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Connections: Leonardo da Vinci -- Venice & Florence
On my first day in Venice, I passed the Church of San Stae along the Grand Canal and saw the banner advertising this da Vinci exhibit. Inside are about 30 hands-on models —repro-ductions from da Vinci’s codices. I was particularly interested in the Archimedean screw, which did bring up water from the basin, as I planned to go to Syracuse later during the trip to learn more about Archimedes. The models not only work but are executed beautifully in various woods and metals, and the reference page from the codex was displayed by the model. (I wonder if any of my students would like to try to make one of these models for extra credit!) While in Venice, I was able to view his art as well at the Accademia Gallery. The Vitruvian Man is the most famous of his works here, but I found this botanical study to be just as interesting, in its detail.
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Italy 2006 Connections
Math History & Math Connections with:
Art
Architecture
Science
Engineering
grant provided by:
Fund for Teachers
Venice – Padua -- Florence -- Pisa – Rome -- Syracuse
Page 2 Highlights of Trip
Itinerary & Highlights for Italy Trip
May 25 to June 10, 2006May 25, 2006 (Thursday)
D 10:00 pm Houston (IAH) Air France 31 A 2:40 pm Friday May 26 Paris, France (de Gaulle) D 3:25 pm Paris Air France 1926 A 5:05 pm Venice, Italy
May 26—29: (Friday pm– Monday am)
VENICE (Venezia)
Highlights: St Marks Cathedral, Doges Palace, Accademia Art Museum, da Vinci Exhibit, St Marks Square, Canal Tour, Correr Museum,
May 29—30: (Monday – Tuesday am)
PADUA (Padova)
Highlights: Scrovegni Chapel, University of Padua, Caffe Pedrocchi, Basilica of St. Anthony
May 30 (Tuesday am)
VICENZA
Highlights: Paladian architecture, Teatro Olimpico, Basicilica
May 30—June 3: (Tuesday pm to Saturday am)
FLORENCE (Firenze)Highlights: Uffizi Gallery, Accademia, da Vinci Exhibit, Pitti Palace (Palatine Gallery& Applied Arts), Science Museum, Laurentian Library, Duomo, Duomo Museum, San Croce, Piazza
Day trip to Pisa: Cathedral, Baptistery and Leaning Tower (bell tower)
June 3—June 6: (Saturday pm to Tuesday am)
ROME (Roma)
Highlights: Roman forum, Coliseum, Vatican museums, Capitoline Museaums, Pantheon
June 6 (Tuesday pm) Train to
NAPLES/ AMALFI COASTHighlights: Naples, Sorrento, Bus ride along Amalfi Coastline to Positano
June 6 –June 7 (Tuesday night)
NIGHT TRAIN TO SICILY –Sleeper car
June 7—June 8 (Wednesday)
SYRACUSE (Siracusa) SICILY
Highlights: Greek Theater, Archimedes Tomb, Archeological Museum
June 8 (Thursday)
Return to Rome via Catania (Alitalia flight)
June 8—June 10 (Thursday pm to Saturday am)
ROME Highlights:
La dolce vita tour of major fountains, piazzas, churches
June 10, 2006 (Saturday) Depart 7:20 am Rome Leonardo da Vinci Alitalia 7310 Arr 9:30 am Paris, France (de Gaulle)
Depart 10:20 am Paris Air France 36 Arr 1:50 pm Houston (IAH)
Report Cover Page
I will be adding pages from my reflective report. Pictured are Leaning Tower of Pisa, a side canal in Venice, and inside the Coliseum in Rome. (Note the Fund for Teachers cap!)
(Two) Coins in the Fountain
We have guaranteed a return to Rome by throwing in coins at the Trevi Fountain. It worked the first time, earlier in the trip... we returned at the end of the trip. So we actually had to toss in coins a second time!
(Many thanks to the kind tourist who offered to take our picture. I hope the one we took of you and your wife turned out as well as ours!)
Last Day --Too Soon!
