Brush with Greatness in Florence

After a few days in Rome, the trio headed north to see some of the sights in the north of Italy.  The first stop was the car rental place in Rome.  As our group was traveling with three adults and luggage, they opted for the large car.  Now, keep in mind, this is European large, not American large.  What's the difference?  It's difficult to quantify with the metric system and all.  Perhaps we can let one picture do the explaining...

When facing forward, Mark's shoulders touched both sides of the Micra.

Eventually the group and the luggage was stuffed into the Nissan Micra (seriously, it's called a "Micra"). Then the group drove north to Firenze, which is what the Italians call Florence.  It begs the question, why do we call it 'Florence' when they call it 'Firenze'?  Or 'Italy' when they say 'Italia'?  'Spain' vs. 'Espana'?

...but I digress.  The next stop on this monster trip across the continent was in Florence/Firenze.  This city is known as one of the most beautiful and culturally-significant cities in Italy - if not in all of Europe.

The Cathedral of Florence (pictured above) is one of the first major buildings whose construction was the product of the Renaissance.  Later, the trio visited the Accademia Gallery where the original "David" by Michelangelo is on display (no photos, please).  This Gallery requires visitors to have entrance reservations, so our trio arranged to visit the gallery at 2 pm.  Unfortunately, due to Mark's choice of driving the "scenic route" rather than the ... well, "route," the group did not arrive at the Accademia until after 5 pm.  Were they going to have to settle for looking at a replica of the David instead?

Replica of Michelangelo's David.  Also, there is a statue in the background.

If this had been Rome, the trio was certain that they would not have been granted admission.  However, this is not Rome, this is Firenze/Florence.  People are much nicer in Firenze/Florence.  The man at the door asked the trio to wait, looked at their reservation document for between 2 and 4 seconds, and let them in.  (Chalk up 10,000 'Awesome' points for the Accademia Gallery.)

Firenze/Florence (let's just call it 'Florence' from now on) has many outstanding and well-stocked museums.  But there is actually quite a bit more to the city.  Anne and Bren inspected the wares of some of the street vendors in the city square where the vendor explained how to determine that all of the products in the square were fakes... except his products of course - which were totally legit.

Bren hides behind the vendor while Anne is shown the difference between real and imitation handbags.

So that's about it for Florence....  Let me see if I can remember anything else that happened there.... oh, well there was one more thing.



On this trip the trio had several close encounters with famous people, even celebrities.  First, Mark noticed a bust at a museum in Rome.

Mark is excited anytime his head is NOT the largest one in the room.

As you can tell by the unibrow and sullen expression, this is a bust of Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco.

Two brows.  Divided in the middle, please, Joe.

At that the same museum, Anne stole a kiss from Jasper Beardley, most famous for his line "That's a paddlin."

And if the entire trip had been limited to art, travel, seeing new things, eating new foods and seeing these two celebrities - that would be a pretty good trip.  Right?  Right.

But this trip took it to the next level.  While in Florence, Anne, Bren and Mark were walking and noticed a large entourage carrying television equipment (cameras, lights, boom microphones, etc.).  They noticed the group, but dismissed it and went to find a nice dinner.  Later, while eating some pretty darn good pasta, they discussed who the TV crew may have been following.  An Italian celebrity shopping in Florence?  A news story? Something much less important and potentially silly?  Ding! Ding! Ding!  We have a winner.

While eating on the second floor of a restaurant near a window, Anne, Bren and Mark noticed the entourage rounding a corner.  Who could it be?

Snooki, the Situation, and ... some of the others.

The cast of Jersey Shore.

Seriously.  Jersey Shore.

For those of you who are not aware of who this is: good for you.  Be proud of yourselves for having successfully navigated your life while avoiding this pothole of American culture.  For those of you who are aware of Jersey Shore, you may already know that these four people (and probably some others) have a show on MTV where they run around, get drunk, say stupid things, get more drunk and fight.  As you would imagine with a show described that way - the show was a wild break-out hit.

