Cutting my losses

     Ok, as you can probably tell, it has been almost a month since my last post. I have been busy with school and our travel schedule, thus leaving me little time to blog. I have recently finished weeding through all the pictures from our first 10-day trip (also a month ago...haha). I had planned to post a description of all the things we did and saw, but, alas, it may be impossible at this point to remember all the details. After posting the pictures to Facebook, I have decided that they do a decent job at telling the story of the things we saw (which is why I am just going to post links here to those photo albums for all to see -even if you're not a member of Facebook). As for the experience of it all, I was finally able to see, in person, some of the greatest works of art and architecture I have been learning about through textbooks in school. Florence was incredible for its Renaissance art (and gelato). We saw Michelangelo's David, Brunelleschi's Dome, and Leonardo da Vinci's Annunciation to name a few. Hotel Constantini, the fantastic little place we stayed at while in Florence, was within sight of the Duomo (the green building in the sketch below).

     It rained in Siena, our hotel ceiling leaked onto our bed, the "greatest piazza in all of Europe": Il Campo was almost completely empty, it rained the whole time, the restaurant was annoying, aaannnnnndddd that's all I have to say about Siena. 

     Rome was absolutely incredible!!!! It's one of my favorite cities so far. We visited Vatican City, saw all the major historical sites, our hotel was one block from the Pantheon (which we walked past everyday upon leaving the hotel), ate some great food, and I found a new architect to add to my list of favorites. Overall, the trip was a blast. 

     Since then, we have been chugging through studio on our current project: a lookout tower and cafe for the side of the mountain here in Genoa. We visited Milan (more details to follow) and took a 4-day roadtrip through Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and France (I drove the car...yikes....Europeans are CRAZY drivers!). I have a lot of photos from that trip, and it may take years before anybody sees any of those...haha! Lindsey and I celebrated our first San Valentine's Day together as a married couple (you can read her description of the weekend on her blog). This past friday night, we had our Spring Villa Party (each semester, the students get to throw a party and invite friends from Italy), which was a lot of fun. Lindsey and I haven't danced that much since Josh Boltinhouse's wedding...haha!

     Sorry to all my readers for the huge lapse in coverage...I hope you can forgive me. Here are the links to my photos from the 10-day trip through Florence, Siena, and Rome; Enjoy!!! :

Florence - Part 1

Florence - Part 2

Siena

Rome - Part 1

Rome - Part 2

Rome - Part 3

Rome - Part 4