Torino Sausages are my letter “T”. Although I am American, because I am in Italy this Thanksgiving I am not celebrating the holiday (my host mom had no idea it was thanksgiving) and thus do not want to post a thanksgiving themed picture. So instead I post a picture of Torino Sausages.

I know what you’re thinking… “another Duomo post? really?” Well, yes. I do live two blocks away from it and is an incredible piece of architecture and Brunelleschi worked hard to earn the commission for the cupola. So to visit it once again, instead of just focusing on it’s exterior my friends and I finally went up the 400+ steps to the top.  Over half way the climb up you walk around the interior of the duomo to give you the chance to see the frescoes up close! They’re so detailed and interesting. From there you finish by climbing between the inside and outside of the duomo. Despite the climb up, it was definitely worth the view.

Being up there also gave me the chance to take some Ariel shots of some buildings (including the Duomo) as well as see the detailing of the cupola up close. Enjoy!

So I’m returning briefly to the pictures of my Paris trip with more pictures of the Eiffel Tower. One my favorite thing about the Eiffel Tower was not how it looked from far a way but it’s iron detailing as you approach it. I also love standing over it and turning around and around in circles as I look at every part of it. The tower stand massively over the people standing in the middle and it’s the only way one can really get a sense of it’s massiveness. So here are some pictures I look of the tower when I was standing underneath it.

There are two words I don’t like…”no foto” (“no photo” always appears under them). I have never seen them so much in my until I began to enter churches in Italy (and Museums). Many places in the US the signs say “no flash”, which I completely understand (I don’t like the flash anyway). The flash has the ability to hurt the thing one is looking at because it is already in a fragile condition and if many people took pictures with flashes, there would be an impact. However I do not understand the increased amount of “no foto” signs in churches in Italy. These churches are absolutely stunning with their unique and old architecture style. And I want to document this. I’m an art history major, so I will use these pictures I take to insert into pictures and look at over and over to analyze them, yet how can I do that when I can’t even take a photo.

So I’ve stopped paying attention to the signs…when the place is crowded. In a crowded place you can often sneak a few photographs, they might not be good, but at least there is something to remember it by. However the Italian guards notice when you take a picture (even in some of the crowded spaces) and they either say loudly “no foto” or, in the case of the Sistine Chapel, they make you delete the picture. (I understand the inability to take pictures of the Sistine Chapel, because the people who have paid for the expensive restoration hold photography rights over the ceiling.) Yet really some of the other places…I do not understand the need for the sign. So I guess I will just have to keep sneaking pictures with my little point and shoot until you take the signs down.

(Sorry there are no pictures to go along with this post…but that’s kind of the point.)

This is a response to my last post on St. Peter’s where I mentioned the use of large proportions to create a look to the basilica that made it seem smaller than it actually is. Two of those ways are evident in these two pictures below (I feel my art historian coming out).

This first picture is of a baby cupid what was in a niche off of the central nave. According to our TA, the little cupid is about the same size, even possibly bigger than the average person. Yet the cupid doesn’t seem that big, because you are significantly below it.

This second picture is of Bernini’s central altar piece. I had studied it in my Italian Baroque art class, so I had seen many pictures of if and was SO excited to see it for the first time up close. I couldn’t believe how big it actually is. The posts that I include in my picture are 5 times the thickness I thought they would be.

The combination of these big objects all over are proportional to each other to give the overall impression that the space is much smaller than one believes it is.

This past weekend finally got to go to Roma. I had been once, but that was a layover at the beginning of the semester so it doesn’t really count. I got to see all the highlights: Vatican City, Coliseum, Trevi Fountain, the Roman Forum, Pantheon, and the Fountain of Four Rivers. My camera was out the entire time and I snapped away. To begin my Rome posts, I thought I would post two pictures of St. Peter’s Basilica.

I like these two pictures together because it illustrates the unity of design between the interior and façade of St. Peter’s Basilica. The TA that was taking us around told us the interior is huge, but the way the proportions were created doesn’t make it seem that way, and those “illusions” are obvious in the columns in these pictures.

So this is my first Sunday Still so I hope I’m doing this right. I have seen a horse, but every where in Florence (and Italy) there are statues of people on horseback which is now what I think of when I see the word “horse”.

Fall is my second favorite season because it always has these two perfect weeks when the sky is always blue and the leaves are so vibrant as they get ready to drop to the ground. Usually fall for me begins by the end of September but here in Florence it seemed to take forever to get there (at least look like the fall I enjoy the most). But finally over break the sky was blue and the leaves were their vibrant yellows and golds and I began snapping away. This picture weas taken at the Boboli Gardens, which are part of the Piti Palace in Florence. (I have more to upload, but my internet is being very very very slow).

This semester I am takeing two classes about renaissance art and architecture, both talk about the cupola of the Florence Cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore). Because the cupola was the last thing finished it is the only aspect of the duomo we study, but I find the facade amazing. I already talked about my first impression of the Duomo, so now I am posting some pictures I recently took of the facade, which also include some close up details.

So I’m still working on my alphabet, and its slowly (very slowly) still coming together and here I’m focussing on the beginning. I currently have two good “A”s and two good “C”’s but I’m missing any good “B”.

The first “A” was taken in my yard and the second is the Eiffel Tower “A” that I have wanted to have since I began this project.

The first “C” is from some woodwork in my house and the second “C” is from the garden of the people who live across the street.

And if you have any ideas for “B”s (or any other letter) feel free to let me know.