Some Final Thoughts

I wanted to share a few final thoughts on my trip to Europe that, perhaps, might be informative.

Overall:

I really enjoyed Europe.  It really is quite different from the United States, sometimes in small ways that may surprise you.  For instance, when I returned and unlocked the door to my apartment, I thought something was wrong because it only took a half turn to unlock and same to lock.  I had been used to European doors where you have to turn the key 360 degrees to lock or unlock.

The hardest aspect for me was the time difference.  Seven hours really is a long time.  This was difficult for conversations with the family, keeping up with the goings-on in the States, and sports.  Yes, I could catch early games, but for the most part I could not view the MLB playoffs unless I woke up really early.  In the unlikely event I would be offered a job in Europe, the biggest hurdles for me would be the distance from family and the time difference.

I really like driving.  I like to be in control (yes, I have issues with control: when I was working at the Tram tours at Space Center Houston I preferred to drive because I did not like relying on someone else to drive).  That being said, I loved the trains in Europe.  I realize why they do not work in the United States, but may times while I was on the trains I thought about how great it would have been to travel across the States in a train in the 19^th century (completely romanticized, of course).

Aside from one tourist restaurant in Venice, the food in Europe in amazing.  Florence was especially good, but really the others were for the most part better than in the States.  It seemed more fresh, less processed.

Speaking of food, while in Italy I never saw Italian Ice, nor did I see Italian dressing (they use balsamic vinegar and olive oil).  Also, I remember making fun of someone ordering gelato at Olive Garden saying it’s just glorified ice cream.  It is not.  Authentic gelato (I have not had Olive Garden’s but I doubt it is real) is much better, and healthier, than ice cream.  I may miss gelato the most.

Other than pickpockets, for the most part I felt much safer walking around in Europe, even at night, than I would even in Auburn.  And while I’m thinking of security, I honestly think we should allow police to carry submachine guns in major tourist areas/potential terrorist attack sights like they do all over Europe.  At first it made me on edge, but I got used to it and felt more comfortable because of it.

If you go to Europe, I would advice no more than 3 weeks, and no more than 2 cities.  And, for your own sake, if you visit Florence (which you absolutely should), make it your last stop because anywhere you go after will be a disappointment.

Paris:

People who know me know that I was not too thrilled about going to Paris, especially compared to most people.  I had said before that the only reason I would ever go to France would be to visit Normandy.  Not only was I pleasantly surprised by Paris, I was flat-out wrong.  I really liked Paris.  My apartment could not have been in a better location.  The food, especially Rue Cler, was great (though I am still a little surprised by their love of French fries).  Only the Musee d’Orsay disappointed me, all the other sights were as good if not better than I expected.  I could have spent a day, or more, in the Louvre, and almost did.  Notre Dame was perhaps a little too commercial, but still great.  I was able to walk near and see the Eiffel Tower every day I went to the archives.  Outside of the Metro ride in to town, and the occasional urine smell in the streets, it was remarkably clean.  I really miss the bakeries everywhere, and people walking around eating fresh baguettes and that not being weird.

Favorite: Louvre; Disappointing: Musee d’Orsay; Could Get Lost In: Louvre; Wow Moment: Ste. Chappelle 

Darmstadt:

There’s not much to say.  It is definitely not a tourist town, so really unless you have business at ESOC there is no reason to even think about stopping here.  It is an industrial town, with all that infers.  I had to hunt a little, but was pleased to find that the best food I could find was near the rail station, and hence my hotel.  German food consists mostly of meat, especially sausages, and beer.  Nothing wrong with that, it just pales in comparison with Paris and Italy.

Florence:

I am not exaggerating with my praise.  The churches are magnificent.  The people are extremely nice.  The food is amazing.  I had six days of legitimate sightseeing and could have spent six more.  If I ever return to Europe, I will go out of my way to see Florence again.  While in these European towns I tried to imagine myself there in their heydays.  Ancient Rome would have been something, but Renaissance Florence would have been a spectacle.  Sure it is slightly touristy, but it does not pander to you like some of Rome, nor does it lose its local flavor.  If you are lucky enough to go, make sure to head south of the Arno for at least one dinner at a local restaurant.  I could write for pages gushing about Florence, but I will stop for now.

