Ulmer Munster

My brothers visited for a week, so we finally went up the Ulmer Munster tower. It's all open, so it's pretty terrifying.

view of the back

up among the gargoyles

the uppermost part of the tower, from the inside

Excursions recap

We took advantage of the fact that my parents were on vacation for a while at the beginning of October and borrowed their car in order to go on some short weekend trips. One weekend we went to the famous castles of King Ludwig, Schloss Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein. From there, we stopped briefly at the Wieskirche and then went to visit my Aunt in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. On the way back, we went by two baroque/rococo monasteries, Kloster Benediktbeuern and Kloster Andechs.

Schloss Newschwanstein

 The following weekend, we visited two towns on the Romantic Road, Nördlingen and Dinkelsbühl. Then we went to Nürnberg, where we spent the night. The following day we drove to Regensburg, where we visited the city as well as Walhalla. Note: in a very brief survey of Nürnberger and Regensburger sausages, the Regensburg ones came out slightly ahead.

Nürnberg

Nürnberg

Regensburg

Finally, we returned the car, but on the way stopped by another two monasteries, Kloster Maulbronn and Kloster Lorsch (which was unfortunately being restored) and a made a quick stop at Worms Cathedral.

Worms Cathedral

Rome, take 3

After the concert the previous day, I decided to spend Saturday visiting some of the sights of Rome that I hadn't seen the two other times I had been in the city. I started out walking to the Basilica di San Giovanni di Laterano, the official seat of the Bishop of Rome (the guy that's usually called the Pope). Inside, it had an impressive baldachin over the altar and a beautiful mosaic in the apse. Of particular interest is also the baptistry, one of the oldest in existence, along with the adjoining chapels of St. Venantius as well as St. Secundus and St. Rufina, with 5th-7th century mosaics.
From here, it was a relatively simple metro + bus trip to Via Appia Antica, the ancient road connecting Rome with Brindisi. The first few miles have some interesting sights, and the bus drops you off a short distance from the tomb of Caecilia Metella, about 3 miles from the city walls. Unfortunately for me, the road is still in use (except for Sundays), so for most of the way you have to contend with car traffic. I made my way to the Circus of Maxentius, apparently one of the best preserved Roman circuses still in existence. The massive scale was pretty impressive, and it must have been even more so in antiquity when the starting gates and stalls were still standing. From here, I walked on, taking a quick look into the church of San Sebastiano on the way, to the catacombs of Callixtus. Unfortunately, they were just closing for their lunch break, so I walked further until the next bar to get a sandwich, then walked back and waited until they reopened. Since you have to go with a tour (included in the admission), I went with the German group, which was relatively informative. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the Etruscan necropolis of Tarquinia more, since you could go at your own pace (and take pictures). After the half-hour tour, I walked back into the city, past the Baths of Caracalla and the Coliseum, until I reached the Basilica of San Pietro in Vincoli, famous for the tomb of Pope Julius II, which occupied Michelangelo for much of his life (and remained unfinished, as well as unoccupied by Julius himself).
From there, it was past some anti-Berlusconi protesters to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, to which I had been before but wasn't able to visit properly due to the Madonna of Lourdes. The mosaics here were magnificent, reminiscent of the ones in St. Mark's basilica in Venice. Since I still had some time left before my train back to Florence, I walked back to the train station, and took the metro to Piazza del Popolo, where the church of Santa Maria del Popolo contains some more artistic masterpieces. Among these are the Chigi Chapel, designed by Raphael, two paintings by Caravaggio, and two frescoes by Pinturicchio (including some of the earliest grotesques since antiquity). From there, I returned to the train station and a short time later, returned to Florence.