The show was an enormous initial success, but after the novelty wore off, so did the ratings.  Apparently, now as a stunt to increase the show's ratings, the cast is filming the newest season of the show in Florence.  The cultural capital of Italy meets .... Snooki.  Not exactly putting our best foot forward, America.

But maybe that assessment is too harsh.  Anne and Mark have not actually watched an episode of the Jersey Shore, but are familiar with the character of "Snooki" (that is the short, orange woman with the brown-ish hat) from other representations in pop culture.  For example....

Bobby Moynihan does a Snooki impression on Weekend Update on Saturday Night Live.

Michelangelo, shopping and reality TV: sampling pretty much everything Florence had to offer.

Roman Adventures and Roman Mysteries

Hey, Mom!  I'm in Vatican City!

The trio's second day in Rome included a trip to the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's for Mark and Bren.  Anne has been to the Vatican twice before, so she elected to spend the day at another museum (that museum focused on art by.... one of the big names.... one of the artists who was named after a Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtle - maybe Rafael or Donatello?).  In any event, Bren and Mark had the opportunity to tour the Vatican Museum and see all of the historical and artistic exhibits on display there.  After visiting the museum, Bren and Mark climbed to the top of St. Peter's to get an outstanding view of Vatican City and large parts of Rome.

But this trip was not as easy as it sounds.  The "duomo" (dome) was built to be viewed from the outside, and to a lesser extent, from the inside.  It was not built to be scaled.  The staircases used to get to the top make this point exceedingly clear.  On the way up, the climber scales 500 steps, most of which are situated in a hall which has walls that are shaped to accommodate the curvature of the dome.  Although this is undoubtedly necessary in the process of creating this building, it creates the fairly unpleasant reality that the climbers must climb the dome while leaning over to the right at the waist.

The way down is a different staircase, as neither is wide enough for two-way traffic.  The descending staircase does not require any sort of staircase gymnastics, just a good defense against claustrophobia, as that staircase descends down corkscrew-style.  

The trio enjoyed their remaining time in Rome and saw many of the sights.  As mentioned in the previous post, they made a visit to the Trevi Fountain.  At that locale, all three threw a coin in the for good luck (and, legend has it, to ensure a return visit to Rome in the future).  This was not the only harbinger of good luck the trio experienced, however.  For example, Bren received an international sign of good luck, compliments of a Roman pigeon.

Lucky!

Why is this a sign of good luck?  Why is throwing a coin in a fountain a sign of good luck, for that matter?  Good questions.  The trip to Rome raised these and many, many other good questions.  Some of these questions have objective answers, but others are more philosophical.  In either case, as always, creativity > accuracy when you place your answers in the comments below...

Question: Why is Mark laughing in this photo?

Go Hawks!

a. Because he just figured out that the Spanish Steps are not even in Spain
b. Because someone just asked him if he wanted to eat some vegetables
c. Because Anne just reacted with uncharacteristic (and wildly unnecessary) aggressiveness toward a street vendor
d. other....


Question: What happened immediately after this photo was taken?

a. Bren was "beamed up" to the Enterprise
b. Choir of angels finished singing
c. Other...


Question: Why is this the only photo that is being posted from Anne's. Bren's and Mark's visit to the catacombs of Priscilla?

a. No photos allowed in the catacombs of Priscilla
b. Coming up with multiple choice answer choices is hard....
c.
d. None of the above




What is causing this reaction by Bren?

And finally, is Rome the only place we are going to be able to see American football this fall?

Street Performers

No, he is probably not actually levitating.  But sitting there with that device up your pant leg for long periods of time still qualifies as "talent."

One of the advantages of traveling in Europe during the spring and summer seasons is seeing a wide variety of street performers.  In major cities, and particularly near major tourist sites (near museums, up and down Las Ramblas in Barcelona, near the Coliseum in Rome, etc.), individuals with an act and a dream set out a cup and start performing.  Some of the performers have actual talent, or least are putting themselves in harm's way, which is what people most like to see.

Accordion player just off of El Plaza Mayor in Madrid.

Artist demonstrating his arts of (1) acrylic painting and (2) inhaling copious amounts of fumes.