Favorite: Santa Maria Novella; Disappointing: Science Museum; Could Get Lost In: Pitti Palace and Gardens, Wow Moment: Michelangelo’s David in Accademia

Venice:

A real disappointment, only made tolerable because of my company.  The entire town is a tourist trap.  At the very least, Gregorian Chant Mass on All Saints Day in St. Mark’s Basilica, followed by a tour of the Doge Palace, was a great few hours.  But I still cannot get over the fact that a town that survives on tourism now shuts down at 21:00!  That would be like Miami or Orlando closing up at dark.  That cannot happen!  For as few streets as there are, it is remarkably easy to get lost in that town.  And, really, I do not want to get into the food again.  At least I got to see the shooting location for the library in Venice in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, though I have to apologize to Sarah once again for that adventure.

Favorite: Doge Palace; Disappointing: Nighttime; Could Get Lost In: St. Mark’s Basilica; Wow Moment: Mass in St. Mark’s

Rome:

The Vatican was amazing.  Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum were great for reflecting on the past dominance of the empire.  The churches were great.  The food was ok.  Other than that, Rome was somewhat disappointing.  The Colosseum was somewhat lacking.  The Pantheon is vastly overrated.  The city is too large and busy.  It was my own fault that I decided to do my Pilgrims Tour on Sunday and therefore could not spend more time viewing the churches because I kept running into Masses.  Really, I think there is a lot of potential to Rome, and it was probably better than I am letting on, but I think by these last few days I was burnt out and did not appreciate what I was seeing as much as I should have.

Favorite: St. Peter’s Basilica; Disappointing: Mamertine Prison light show; Could Get Lost In: Palatine Hill; Wow Moment: St. Peter’s Basilica

Another Quick Update

So it's been awhile since my last post, and this one will have to be quick because I have to wake up for my flight back to the US in about 4 hours.

The monastery I stayed in just outside the Vatican had no internet, so I took a self-imposed internet fast for my days in Rome.  When I arrived there on Friday, I had enough time to do some sightseeing so I began with the Vatican Museum.  It is full of amazing art and beautiful rooms, and of course most impressively ends with in the Sistine Chapel.  After this tour, I walked around the walls to enter St. Peter's Square properly.  I began by walking down to the crypt, since I was not sure if I would have time to visit it after the basilica itself.  Seeing all the tombs of popes was humbling, but of course the most emotional was the very simple tomb for John Paul II (The Great).  I then walked up to the Basilica, and was blown away.  They did an amazing job of hiding the true size of the church by scaling everything up.  Some of the statues, that look about human size, are really 15 feet tall.  Most astonishingly, the canopy over the main altar, which looks large but not dominating from the back of the nave, is seven stories tall!  I was lucky enough to make it to Mass that night.

The next day I met with an ESA archivist at ESRIN, in a small town just outside of Rome.  Outside of some photos, it was more or less a waste of half a day for me, especially since I had to waste almost two hours waiting for a train back to Rome.  When I return, I made some quick tours of sights around the train station, including the National Museum (statues and mosaics), the Baths of Diocletian (now a church and impressively massive), and three churches including Santa Susanna, the American church in Rome where I was able to attend Mass in English (a welcome sound).