Well, we have finally found an Internet spot again. Rome is the best place to get Internet! We had a very trying time in the past few days.
To start with, we got to Naples only to find the Archeological Museum was closed on Tuesdays. Then we got a flexible train/bus pass to go to Sorrento and Amalfi Coast via Pompeii. Well, it clouded up near Pompeii so we decided to continue on to the coast. Big mistake! It was like being on a roller coaster ride, inside a cloud, with no air conditioning, lots of nervous sweaty passengers with a driver who could barely see the road for the rain and fogged up windows. Now add to that hairpin turns on the side of a mountain.
As soon as we could get off we did, returned by shortcut (not along the coast again!) and headed back to Naples and the Airport. We then took the night train to Sicily. Another interesting experience! There are so many noises, especially as the train was somehow transerred by ferry to the island of Sicily.
Our bed and breakfast in Syracuse was very pleasant. I enjoyed a walk up to the archeological ruins, including a gorgeous view from a 2500 year old Greek theater. I hope my pictures come out for this incredible sight. I felt as if I was finally walking around where Archimedes lived and thought up his great inventions! I even went by his tomb (although it is debatable if this is really where he is buried.)
Our train rides wore us out so we flew back to Rome yesterday. The Hotel Hiberia is one of the more luxurious hotels we've stayed in so we are enjoying our final day here. We took a Dolce Vita walk photographing as many fountains and obelisks as we could, ate gelato, got kissed by a handsome Italian waiter, and started buying our last souvenirs.
We're thinking of not even going to sleep tonight since our cab leaves at 4:30 in the morning for the airport. We will be back in Texas Saturday afternoon.
I miss everyone, so I think I'm ready to get back. I do have to say that Rome is my favorite city now. Sorry, Florence, but Rome has you beat!
Ciao!
Roman Holiday
We have had a marvelous day exploring the ancient Roman ruins. We ventured into the Coliseum and found it very rewarding--even with what is left of the building it is easy to be impressed with the Roman engineering that went into its construction. The views were wonderful as well.
We then went up the Via Sacra and pretty much explored all of the ruins and went into all the museums. I got to add more Michelangelo to my checklist with the Capitol Hill Plaza. Becky napped at the fountain and wrote postcards while I toured the 2 museums there.
We did a LOT of walking, making it up to the Pantheon, over to Piazza Navona, and then all the way to the Trevi Fountain. We stopped into the church (Sopra Minerva) that has the Christ with cross by Michelangelo and outside is the obelisk that is held up by Bernini's long-trunked elephant.
The gelato by the Trevi Fountain was exceptional--Blue Ice was the name of the gelateria. I tried a new flavor--pineapple. Wow! I love this stuff.
We're back at the internet place we found last night. My next task is to find transportation to Naples and to Sicily. I am having to adjust my initial plan of seeing Pompeii and Naples and then catching a night train out because the night train apparently leaves from Rome. Hmm. Back to the drawing board!
We've gotten great pictures but are unable to post on the site because there is no cable connection. We're into the 100's now, and will definitely have to weed out the bad ones.
More rain today, so we now have a 3rd umbrella. However, this one was negotiated down from 5 euro to 3 so it was well worth it! It was a long walk from the Trevi Fountain to our hotel with one little umbrella! The rest of the day was absolutely gorgeous--Becky even got a little sun tan. It is forecast to be 72 degrees tomorrow, can you believe it!
Well, gotta pull up the train schedule. Ciao!
Internet, karaoke, trains, and miscellaneous
I couldn't quit writing without mentioning that Becky and I are sitting somewhere down the street from the hotel, typing away, listening to truly awful singing in some bar above us. Where are those wonderful Italian accordians when you need them!Also, a note about the trains. If you want to get somewhere quickly, the secret is getting on an Eurostar train. We made it from Florence to Rome in about one and a half hours. However, there are lots of tunnels so we didn't see as much of Tuscan hillsides as we wanted. On cell phones...EVERYONE is always on a cell phone here. Even people who wait on you, cut your hair, etc. On the trains people yell into them. It is very annoying. We have also been surprised at the amount of graffiti on the walls, like tagging back home. I don't remember that from before.By the way, if you want to get married, come to Rome in June. Everywhere we turned there were brides and grooms have photo shoots with the Coliseum in the background! We took a few pictures at first and then noticed more and more! More on Rome later...Ciao!
