One Last Update.

It's only right that you have a closing wrap up to the tour part of my summer--it ended on Saturday, when all three groups arrived at Worcester College in Oxford, UK.

Since my last update on June 15th, relatively little has happened. Our last day in Venice was a fairly relaxed day, as we only had one art museum to visit--the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, located right on the main canal in Venice. Her collection included Boccini's "The Dynamism of a Cyclist" -- one of my favorite "modern art" paintings (technically Futurist).

Afterwards, we had the entire rest of the day free. We were directed to the island of Medino as an enjoyable place to spend the afternoon--since Medino is home to the famed Venice glass makers, it was located on an island a short boat ride away so that when the glass shops burnt down, the rest of Venice wouldn't go in flames.

Bern, Switzerland

June 17th and 18th were travel days--traveling from Venice to Bern the first day, then Bern to Paris the next.

 It was a beautiful trip through the Alps--including tunnels that lasted 10-15 minutes!

Paris, while in my mind being very hyped up, wasn't all that impressive to me, though we did get to see two of the most famous museums: the Louvre and the Musee d'Orsay. The Louvre was absolutely enormous--a maze of art. Imagine trying to locate approximately 10 works of art spread out among the three floors and three enormous buildings! It contained such works as the Mona Lisa--which was a small painting housed in a huge "wall" about 15 feet high by 25 feet wide, all covered with glass. As you can imagine, there was a crowd in front of it--and even when I got to the front of the crowd I was a good 10 feet away.

The Musee d'Orsay, however, was phenomenal. Amazing impressionist/post-impressionist art, a relatively easy layout. Lots of Van Gogh. I loved it.

By the time we were done with the two museums, most of our time in Paris was gone except for our last day, which was a free day. By the time we arrived in Paris, I was 1. realizing how little time there was left to finish up odds and ends for classes, and 2. Extremely tired of walking around constantly. There were supposedly amazing sales located in the city, but we could not located them even after walking all over Paris--by 2pm I was done and went back to the hotel to finish up homework. Turns out, finishing my notebook that needed to have information on each work that I was assigned (~125 of them), took hours--I finally went to bed at 10pm.

However, studying was a welcome "break" for me--something that takes time but is relaxing--after our travel day to Ghent, Belgium on the 22nd, I was really enjoying myself. All my papers were out of the way, and all I had to do was memorize 90 works of art for the art exam and study the music for our music test. Our music test was set up in such a way that 50% of the test was listening--our professor played a clip of music, and we identified the composer. After hours of listening to truly great classical music, I have grown to truly enjoy it. Top on my list are 20th century slightly dissonant composers such as Copland and others such as Debussy and Schumann.

Honestly, Belgium didn't have a whole lot to "do"--which was perfectly fine for me. I just sat out by the river or at McDonalds (free internet!) and studied.

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After finals on the 25th, we had a day trip to the beach. It was nice--though not nearly as amazing as going to the beach with family. Lots of things "happened", though I'll summarize my time saying that I enjoyed the sun, though I realized after I got back to the hotel that I got extremely burnt, so the last few days it's been interesting.

Due to our time slot for crossing the English channel by train, we had to leave decently early Saturday morning--bright and early 7:30 departure time. A few hours to the train, drove into a box car, then 25 minutes later ended up in England.

Being the first group to arrive in Oxford/Worcester College, our group got put in a building decently far away from the main "hub" of campus--perfectly fine for me, as I have a wonderful walk through the gardens to classes!

Worcester College is incredibly beautiful--before arriving here I thought I would want to spend as little time here as I could, but now I'm not so sure--it's stunning being able to sit on perfect green lawns, enjoying the cool weather, the duck with her 7 ducklings, the perfectly manicured gardens…I'm going to love it here--having 4 days to chill and relax with only two classes a day--I'm truly excited. There's time enough to breathe and relax.

Last of all--I want to say thank you to all that have kept up with this blog and my photography website--I will periodically be putting more photos up of Worcester and any other places I end up traveling to, but I won't be attempting to have daily blog posts here anymore.

If you have any questions or comments, I'd love to hear from you!