Spello and Gubbio

The next day, we visited two other hill towns in Umbria: Spello and Gubbio. First up: Spello, just a few miles away from Assisi, but much quieter and less crowded. I would guess it's probably one of the prettiest towns in the area. There's not that much to do other than wander its picturesque streets and visit two churches, but that's pleasant enough. In addition, the area is famous for its olive oil, which we had a chance to taste (and buy). There's also some nice art by Pinturicchio in the two churches: a finely frescoed chapel in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, and a Madonna with Saints in the church of Sant'Andrea.
Afterwards, we drove to Gubbio, stopping on the way to have a picnic in the hills with a view of Perugia. It's larger than Spello, and with more sights, but without the sunny hill town vibe of Spello. That doesn't mean it's not hilly, though: to get to the main square, we took a public elevator. Further uphill, we visited the cathedral and the Palazzo Ducale, where we were lucky enough to get free admission (it was the day of culture, or something like that), and saw a nice exhibition of Umbrian maiolica. Finally, it was off to the cable car up to the Basilica of Sant'Ubaldo. Described by the Lonely Planet as looking "frighteningly like an open-topped human birdcage," that seems like an apt description. The church at the top was decent enough (more remains of a saint!), but the ride up was definitely the highlight. Afterward, it was back to Florence.

Assisi

My parents came to visit last weekend, and since they've been to Florence several times now, we decided to go out and see something new. We decided on Assisi and surroundings, so Saturday morning we drove down from Florence, hoping that the weather would stay nice (it did for the most part). Assisi is, of course, the home of St. Francis of Assisi, where he preached, and is now the goal of many pilgrims.
The city itself is much like many other hill towns in Umbria and Tuscany: steep streets, bare stone houses, many churches. The highlight here is the Basilica of St. Francis, where the saint's remains are stored. Consisting of an upper and a lower church, both decorated with some fantastic frescoes by Cimabue and Giotto, among others, it really is a sight to see. We then went to see some of the other churches in town, among them the Romanesque Basilica of St. Clare (with her remains) and the Duomo di San Rufino. The town is nice enough, but I do wonder what St. Francis would have to say about the crass commercialization.
In the late afternoon it started to rain, and since we still had plenty of time before dinner, we drove down the hill to the Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli, which was built around the Porziuncola chapel, where the Franciscan movement started. I liked the small chapel, but like with the sights in town, I'm guessing they have much more significance to true believers.
After a mediocre dinner in town (note to self: make reservations for the recommended places), we walked up to the Rocca, from which we had a great view onto the monuments of the city, lit up in the night.

Galicia

Last week I attended a conference in Ourense, Spain. I actually had never heard of the city before the conference, but it's a pleasant place in a beautiful region of Spain. The conference was very well organized, even if the program was quite full -- I usually only had about 10 or 20 minutes a day of free time in between talks, group lunches and dinners, excursion, receptions, etc.
After the conference, I spent a day visiting Santiago de Compostela, an hour away, and location of the airport. While I myself didn't walk any of the Camino de Santiago, I saw plenty of pilgrims there. I did attend the pilgrim's mass in the cathedral, mostly in order to see the botafumeiro being swung at the end. It's quite the spectacle for a liturgical celebration. The city itself is small and cozy, and there's a lot of life in the evenings when the local student population comes out. I stayed in the very nice Hotel Pombal, having been moved there since the original hotel I had reserved was overbooked.
Getting home was a bit of a challenge, but I was quite lucky. Due to the volcanic ash cloud, most flights in Europe have been canceled and airports closed, as I'm sure you've heard. I was booked on a flight to Bologna via Madrid on Sunday. When I found out Saturday evening that Bologna would also be closed on Sunday, I immediately called Iberia. After about an hour on hold, having the call dropped, and having to call their German call center since no one in the Spanish call center spoke English, I was finally able to change my destination to Rome, which was still projected to be open. I did make it to Rome, where a large crowd of people were trying to make arrangements to travel to their home countries -- Germany, England, the Netherlands, etc. I managed to get a train to Florence a few hours later, so I had better luck than the many people who were affected by the announcements that all trains from Italy to Northern Europe were fully booked until Friday! I was extremely glad to be back home, even if it was a few hours later than planned.