On Saturday I made my Ancient Rome tour.  I began with St. Peters in Chains Church, which includes Michelangelo's Moses and the chains of Peter while he was in prison.  Next I went to the Colloseum, which, while packed with historical aura, was slightly disappointing for me (I was hoping for some exhibits).  I took a detour and walked over to the church that houses the Mouth of Truth, made famous by Roman Holiday (on the way I passed by the Circus Maximus where some kind of military show was going on).  I then back-tracked to Palatine Hill, the location of the Roman Palace.  This was my favorite stop of the day because it was less packed with tourists and allowed me to envision Imperial Rome the best.  Next was the Roman Forum, which was great but I think I would have appreciated it more had there been fewer people.  Just outside was the church/prison where Peter and Paul had been imprisoned and baptised fellow prisoners and guards alike.  Unfortunately it has been transformed into a 30 minute light show, during which you only really see their cell for about 2 minutes, which I thought was a travesty and perhaps slightly blasphemous.  But I pushed on to the Capitoline Museums with more art including the original Roman Wolf with Romulus and Remus.  I finished the day with a series of churches, my favorite of which was Gesu Church, the heart of the Jesuit order and location of the body of Ignatius of Loyola (his study was next door) and the hand of Francis Xavier (the rest of his body, I heard a priest explain, is still intact in India).  I was somewhat underwhelmed by the Pantheon, especially after I had heard it was the heart of Rome.  Thanks to Rick Steves I did find a nice international student restaurant nearby with cheap but very good food, and I got a free glass of their homemade Fragelino (strawberry wine) because of my book.  It was funny to see the owner's son excited to point out his name in the book!  I then walked back to my monastery by crossing the Tiber and passing through the Vatican.

On Sunday I decided to begin the day by attending Mass at St. Peter's again.  Afterall, when will I get the chance to do so again?  I just wanted to point out that St. Peter's, especially Sunday morning, could make for one heck of a Catholic dating service.  I wanted to make Sunday a Pilgrims Tour by visiting some of the great churches, including St. John Latern, St. Mary Major, etc., but even after I tried stalling by going to lunch and walking around, every church I visited was having Mass so I could not really visit (I guess I should not complain about that).  So I decided to take a side trip to the Appian Way, the original highway.  It was fun to walk down such a historical road, despite the painful blisters forming on my feet.  I stopped at the San Callisto Catecombs for a tour, and ran into a couple recently graduated from Auburn and now living in Rome.  I have my international War Eagle moment!  After a long wait for a bus back to town, I made my way down to St. Paul's Outside the Walls, another immense, beautiful basilica (this time in between Masses).  I could barely walk by this time thanks to the blisters, and I originally thought about just getting some pizza somewhere since it was still early for dinner, but knowing it was my last real European dinner, I decided to return to the restaurant from Saturday night.  There is no easy way to get there from the Metro, so two desperate stops asking for directions later I was where I needed to be.  I took my time with dinner, enough to rest my feet just enough to make the walk back again.

Today was mostly a day of wasting time and traveling, since I had to make my way to a hotel near the airport.  I got here early in the afternoon, but the remote location and status of my feet has lead me to an afternoon of catching up with sports and other things online, two talks with my parents (and Joey) on Skype, and preparations for my flight tomorrow.

Well, now I really should get some sleep before a very long day returning to the US.  I will try to make a few more posts with more details of my last week or so of travels and some overall impressions of my first (and hopefully not last) European trek.  See you in the States!

Ciao Italia!

Last Night in Florence

I never thought I would get emotionally attached to a city, but I truly will miss Florence.  I had a pretty good and full last full day.

I started by heading back down to the Central Market looking for an Italian silk tie, but mostly just checking prices.  It seems all the little shops have virtually the same things for the same prices.

I moved on to the Medici Chapels.  The major room is top by a dome that is a mini copy of the Duomo.  Inside is dark and garish.  A second chapel was designed by Michelangelo, and much better.  It holds the tombs of four of the "great" Medicis, including Lorenzo.  The tombs are adorned with sculptures referencing day and night, the beginning and ending of our time on Earth.  Behind the altar they have displayed some sketches from Michelangelo and his people, some of them quite cartoonish, like they were doodling on their breaks.  Overall it is much more simple, and better, chapel.

