Florentinian adventure

While George went with the ND program on a field trip to Venice, Judy, Mercedes, Georgie and I went to Florence. We arrived last Wednesday morning and left last Friday morning. The main theme of this trip was not Renaissance art as it probably should have been rather it was shopping, in particular shopping for leather!

We stayed in a hostel/ B&B (they described themselves as both) pretty close to the Ponte Vecchio on the other side of the Arno river. This was our view from our room! How spectacular is that! The hosts were very sweet and I would recommend this place to people in the future. The place was a steal and very nice.

After we dropped our stuff off at the B&B, we all headed out to the central part of Florence. First, we went to Santa Croce. I had been there once before and it was amazing to be back. I never thought I would be lucky enough to visit Florence twice! In Santa Croce, quite a few very famous people are buried.

(Galileo)

(This is not a tomb, but look doesn't this statue look familiar? It was sculpted before the Statue of Liberty was.)

(Michelangelo)

(Dante)

(Machiavelli)

To the side of the church, is a cloister with a chapel and two courtyards. My favorite part of the church is this part.

(Judy and Mercedes doing a photo shoot ;P)

After visiting Santa Croce, we went into the many leather shops and other shops in the piazza and on the streets surrounding it. It was fun for us girls to look at all the beautiful items and figure out the differences in quality. But we did not buy anything here, we were waiting for the bargains in the San Lorenzo market! Georgie had a grand time walking around. He flirted with everyone and was talking up a storm clearly thrilled to be walking. I wish I had taken video of him. He had been fussing in the cloister and nothing I did made him happy. Once we got into the piazza and he started walking, he was in seventh heaven. It is such a joy to see him so happy and such a learning experience for me to see him take joy in the simple things.

After we had window shopped for awhile, we started to head to dinner and walked over the Ponte Vecchio. What a beautiful sight!

Thursday morning, we all woke up early so that we could get ahead of the lines at the Uffizi museum. We were one of the first people in the museum (before the tour groups!). Georgie and I saw a few of the first galleries and then Georgie went ballistic. So needless to say the museum would not let me look at the art with a screaming child and nothing I did seemed to make him happy. I ended up spending most of the time in the hall way. I finally did get him to sleep and quickly walked through the galleries.
Lets just say I was not the happiest person in that museum.

After the Uffizi, we walked to the San Lorenzo market. There are tons of stalls selling purses, leather jackets, belts, wallets, scarfs, paper products and so much more. I started to shop and then little George had another fit lasting about an hour. This was a fit like no other. (Two of his molars came in yesterday so in retrospect I realize he was fussy because he was in pain due to his teeth.) Everything I did either only soothed him for a few minutes or just made him more upset. Mercedes ended up getting some baby Tylenol for him (my hero) and we found some stairs for him to climb up (his favorite activity). It calmed him down enough to give him some food. Phew the fit was over, hopefully I do not have to undergo that again (I know I will).

While he took his afternoon nap, I finished my shopping. I was able to get many Christmas presents for family and a few for myself ;).We started heading back to the B&B, stopping at a cafe for prosecco break and looking over our loot. All three of us had ended up getting the same purse at one of the stalls. Mercedes bartered the price down so low that I could not pass up the bargain. Judy's is the coral, Mercedes' the red and mine the blue.

(Little George and I taking the obligatory photo on the Ponte Vecchio.)

Friday morning, Judy left early to meet her sister and brother-in-law in Rome. Mercedes and I stayed until the afternoon trying to see as much of Florence as we could. We first visited the Duomo. (Yes we waited this long to visit the Duomo although in my defense I had been there on my last trip to Florence.)

The fresco in the dome of the Duomo is breathtaking. I ended up looking at it until my neck hurt. Mercedes and I were trying to figure out who some of the people were and trying to figure out the symbolism.  I knew a little but want to learn more about it. 

(The Duomo is so huge that it is impossible to get one picture of the whole thing.)

From the Duomo, we went north to San Lorenzo. This time we were not going to that area for the leather market but to visit the church. This church had some amazing paintings in it. My favorite depicted Christ on the cross and Mary almost passed out in sorrow. There was an angel beside her comforting and supporting her. The painting really made the viewer understand Mary's sorrow. I wish I had a photo of it.

(San Lorenzo courtyard)

After our visit to San Lorenzo, we went into the indoor food market that is in the middle of the leather market. We walked around looking at all of foods. There were some pretty strange food items and some really delicious looking ones. We ened up eating at one of the restaurants in the market, one called the "Virginia Restaurant". Why? Because of the name! 

We picked up our bags at the B&B after lunch and then walked back towards the train station. We walked right by Santa Maria Novella.

Our trip back was uneventful, just as I like it. Georgie and I overall had a great time in Florence. Despite his fits, he loved all the walking he did around Florence. In fact. he sort of started running there. I say 'sort of' since his run is more of a very quick walk that makes one think he is going to fall flat on his face at any moment. It is the cutest thing! Will post video of it as soon as he lets me take video of him running.