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Joshua Longenecker

Day 18, 19, 20

Day 18: June 13th

As today was our last day in Rome, we were given some more freedom than usual to witness the city. However, since many of the churches in Rome are only open between 10-12 noon on Sundays, we still had a walking tour in the morning, which brought both churches and some important monumental works---such as the Pantheon. 

Once everyone split up for the day, there were two major options--first of all, since it was Sunday, some went to Mass in the Vatican and witnessed the Pope's blessing. The other major choice was a little later on--Professor Mendola couldn't get us to have a walking tour of the concert hall here in Rome until today; about 15 of us said we were interested and ended up showing up. 

In the mean time, though, before that, we saw (this sounds so bad) a really cool fountain and the Spanish steps--both of which are named, but I don't have the time to look them up at the moment, nor the internet to figure them out. 

Apparently Rome also has one of the most elaborate McDonalds in the world, so we visited it. It was rumored to have fountains inside, etc, but it wasn't so amazing--though it did have an arch/column structure to it. The food was pricey and half decent compared to the Czech Republic McDonalds I had, but still not worth my money. 

Jonathan and I then attempted to travel to the concert hall--I had a bus route mapped out that dropped us off relatively close, so we took it. Turns out that the walk from the bus to the concert hall was quite interesting--it turned into nearly highway, and we had to do some creative turns to get us into the concert complex because we came at it from the wrong side. After coming in through the parking garage, though, we made it. 

This concert hall was recently completed (ie, the last 10 years) and it comprises of three separate halls--one 750 seat, one 1250 seat with the option of eliminating the center seating so that the arena in the center could be used for performances, and then the final largest building with 2700. All three concert halls made extensive use of American cherry wood due to its acoustic properties--floor, structure of seats, aisles, walls, ceiling, etc, all with curved surfaces, much of which could be adjusted to make the sound perfect.

Day 19: June 14

Another travel day awaited us upon leaving Rome--the drive from Rome to Venice was around 7-8 hours after the required stops were added. The loading of the bus went as flawlessly as one could expect for having to put luggage in the bus in the middle of a busy Roman street! Most slept much of the ride.

The scenery along the highway reminded me of my trip out west last summer--very much like the rigid mountain spines around Grand Central, CO that are the home to many otherworldly mountain bike trails.

Once arriving in Venice we emptied the bus, loaded the ferry, and rode it down the canal to our hotel. The ride was actually quite short, and though a tad bit expensive, it was quite enjoyable.

Our hotel this time is a two star hotel--a large change from our previous accommodations. However, the location is phenomenal--right in the midst of the city. I'd take this hotel over a five star where most of the other tourists are--they largely commute in for the day, then go back to their hotels. Being in the city affords the amazing opportunity to be in the city when the tourists are not--a very welcome prospect.

Day 20: June 15th

Upon arriving in Venice, we had class. Hours of class--from 8 until 12:30. Just another reminder that this is Study abroad--though I find the lectures quite enjoyable. Both professors are phenomenal teachers and absolutely brilliant in their fields and make this trip well worth it! 

The highlight of the day was a stop at a pizza place right next to the hotel with one of our leaders, B. We had an amazing time listening to her tips on how to cook and be hospitable--including how to take anything--even paper--and make a table decoration:

Other interesting aspects of our day--after our concert on the opposite side of Vienna from our hotel, a group of around 6 of us attempted to get home. Everything was peachy--or so we thought. I thought that I knew where I was--when it so happens that fairly early on we crossed the wrong bridge. After a good amount of walking, we ended up somewhere sketchy, and looked at the map of Vienna, near the eastern side where I thought we were. After some from our group asked locals, we realized we were on the very southwestern point of Venice near the shipyards. After a very sketchy walk through the shipyards, we ended up where we were supposed to be...near the north of Venice. 

Tis all for now!

Days 14, 15, 16, and 17

Blog Post—Days 14, 15, 16, 17

So, this blog has turned into a three days per post affair—mostly due to the fact that Italians 1. Don’t let you take photos in museums, and 2. Think it’s funny to charge you 20 euros for internet on top of the rooms. I do think we’re in the 21^st century, no?

Either way, it’s time for an update!