Rome again

Even though we didn't throw any coins in the Trevi fountain during our last visit, we nevertheless made it back for a repeat visit last weekend. This time, my parents were visiting the city, and so we joined them over the weekend. Friday evening, we took the fast Eurostar train to Rome, where we arrived in time for a nice dinner at a Tuscan grill restaurant. Saturday, we started out by going to the Vatican museums. Note the plural: apparently there are around 7 kilometers of hallways in there. We saw all the highlights, including the Pinacoteca, the Roman sculptures, the frescoes by Raphael, and of course the Sistine Chapel. Saving us 45 minutes of walking, we then took the secret door out of the Sistine Chapel and went over to St. Peter's basilica. Kristen and I waited in the square while my parents climbed to the cupola, then we all walked into the city together. We went in some churches near Piazza Navona, including the church of Sant'Andrea della Valle, in which the first act of the opera "Tosca" takes place. Our attempt at going into the Pantheon was foiled -- yet again -- by a mass going on inside. After a brief rest at the hotel, we went back to the center to have another good dinner at a restaurant that Kristen and I had been to last time.
On Sunday, we all walked across the city to the Isola Tiberina, from which we took a bus to the Villa Borghese gardens, where Kristen and I had reserved tickets for the Borghese gallery. (actually, we had all wanted to go, and since the museum was included in the Roma Pass that my parents had bought, we tried to make a reservation on Saturday afternoon for the museum. Alas, this is Italy, and so even though the museum is open Saturday and Sunday, the call center for making the mandatory reservations is only open until 1pm on Saturday and not at all on Sunday. Kristen and I got tickets online, but it's not possible to apply the Roma Pass discount online) We were a bit disappointed by the museum, which was small, yet high quality. Several of the most famous works (about one or two per room) were on loan to other exhibitions, including Raphael's Lady with a Unicorn and some of the Caravaggio paintings. On the other hand, the decoration of the villa itself, including the Roman mosaics installed there, was spectacular. We then took a bus back into the city to finally make it into the Pantheon and then went back to the hotel, where we met my parents (who had gone to the Museum for Modern Art in the Villa Borghese gardens) and pick up our luggage for the train trip back to Florence.
I've added some pictures from this weekend to the album of Rome pictures on Picasa.

Cortona

Today, we went on a day trip to Cortona, one of the many Tuscan hill towns that has become more popular recently due to it being the setting of "Under the Tuscan Sun," which we've neither seen nor read, however. The weather was supposed to be gorgeous, and in Florence it was still nice, though on the train to Cortona it became progressively more hazy and cloudy. Oh well. We took a bus up to the town, and walked to its main square, where an antiques market was setting up. This being January, there were very few tourists to be found, and some restaurants were still on holidays until March. We got a slice of pizza, and then went past some of the oldest surviving medieval houses in Italy to the Duomo, which was closed, and the Museo Diocesano, which was opening again shortly. Inside the small museum, the highlights were an Annunciation by Fra Angelico and some works by Luca Signorelli. After this, we slowly made our way up the hill to the church of Santa Margherita, which houses the remains of the saint. Then we walked back down into the town, where we had to wait an hour for the next bus to the train station. A tip for tourists: don't go to Cortona on a Sunday. In the meantime, we had a coffee/tea and a "brutti ma buoni" from a local pasticceria. After the 15 minute drive to the train station, we saw that we had just missed the train back to Florence, so it was off to a bar for another hour and another coffee/tea to stay warm while waiting.