As soon as George returns from Athens, then I will post about his trips to Venice, Vicenza, Ferrara, Florence and Athens. The wives did not end up rebelling and tagging along on the trips. We did not want to get the husbands in trouble, make it harder for the ND wives in the future and for the Athens trip, we were concerned about safety. I do not know if the news in the States is covering the strikes and protests in Athens right now, but that is what is going on while the grad students are in Athens. Joy!

Assisi

Last Saturday, a few days after St. Francis' feast day, George, Giorgio, myself, the Dukes and the Zepedas woke up incredibly early to catch an train from Roma to Assisi. It was wonderful the wives to be able to spend some quality time with our husbands (and for little George to have a whole day with Dad) and it was great for the guys to have a break from work just to be able to relax with family and friends.

Georgie had a ball on the train. He went back and forth between George and I reading books, cuddling,  flirting with other passengers and observing the world flying by. For about haft of the trip to Assisi, we sat next to two priests from India. They loved interacting with Georgie and he loved the attention. By the end of the trip, he had made two more friends.

We arrived in Assisi around 10 am and took the city bus from the train station to the top of the hill that Assisi is on. We first stopped at San Rufino. 

We also ended up being introduced to am American seminarian who had just been ordained deacon (we were actually at his ordination as he is in the same class as Brandon) and who was serving this semester as the ND architecture seminarian.

That is the baptismal font where St. Francis and St. Clare were baptized. 

After visiting San Rufino, we headed down the hill towards Santa Chiara. 

This is the church were St. Clare is buried.

Outside of the church is a stunning view of Assisi and the surrounding area.

We stopped for a nice lunch and then set off to explore Assisi some more. We first went to Santa Maria Sophra Minerva. This church used to be an old pagan temple that was then built upon by Christians and made into a church.

I was particularly struck by this painting in the church. You do not see too many depictions of the death of St. Joseph. I am always drawn to the Holy Family and particularly the depictions of those intimate moments between the members of the Holy Family. I really loved looking at this painting.

There was an organist practicing in the church while we visited. Little George loved the music.

After our visit to Santa Maria Sophra Minerva, we kept wandering down the hill and saw a sign for San Stephano. Since we were with a Stephen and our godson is a Stephan, we had to stop at the church.

The bell tower in the image is the bell tower of San Stephano. Legend has it that when St. Francis died the bell of this tower rang.

Then we headed towards Basilica San Francesco. The reason that we came!! We had to go up and down a few hills....

But it was worth it to visit the Basilica! We were able to visit the lower church and the crypt where St. Francis is buried. The upper church was closed when we were there and there was a conference going on in the piazza. We were not sure what it was at the time although we speculated that it might have to do with the Feast of St. Francis that was 4 days prior to our visit. After we returned to Rome, I looked the conference up online and found out that it was an annual inter-faith conference in which the Pope was one of the main speakers. He had come to Assisi and spoken at the conference the day before we came to Assisi!

You may have wondered how little George has been traveling around Italy. Well the answer is he travels like a king!

After visiting the Basilica, we split up. The husbands went off to do a watercolor for a class assignment.

What George choose to watercolor was a gate into Assisi. 

The wives and little George went shopping! I did not find as many items as I had hoped for. I wanted to get quite a few family Christmas presents there but I just did not see what I was looking for. But I did find a few great items, the best being this holy water font! (The picture does not do it justice.)

George had actually joined me about an hour before we were to leave Assisi and stopped in a few shops with me. The last one we went into was a great find. They had the most beautiful ceramics there and we both fell in love with this holy water font.

We loved our visit to Assisi. It was nice to be in a smaller town and one filled with so much history and beauty. Maybe we will have a chance to go back some day.

When in Rome do as the Romans do

The phrase "when in Rome do as the Romans do" has been popping into my head recently. Even thought I am aware of how American I am, I sometime feel as if the Roman lifestyle is starting to rub of on us. Here are some examples to articulate my point:

1) When we came here, I marveled at how late the children in Italy went to bed. Little George would go to bed at 7 pm and they were going to bed at 10 pm or 11 pm. Well for the past two weeks our little George is truly turning into Giorgio. He goes to bed around 10 pm and wake up around 10 pm. Just like the Italian babies!

2) Beggars, gypses and street sellers are everywhere and sometimes they start to harass people. The Romans try to ignore them and if that does not work they yell "Via" meaning "go" to them. I took little George up to the Janiculum so he could have some green space to run around in. I was alone at the time as I was meeting Mercedes at the park later. A man selling flowers came up to me and would not leave me alone no matter how many times I said no to him. This really frightened me as I was a mother alone with her child and he would not leave. So I did the Roman thing and started to yell "via" at him.

3) Lines? What are those the Italians ask. Well after patiently waiting on many things here in Rome I am done or at least I am going to try to be done with lines here. I have begun just pushing my way in just like everyone else. If I stick to the line idea I am never going to get anything! (First time I cut a line was to get cannoli.)

4) I ordered steak from a butcher in Italian (this is a big deal to me for some reason!)

5) The government here just passed a law that a person can not eat while walking or while standing in a piazza or street. I like all of the Romans think this is the stupidest law. There was a demonstration today at the Pantheon and everyone is ticked so maybe it will be overturned.

