Italy | Global Adventures

Mar
11

Italy 2016: Day 4

Our lovely Tuscan day started out with an early rise in beautiful Florence as we packed our bags and said goodbye to the first big city on our trip. We then stopped in the amazing medieval city of grand towers known as San Gimignano. The city provided us with beautiful vistas of the Tuscan countryside, the world’s best gelato shop, and the scarring memories of the museum of torture. The next town we visited was Siena, which contained old gothic architecture, St. Catherine’s Basilica, Europe’s first hospital AND first bank, and pizza– delicious pizza! After lunch, we walked around Il Campo, the large town square in Siena where a really famous horse race known as Il Palio takes place twice a year. It’s a race between all of the different, rival Cantrade (family house) of Siena. After we had time to wander around and explore the city, we moved on with our trip to beautiful Roma! Tomorrow, we’ll be visiting the Roman Catacombs, St. Peter’s Basilica, and the Sistine Chapel! Buona notte!

– Omar Yunus

Mar
11

By SGISBlogs

Italy 2016: Day 3

Category: Italy Leave a Comment

Today started out with breakfast in the tea room of our hotel overlooking Florence, with some of the best croissants I have ever had the pleasure of tasting. We got on the bus, drove down, walked for a while, and arrived in front of the major Duomo, after which we split off for free time.

The majority of us went with Mr. Link up into the Duomo. After getting tickets, we ascended into the claustrophobia-inducing, dark staircase that led to the upper levels. Everyone was breathing hard and at one point I was at the head of the group (still not sure why) and as I stopped to catch my breath I heard a faint, strangled, “Thank God.” At the top of the Duomo we appreciated our once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and took our selfies.

The rest of the morning was kind of a blur, but I did go up a tower with Mrs. Erlandson and Maria that was half the amount of steps as the Duomo. My legs have yet to stop shaking. We had some gelato and some amazing sandwiches. Then we met up to go to one of Florence’s more distinguished art galleries, the Accademia. There we saw some nice Greek statues, Michelangelo’s David, and some more of Michelangelo’s unfinished works.

After that, we had coffee and then those who chose to go to the Uffizi Museum split off. There, as a group, we bonded over our scant knowledge of art history. We wandered around the gallery appreciating the masterpieces that surrounded us. Then we just ended up in a room of statues trying to copy the poses. It was great! With Mr. Link, we sat down in a cafe where I got a Nutella waffle. As you can imagine, the Nutella waffle was also great. All the food here is delicious. To wrap this up, there was some more coffee, everything was funny, and the food was still great. For dinner there was caprese salad with balsamic vinegar, chicken, and peas, which was amazing. We went back to the hotel, showered, and we are about to go to bed. Buona sera!

– Laura Beard

*We have been experiencing some wifi issues and can’t upload pictures. We will do that as soon as we get to a less spotty network! 🙂

Mar
9

By SGISBlogs

Italy 2016: Day 2

Category: Italy Leave a Comment

On Wednesday, the second day of the trip, it was yet again another rainy, wet day in Assisi. The group started their second morning of the trip exploring through the small town of Assisi. The Basilica di Santa Chiara (Basilica of Saint Claire) is where we started off the day. We entered the church and saw very few artistic works on the walls. The light of the basilica was very dim and the architectural designs of the basilica were very beautiful, but also very modest. There were two crosses in the basilica that were both very famous and both expressed different emotions of Jesus Christ at his death. In the bottom of the basilica was a crypt dedicated to Saint Claire, whom the basilica was also named after. The crypt displayed Saint Clare’s remains and clothes. It also had the original tunic of Saint Francis who inspired Saint Claire to be come a nun. After the exploration of this basilica we went to the most famous basilica in Assisi, the Basilica of San Francesco (Basilica of Saint Francis). This basilica, unlike the one before, displayed many famous and old frescos by Giotto telling of many stories of Assisi as well as the most famous stories in the old and the new testaments of the Christian Bible. The lower levels of the basilica exhibited the tomb of Saint Francis, which was quite simple in design. After this the group traveled to the art capital of the world: Florence, Italy. It was around 1:00PM when we first entered the city and split up for about an hour to eat lunch. After this, around 2 o’clock, the group met in front of Brunelleschi’s Duomo, a part of the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, which is arguably the most famous building in all of Florence. We were allowed to take pictures of this church on the inside. It is very famous for the dome that encases the church due to the fact that it holds its own massive weight. The ceiling of the dome is covered in a gorgeous fresco that inspired Michelangelo’s future work in the Basilica of Saint Pierre. After this the group traveled to the Ponte Vecchio, also know as the “Old Bridge” in English, which is covered in numerous gold shops. It also gave a chance to see some of the best views of the Arno River that runs through Florence. After this the group had some free time and many of the people in the group went to the famous leather shop known as Leonardo to learn how leather is made. After a few hours of roaming the city of Florence, we met back up with our tour guides and traveled to a small Italian restaurant for dinner: pasta, potatoes, fresh bread, pork, and gelato for dessert. After dinner, the group travelled to a small town on the outskirts of Florence called Fiesole. Fino a domani! (Until tomorrow!)

– Parker Ruffin

Mar
8

By SGISBlogs