Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
The past week.
My brother came to Florence last week, how cool is that?
He arrived on Tuesday and although I had to go to my midterm critiques on Thursday, we had an extremely busy time of sight seeing shenanigans.
Tuesday, he arrived around noon and then we immediately ran up the dome on the Florence cathedral. We then wandered around the Arno, got some Ice cream and went to Dianne's place and ate an amazing dinner she made us and her roommates.
Wednesday, I had art history class in the Academia, so Jesse came along too. He got to hear all about the David sculpted by Michelangelo and due to a card I got him, he was able to get into all museums for free. After class, We went to Fiesole with Dianne, Iskhui, Michelle and Meg for lunch and wandering around. None of us had been there before (about a 10-20min bus ride). The town is up on a hill overlooking Florence and is absolutely stunning. We then blitzed the Uffizi museum and went to Piazza Michelangelo and San Miniato Al Monte, before going for pizza.
Thursday, I had my midterm critiques, which went on until about 3pm. Jesse wandered around a bit, before meeting me at the studio while Dianne, Michelle and Meg went to lunch with us. We went to another restaurant that night (Red Onion?) to have a deliciously massive Florentine Steak.
Friday, we took the 7am train to Rome. We arrived at St. Peters Cathedral around 10am and between then and 5pm (for our train home) we explored that cathedral, Colosseum, Forum, Trevi Fountain and the Roma Subway Station. Rome is far too big to explore in one day, but we saw a whole bunch in the time we had. We went out for dinner at the same place we ate lunch the day before..Yuummy Gargonzola and Walnut ragu!
Saturday was dedicated to Pisa. Dianne joined Jesse and I for an early trip to Pisa. We bought our tickets around 11am, but couldn't get into the tower until 1pm (as dictated by our tickets). So, we went for lunch and explored some of the souvenir shops before we could climb. The tower was super awkward to climb due to it's slant, but the view from the top was spectacular.
Today, I walked my brother to the train station, where he took a cab for the Airport to head home. A week which was far too short and went by far too fast.
He arrived on Tuesday and although I had to go to my midterm critiques on Thursday, we had an extremely busy time of sight seeing shenanigans.
Tuesday, he arrived around noon and then we immediately ran up the dome on the Florence cathedral. We then wandered around the Arno, got some Ice cream and went to Dianne's place and ate an amazing dinner she made us and her roommates.
Wednesday, I had art history class in the Academia, so Jesse came along too. He got to hear all about the David sculpted by Michelangelo and due to a card I got him, he was able to get into all museums for free. After class, We went to Fiesole with Dianne, Iskhui, Michelle and Meg for lunch and wandering around. None of us had been there before (about a 10-20min bus ride). The town is up on a hill overlooking Florence and is absolutely stunning. We then blitzed the Uffizi museum and went to Piazza Michelangelo and San Miniato Al Monte, before going for pizza.
Thursday, I had my midterm critiques, which went on until about 3pm. Jesse wandered around a bit, before meeting me at the studio while Dianne, Michelle and Meg went to lunch with us. We went to another restaurant that night (Red Onion?) to have a deliciously massive Florentine Steak.
Friday, we took the 7am train to Rome. We arrived at St. Peters Cathedral around 10am and between then and 5pm (for our train home) we explored that cathedral, Colosseum, Forum, Trevi Fountain and the Roma Subway Station. Rome is far too big to explore in one day, but we saw a whole bunch in the time we had. We went out for dinner at the same place we ate lunch the day before..Yuummy Gargonzola and Walnut ragu!
Saturday was dedicated to Pisa. Dianne joined Jesse and I for an early trip to Pisa. We bought our tickets around 11am, but couldn't get into the tower until 1pm (as dictated by our tickets). So, we went for lunch and explored some of the souvenir shops before we could climb. The tower was super awkward to climb due to it's slant, but the view from the top was spectacular.
Today, I walked my brother to the train station, where he took a cab for the Airport to head home. A week which was far too short and went by far too fast.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Working these days on getting ready for midterms which are coming up. There is not really much to mention, as I've not been doing a whole lot in getting into adventures or what-not. There is a chocolate Festival going on these days, which is really tasty and I've been making use out of it. There is a creepy looking clown there, who looks very misshaven and dirty.
Watched the Muppets movie a couple of days ago in theater here. We went to a different theatre then before, it's an old ornamental balconied building which had been converted into a movie theatre. Very awesome place to be in and you can bring your beers into the movie with you.
That's all for now. Going to be heading to the studio to keep working away.
Watched the Muppets movie a couple of days ago in theater here. We went to a different theatre then before, it's an old ornamental balconied building which had been converted into a movie theatre. Very awesome place to be in and you can bring your beers into the movie with you.
That's all for now. Going to be heading to the studio to keep working away.
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Monday, January 30, 2012
Sorry for the lack of posts in a while. School has restarted, so things are getting going again. Our new professor is much more keen on having scheudled meetings, so all of us meet her in groups based on our school year once a week and in one of four mixed groups bi-weekly. We went to Bologna on Friday to see the Bologna Art Show, which to be honest didn't have much in the way of work that suited my taste. There was some cool stuff, but the majority of it was far to obtuse or bizarre to really connect with me.
The weekend before, we went to Rome. We arrived early in the morning on the thursday and immediatly went to our hotel to drop off our bags an then went off again. We checked out the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. We stopped in a number of churches and saw some beautiful Caravaggio's. We went to a resturant that night called 'Africa' for some delicious Ethiopian food.