Some other street performers, who might not be blessed with actual musical or other form of talent, spend a large amount of time and effort to make themselves up to look like a statue or a clown or whatever, and stand on the street.  When you give them money, they move or do a little dance or whatever.  Some of them are pretty entertaining.

Two guys in make-up who pose as statutes...

Anne loves the cowboy guy.

Two guys in outlandishly colored outfits, who also stand in the same pose for long periods of time for money...

Generally speaking, the performers remained stone-faced and still until a passer-by gave them money, at which point the performer would move slightly or perform a trick.  However, these performers are still people, and it was inevitable that eventually they would break character.

Dude, smoking while covered in paint?  I do not see any way that could go wrong...

A third strategy (besides actual talent and drawing attention with wardrobe and make-up) is blatantly stealing a character from popular culture and ripping it off.  In their travels, Anne, Bren and Mark saw a few examples of this, with varying degrees of accuracy...

Alien in the foreground, flamenco dancer passing by in the background.

The photo above shows a pretty good re-creation of the character from the Alien movies.  The crowds loved it.  The photo below shows a lower quality re-creation of Spiderman.  The crowds found it ... less compelling.

Spidey leaves his post in search of a scone.

There were other strategies as well, but they may have been beyond the understanding of our traveling trio.  For example, this photo contains two street performers:

In the background is Elvis, or an Elvis impersonator.  Either way, that is easy enough to understand.  However, that thing in the foreground is a bit more difficult to understand.  It appears to be a tinsel-covered goat.  After several minutes of observation the goat did not move and appeared to be wildly uninteresting to any of the passers by.  As they say, the passers-by stayed away in droves.  As such, the strategy employed by this goat thing was difficult to comprehend.

Rome-ing Charges

First, let's close the book on Barcelona.  All three members of our traveling troop of ne'er do wells enjoyed Barcelona from stem to stern.  It is a beautiful city with lots to see and do.  This is not to say that the three did not get into a tight spot or two...

Mark stuck in a doorway or the human version of a "stuck chuck"?

They also may have had a question or two about products available for purchase in Barcelona.  For example, a bikini diaper for babies?  Isn't that an SNL skit?

Wrong.  On so many levels.

...but I digress.  So Barcelona was fantastic, but now it was on to Rome.  Long time readers of this blog may remember that Anne and Mark have been to Rome relatively recently.  However, Bren was not along on that trip and her number one goal in her European travels was to see the sights in Rome.  So Bren's journey was going through Rome and Anne and Mark were happy to join her.

The last time Anne and Mark visited Rome they stayed at a fairly nice hotel near the Coliseum.  This time, the trio stayed at what was advertised as a B & B near the Vatican.  In reality, this B & B was an apartment on the fourth floor of a residential building.  This was a little different then what they were used to, but not that big of an obstacle for our intrepid adventurers.  Anne even had an opportunity to visit with other lodgers staying there, who hailed from Canada, Peru and Spain.  The one problem was with the owner, Mario.

Mario.

Now don't get us wrong, Mario was very helpful and friendly ("Super"?).... we think.  You see, that's the problem.  Anne and Mark do not really know for sure.  Mario spoke Italian.  Only.  As many of you may have guessed, Mark, Anne and Bren do not speak Italian.

Anne had the first interaction with Mario and managed to communicate to him that Mark spoke Spanish and would be able to communicate best because Spanish and Italian are fairly close.  Anne is a lovely person and generally very helpful, but this is perhaps the greatest example of one person throwing another under the bus in the history of traffic.  It is true that Mark TOOK Spanish for 3 semesters at Lewiston-Altura High School (Go Cardinals!), but other than being able to tell you that the bathroom is on fire and ask you if you like the products pictured below served together, Mark's relationship to Spanish is similar to the Backstreet Boys' relationship to gangster rap: yeah, they have heard it, but you would never mistake them for being able to produce it.

Te gusta?

