Southern Italy... and then some

Well. Its been 12 days since my last post. I apologize, but the past 2 weeks have been pretty crazy and have kept me really busy. One week I was out of contact because of a week long excursion through Southern Italy, during which I had no internet access. The last 5 days? Well, I've just been busy and lazy, a combination that doesn't often lead to blogs being written. That being said, I'll do my best to give an overview of whats been happening lately. Hang on tight, this is gonna be a long one :)

Firstly: Southern Italy Trip

Day 1: Reggio Calabria & Taormina

We took an overnight train from Florence to the Southernmost part of Italy, and took a short drive to the town of Reggio Calabria (which is in the very tip of the "boot" of Italy). While there, we visited the museum, which boasts the Riace Bronzes. These bronze statues comprise 2 out of 4 freestanding bronzes of their kind remaining in the world. After the museum, we hopped on a quick ferry across the Straits of Messina into Sicily. In the process of driving to our hotel, our bus got in a car accident, which was pretty exciting. We finally made it to the coast town of Taormina and had the rest of the day free. Some of us went cliff jumping in the ocean across the street from our hotel, which was a lot of fun. We rode the gondola (the cable car that takes you up the mountain) to the center of the city and had a great view of the sea, the city, and Mt. Etna.

Day 2: Taormina & Agrigento

Some of us woke up early to see the sunrise over the bay where we were staying (as seen above on the right - this is the view from our hotel balcony). We visited a Greco-Roman theater (as seen above on the left) in Taormina, which had an incredible view of Mt. Etna and the coastline behind it. After leaving Taormina, we went to Agrigento, which boasts the Valley of the Temples. At one time, the entire city was surrounded by Greek temples, and it was boasted to be one of the most beautiful cities ever built. You could stand at one point and see 3 or 4 ruins of temples all in a row. One of the temples still had its inner walls completely intact, which is rare considering only 2 other Greek temples in the world have any part of their inner walls left. We also saw the ruins of the Temple of Zeus, which if still standing would dwarf the Parthenon in Athens. Consider the two pictures below: the one on the left is one of the preserved "giant" statues (which is about 2 stories tall) that would have been in the temple. The picture on the right is a model of what the temple would have looked like; Notice the figures of the "giant" statues in the temple and notice the relative sizes. Pretty incredible.



Day 3: More Agrigento

We started the day by going to the Agrigento National Museum, where the giant statue I mentioned and showed above is located. There was lots of pottery and small artifacts found there and that have important historical implications, but to be honest, I got a little burned out and exhausted after going through there for a while. However, the afternoon proved to be much more exciting. We went to the beach, but they surprised us by taking us to the coolest beach I've ever been to. It was located at the Turkish Steps, which was a white, chalky cliff that formed natural steps. We had to climb them in order to get to the small, secluded beach you see on the left. It was a lot of fun, and definitely a very unique beach experience, and it was great.


Day 4: Monreale & Palermo

We drove north in Sicily to the city of Monreale, which had a phenomenal and extravagantly decorated cathedral, which is one of the better churches I've ever visited, which is quite a strong statement. After that, we drove a little ways to the port of Palermo. While there we visited a Norman Catherdral as well as a very interesting crypt. Inside were hundreds of bodies; exposed, preserved bodies, hanging on the wall. It was pretty eerie, but at the same time very interesting. It was interesting to see what types of clothes were popular, how tall people were, and what types of things were important to them. It was also humbling to be reminded that no matter how much we toil for earthly things, it will all be turned into dust one day, and we should only truly worry about striving for things of eternal purpose.

Day 5: Naples & Sorrento

After a wonderful nights sleep on an overnight ferry, we arrived in Naples. Now I had been here before, and my impression was not a positive one. I only knew it as a dirty, trashy city. However, last time I didn't see all the cool things that Naples has to offer. There was a great bar we went to, a really impressive Galleria (one of the first malls), and a huge square that reminded me of the St. Peter's in Vatican City. However, even though it was cool, the dirtiness factor remained about the same. Despite the trash, Naples boasts one of the most important and impressive museums in the world. We went to the Naples National Archaeological Museum, which has been my favorite museum by far. They had tons of artifacts found in Pompeii and other cities destroyed and preserved by Mt. Vesuvius that were really incredible and historically significant. They had painting styles, artisan abilities, and technologies that shattered earlier notions of what was available at the time. For instance, they had examples of blown glass that was created 600 years before the city that claims to be the birthplace of blown glass was even founded. Some of the art on frescoes showed use of perspective, which was not thought to be really thought of until the Renaissance, 1400 years after Vesuvius erupted. And most impressive to me was the engineering breakthroughs at the time; they had pipe valves for irrigation systems, ergonomic handles on pots in order to use less energy in pouring them, and all sorts of cool stuff like that. I highly suggest going to this museum if you ever get the chance. After the museum, we traveled to our hotel in Sorrento, which was a nice, quaint town on the coast. We got to watch the USA - England World Cup match in pub, which was divided in two sections: one for each team. It was crazy, loud, and a lot of fun.

Day 6: Capri

I went to mass with Jackie, one of my friends in our group who is Catholic, in Sorrento. After that, we took a quick ferry to the well-known island of Capri. It was really beautiful there. We rode in a cool taxi up the steep hill to the center of town, which is apparently one big tourist trap. We visited a really crowded rocky beach, and ate some overpriced pizza. Although it was packed and touristy, I still had a good time, and it was worth it to see such a beautiful place. However, I was unaware of all the cool things the island had to offer, such as swimming inside caves, renting a boat to cruise around the island (and getting to drive it yourself!) and other stuff that some of my friends got to experience. I still had a good time, but I know the types of things I would do if I ever had the chance to go back.

Secondly: Updates on the last few days at the Villa.

The past several days have been packed with work: work for my classes over here as well as my online Engineering class, which I am coming to regret taking. It is keeping me really busy, especially since I am behind, and we are leaving in a few days for a week of free travel. But, thats life as an Engineering student, so its nothing new.

Anyways, on to the cooler stuff that has happened. On Wednesday, I got the chance to go into Florence and sketch with a former animator for Disney. Now, you should know that I have never been an artist, never been remotely good at art, and honestly never enjoyed it that much. HOWEVER, I actually really enjoyed myself. Once I actually listened to the few techniques he showed us, I was able to break things down and do a decent sketch. And the weird thing is, I actually enjoyed it. I didn't notice that a few hours had passed, and it was pretty relaxing. He is supposed to join us one day in Rome, so maybe I will have another opportunity to sketch there. Also, since I am talking about Mike (the Disney animator), when he saw my sketch, he complimented my work several times and even said I was honestly a natural and I should continue sketching. I thought that was kinda interesting. Here is one of the sketches I made that day: (I tried scanning it and it turned out ok... but I like it better on paper).

Conclusion

So, again, I apologize for the unacceptable length of this blog and the long gap between posts. But hopefully I will be better about it in the future. The Southern Italy trip was absolutely amazing, and I will remember things from that trip for a long time.

Hope to post something again soon!

Ciao!
Taylor