Ravenna, Parte Due

Well I figure it's about time I got around to telling you about my trip to Ravenna.
Let's start with the city itself: Ravenna was once the capital of Italy (the pope moved the capital from Rome when it was being invaded) and remained one of the cultural capitals for years after Rome was re-established.  Because of this, and the v arious rulers that took up residence there, Ravenna houses many of Italy's finest mosaics.  It is also the place that Dante lived and died after he was banished from Florence.  When he died, the Florentines pardoned him (after realizing he would probably be a pretty cool guy to take credit for) and requested that his remains be returned to them.  The ravennans(?) refused, and actually hid Dante's bones in the city so noone would find them.  Today, when you visit, there is a small tomb/shrine built to Dante (the white building in the photo from the last post) which houses the actual remains (or so I believe) and a small park behind that building has at least half a dozen other tombs, all of them labelled "Dante".

We got there on Friday afternoon (After some train delays left us stranded in Bologna for a few hours) and immediately headed for the center of town.  I walked with Lauren and Nick to the museums they wanted to visit and left them there- while they explored the tombs, crypts, and churches I hit the streets to see the parks and people.  It was wonderful to just have a few hours to walk around and see things at my own pace.  I ended up wandering to Dante's tomb, and settled on a bench in front of San Francesco's right behind the rear wall of the tomb.  I spent the afternoon sketching and people watching, and finally met up with Lauren and Nick for a take-out pizza dinner.
I discovered that I love Ravenna. It's known as one of the bicycle towns in Italy, and that is the main form of transportation there.  They even paved the street in two different colors of stone: white in the middle is the bike and car lane, the black on the outsides is for pedestrians.  The people are generally friendly, there are open gardens everywhere, bright mosaics on all the public benches and monuments, and plenty of open spaces to soak up some sun and fresh air.
After dinner we walked to our hostel, which turned out to be a bit of an ordeal.  After a short mishap with reading the map we took a 35 minute walk across the traintracks through a few neighborhoods that we all admitted later, had made us feel rather uncomfortable.  I must admit, I was dismayed when Lauren pointed to a rather unimpressive, beige building next to a sketchy public park, indicating our hostel.  My opinion of the place did a complete 180 once we got inside.  There were bright yellow and orange walls, draped in random tapestries and various kinds of art from all different countries and even a hookah-bar style room.  The only word we could all agree upon to describe it was "groovy".
After far too many rounds of "go fish" we called it an early night.  The next morning we headed back across the train tracks and wandered around.  Nick and Lauren went to visit Dante, and I went into San Francesco.  The neat thing about San Francesco is that the ground under it is unstable.  This means that the buildings in the area are slowly sinking; San Francesco's original mosaic floor is now under a few feet of water.  They built a new floor probably about 10 feet above the original, with steps leading down to an opening to the water, which is showcased under the new pulpit.  Its really very poetic.
After our separate adventures, the three of us met up on the benches lining the piazza outside the Basilica.  Since we didn't know what else to do with the few hours we had before our train left, we spent our time on the steps, playing cards and eating lunch.  Then we said a quick goodbye to Ravenna and took our trains back to Orvieto.  We were lucky in our travels because the next day there was a railway workers strike, leaving 4 or 5 other students stranded in other parts of Italy.
Ravenna was a wonderful trip, I'm learning that I love the smaller towns the best (the only exception being Rome, which is completely captivating)

Also, since my camera died the second day, here are some snapshots from Lauren's:

 above and below are both of the original floor of San Francesco

 she snuck up on me painting while I was waiting for them.

THIS MADE ME SO HAPPY!! ITS AN ELEPHANT BUILT OUT OF LEGOS

Ravenna, Part 1

This past weekend, Lauren O., Nick and I took a trip to Ravenna, which ended up being a perfectly lovely city.  I will post more about it soon, but wanted to put up a few pictures for now.  Enjoy. 

Dante's Tomb

Lauren and Yoda

A few of my favorite mosaics:

 (above and below) A random ruin we stumbled upon that had a room of old mosaics in the tower

A neat nativity scene

tower of the duomo

Who doesn't love marigolds?

Gratification

There are many things I want to catch you all up on: National events, group parties, and random joyful occurrences from daily life which I have neglected to post due to an overload of painting in order to finish my final on time, and a side dish of laziness. However, for now, I am going to just tell you about today.  Today, I finished all three paintings for class (which ends tomorrow) and the poetry class simultaneously finished their last assignment.  They each wrote poems about our paintings, and we just had a reading of them, and a viewing of photos of the paintings (A few of which are still not finished) this afternoon.
Somewhere between the companionship, the words, the fatigue, and the wine that we were all sipping as we listened to the works of our peers, I decided that the only thing that is important enough to share today is art.  So i took a few, poor snapshots of my work, and have pasted in the poem that my friend Lauren wrote about my picture.

close up of self portrait

close up of carly's portrait, which doesn't really look like her

The whole thing

Lauren Owen

Ode to Roxanne

She floats above my cliff-top realm,

Oblivious to any puff of wind

That otherwise might cause a shift

In the meditations of my pensive girl.

She, alone, with delicate petals

Fights for me the central battle

And when she rises, victorious,

She hovers again on her throne of guidance.

If a flower so small can do so much,

What would happen if a multitude

Thrived together on only a few

Vibrant stalks, strong and lush?

For by day, she descends from her place on high

To join her company at my tableside

As I wander through the castle my thoughts have built—

She’ll be here still, though she may wilt.

Antiquing in Arezzo

We learned while we were travelling around with our Renaissance History class that on the first Sunday of every month there is an antique fair in Arezzo. So this past weekend, when the monastery was tense with gloom and recklessness, a group of us trekked down the hill and hopped on a train.  Just a block from the train station there were tents set up as far as the road would permit, and under each was some new treasure.  There was jewelry, furniture, old books, vintage postcards and linens.  As we turned each corner, there would be 3 new roads of tents for every one that we had traversed.  Naturally, with so many different things to look at, we got separated into small groups and wandered aimlessly for the entirety of the morning.  Everyone had a different idea of what they wanted: old jewelry, sturdy old books to re-bind into sketchbooks, and I was looking for an old steamer trunk.  It was fun to browse through the wares (I actually found several trunks in quite good conditions, but the idea of having to travel with it for the rest of the semester, get it home, and the price tag of over 100 euros for each one- the best ones were 250-350- were all deterrents. Que cera cera).  Not much had captured our attention until Kat, Caitlyn and I stumbled upon the stall with a giant ring of vintage keys.  Then we were all lost.  They were all of different shapes, sizes, and ages bound together on a long loop of wire. 

Double whammy- old keys on the new scarf

After finding this stand, we wandered for quite some time, ran into friends, and settled in a plaza to find lunch.  People watching afforded great amusement for some time, and a surprising number of English-speakers wandered by.  On our trek back to the train station, we wandered by a used clothing booth, which meant a long stop and definite purchases for all.  After some celebratory gelato, we hurried to the station just in time for our train to arrive.  All in all it was a grand time, and a much needed break from wandering the Monastery.

An awesome chair covered in cartoon strips

A Pic for dad :)

My lovely travelling companions

I also ought to mention, that this weekend was joyfully ridden with birthdays both here and at home.  We had one each day:

Lauren turned 20 on Saturday

And Emily turned 20 on Sunday

Not to mention 2 very dear individuals who were celebrated at home, neither of whom are 20 J