Walking...
Wednesday June 20, 2007
We have walked and walked and walked and then a few hours later, we walked some more. I had blisters before we left because of some ambitious morning walks. So now my feet are on fire on a daily basis. The lace-less Converse that I searched for over a month, now look like I’ve been wearing them for 15 years. Today, I’m going to find some sensible walking shoes. We’re also scheduled to go to the bank today to see some art that is in the bank. Hopefully, it is more exciting than it sounds.
Yesterday, after class, we went to the Palazzo Publicco in il Campo (the center of town). It looks like a large church, but it is actually their city hall and a museum. Most of the frescos were of ancient popes, biblical scenes and what seemed to be historical paintings of a Siena gone by. There was one painting in particular that showed the Florentine soldiers taking over Siena and building a great wall that still stands today. Most of our students live outside that wall, but their homes are still considered Siena.
The frescos were interesting and very intricate, although I have to admit, they weren’t the style of art that I like the most. Having read some information about the art work of that era, I find some of the paintings, or should I say the content, a little unsettling because some things just seem historically inaccurate and some things seem to glorifying a system or governing authority that in reality oppressed its subjects. I guess, I like contemporary, 20th century art more. But then again, I think that for me, 20th century art is more relatable. I probably need to read more about medieval and renaissance art.
My body is still adjusting to the time change and the eating schedule. People eat on another time table than I am used to eating. So Tiffany and I made our way to the local supermarket (Conad) to gather food stuffs for a couple of days. We got breakfast, lunch and dinner for about €15 which is about $19 US. I was surprised because we would have spent close to $30 if we bought the same amount of food at Giant in Columbia. Our apt mate, Gail, came with us and we got food for dinner. When we got home, we all cut up veggies to make a sautéed veggie dish and pasta. It was light and inexpensive, which was just our taste and price.
There are a flurry of activities coming up within the next week. Once we are finished with language classes we can go on more day excursions and see more sights. As soon as I am able to, I’m going to start posting pictures. The wireless internet connection at school takes a long time to kick in and we don’t have long breaks at all during the day. For now, I’m just writing up my blogs, saving them to a thumb drive and going to the Internet Café down the street.