Next was the Science Museum, now called the Galileo Museum since renovations earlier this year (it has been completely changed, so unfortunately my Rick Steves tour was little to no help).  It is interesting because it holds numerous old scientific measuring devices from all branches of science.  It is called the Galileo Museum because they have on display some of the only serving tools once used by him, as well as reliquaries made by his disciples, one with the middle finger of his right hand, one with the index and thumb of his left hand as well as a tooth.  So even science has its saints.

Before lunch, I quickly walked throught the courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio, which is free to the public and includes a few pieces of art.  After lunch I made my way over to Dante's House and Dante's Chapel.  The house is mostly about the incredibly complex politics in Florence of his day that lead to his exile.  The chapel is probably where he attended Mass, as well as the resting place of Beatrice, his first love and muse who married another man and died young.

I also took some time to see the Michelangelo house, which probably was not his house though he did own it.  Outside of a few small pieces and some sketches, it mostly holds some art by his followers and paintings of Michelangelo.  It is a decent little museum, emphasis on little (ditto for Dante's House).  I did take the quick detour to see the door a few houses down that actually did lead to Michelangelo's house, which now is the door to an apartment.

Since I was in the area, I finally made my way down to Santa Croce Church.  The outside is impressive, with shades of Santa Maria Novella and the Duomo.  Inside they are doing extensive work on the altar and one of the main side altars, so qutie a bit was covered up.  The church is most notable for the almost 300 tombs, and the main ones could still be seen.  The three biggest names there are probably Galileo, Michelangelo, and Machiavelli.  I also found it interesting to see Enrico Fermi and Guglielmo Marconi, two big names in the history of science and technology.  It also includes a memorial for Dante who is buried elsewhere due to his exile.  Interestingly a leather school is attached since the monks had started a boys town of sorts with the leather school to teach them a trade.  I wanted to purchase something, perhaps a journal or new wallet, but the prices were a bit high for me.

I then decided to walk around and try to find a souvenir finally.  I was hoping to find a pencil sketch of the skyline of Florenice, since I had seen many of Venice while there.  Outside of one by one of the street artists, I came up short.  I did not even ask him the price for fear of the answer, plus I did not want to risk damaging it in the next week or so that I am in Rome and on the plane.  I made it to the silk market, and purchased a nice solid yellow tie made of Italian silk for only 6 Euro.  I looked around for a green tie, especially one with the Florence symbol, but no luck.  I also ducked into a basement football shop and purchased an official scarf of Fiorentina from Serie A Fiorentina, which is purple and white stripped.  I decided that, as a lasting memory of Florence, they will be my football club.

For dinner I thought about returning to the best restaurant I had been to before, a local joint south of the Arno we had dined at Saturday night.  Instead I decided to try one more new place.  Unfortunately the restaurant I wanted to eat at, which is supposed to be run by an exceptionally good chef but still low priced, was closed tonight.  I walked around the area, near the Central Market, and more or less got tired of looking and stopped at one that had pretty good prices.  The one thing I had been wanting to try since I got here was the local specialty, Bissteca Fiorentina (essentially a huge T-bone).  Most places serve it as a huge serving, a kilo, meant for many multiple people and with a price to prove it.  This restaurant, however, had a smaller sized portion for a single person.  Well, of course I had to try it!  I also ordered sauteed spinach in garlic and oil, which sounded interesting.  The steak was quite good, worth the price and the wait.  The spinach was remarkably lacking in taste until I finally tried some balsmic vinaigrette on it about halfway through to help me force it down.  Since it was my last dinner in Florence, I decided to spoil myself just a little and had some tiramisu to end the meal.  It was a little thick with the coffee powder, but overall very good.  It was not my best meal in Florence, but still very good.

After dinner I had to take one more stroll down to the Duomo.  As I said goodbye to Florence, I unexpectantly became slightly choked up.  Again, I never thought I would get emotionally attached to a city I did not live in, but Florence I think has that effect on people.  I could not help but smile when I overheard an American couple, obviously taking in their first night in Florence and talking about everything they want to do in see.  Again this may sound weird, but it made me feel a little better to know that every day someone is experiencing Florence for the first time and has the potential to enjoy it as I did.  I now know why my contact in Paris told me she was jealous of me, being able to experience Florence for the first time as she had years ago.