6) I went shopping on Tuesday and bought pants. When I tried them on George said "Oh your trying to be like a Roman now". They are red skinny pants.

(Maria Maggiore is in the background, we went to Brandon Macadaeg's first mass as deacon today! Will tell more about it in another post.)

Last time we went to the park near by I took these videos of Georgie. What a cutie pie! One of the things I really miss about home is that George can run around in the grass and just have a ball there.

The other wives and I went to a cafe in Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere. The purpose was to swap recipes, which we did, but we also enjoyed lots of chatting and hot chocolate. Oh boy do the Italians know how to make hot chocolate!! I am getting the recipe for it and making it back at home. No more watered down hot chocolate for me!

I have started a recipe journal. I am writing down all of our favorite recipes and adding to the recipes that I try here and like. So far its been great. I can hand it to friends to give them ideas and I can use it to remind myself of all the wonderful recipes I know of. (I seem to always forget when I am menu planning or trying to figure out what to make when hungry.)

Speaking of food... we went to this amazing Farmers Market in the Circus Maximus on Saturday. George had to watercolor the Palatine Hill from the Circus Maximus as an assignment.

So on Saturday, Giorgio and I went to meet him there intending on just playing in the Circus while he worked. (I am not lost on how amazing it is that one of little George's playgrounds has served as a place of Roman entertainment since 326 AD.) Anyway, when we arrived the whole Circus was covered in tents with different food vendors from all over Italy selling and letting people taste their wares. I was in heaven. When George joined us, we tried wine, liqueurs, sweet treats, olive oils and real balsamic (stuff in the States is horrible in comparison, bringing some back!).

It is amazing the historically important things you see here even when you are not out looking for them.

On my way to get food and meet up with George (very ordinary things to do) I passed the Forum Boarium.

Also food related (yes I know mom, I am obsessed!), I saw two Canadian chefs in Trastevere market with camera men all around them. I was just getting my groceries at the local market and saw them there. We also passed them on my street going home the next day. So if you see a food show about cooking in Italy and they go to the Trastevere market, let me know!

We have been doing some exploring. Last week, we went to St. Peter's intending on climbing up the cupola but it started to rain so we changed our minds. But instead little George had a ball walking around Piazza San Pietro giving us a tour of the place.

When the girls, Giorgio and I went shopping this week, we walked up Via del Corso (one of the main shopping streets) which ends in Piazza del Popolo. The piazza is very beautiful and little George was mesmerized by the fountain there.

The wives and I have been doing lots of travel planning. We were going to tag along on the field trips that the students have coming up. (Tagging along meaning stay at the same hotel, eat breakfast, dinner together and for the rest of the time do our own thing while the guys work.) Well we were told by the school yesterday that under no circumstance are the wives allowed to come on any field trips. ND warned the students that if we come, then there would be serious consequences for them. All of us are angered that we have been forbidden to be with our husbands/ go to certain places at certain times. It is so crazy that a Catholic school is so incredibly unwelcoming to families. Why are they like this?

Anyway on a happier note, the wives are trying to plan little trips so we can also see parts of Italy that we were going to see on these field trips and we are going to try to use our plane ticket to Greece (we had bought one to Athens since the students are going on a field trip there soon). We might be exchanging it for a different destination or time (I'll take going to a Greek island over Athens anyway!).

Papa Benedetto e Giorgio

Little George went to his first papal audience and I went to my second today!!!

Judy and Mercedes came and we all had such a memorable time! (Too bad the boys had to go to class and could not join us.)

It was so amazing to be at St. Peter's, being so close to Benedict XVI and hearing him speak.

(Now play let find Pope Benedict. We actually were not to far away so I got some okay photos.)

This was his message to us today:

"Today, I would like to highlight the ecclesial nature of liturgical prayer. The liturgy is a “participation in Christ’s own prayer addressed to the Father in the Holy Spirit”. The Church, as Christ’s Mystical Body and united with him, offers worship to the Father. By identifying ourselves with Christ in his prayer to the Father, we rediscover our deepest identity as Christians, as children of “Our Father who art in heaven”. The liturgy is also an encounter of the whole Christ, that is, with Christ and his body the Church. Thus, the liturgy is a sharing in the prayer of the living, universal community of believers in Christ. Prayer becomes the habitual realization of the presence of God, as we make the words of the Church our own, and learn to speak in her and through her. The Church is most truly itself in the liturgy, as it is the place where God comes to us and enters our lives. Let us remember that the liturgy is celebrated for God, not for us; it is his work; he is its subject. For our part, in the liturgy we must leave ourselves open to be guided by him and by his Body, the Church."

A boys choir from Norway sang for the Pope at the Audience. It gave me chills.

Little George was wonderful during the whole audience. When Benedict was arriving, George just wanted to cuddle with me so I put him in the baby carrier. It worked out well because as the Pope got closer to us I was able to move in and then got on a chair to get a better view (I know not safe, but I wanted to see the Holy Father!).

During the messages in the different languages, little George would clap when everyone would clap, loved hearing the different groups sing to the Pope and enjoyed talking about something important (maybe he was explaining what was being said in the different languages).

 My attempt at a photo of little George with Pope Benedict ;)