Pistoia

Today was a beautiful fall day, and in the afternoon we decided to go to Pistoia, a city in the greater Florence area. I don't think many tourists make it there, especially not in October, even though the city has some sights that make for a nice half-day trip. When we got off the bus, we walked into the center, where there was some sort of market going on -- mostly clothes and shoes, and throughout the entire city. However, we were not there to go shopping, and so we continued on to the main sights. As usual, these consisted mainly of churches, with the largest being the cathedral with its massive bell tower, though the interior was nothing to write home about. A pair of lesser churches had some beautiful carved pulpits, though -- a fairly simple one by Guido da Como in the church of San Bartolomeo in Pantano, and a more elaborate one by Giovanni Pisano in the Pieve di Sant'Andrea. The other main attraction was the polychrome frieze by the Della Robbias on the facade of the Ospedale del Ceppo.

The Tallis Scholars

Last night, we went to the Duomo for a free concert by the Tallis Scholars, one of the pre-eminent Renaissance choral groups active today, along with singers that took part in a master class they gave. This being Italy, there was a definite lack of organization: the concert took place in one of the largest churches of Christendom, and yet it was located in one of the transepts, so that half the people waiting in the line outside were turned away, and a considerable number of others did not find seating. We were among the latter, so at least we got to hear the concert. It did not disappoint: the setting of darkened cathedral with a slight smell of frankincense was ideal for the complex simplicity of the works. Works by Palestrina, Gabrieli, and Josquin among others were on the program, but the highlights for me were a setting of the mass by Ingegneri, sung by the Tallis Scholars, and a motet 'Inviolata Integra et Casta es, Maria' by Festa, sung by their students.

Orvieto

After the summer holidays and the visitors we had recently, we finally got around to exploring more of the area via a day trip yesterday. Actually, "area" is pretty generous, since Orvieto is a two and a half hour regional train ride away from Florence. Nevertheless, we got to this city on top of a slab of tufa and took a cable car up the mountain. Once up, we immediately descended again, though this time in St. Patrick's well, which was dug in the 16th century to provide the city with water while under siege. A nice work of engineering, it has two spiral pathways (one for going down and one for going up), down to the water. After making it back up, we were ready for lunch, for which we walked into the city center. It seems like the main tourist season is over, since the main drag was not too crowded. (Then again, we're used to Florentine crowds...) After some pasta, we went towards the highlight of this town, the cathedral. Since there was a wedding going on at the moment, we first went to see the Etruscan collection in the Museo Claudio Faina e Museo Civico. The Etruscans had some interesting vases!
After a brief break for gelato (I had nectarine and fig, Kristen had pink grapefruit and grape/strawberry), we looked at the cathedral in detail. The facade is amazing -- a symphony of colored marble, glittering mosaics, sculpture, and masterful carved panels. And the interior isn't too shabby, either. The highlight is surely the Capella di San Brizio, which was frescoed largely by Luca Signorelli with scenes of the Last Judgement. That's always my favorite topic of religious paintings, and this version had fantastic studies of the human body. Apparently Michelangelo studied these frescoes before painting the Sistine Chapel. Since my ticket for the chapel included the Museum of the Duomo, I went to visit that afterward and was pleasantly surprised. While these museums are typically one depiction of Madonna with child after the other, here the old religious art was interspersed with a temporary exhibition of modern art and sculpture. Along with the jazz soundtrack playing on the stereo, it gave it more of a gallery vibe, and made the experience all the more pleasant.
After this highlight, we walked around the town a little more, seeing the interesting ten-sided bell tower of Sant'Andrea and the Palazzo del Popolo, before heading back. Unfortunately, the next train was not for another hour, and furthermore delayed, but we did manage to make it back to Florence.

Parma and Modena

Yesterday, Kristen returned after spending some time in the U.S. and trying without success to get her visa renewed. Since she flew into Bologna, I decided to meet her there in the evening, and spend the day in the nearby city of Parma.
After walking downtown from the train station, I first had to get something for lunch -- my choice was a sandwich with Parma ham, of course. Parma isn't a huge city, so it was easy to see everything in a few hours. There aren't too many tourists there either -- I guess they're all trampling themselves in Florence. The highlights were the Romanesque Duomo and Baptistry. The latter was impressive due to its height and the frescoes covering the entire interior. The interior of the Duomo was largely Baroque (very much overdone, in my opinion), with famous cupola by Correggio though also with a nice relief by the sculptor Benedetto Antelami. I also briefly visited the Museo Diocesano, which had a few nice sculptures and a 5th century floor mosaic.