After Anne's gracious and generous assessment of Mark's bilingual abilities, she conveniently disappeared for a quick nap.  This left Mark and Mario together to try to communicate (this is when Mark realized that Anne had quite cleverly ditched this Ital-Spanglish conversation/ game of charades on him and then made herself scarce: also the moment he realized that he was now 'under the bus').  After the 'conversation' (if it even qualifies as one) with Mario, Mark came to the following understandings: (1) the bill must be paid in cash even though Mark had provided a credit card number over the internet months ago, (2) if the stove was used improperly, the entire building could blow up, and (3) Mark should have tried harder during those 3 semesters of Spanish at LAHS.  Seriously, kids, stay in school.

But eventually, Mark and Mario muddled through and Mark paid the bill in cash.  Then he went back to the ATM for more cash.  In fact, pretty much every time they walked by an ATM, Anne and Mark made a withdrawal.  Either they were carrying their wallets upside down, or Rome is an expensive city to visit.  A 20 minute train ride from the airport to the city: 14 Euro/person.  Slice of pizza: 6 Euro.  Not doing anything fee: 4 Euro (this fee is only charged to visitors - native Romans appear to be REQUIRED to do nothing all day long, especially if they are working in ticket lines).

Anne operates the ATM while simultaneously holding a tall boy and doing that thing that you have to do with your hand while speaking in Italy (momma mia).

But eventually, Anne, Mark and Bren were able to finance their way to a few sights.  One the first day in Rome, they visited the Coliseum and Forum.  They attempted to visit Palatine Hill as well, but were informed that there would be an additional fee since they had left the Forum and walked the two blocks to the entrance of Palatine Hill (rather than walk around the back of the Forum to the other entrance of Palatine Hill).  That will be 15 Euro each.

Sorry, Rome, that's the 15 Euro that broke the camel's back.  No Palatine Hill this time around.  Instead, the trio returned to the Coliseum and attempted to take a little revenge on Rome for this one charge too many.  How could three visiting Americans take revenge on the city of Rome?  By scaring away other tourists, that's how!  Take that Rome!!!

Scary.  Please keep this photo away from children.

Later that night, Anne, Mark and Bren decided to take a night walk through the eternal city.  There is a fairly convenient path that takes you through several piazzas, by the Pantheon, near the Trevi Fountain and finishes at the Spanish Steps.  If you are ever in Rome on a nice evening, it is definitely worth the walk.

Bren @ Trevi Fountain

Gaudi

Anne approaches Sagrada Familia

Barcelona is a beautiful city that has inspired and been shaped by many artists.  Notably, both Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali spent time in Barcelona and both of their legacies are well represented there.  However, the 800 pound artistic gorilla in Mark's, Anne's and Bren's trip to Barcelona was Gaudi.

Antoni Gaudi was an architect and artist who had begun work on the Sagrada Familia, massive church, in the late nineteenth century.  He worked on it until his death in 1926.  Since then others have continued the work, although interruptions due to war, money and various other issues have slowed its progress.  It is still not completed (the cranes in the photo above are there doing original construction, not renovations) and in fact, the authorities do not anticipate a completion of the church until 2026, the centennial of the death of Gaudi.

But it is difficult to get too hung up on the fact that the work is still in progress.  There is more than enough there to look at now.

Both the inside and outside of the church (actually, as of 2010, the pope consecrated the Sagrada Familia and named it a 'basilica,' so calling it a "church" might be a bit too informal) are wildly impressive.  The exterior has four main spires and several shorter ones, each covered from base to tip with intricate carvings and artwork.  On the interior, the building is supported by a variety of different forms of columns, each decorated with a unique vision.  The stained glass is still a work in process being made by another artist, but under the instructions left by Gaudi.  Similarly, much of the intricate artwork is being completed by artists under the guidance of Gaudi's original plans.

But Gaudi was not limited in his creations to churches.  He actually made quite a name for himself designing other buildings.  There are a number of apartment buildings throughout Barcelona designed by him that tourists stop and gawk at every day (Anne, Mark and Bren were limited to gawking, as the idea of paying 9 Euro to enter the lobby of an apartment building - ANY apartment building - seemed a bit crazy).

