Just a taste of Pisa...

After leaving Carrara we went to Pisa. Pisa's got a fascinating history and we didn't get to spend nearly an adequate amount of time there. We shall definitely return. I must say however that the way they drive is maddening. The Romans really have got pedestrian and vehicular interaction figured out. These Pisans are much too calm and organized and systematic. In Rome if you see a truck approaching oh maybe 20 meters away you merely step out into the street and cross. The truck will see you, hit the brakes and pass on by after you've crossed. You don't even really have to look. The Romans may come careening around corners with one hand on the wheel but you know their foot's covering the brake and you can just go, and leave the "Porca miseria how am I not going to have a collision?" question to the motorist. After all YOU'RE the one busy taking pictures, looking at shop windows, and obviously have no time to pay attention to traffic. Those of you who have visited us in Rome know what I'm talking about and don't try to hide in the corner, because I've seen the grey appear on your head after dragging you across some intersections here. But I digress. As I mentioned earlier these Pisans are much too organized. They expect you to line up at the crosswalk, press the button and wait for the light to turn green. Should you dare cross before it does so, you will get scandalized gasps from the college students behind you on their bicycles, letting you know they're scarred for life. And that's what I've got to say about Pisan traffic. I'm not saying I like complete chaos...I've been to Naples and that's absolutely whacked. Those people drive worse than Romans and don't particularly have an aversion to hitting a pedestrian. You take your life in your hands walking the streets of Naples. Rome is the perfect medium between Naples and Pisa, the cordial, mutual respect exhibited by driver and pedestrian, the understanding by the motorist that a nasty accident in the middle of the street will only make them late for work and that they're better off mashing the brake pedal and letting you go on your way.

By the time we got to Pisa the sun was already setting and it was completely down by the time we walked to the "Campo dei Miracoli" where the famous leaning tower is. Thus, these pictures were taken in the dark. This is a shot of the actual Cathedral of Pisa, and the Baptistry, two lovely edifices that often get left unmentioned because of their sister tower.


Here's the same shot with a bunch of tourists in front of it......dang tourists....


Ah. The tower. The leaning tower leans because of weak subsoil and a poor foundation. It's got a tilt of nearly 4 degrees, which means that the top of the tower is more than 12 feet from where it should be if aligned correctly.


No...can't see the whole tower just yet. Another look back at the Cathedral.


And a shot of the Cathedral from the front. Construction was begun in 1064. Unfortunately we weren't able to go in because it was closed...which necessitates another trip to Pisa.


Here it is...the leaning tower. It was amazing how tilted it was. There are 7 levels, each with a bell tuned to each note of the musical scale.


After leaving the area of the tower, we traveled down the river Arno where I got this shot of the main bridge and its reflection in the water below.


And some more tourists....


Last stop before we headed home was the outdoor Christmas market. We enjoyed browsing the stalls then traveled back to Sarteano.

Carrara - land of marble, and marble

Leaving behind some of the chilly weather we traveled north to Carrara, famous for its white statuary marble. Carrara is actually very near the sea which faciliated the transport of its marble. As we approached the town here's the view we got.....mountains of white marble in the distance. As you can see, there are blocks that are being cut out of the side.


Soon we came across marble cutting plants, statue-carving studios and all other manner of marble-related industries. Here's one of the transporting docks with trucks being loaded up with big blocks of marble.


Check out the size of that chunk.


Here are more blocks, all labeled, awaiting shipment. Look at the size of the two men for reference.


Carrara was quarried by the ancient Romans, and has remained in use until today, making it the oldest industrial site in the world in use today. This is an ancient Roman bridge that spans a gap between two mountains, which is still travelled on today. We drove over this bridge.......


...and into this tunnel, carved out of the solid rock in the mountain. Carrara's mountains are composed of solid marble. The marble doesn't exist in veins like coal does, the entire mountain is pretty much a big chunk of marble.


We visited a small outdoor museum on the other side, which displayed these Roman hammers which were found.


After the marble blocks are blasted loose they are stacked along side the road, waiting for transport down the mountain.