Tomorrow I head to Rome, the city that I thought at the beginning of this trip would be my highlight (it still may be, but it will have to pack a mighty wallop for that).  If Rome is just half of Florence, I think it will be a very good next 5 or so days.

Quick Update

I am back in Florence after a few days in Venice.  Venice, overall, was a disappointment.  The food was overpriced and very inferior to any of the other places I had been.  It is overwhelmingly touristy, yet it closes down at 9:00 so tourists like us just meander the streets unsuccessfully trying to find something to do.  It is amazingly easy to get lost, since streets are haphazard and street names mean nothing.  And to top it off, it was raining and flooding the whole time.

There were some good things.  We got to attend All Saints' Day Mass (Gregorian Chant) at St. Mark's Basilica, which is beautiful.  The Doge's Palace and adjoining prison was interesting, including the largest oil painting in the world.  And I was able to (eventually) track down the church that was the facade for the library in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.  Most importantly, I had some good friends to share the ups and downs.

I will try to update more tomorrow, but for right now I need to get some sleep before my last full day in Florence.  I have about 3 days left of things I want to see in that one day, so it will be interesting what I am able to pack in.  Ciao!

Friday!

I woke up this morning and tried to catch some of the game, but I had no internet in my room and did not feel like walking down to the kitchen, so I turned over and hoped for the best.  Later, when I finally woke up, I learned the worst.  C'mon Rangers!  Wake up!

I spent this morning taking care of a few things online and generally taking some time off.  In the afternoon, my friends from Auburn arrived in Florence for a fun weekend!  After we got them settled in their hotel, and took our time figuring how to get train tickets to Venice for Sunday and bus tickets to the small town of Friesole before that, we were able to do some sightseeing.

I took them to see Santa Maria Novella, and I think they enjoyed it.  I appreciated seeing it a second time and noticing some details I missed the first time.  On the way to the Duomo, we happened to notice a small church, Santa Maria Maggiore, that was open, so we stepped inside.  What a beautiful little church!  Yet another example of how Europeans have been able to pack so much art and beauty in random little churches around the cities.

By this time the Duomo was closed for the day, so we took our time walking around the Baptistry and Duomo and just taking in the sights.  I then took them down past Orsanmichel to the Piazza della Signoria and the Palazzo Vechho, where we looked at the statues and tried to figure out where to get dinner.  We eventually settled on Trattoria Nella.  I eat a mixed salad, fettucine bolognese, and a slice cream and chocolate cake.  We also shared some delicious house Chianti.  We tried to be true Italians, and took our time eating and talking, outlasting 3 runs of other tourists coming in to eat.  We had some "small world" moments.  One couple was from Houston (Kingwood), the wife used to live in Mobile, and the husband worked at Johnson Space Center.  After I told them my research topic, he gave me their email and phone number to contact them when I return to the States.  What a nice couple!  Later there was a large family, all from Bryan/College Station!  There were not Aggies (one man admitted to being a Baylor Bear), but they again were nice and friendly.  It is amazing who you can run into.

By that time it was getting late, so we took a quick walk down to Ponte Vecchio before heading in for the night.  Tomorrow should be a very busy museum day since we have reservations at the Accademia (home of David) in the morning and the Uffizi Gallery (largest collection of Renaissance Art) in the afternoon.  I should have some more interesting stories to tell!

A Good Day

I woke up early this morning (4:00) to check on World Series Game 1.  Unfortunately, the Rangers were losing in the 7th.  I stuck around until it was out of reach in the 8th and went back to bed.