Detail of the Parma baptistry ceiling. Note the depiction of the evangelists as half-animal, half-human figures.

Since there was still enough time before Kristen arrived, I took the train to Modena, which is located halfway in between Parma and Bologna, and which is probably most famous for its Balsamic vinegar. It also boasts one of the most important and impressive Romanesque cathedrals of Europe, though, which has made it onto the UNESCO World Heritage list. Unfortunately, parts of the facade and the bell tower were being renovated, and were therefore covered up. Nevertheless, many of the stone carvings by Wiligelmus could be seen, and the (rather dark) interior was impressive.
Then it was time to take the train to Bologna, where I met Kristen and helped her lug all of her luggage back to Florence.

San Marco

There haven't been too many updates recently since Kristen is visiting her family. In the meantime, apart from working, reading and watching DVDs, I've only been downtown to go shopping. Today though, I decided to go visit the former convent of San Marco for my fix of religious art. The convent was home to the Dominican Fra Angelico, who painted frescoes throughout the building, particularly a cycle depicting the life of Jesus in each of the cells of the monks (the crucifixion seemed to be the most popular motif). His frescoes are (again) some of the earliest examples of perspective in art, and they show a good mastery of human expression. In addition, the church was the residence of the religious fanatic Girolamo Savonarola, who was the religious and worldly leader of Florence for a few years in the late 15th century. He is particularly known for his Bonfire of the Vanities, in which "beauty items" were burned along with countless books and priceless paintings. Strangely enough, he still seems to be quite revered in the convent.

Astrolabes and frescoes

Since Kristen is away with her school for two weeks, I've been doing some things that she's already seen or was not so interested in. In this sense, last Tuesday (a federal holiday), I visited the Galileo exhibition at the Palazzo Strozzi. It's the 400th anniversary of his first astronomical discoveries, and so they've put together quite a nice exhibition, less about Galileo himself as about the views that people have had about the skies above going back to the ancient Babylonians. There were some nice pieces, such as copies of some of Ptolemy's manuscripts, various star charts and astrolabes, and of course Galileo's telescope, observations of the moon and Jupiter, as well as one of his fingers (this is Italy, after all!).
Then today I visited the Brancacci chapel, part of the church of Santa Maria del Carmine. The chapel has some excellent frescoes, and features some of the few works by Renaissance master Masaccio. The rest of the work was done by Masolino and Lippi, no lightweights themselves. The frescoes, dating back to the 15th century, are in pretty good shape, having been restored (somewhat controversially) in the 1980's. You can really see that painters of that era were mastering perspective, as well as adding expression to faces (see the Expulsion from the Paradise).

Ravenna

Last weekend we took another trip, this time to two cities in Emilia-Romagna (the region north of Tuscany). Italy has its wealth of UNESCO World Heritage sights, and we were able to cross two off of the list this time.
First up on Saturday was Ravenna, to which we took a regional train that left way too early in the morning. It's not really a particularly attractive city, but maybe because of this, its treasures shine much brighter -- a wonderful collection of 6th century mosaics in its churches. Maybe it's also the fact that it was raining the whole time we were there that made it somewhat unattractive. Anyway, after arriving we dropped our bags at the hotel and then took the bus to the Basilica di Sant'Apollinare in Classe, a few km outside of town. This is probably one of the more beautiful churches I've seen so far, but then again I'm drawn to the more simple Romanesque style. In the apse was a giant mosaic of Sant'Apollinare (the patron saint of Ravenna) among many sheep, and Jesus simply symbolized by a cross.
From here, we made our way back into the city, again by bus, and stopped by the Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo. Here the mosaics were more golden, and on the side of the church -- The altar area was done in a clashing baroque style. The was a group of American students there (some of the few tourists we encountered these two days), and the guide pointed out that the word "palazzo" -- "palace"/"large building for living" -- came from the Palatine Hill in Rome, where many of these were located (there was also a mosaic of a palazzo). After a visit to the tomb of Dante Alighieri, we got some piadina for lunch and then checked into the hotel.