Day 14 – June 9^th, 2010 – Florence Day 2

Today was our last day in Florence—and therefore one of our “free” days, which really nearly was a free day. We were done by 10:30 and had until 7:30 before we had to be at a concert. Having time to kill, I headed out with a group to go through the market in Florence to see what there was to see. Due to two friends of mine wanting to teach me how to souvenir shop and also wanting to turn me into a European, I spent a good amount of time there, adding to my collection of scarves from the day before. I love all of the finds I got—sunglasses for 5 euro, two originally 20 euro each canvas bags for 20 euro total (one as a purse sized, perfect for camera and lens, the other more notebook sized, also fits my laptop), and a hat. No idea what to call the hat, except it’s awesome. I thought I’d pack away my bags until I got home, but in the few days I’ve had them, I’ve decided to ditch my camera bag in exchange for the lighter, more comfortable canvas bags. I’ve learned over the miles in Europe that the Lowepro Slingshot 200 (my current camera bag), while pretty cool, has a tendency to either: 1. Sit really low on my back, with the strap pulling my neck/shoulders backwards, or 2. Sit really high on my back. Both really hurt after a long walk. My solution is carrying around only one lens/body combination—I find I shoot 90+% of my shots with the 10-20mm, with 5% going to the 50mm 1.8 and another 5% to the 18-200mm, so it works perfectly.

Enough ranting about that.

The highlight of the day was on our ~1.5 mile walk to and from the concert venue. Kuo saw a car show the day before, so we stopped by for pictures both on the way in and the way out. I’ll just post one here—there are more on my website!

Day 15 – June 10^th, 2010 – Travel

There’s something about hotels that must be accounted for—check in for rooms is not usually before 2-3pm. Thus, when traveling on the bus between cities fairly close to each other, we have an awkward limbo time before we can technically arrive. Such was the case between Florence and Rome—we would have arrived quite early in the afternoon, so we got to “lay over” in a city on top of a cliff in Italy. When I saw it and realized we were going up it…I was truly excited. Beautiful views off the castle battlements into the valley below!

 

Day 16 – June 11^th, 2010 – Rome Day 1

Our first day in Rome was…unusual. It’s quite a shame, actually. Due to living a decent distance from the city, an incident, and aided by the very slow busses, a handful of our group (me included) got stuck back near the hotel waiting for our bus to transport us into the city. For an hour and a half.

We finally gave up, so one of our group leaders walked the block back to the hotel to get taxis—and then the bus shows up. Four of us jump on it, get off at our supposed stop, and then realize we are nowhere close to where we are supposed to be. A 20 minute super-speed walk later (Slowly but surely, I have grown accustomed to walking through cities at a blazing pace…dodging traffic and people), we arrived at our destination.

Only to find out…no one was there. We had no means of contact, but after another 5-10 minutes of searching, we remembered that they were eventually visiting the Coliseum. When we were walking up to it, we recognized our group inside the Coliseum—they were walking past at the exact moment so we could meet up with them!

After a tour of the Coliseum, we had a large lunch break. Slightly anti-climatic, to say the least—and we missed some of the works due to the hold up. Ah well, you can’t do everything.

The only thing left on our schedule was a museum nearby the hotel—so we headed back in that direction (it took quite a while!), stopped a few minutes to eat a Panini. This store named their paninis after Disney characters...I got the Aladin—salami, sun dried tomatoes, rocket salad, and spicy sauce. I thought ordering would be truly simple because I knew how to say all (well, most) of the names. However, Italians don’t say Aladin like we do--it’s a-la-DIN instead of ALA-din! Very tasty sandwiches, though.

Day 17 – June 12, 2010 – Rome Day 2

Today was our visit to the Vatican—so, after another long metro ride, we arrived. Our tour, however, was guided by an employee, not by Professor Pearsall, so we got the standard run-down. Our guide knew an incredible amount of information—which was very good, but it also took quite some time. After being fed Fred’s blazingly fast summaries of the museums we visit, 3ish hours on a tour was truly a foreign experience. By the end we were all tired from standing and very famished, but we still had St. Peters Basilica to visit. Post-Basilica, we wanted food, but food in the Vatican is expensive, so we had to wait until we arrived in the vicinity of our hotel—and by then, it was the Italian’s version of siesta, but we did find what we needed eventually.