Shortly after I woke up this morning, I had to move to a smaller room in the house because the owner had overbooked.  My new room is, I am affectionately calling it, a cell.  It is also the farthest room from the kitchen where the WiFi is, so I have little to no signal there.  Hence, I am now doing my interneting from the kitchen area and making everyone else listen to my conversation with my fam on Skype!

After that, I was able to go to Confession with an English-speaking priest at the Duomo.  It was nice, because I was able to see another part of the Duomo that most tourist do not get to see since it is blocked off from them.  I did not take pictures, however, because I felt that would be inappropriate.

I then headed out to see the rest of the Florence sights south of the Arno.  This started with the Pitti Palace, which was at different times a home for the Medicis, the Hapsburgs (yes, of Austria), Napoleon, and the first king of unified Italy since Florence was the first capital.  It is now both preserved as the palace as well as an art museum, costume museum, porcelein museum, and entrance to the immense Boboli Gardens.  Unfortunately once again there were no photos allowed inside, but I took plenty in the gardens.  The exterior of the palace, while obviously huge, is also intentionally downplayed to "hide" the treasures inside.

When I made my way into the museum/palace, I happened upon a special tour of the king's apartment and bathrooms usually closed to the public, so I of course came along.  The tour guide was a nice 20-something guy who apologized for not speaking English well enough, though we did not have any problems.  I was joined by a couple from Manchester, England, the husband was originally from Scottish and still had a nice brogue.  The king's apartment was impressive, but I really marveled at the separate baths for king and queen (hers was huge, the lady on the tour with me rightly remarked it was like a jacuzzi).  Moving on, the palace/art gallery is amazing and varied.  Our tour guide had pointed out that, unlike most museums that have rooms dedicated to a period, this was preserved as they inhabitants had had it so 16th century paintings were next to 17th century furniture and 18th century walls.  Perhaps most impressive were the huge murals on the ceilings of the Medici rooms, each dedicated to a Roman god personified by the Medicis themselves.

The other exhibits were not particularly interesting to me, though I did think it was interesting that they had on display the burial garments of one Medici couple (a long story as to how they got them).  They were historically important because they are some of the few remaining garments from their time period.

I then moved out into the Boboli Gardens, which begin with a large fountain then move up a steep hill to a giant Neptune (I think) statue which affords an amazing view of Florence.  I also walked over to the Bardini Gardens, but they were much smaller and not nearly as impressive.  Unfortunately the Forte di Belvedere, which had commanded the eastern approach to Florence, has been closed for a few years so I was not able to see inside that.  Apparently at a certain spot numerous animals had died, and after a girl fell to her death the populace was in an uproar until the town was forced to shut down the entire fort until something can be done to fix the situation.

After making my way back to the entrance of the Pitti Palace (I had been there over 3 hours, so imagine the last few paragraphs taking much longer than I typed), I decided to move on to see the Piazzale Michelangelo and San Miniato Church.  On the way, I did stop in a small bakery and had a pastry with sugar coating and chocolate filling, somewhat like a donut though much better than any I had had before (my apologies to Dunkin' Donuts and the Triple Chocolate Imperial in Quebec).

On the map, it looked like a rather short walk.  In truth, it was anything but.  To get there, you have to walk up a hill/mountain on an almost straight up grade until you have about passed out.  Then, you get to walk up some more steep steps to the church/still working monastery.  It, however, was worth it.  From the outside, it looks almost like a mini Santa Maria Novella.  The inside is quite small, but filled with beautiful but simple artwork.  It must have been something for the Benedictine monks who originally lived there, on top of a hill away from the rest of the city.

More recently, the grounds have been filled with the tombs and crypts of some of the wealthiest families of Florence.  This only started in the late 19th century, so many of those buried here still have close family nearby, and therefore many had fresh memorials.  These tombs and crypts are absolutely remarkable, I could not help but take pictures of some of them.  I really wish I could share all of them, because the artwork rivals that in the museums.  One that struck me was two life-size statues of a man in uniform and his wife, standing like they are greeting each other.  I noted that she died in 1942 and he in 1944, both in their 20s, so I can only assume because of the war (you can see them on the right side of the picture).