If the Sagrada Familia ("Holy Family") Basilica is Gaudi's most famous work, a close second has to be the Park Guell.

The park, which was originally intended to be a housing development (it actually was a huge failure in that regard), sits on a hill overlooking the city and the sea.  The park itself was designed by Gaudi and contains a full sensory overload, which seems to be a Gaudi trademark in Barcelona.

View from the guard's house.

The sea serpent guards the main entrance to the park, and has become a bit of a mascot for the park and the city itself (well, at least for the souvenir shops).  The park is rather spacious and has areas where a visitor could fine quiet and solitude.  However, the main part of the park is lively and dynamic.  During their visit, Anne, Bren and Mark heard two different local bands and enjoyed the talents of multiple street park performers

On to Barcelona

After spending a few days in Madrid, Anne, Mark and Bren took an overnight train to Barcelona.  On paper, this looked like a great idea.  Spring for the first class tickets, get a little sleep on the train, wake up in Barcelona ready to see the sights.  Unfortunately, real life is not on paper.  In Madrid, "First Class" tickets mean that the seats will recline nearly 2 degrees and the florescent cabin lights will remain on for the duration of the trip.  Despite their rather extraordinary efforts to find sleep (efforts which may have included one member of the group reclining on or near the floor of the train car), the trio arrived in Barcelona more than a bit fatigued.  Luckily, Barcelona is in Spain (duh!), so a siesta is a perfectly acceptable cure for this problem.

Asleep at 12:30.  You got to love Europe.

After a brief siesta, Anne, Mark and Bren headed out to see what was going on in Barcelona.  One day that they were there a huge parade was taking place to honor the Barcelona football club, who had just clinched the La Liga Championship (at least that is what it said on the caption on the newspaper the next day - Anne, Mark and Bren do not really follow La Liga).  However, the parade was over by the time the siesta ended, so the trio attempted to find other cultural experiences in Barcelona, and they were not disappointed.

Anne is either looking up the address of an exciting place to visit or looking inside the briefcase from Pulp Fiction.

One thing that Spain is famous for is tapas.  "Tapas" is basically a way to serve a variety of cheeses, meats and breads in snack-size portions.  The customer generally gets an opportunity to try several different types of foods, rather than filling up on one entree.  Anne, Mark and Bren made it their mission to find a tapas restaurant.  Unfortunately, the trio was looking for one on Sunday, and did so as Americans (actually they do everything as Americans - by this comment I mean that they went looking for a lunch place at around noon).  Not so fast, my friends.  Not only are they not serving lunch at noon, most of the places are not even open.  Eventually, however, the three found a nice place to try this new style of dining.  They ordered what the waiter recommended and then waited for the delicious to begin.  The food served included a variety of cheeses (the stinky kind) and hams.

Mark inspects the cheese.

The big hit however, was the chorizo diablo.

 The waiter brought the chorizo diablo to the table and did most of the cooking right there.  Anne, Mark and Bren washed the meal down with some vino manzana and sangria.

In addition to sampling the tapas, the trio wandered around Barcelona and did a few other things that the locals do.  For example, they went down to the waterfront boardwalk and watched the ships.

Mysteriously, the boardwalk has no actual boards.

They also had the opportunity to watch the locals do what only the locals do.  For example, dancing in front of a church.

Barcelona is located in a region called Catalonia.  Catalonia is contained within the nation of Spain, but many of the people who live there consider themselves to be Catalonians first, Spaniards second (or not at all).  It is not its own nation, but sometimes acts like it wants to be (like Quebec or Texas).  As such, many of the signs in Barcelona are written in Spanish and Catalan.  The people pictured above are Catalonians who gather in front of their church each Sunday at noon to do some traditional Catalonian dancing and other Catalonian-only activities (secret handshakes, etc.).  You can see their belongings placed in the center of their dancing circle, which is either a way to symbolize that they are all part of a collective group and would provide for one another materially or a way to prevent their stuff from getting stolen while they danced (Barcelona is crawling with pickpockets - bring a money belt).