Florence photos April 30, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Personal, Photos , 3 comments
The Duomo took my breath away when I first saw it. It towers over the city and the ornate details of all the different shades of marble are like nothing I’d ever seen. I can’t even imagine the time, and money, and talent that it must have taken to build
I spent most of my day at the Basilica de San Croce. It holds Michelangelo’s tomb, Galileo’s tomb (which is pretty elegant – I wonder how long after his death it took for him to be really celebrated), and Machiavelli’s tomb, among others. There are still frescoes inside from centuries ago as well as a stunning art collection.
The Piazza della Signorina is most famous for Neptune’s fountain and Michelangelo’s David (the original now being inside the Uffizi for safekeeping), but there is also the Signorina’s statuary. Some of the statues are from the second century AD – nearly ten times as old as the United States. And they’re just standing out in the open. I spent a while just standing in the middle of the square imagining what it was like to be there hundreds of years ago. I saw some children playing on the steps of the Basilica de San Marco and realized that five hundred years ago, there were probably other children doing the exact same thing.
The Ponte Vecchio, with its famous overhanging shops. Originally lined with noisy butcher shops, the Medicis had them replaced with silver and gold smiths who, to this day, sell extraordinarily beautiful and extraordinarily expensive jewelry to passersby. If I lived here, I would still be rowing.
I like this photo. It’s got potential if I retouch it a bit. I would have preferred to take it from another angle, but access to the cemetary was restricted.
Sunset from the Piazzale Michelangelo.
Your thoughts?Signs a relationship is over April 29, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Ask Niels, Dating coach, How to, Personal , 13 comments
Sitting in the water bus last night, I overheard the young couple next to me talking. They still had their suitcases and had clearly just arrived in Venice. The girl was doing most of the talking. “Look! That’s incredible.” “We’re finally here.” “This is so weird.” “It’s pretty at night.” The guy mostly just agreed and nuzzled her. “Look at that couple on the balcony,” she said. “It’s so romantic.” The guy just held her closer. “Do you think these balconies ever collapse?” she asked. “That would be awful.”
Despite their kissing, this relationship is over. And it’s blatant. Do you see it? She’s only in it for the money.
I listened and cringed. The girl was so dominant and the guy was so clueless. He could have come off so much more confident with just a bit of banter about how high-maintenance she was, or her being a peeping tom, or how she needs more romance and less death in her life. But instead, he just sat there lifeless and submissive as she continued testing him, hoping for some kind of a confident response.
Those fifteen seconds of conversation laid out the entire relationship. She’s probably the hottest girl he’s ever dated, he doesn’t know how to handle her, and he’s paying for this trip to Venice because he thinks that’s how to keep her. And in a way he’s right, but the money he’s likely hemorrhaging on her is only prolonging the inevitable.
Was I jumping to conclusions? Perhaps a bit hasty? The ticket collector came by ten minutes later and without a moment’s hesitation the guy pulled out his wallet and paid for both tickets. It was like a reflex reaction.
The kisses they were stealing during the ride couldn’t hide the fact that the relationship is doomed. And I’m afraid it’s going to be an expensive lesson.
Your thoughts?Venice kicks ass April 28, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Personal , 2 comments
I’ve been in Venice for about twelve hours and I love it. There’s one path that runs from the train station to the Piazza San Marco that is basically lined with tourist traps. Yawn. But what makes Venice cool is if you deviate from the path by just a block you’re totally screwed. Where are you? Who knows? Even having a map doesn’t help, since every street is about two feet wide and half a block long. No exaggeration. And the streets are made of water! Whose genius idea was that?
Obviously, I left the path. So many times I ended up on the wrong bridge, seeing the right bridge less than 20 feet away, and I had to walk a quarter mile to get back to it. Brilliant. I’m going to get a summer home here just so I can laugh at all the lost tourists. But I did discover the mask shop that made the masks for Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut. Forget the tourist junk - I got the good stuff.
Oh, and the gelato here costs half as much as in Florence. I love this city.
Your thoughts?Onward to Venice! April 27, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Personal , 2 comments
Photos from Florence will be coming as soon as I have a reliable internet connection.
But that’s it for Florence for me. It’s nice, but it’s a tourist trap. I’m off to Venice in a couple hours, which I’m told will be even worse. But I’ll push through it and get to Rome. Right now I’m running on nothing but adrenaline and gelato.
One thing I will say for Florence - I love the street performers here! I heard an opera singer in the Piazza della Republica who made me cry. Now I want to learn to sing.
Your thoughts?Wandering aimlessly April 25, 2007
Posted by Niels in : Personal , 4 comments
The less I know about a city, the more I enjoy exploring it. I didn’t know anything about Florence when I arrived other than there was some building here called “Il Duomo”. The internet doesn’t seem to have made it here, either, so I had no guides or anything. With the tight workshop schedule for Pickup 101, it was all I could do to get my trains and hostels booked - forget planning my sightseeing.
So today I took off blindly into Florence. I had the map on the back of an advertisement flyer for a bike tour, so I wasn’t completely lost - just mostly. But I was able to find my way to the Duomo. It’s BEAUTIFUL. I walked around the corner and stopped in my tracks. Unlike Notre Dame and the other monuments I’m used to seeing, it’s made of marble - red, green, and pink, with incredibly ornate details everywhere. It’s absolutely stunning. And the surprises continued throughout the day.
I found another building that looked pretty from the outside so I walked in. Turns out I found the tombs of Michaelangelo, Galileo, and Machiavelli, among others. And it happens to be down the street from the best gelato store in Florence, which I discovered on my way to the Ponte Vecchio, which was cool but lined with shops way outside my price range.
So I headed to the Piazzale Michaelangelo. I didn’t know what it was, but I like Michaelangelo, so I figured I’d see it. Talk about timing! The Piazzale Michaelangelo is a park on a huge hill overlooking Florence and I arrived right at sunset - just in time to see the sun light up the red roofs of the city.
A satisfying day, indeed.
Your thoughts?