A Note to my writers
Thank you so much to everyone who has been sending me comments--it is really cool to stay connected with home this way. I would highly recommend this method of communication whenever travelling long distances. Please continue to write--it makes my day to see the comments at the end of my posts. :-)
Roaming the Streets in Rome!
Well, we are in Rome now. I loved Florence, but we could not find Internet cafes. Finally we found one last night but Blogger was down. GRRR! So much to catch up on!We started out in Florence seeing the biggies--Uffizi and Accademia. The Uffizi also had a special da Vinci exhibit at the end and we enjoyed all of the multi-media special effects, including seeing how Leonardo wrote his famous backwards script. The Botticelli paintings, Michelango's sculptures--so much to absorb...We made a quick trip to Pisa in between sights in Florence. We spent more time on the trains than in Pisa, but we met a very nice banker who travels the area doing PR for his bank. He was very helpful on how to get around and what to see. The countryside is as beautiful as the pictures you see, but of course we're seeing it in 3-D! A special treat was seeing the Laurentian Library next to San Lorenzo Church in Florence. Becky's professor had shown them a lot of details from the library in her Renaissance class, but they didn't allow photographs. However, if you signed in with your passport number and swore not to sell the pictures, you could take photos, so we took advantage of that and got many great shots. Especially Michelangelo's staircase.The Pitti Palace was, well, basically overwhelming. It seems as if every square inch of the walls is covered in priceless art, and what is not covered in framed art is carved, covered in gold leaf or covered in silk. The ceilings are amazing--each a little 'Sistine chapel' in itself.We've had wonderful hotel clerks in all of our hotels--every one has been so friendly and helpful. We get wonderful service, and all of the locations have worked out well. In Florence we had a surprise in the fact that June 2 is one of their many holidays, so all museums were free! Yes, it was pretty crowded, but we could just walk in any museum, see what we wanted to see, and then go to another museum. My only real disappointment was not getting to climb the dome in the Duomo. The lines were always just way too long. I'll have to save that for another trip. We did see a good exhibit on how the dome was constructed when we toured the Duomo museum, so at least I got some of my engineering lesson in!Before taking off for Rome this morning, I got up early and toured the Science Museum (which oddly enough was closed on June 2, the day everything else was open and free!) I got to see Galileo's telescope, lots of astronomical tools, some mathematical instruments, early telescopes, microscopes, and other navigational devices. There was even a glass case with Galileo's finger (wassup with these relics??)This has been my catching up issue so I'll end for now. We're having a blast in Rome so you'll hear more about that next. Ciao!
A Short Note on Vicenza
Becky and I finally found an Internet cafe in Florence so I will write a little about earlier in the week. We caught a train to Vicenza on Tuesday to see Palladio's works but the rain put a real damper on things. We saw the Teatro Olimpico, Palladio's last design, and thoroughly enjoyed the perspective backgrounds for the stage presentations.
We ate lunch at a cute pizzaria and then decided to try to catch the next scheduled train back to Padua to get our bags--it was one of our funniest moments so far. We dashed through the streets of a foreign town, asking directions in a language neither of us knew, only to arrive at the station with about 1 minute to spare. We got our tickets and as I boarded the train the doors started closing on me. Meanwhile Becky is still on the platform with our backpack and tickets! A nice passenger pulled open the doors, reached out for Becky and swung her up! We had a good laugh over that narrow escape!
Back to Padua and our bags and then a wonderful fast train to Florence...
(FOOTNOTE: I thought this note was lost in cyberspace! However, Becky showed where to find this lost post...Always take someone like her on your trips if you want to know how to use the technology!)
