Romanic, not Romantic

Okay, so I was unable to blog about what I did yesterday because my laptop decided to go wonky on me. I was trying to use the Picasa software to upload a photo album to display on my page but it was not letting me do it. Something about there not being a connection to the server. Whatever, I have it uploading now so in the meantime I'll catch you up on what happened yesterday.

Yesterday was Thursday. On Thursday I have my Art and Architecture class. It went from 11 am to around 12:30 pm. We started off with Greek sculpture and architecture, moved onto Roman sculpture and architecture, and then to Romanic, Gothic, and Renaissance sculpture and architecture. Now, it was not until about halfway through the class that I realized that it was Romanic, not Romantic. Claudia, our professoressa, finally made a mention of it when some said it the wrong way for an answer. When I looked back over my notes, I realized that I had been writing it both ways. Quite funny at the time, and still so today. It's Romanic because the design is Roman but different, it's expanded upon the Roman design to something new.

I learned all about the different temples of the Greeks and Romans, the development of the arches, and a little bit about how to tell the difference between the different periods. The Romans were the first to invent the arches and were a half of a circle. Gothic arches are pointed at the top. We also talked about the differences in the styles of sculptures and churches done in each period. Basically, we learned a lot of art history in one and a half hours.

But, class didn't stop there. We had a two hour break so that we could go eat lunch and relax before heading into Firenze to look at The Baptistery of San Giovanni, straight across from the Duomo, and another church nearby, the San Michele, that has many works by Donatello. I took a lot of pictures at both sites that will be in the slide show that I'll post very soon. Anyway, it was cold outside at the time we were touring and rainy, too, so I was getting very chilled myself. We spent about two hours downtown touring the sites before Claudia dismissed class.

Most of us went directly back to Villa Bonelli. Although, my group was side tracked by a chocolate store that I'll have to go back to. But, when we arrived at the bus stop to catch the the #7 back to Fiesole, there were soooo many people standing there that when the bus arrived, Eldon and I were not able to get on the bus. I tried to get on through the front door but it closed right before I got there and when I tried to get on through the middle door it again closed. So Eldon and I waited another 20 minutes or so for the next #7 bus.

For dinner, we again went up to La Reggia. I took a picture of the beautiful chandelier inside the restaurant. Bob was telling us that the interior decorations are all new and everything inside looks great. For the first course, we had rigatoni with a very delicious meat sauce. The second course was seasoned potatoes, just as delicious as the first night, and roasted chicken. Ohh, my. The food was very tasty and I probably ate too much but it was soooo good. For dessert, we had a lemon ice that had the similar texture of sorbet. Everything was just delicious; Bob even shared some of his bottle of Chianti with the other three of us at the table. A great dinner.

Bob is such an interesting man. He is a veritable fount of information about all different sorts of topics. Dinner conversation with him was never dull or boring. He told us about some interesting sites that we should go see and gave us directions to places we asked about. He comes off as a very straitlaced guy but once you get to know him he's funny and nice.

After dinner, I counted the number of steps it took to go from the restaurant back to the hotel. It came to 958 steps or close to a half a mile. To think that we walk a mile, there and back, just for dinner. But it doesn't feel like it at all. The atmosphere must make it more desirable than a normal mile of walking. It's a little crazy to think about but then not at all. I also tried to upload my album, but that didn't happen.

Today, Friday, a group of us walked halfway into town before taking the bus downtown. Betsy and Ania both bought a pair of boots that look so good on them. I'm waiting to find the perfect pair which I didn't see today, but maybe tomorrow. Our group split up for lunch as Eldon and I weren't hungry. We walked around the Duomo, down a few side streets before heading back toward Fiesole. We walked a good 4-5 miles around today, interspersed between taking the bus down to the Duomo and then back up to Fiesole. I was quite exhausted and came back at 3. And now I'm blogging about my day and have come to the present moment. So, arrivederci for now and hopefully my album will upload. Ciao.