I made my way over to the Piazza Michelangelo, which other than the view of Florence was a pretty big dud for me.  So I made my way back down the hill, thinking about catching dinner at one of the restaurants on the south side of the river.  When I reached the one Rick Steves had told me to eat at, I noticed that the menu had upped in price considerably since his writing.  I decided to head back to the house and rest my feet for a few minutes before catching dinner nearby.

I was going to go back to the first restaurant I had stopped at my first night, but I lost patience waiting for it to open.  Instead, I ventured toward the Piazza di Republica.  I was escorted into a restaurant there with an outsiding eating area but heaters since it was getting cooler.  I say escorted because they have a hustler working outside the restaurant urging passersby to eat there instead of the restaurant next door (I was going to eat there anyways because I had seen the menu, but I still thought it was funny).  I had a rather large dinner, deciding to splurge a little for my birthday dinner.  I started with a salad of shrimp, ham, and avocadoes on greens and tomatoes.  Next came my main course, pasta with sausage and tomato sauce.  I also had to have some cake, so I had a piece of cream cake with a chocolate frosting.  I should add that I had a delicious glass of the house chianti with my meal.  It was a good feast.

When I made it back to the house, I was happy to be able to talk to Mom (again) and Dad for over an hour, perhaps the last time I will be able to for a few days.  Overall, it was a very good, if tiring, birthday.  Thank you to everyone who remembered me!

Any More Information?

Yesterday I spent most of the day in the archives, getting what information I can from their holdings.  It is not much, but something.

In the morning I had ventured over to the Central Market and purchased some food for dinner.  I made a salami sandwich with fresh made salami, tomatoes, and a kind of baguette.  It was good, and tonight I plan on doing something similar.

Today was more of the same in the archives, though I finished early, around 1:30, because I had seen everything that they had to offer for me.  Yes, I am done, for now.  Oh, I did take a picture of the outside of the villa that houses the archives for now until they move into a new (and better) place next year.  I guess I will have to find something to do in Florence to keep me occupied for the rest of my stay.

I started by checking out the inside of the Duomo (after a dark chocolate gelato).  It is somewhat bare inside, but the dimensions are truly astounding.  The front of the church, under the dome, is blocked off with chairs for Mass, but you could still look up into the dome and see the frescos.  Really, more than anything, the size is hard to comprehend.  It is even more difficult to think that, since they did not have the knowledge at the time they built it to make the dome, it sat there with a hole in the roof for over 100 years!

I then went to the Baptistry infront of the Duomo.  Apparently they think it was originally a Roman temple, which does not really surprise you when you walk inside.  The true highlight is the golden roof with Christ at the center.  More than anything, for me, it is fun to think about the history of such places and who would have been in the same spot as I was able to stand.

I made my way back to Santa Maria Novella to see the museum and cloisters which was closed on Sunday.  To enter, you walk through an open space, the green cloister, with frescos on the walls depicting creation, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  They also have a chapel built for Spanish Dominicans with amazingly detailed frescos on the walls.  Luckily, they have a well-written description to help you understand all the symbolism.  One thing I had not known: Domicans were often represented as dogs, watch dogs, safeguarding the Church.  They even had one depiction of St. Dominic commanding his dogs to destroy a fox, representing heresy and sin.

They also have a museum and treasury in another chapel.  I found their reliquaries especially interesting.  They included St. Catherine of Siena, St. Sebastian (a golden arm with an arrow through it), Dominican priests, and thorns and purple cloak from Christ (third class, I believe).  I always marvel at these and wonder about the stories they could tell.

So, it looks like I will not need to return to the archives.  I plan on trying to wake up early tomorrow morning to catch some of Game 1 of the World Series.  Then, I should have a good day of sight seeing.  I am not sure my plans, I will have to do some research tonight.  Hopefully I will have some more good stories tomorrow!