After warming up a bit, we went out again, stopping first at the Battistero degli Ariani, with mosaics depicting the baptism of Christ. Next was the Basilica di San Vitale, which still had some mosaics on the floor. On the walls were some of the most colorful mosaics in town, depicting biblical scenes, the usual array of evangelists and other saints, animals, as well as the court of Emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora. Next door was the Mausoleo di Galla Placida, with a blue mosaic ceiling studded with stars. Finally, we walked to the Battistero Neoniano, another baptistry, again with a mosaic of the baptism of Christ (do I sense a theme here?). Cold and wet, we returned to the hotel and took advantage of the TV before going out for a pizza and pasta dinner.

Rome - Day 3

Our last day in Rome was both a Monday and a religious holiday, a rather bad combination. Mondays, all the state museums are closed, and on religious holidays, churches have services and are therefore not open for sightseeing. So we started the day with a trip to the cemetery beneath the Chiesa Santa Maria della Concezione, which has been decorated by the Capuchin monks with the bones of their deceased brothers (we first saw this on Globetrekker). From there, it was only a short walk to the Spanish Steps, which were in the process of being decorated since the pope was scheduled to appear there later in the day. Walking on, we passed through some of the most expensive shopping streets in Rome to get to the Trevi fountain. Since at this point all the churches we wanted to visit (including the Pantheon, which is now a church) had mass in them, we then went to the Baths of Caracalla, a bit south of the center.
These were truly impressive ruins, and showed the giant scale of the buildings of ancient Rome. Some of the original mosaic floors were still in place (the second story had long since collapsed, but that floor was also on display in fragments). We took the bus back to the city, where our last attempt at seeing the Pantheon was foiled by its limited opening hours on public holidays. After walking back to the Campo de’ Fiori we made our way to the Teatro di Marcello, a Roman theatre on top of which apartments were built in the 16th century. Finally, we took the bus back to the train station, near our hotel. Since we still had a little time left, we wanted to see the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore with some 5th century mosaics. However, once there we discovered that the Madonna of Lourdes was there for the weekend, and that the Adoration of the Madonna was currently in progress. Still, we went into the church (there were plenty of people coming and going), and at least caught a glimpse of the mosaics. Then we got our luggage from the hotel and took the train (this time the fast one) back to Florence.
All in all, three days is far too little for a city with a rich history like Rome (‘Roma – non basta una vita!’). I’m sure we’ll be back to see the Sistine Chapel, the Via Appia Antica, the Villa Borghese, the Pantheon, and all of the other sights we weren’t able to see this time.

Rome - Day 1

Last weekend was a long one in Italy (Monday was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, a holiday in catholic Italy), so we decided to take advantage and spend some time in Rome. Unfortunately, most of Italy seemed to be on the road this weekend as well, so when we tried to buy train tickets on Friday, the fast trains were already sold out. Therefore, we had to take the local train on Saturday morning, which took four hours instead of the one and a half non-stop with the Eurostar.
Nevertheless, after getting into Rome and checking into our hotel, we were ready for some sightseeing, for which we took the bus across town to St. Peter’s basilica. On the square in front, the Christmas tree was being raised, and after waiting in the security line for a while, we went into the cathedral. What’s most impressive about the church is surely the size – apart from a Michelangelo statue, there’s not too much in terms of art inside.
Afterwards, Kristen waited for me while I climbed up to the dome for some spectacular views of the city. After weeks of rain, it had stopped and the city looked great in the late afternoon winter light.
From there, we walked into the city. On a bridge across the Tiber, we watched swarms of songbirds flying around, making patterns in the sky. It was incredible how many birds there were and how in unison their flying patterns were.

