Rome, we all went as a group to Bologna. Bologna is a beautiful city, filled with arch covered sidewalks, and narrow cobblestone streets. There, we met up with our tour guide, who showed us where the Jewish Ghetto in Bologna used to be located before taking us to the Museo Ebraico. Close to the ghetto, are the two towers of Bologna, one of which is leaning even more than the tower of Pisa. It was a really cool sight to see, especially since we had not been to Pisa yet so it was my first leaning tower experience.

After that we saw the many areas throughout Bologna that were significant to the Jews in the Renaissance. I found it interesting to learn that Bologna was an important sight for money lending in the Renaissance. This had a lot to do with the fact that even back then, Bologna was a big University town just as it is now. Students benefited from the money lending business which helped keep it alive and flourishing in those times. We then arrived at the Jewish Museum, or the Museo Ebraico, where we saw different Jewish artifacts. We saw ancient Torahs as Torah covers, and other important pieces of Jewish history.
Following the tour of the museum, we went to the old University, where we sat in an old medical classroom. The marble table in the center was used to dissect cadavers. The room itself was absolutely beautiful, with its wooden benches and ornately carved wooden walls. I found it hard to imagine that much work going into adorning a classroom, but I can imagine it would make it feel like a very special place to learn.
Following the tour we had a group lunch with Randall and his friends. It was some of the best food I had out of my entire time in Italy.

ROMA!

On the Sunday following Cinque Terre, we took a trip together to ROMA! I was very excited to see Rome and all of its history. Our first stop was the Colosseum, which while it was still an incredible sight, was smaller than I had envisioned it. We walked around inside of it, and Randall gave us a picture in our heads of what it used to be like. We saw where the king and queen used to sit, and where the nobles and poor were allowed to be. It was incredible; it made me want to go back in time and see what it was like to be there before it was falling apart and when it was packed full of people.
Next we explored the forum and the rest of the ancient city. That was incredible experience, everything looked to ancient and made me feel like I wasn't in the middle of a large crowded city, but as though I was physically experiencing history. We walked up the Palatine Hill and saw he view of the entire ancient city. The view from there and the garden inside was beautiful.
We then walked around the city and saw other sites such as the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps. One thing that I found truly fascinating about Rome is how the city just seems so ancient. Judging only by the crowded streets and abundance of stores and people rushing around, you would think you are in New York or another big city that is dirty and overly industrialized. However, in Rome the architecture is all so ancient and beautiful, as if you are walking around a museum. It blew my mind how such beautiful and historical architecture mixed so well with the hustle and bustle of a big city.
One of my favorite parts about Rome was seeing the Trevi Fountain. It was something I had always wanted to see, and it was even more beautiful in person than in pictures that I have seen. I wish we could have gotten to spend more time in Rome in order to really experience more of the city, but I am so happy that I got to see what I did of it.

Cinque Terre a.k.a HEAVEN

Before coming to Italy, I talked to several of my friends who had been abroad in Europe for the past semester. Some were in Italy and some were scattered around Europe, but the ones who had either studied in or visited Italy gave me advice about where to go, what to see, where to eat, etc. One place I was told that I MUST go is Cinque Terre. I went with some of the girls on our first weekend, and I must say it was one of the best experiences I have ever had. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I knew that it was 5 small towns on cliffs and that it was on the coast, but that is about all I had to expect. When we arrived and I looked our off the side of a cliff over the ocean, I knew why everyone was telling me to go there. I was not however, prepared for the 6 kilometer hike that was ahead, but it was all worth it.
In the first of the towns we climbed down in the cliffs and laid out on the rocks, which was an incredible experience. While we were laying there the waves were crashing against the rocks, and it felt so surreal. After that, we walked from the first town to the second town, which was a nice walking path along the cliffs. After the second town we continued on to the third and fourth towns, which we didn't know at the time, included a strenuous hike over the entire mountain. We watched all of the other people walking by us in hiking gear as we climbed in our bikini tops and flip flops, and even though by the end we were exhausted and our legs were convulsing, we were all so proud of what we had just accomplished. The hike itself was incredible. The view of the ocean was extraordinary and the scenery that we were walking through on the mountain was beautiful.
After we made it to the fourth town we treated ourselves to lunch and took the next train down to the 5th of the towns, where the beach was. The beach was awesome, and it was a perfect end to a perfect day. Visiting Cinque Terre was definitely an experience I am so happy to have had and was one of my favorite places in Italy that I have seen.