After we had visisted the quarries we went down into the town where we visisted this famous sculpture company called Nicoli. They have done some of the famous monuments and reproductions around the world including the reproduction of Michelangelo's David that is in Florence. This is a block of granite (also quarried near Carrara) and shows some of the sculpture methods used to shape the rock.

Augustin standing in front of a vast assortment of plaster models and marble statues.

Here, a fellow is explaining a sculpture technique to us, using pins placed in a model to calculate the size of a larger replica.

These are the reference pins placed in the model. The sculptor takes measurements from three pins, with respect to another one, to know the distance each pin on the replica should be from one another.

After saying thanks to the sculptors we headed out of Carrara to Pisa, catching this view of the mountain in our rear-view mirror. As you can see, half of the mountain has been stripped of trees, exposing the white marble below.

Sant' Antimo

After visiting Montalcino we stopped by the Abbey of Sant' Antimo nearby. The church is first recorded in a deed from the year 813 but it is believed to have been founded by Charlemagne. It is a magnificent example of French-Tuscan Romanesque architecture. It derives its French style because of the fact that it was built by French monks from the famous Benedictine monastery of Cluny.

Inside was this Nativity scene made of statues from the 13th century.

One of the small side altars.

Another one..

And a shot of the main altar and interior of the church.

Montalcino

Our first day in Tuscany we visited the town of Montalcino near Siena. Montalcino is famous for the production of the Brunello wine, one of the best in the world. On what has been the coldest day of our trip so far we travelled to this little windy hill town to see what there was to see, and taste the wine.

A shot of Andrew and Philomena with the Tuscan landscape in the background.

This is Montalcino.

We spent several hours wandering the town looking at the shops. Mom and dad stopped in a wine bar to do a wine tasting and I saw these.......I hope this is some good wine for 320 Euros a bottle.

We also spent some time in the town fortress, which was built in 1361 to protect the town from the Medici in Florence. Tuscany has many castles which reflect the warring history of the region.

Only a few of us (including Augustin) decided the view from the ramparts was worth the steep clinm and stiff winds.

And yes it is in fact worth it. A shot of the kids in one of the three towers you can go in.

Before we left for home we stopped in a little restaurant and had a delicious dinner as well as wine of course.

Quick Update from Sarteano - UPDATED

Just a quick update to let everyone know what we're up to. We're staying in the tiny hill-town of Sarteano (eleveation 1,800 feet, population 4,500) smack-dab in the middle of Tuscany. I should mention that it is COLD. We're glad to have down jackets and mad-bomber hats.

An interesting and humorous picture. The streets of Sarteano are too steep to be pushing wheelbarrows of cement and mortar up, so thus fellow had rigged up a winch to haul up mortar to his house from the street down below where he was mixing it.

I should run along, because we are heading up to Florence today, but I'll try to update the blog again when we return this evening. For now, here's a picture of the village from our bedroom window. Some friends of ours have a vacation house here that they let us use for the week. More later!

What we've been up to...what we will be up to

Hello everyone....

Sorry there's not any pictures this update. This will be a text entry, just to catch everyone up on what we have been doing and we are up to. The last few weeks have been busy, and yet things have started to slow down. Yesterday we went to an exhibition here in Rome similar to the Charlotte Christmas Show. Unfortunately though...the camera was forgotten at home. We had a very enjoyable time though. Four large halls featured various handicrafts from all over Italy. There was a beer-tasting hall, a hall with specialty foods and much more.

This week we are going up to Tuscany for the whole week. We plan on visiting some of the towns and cities in that region and returning before Christmas. Should I be able to find internet access, expect lots of blog updates over the coming week!

Ah..one picture...an update on the mosaic.

Another mosaic update

I guess it's time for another update. Here's what the mosaic of Our Lady and the Child Jesus looks like at the moment. As you can see I've moved on to the veil. I'm no longer using marble, but am using what is called Smalti, which is a very dense glass. It's got brilliant coloring but it's a lot harder to cut than marble. I've got three different colors of red in the veil, 2 of green. The gold is actual real gold leaf. The way it's made is by taking a layer of glass, then laying a sheet of gold leaf on top and then fusing a layer of crystal on top.