Finally, we wandered through the streets to the Piazza Navona, where we unexpectedly found a Christmas market between the three baroque fountains of the piazza. Nearby, the Pantheon was closed for a Saturday evening mass, so we went back to the hotel for a while before heading out again for an excellent pasta dinner (Kristen had gnocchi with a gorgonzola and pear sauce, I had maccheroni all’amatriciana).

An unsuccessful sightseeing trip

It was another unseasonably warm and sunny day today (24 degrees), so again we rode our bikes into town to do some sightseeing. We wanted to visit the San Lorenzo church, but when we got there it was closed for the day. So we walked on to Santissima Annunziata, which I hadn't seen yet, but even after waiting for 10 minutes after the stated opening time, the church was not opened. So we decided to see if the baptistry of the Duomo was open and walked in that direction. Once there, we realized that the Duomo was decorated with flags and fruit garlands. It turned out that the new archbishop of Florence was being introduced today in a festive mass, so we assume that was why the other churches were closed. Needless to say, the baptistry also wasn't open, so we'll have to come back to see that some other day. On the way home through Cascine park, it seemed like the half of Florence that wasn't downtown for the mass in the Duomo was on bikes, inline skates, or just on foot to enjoy the last (?) warm day before winter sets in for good.

Santa Maria Novella

In addition to being the name of the main train station in Florence, Santa Maria Novella is an old church that we visited today. The weather has been pretty warm the last week or so, and today was another beautiful, sunny fall day, so we took our bikes and rode into town to visit SMN, which we hadn't been to before. Unfortunately, you can't take pictures inside, so I can't illustrate this post, but there were several beautiful frescoes, among others by Lippi and Ghirlandaio, to be seen here, as well as a Holy Trinity by Masaccio, one of the first Renaissance works using the new technique of perspective. Other than that we had (and are having) a nice lazy day, recovering from the busy last few weeks, and soaking up the sun and warm weather while they're still here.

Siena

Today, we continued our series of day trips to surrounding areas with a visit to Siena, one hour south of Florence by bus. We were joined by Stefan, a German Ph.D. student working in my lab for a few months. Near the bus station in Siena, we visited the church of San Domenico, where the main attraction is the head of St. Catherine of Siena. Apparently, displaying body parts of saints in churches is pretty popular around here, and if a severed mummified head isn't enough for you, you can also see a mummified finger of hers. After this curiosity, we walked into the city center, where the centerpiece is the beautiful Piazza del Campo, one of the largest town squares in Italy, and site of the yearly Palio horse race. At this point we were quite hungry, so we went out in search of a restaurant. After all the tables in the first one we tried were reserved, we went to a pizzeria, in which we were told to come back 15 minutes later when they were open. In the end, the food was pretty good, but as so often in Italy, the service was horrible -- our order wasn't taken for at least 20 minutes, and when Stefan's lasagna came out after Kristen and I had already finished our meal, it was only lukewarm.
Nevertheless, we continued our sightseeing tour with a climb up to the Duomo, a giant cathedral, which was slated to be turned into an even larger church by using it as the transept for the new church (the outbreak of the Black Plague hindered that plan...). For about two months a year, the beautiful marble mosaics in the floor are uncovered, and we were lucky enough to visit during this time. Also fabulous were the frescoes in the Piccolomini Library, built for Pope Pius II. After this, we also went to the baptistry, crypt (only discovered in 1999!), and museum, after which we climbed up inside a wall of the uncompleted church for an impressive panoramic view of the city. Finally, we made our way back to the bus station for the trip back to Florence, and actually managed to get seats on the bus back (lots of daytrippers on a Sunday).