Friday, we went to the Vatican. We arrived early and quickly slid past customs and into the small country. We saw some neat Rapheals before slowly meandering through a maze of hallways and rooms to the Sistine Chapel. By the time we got to the chapel, I was getting really tired of looking at art and was starving. Thankfully, there is a cafe and restaurant right nearby. After gorging ourselves full of food, we continued onto St. Peters. We managed to sneak into a secret door in the Sistine Chapel, which is reserved for tour groups. We scuttled down a hallway, past some Swiss Guards going about their business and then popped out next to St. Peters. The largest catholic church in the world. We stepping inside, saw some dead popes and basked in the glory of this magnificent building. We then went for beers in a building which used to be Raphael's house. The rest of the day was spent slowly making it back to our hotel, but we stopped at an alehouse on the way back for dinner. Good beer, but terrible food.
Saturday, was our last day. We however didn't leave until quite late in the afternoon. We saw more churches and some more paintings by well renowned artists, but we were given full reign to wander around Rome on our own for most of the day. Went back to the Colosseum and some of the other ancient wonders (but didn't bother trying to go inside). Saw a lot of ruins and more churches. Ended up being a very good day, but it was nice to finally get back to Florence in the end.
I took an amazing amount of pictures, too much to post here. However, you can see them on my Facebook here.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2262084086441.88861.1678620007&type=1
The weekend before, we went to Rome. We arrived early in the morning on the thursday and immediatly went to our hotel to drop off our bags an then went off again. We checked out the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. We stopped in a number of churches and saw some beautiful Caravaggio's. We went to a resturant that night called 'Africa' for some delicious Ethiopian food.
Friday, we went to the Vatican. We arrived early and quickly slid past customs and into the small country. We saw some neat Rapheals before slowly meandering through a maze of hallways and rooms to the Sistine Chapel. By the time we got to the chapel, I was getting really tired of looking at art and was starving. Thankfully, there is a cafe and restaurant right nearby. After gorging ourselves full of food, we continued onto St. Peters. We managed to sneak into a secret door in the Sistine Chapel, which is reserved for tour groups. We scuttled down a hallway, past some Swiss Guards going about their business and then popped out next to St. Peters. The largest catholic church in the world. We stepping inside, saw some dead popes and basked in the glory of this magnificent building. We then went for beers in a building which used to be Raphael's house. The rest of the day was spent slowly making it back to our hotel, but we stopped at an alehouse on the way back for dinner. Good beer, but terrible food.
Saturday, was our last day. We however didn't leave until quite late in the afternoon. We saw more churches and some more paintings by well renowned artists, but we were given full reign to wander around Rome on our own for most of the day. Went back to the Colosseum and some of the other ancient wonders (but didn't bother trying to go inside). Saw a lot of ruins and more churches. Ended up being a very good day, but it was nice to finally get back to Florence in the end.
I took an amazing amount of pictures, too much to post here. However, you can see them on my Facebook here.
http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2262084086441.88861.1678620007&type=1
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Things are getting serious now.
In case you may be wondering where I was the last week, the answer is England. I visited the port town of Bristol and then further North in Nottingham. I stayed at hostels during the journey, which worked out rather well. I stayed in the YHA hostel in Bristol and the Igloo in Nottingham. Both were very different experiences.
In Bristol, I planned to meet up with some buddies of mine (Alex and Allan) at a place called Cut and Thrust on the thursday to play some 40k, but I spent the rest of the time checking out the city. It was rather novel being in an english speaking country again and things were sort of a mix between Canadian and Italian sort of culture. English breakfasts almost always contain fired beans and black pudding, which both ended up being rather good. There was a few art galleries in Bristol, which were all right. The Museum/art gallery in Bristol had a very large and eclectic collection of stuff. Everything from piano's, to a legion of stuffed animals. I spent a good part of the day in it anyway. I make a good use of the Starbucks in Town, the ability to sit at a coffee shop and draw for a while is something you cannot do in Italia without paying extra. Also, free wi-fi, which the hostel did not provide. Oh, and as Banksy is from Bristol, I saw some of his street art. There was actually a lot of street art and it was a lot more interesting then the stuff in the museum and art gallery.
The YHA, was sort of like a really cheap hotel. They had keycards for getting in and out, but you had to rent your towel. It was rather odd. I shared a room with a scandinavian fellow, an American and a fellow from India. Showers and washrooms in all the rooms and an option breakfast you had to pay for. Also, they charged you 50p for ten minutes of internet. Bah humbug.
In Nottingham, I arrived durring the early afternoon, which was much better then the 1:30am arrival in bristol a few days before. I met up with a fellow who worked at my camp last summer, Colin. He showed me around the town and then his folks invited me over to their place in Southwell the following night. It was good catching up about camp stuff and having a nice home cooked meal. After the dinner, we had time to got to the local pub for the 'pub quiz' before catching the last bus back to Nottingham.
I also went to Warhammer world and Bugmans bar. Warhammer world is essentially the warhammer museum. The place is massive and houses the headquaters for the game. I saw (one of my favourite artist) John Blanche and some of the developers. Very cool. The place has a room with over a hundred 6x4 tables for gaming and a room full of beautifully painted miniatures in glass cases on the top floor. Attached to gamesworkshop is Bugmans Bar, which is a pub decorated like a dwarven alehouse. Good food and drinks and a really comfortable atmosphere. I met some folks there two days in a row for gaming.
Anyway, some pictures.
Bristol
Traveling
Nottingham
Warhammer World
Monday, January 2, 2012
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