This past weekend I cut down on the cost of hostels and airfare by staying in Milan and taking two day trips. On Saturday I went to Bologna with two girls from my program that I hadn't traveled with before. It was really fun, minus the gray and the cold and the drizzle. When we got off the train we found a book fair with all sorts of books, art books, music books, novels, how-to guides, recent books, and old nice smelling books. They even sold one euro records! After the book fair in a white tent, we wondered into a really nice park with some awesome statues, especially turtle statues sitting in the middle of a man made non-fountain circle of water. It was in this great park with cruchy golden leaves that we stumbled into a massive market. This is when I realized I really liked Bologna, it was the most like Seattle. People spoke Spanish to me, sold all sorts of Mexican-type goods (wondering where that influence came from...) and then tapestries and scarves from India, lots of stands with earrings for all sorts of body parts, a couple booths for hairwraps, and then a plethora of general clothes and shoes stands. A lot of it was really cheap, 1 euro for scarves and jewlry. I got a couple presents but besides that was quite proud of my ability to refrain from spending. We got lunch at a little coffee bar and found an awesome CD store that had a fairly extensive American indie/rock section including such hits as Broken Social Scene, Born Ruffians, The National, and Tokyo Police Club. Helllz yeah! After a little while of wandering through gorgous architecture and a million arches, it began to drizzle so we headed back to the train station and hopped on a train back to Milano.
Today, Sunday, my roommate and I left bright and early on a 9:30 AM train to Padua. I had made reservations for us to see the Scrovegni Chapel where Giotto's frescos are...the beginnings of Renaissance art history. When we got to Padua, it was quite chilly and gray and we got a map and some falafel. Finally food with some spicey-ness! So delicious. And definately practiced our Italian. Then we wondered over to the Chapel and attatched museum to pick up our tickets. Then sent us through this multimedia center to gather information on the chapel. Most of it my professor had just lectured about in my art history class last Monday. Then we went and waited outside the chapel. Its pretty intense there. You have a reservation for a specific time and then you go into this glass room for 15 minutes where they show you another video of history and bits about restoration while they restore the temperature to the appropriate degree. After this you're allowed to enter, but only for 15 minutes! Inside the chapel there is someone to watch the time and someone to talk about the different panels and point out specifics. Unfortunately this person only spoke in Italian. The Scrovegni Chapel is very small but absolutely stunning. It really is bright, bright, bright blue!!! The panels are stunning, so many stories, the depiction of hell is overwhelming, the opposites and the juxtapositions of virtues and bible stories...aahhh!!! Unfortunately there was some we couldnt see due to a bit of scaffolding in front of one of the windows and limited areas where you are allowed to walk. I am so glad I went though. Such a huge art history moment for me. I think I've studied this in art history classes since high school!!! After visiting the Scrovegni Chapel we visited other parts of the museum, lots of archeology and then lots of religious paintings and portraits. You know...art from the 1400-1700's. After this we wondered around through the cold for a while, found the duomo, lots of amazing architecture. Padua is really interesting architecturaly because there is medieval architecture, Renaissance, French influenced, and even some Moor influenced! Crazy. Saw plaques that would say things like "Dating back to 1107..." and stuff like that. I really liked it. There were a few food markets but for the most part everything was closed due to it being Sunday afternoon. Ah well. Still a great day, despite shivering. Around 6 pm we headed back to Milan.
And now another week of classes and work awaits...
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