Food and rest later, we headed off for Rome’s official World Cup viewing area, 5-10 minutes walk from our hotel. Brilliant—US vs England was very enjoyable.

Tis all for now, folks. Until next time!

Our hotel in Rome:

Day 11, 12, and 13

It's been quite a few days now that you've gone without an update. First, it was being sick, then it took me a bit to bite and pay 15 Euros for internet. The good thing is that I have 24 cumulative hours in Florence, so it covers my entire stay. 

Day 11--June 6th

I left you in Vicenza. After a short night, we woke up to board the bus. Since our hotel in Vicenza is fairly far away from the main part of the city, we rode a few minutes into the city before stopping to see a few monumentous architecture--including Palladio's Villa Rotunda. It's quite stunning how so simple a design can seem so...right. It is pretty incomprehensible. 

Then we had another short ride (roughly 30 minutes--I slept!) to Padua, Italy where we saw a chapel. The best part, though, was rumors circulating throughout the bus--Group 2 was in the area, and there might be the chance of a meeting--despite some apprehension by the leaders about the time consequences of such an event. I was hopeful of this going through, because two of my good friends ended up being put in Group 2. However, the chances of it happening I thought were slim. When we pulled into Padua and saw Group 2 a few hundred feet away, I was in disbelief, and really started believing that we'd meet them. After all, you can't be so mean as to make friends separated by thousands of kilometers, tens of thousands of kilometers away from home, to see each other and then purposefully separate them. 

Parking, however, took quite some time. There's something to be said about finding a place to put a bus when streets were designed for foot traffic! However, we did find a place, and quickly walked over to Scrovengi Chapel where we located the group. It was, honestly, the best place that the groups could have met up at--the chapel is insanely thorough about cleanliness and not letting too many visitors in the chapel at once, so I had a good 20+ minutes with M and D before they had to go inside. Kuo and I ate, and then when we came back we had another long while before we went into the building. Perfect timing. 

After Padua, we finished our drive by traveling to Florence--an approximately 3 hour drive. It is truly phenomenal to arrive at a city that I have heard so much about--both in this class as well as one of my literature classes in high school. 

We arrived at our hotel, relaxed for a bit, and then arrived at the restaurant's welcome dinner. It was delicious--so much so that I ended up eating terribly too much---2 plates laden with pasta and another plate full of desert!

Day 12--June 7th

Our first day in Florence was packed full of activities. First, we had three hours of lecture, followed by brisk walking tours to chapels before noon and all sorts of famous statues and architecture. In our list of works we are instructed to pay close attention to, Florence covers the lower third of the entire first page--so much so that in museums I barely had to walk at all; everywhere I turned was another ultra famous painting to analyze. The most fascinating part of the tour was when we walked from the Medici's homestead to their workplace--the Medici's had their own personal walkway two stories above the streets, across the river so that they would be safe from assassination attempts. It wasn't anything small, but similar to an aqueduct between buildings that were a good portion of a kilometer apart. 

After the day's activities I joined a group who went to the Duuma to go to the top of the revolutionary dome that Bruneleschi built. Before he came and tackled the problem, no one else could solve the problem of building a dome big enough to cover over the church. For a fairly expensive price (8 euros), we got to travel to the top. However, the way to the top goes through the dome. Tight, spiral staircases abounded, and it was fascinating to see the internal structure within the dome. The view from the top was also amazing, looking over the city around you.

Day 13--June 8th

Another busy day of art and architecture. The highlights were "the best gelato" according to two of my friends who have substituted pub crawls for their "gelato crawls" where they purchase gelato from the majority of the places they run across and rate them. This gelato was "0.2" on their scale, which meant that it was 5 times better than the first gelato they tasted (which they fixed as "1"), and 3 times better than the best they'd had until then (a 0.6). After our last museum, a large group of us went to visit this hole in the wall gelato shop--it was by far the best I had--the flavors were potent, yet not overpowering, the gelato wasn't mushy, but rich. 

After some shopping around at street vendors, I went up a hill on the side of Florence to catch a "near sunset" view of the city. It was a good walk, but well worth the sight of all of Florence!