Willie's Whereabouts

Through my travels in the past couple weeks I've spotted a friendly face. Some of you might recognize him. He goes by the name of Willie (as in, the Wildcat).














Here Willie can be seen around our quaint little hilltown of Castiglion Fiorentino. He is in front of the Piazza Garibaldi.















Willie at the Antique Market in Arezzo. Yeah, he's excited and ready for some haggling.



















At the steps in front of the Duomo of Arezzo. He's preparing himself for the Spanish steps in Rome next week.














Willie having a breadstick midday. He's a big cat and has to eat.




















Willie on the bus to Carnivale in Foiano




















At Carnivale. He got confettied.















On the bus ride to Pompeii. It was snowing and reminded him of being back at K-State.


































At Pompeii, thinking he could take on Mount Vesuvious















Snack time again. The 5 miles walked at pompeii made him hungry.














Back in Rome, Willie spotted the Colosseum from a distance and got excited. He let out a roar so the Gladiators would know he was coming.




















At the Colosseum















Looking down at the Colosseum, mentally preparing himself for his upcoming battle.















Catching a glimpse of his competition: beast vs beast. Win the crowd, win your freedom Willie. Win the crowd....




















Willie won the crowd, with a K-S-U-WILDCATS! K-S-U-WILDCATS! K.......-S.........U........WILDCATS!!!!




















After his battle he made a triumphal march through the Constantine Gate.
















Willie at the ruins of the Ancient Forum




















In front of a temple at the Ancient Forum
















Willie conquering the Spanish Steps (all 140 of them, the original Stair Master) preparing himself for next years football season (Willie, you might need a few more trips...).

















Looking up at the Pantheon Dome.














Making a wish at the Trevi Fountain

















Second wish












Eating Gelato. You can't go to Italy without getting some Gelato. (go run some more steps Willie)



















Willie at the Bocca della Verita (the Mouth of Truth). He still has his hand so he must have been telling the truth.














Willie in front of the Basilica of San Pietro. He saw the Pope that day, good 'ol Benny the 16th.

"I'm Sure You've All Heard about Italian Drivers,.....Professional Killers."

Mercoledi, Febbraio 3:

Today was our second field trip, to Florence! The train ride was about 1.5 hours. Florence is such a neat city. It is a lot flatter than our little medieval hilltown of Castiglion Fiorentino. Our tour guide, Natale "just call me Nat" was pretty good; very knowledgeable. He threw in a few fun comments during the morning like, "Be careful crossing the street, I'm sure you've all heard by now, Italian drivers, professional killers". The day was long; we tracked 7 miles total (the most so far!) It would have been a lot better if the sun had come out some.

We ate lunch as a whole group (all 80 of us from 3 different schools) at Trattoria del Panello. It was really good. Lunch was rigatoni with red sauce, tortellini with ricotta and spinach for the first course, second course was fried pork and fries (zucchini and potato), and ice cream with fudge for dessert.

After lunch we went to our history of science class with professor Giovanni D'Pasquale. He gave us a tour of Florence's science museum (soon to be Museo Galileo) where we saw a room of books dating back to the 16th century, the library that overlooks Ponte Vecchio, and Galileo Galilei's right middle finger!

Walking back to the train station we saw the Duomo of Florence. We just turned the corner and there it was! I was in awe and a bit of shock at first, and when I finally found some words the only thing I could say was WOW! We made it back in plenty of time for dinner of cavatapi, roast beef, mashed potatoes, and a dried fruit tort.














(Santa Maria Novella)













(Sculpture outside of Santa Croce)
















(Inside Santa Croce)













(Some wood detailing in the ceiling of Santa Croce)















(the original Statue of Liberty, 'Liberty Enlightening the World'; it represents liberty of peotry and freedom of art in general)





























(Outside the Pazzi Chapel)








































(Inside the Pazzi Chapel)





















(A nice bit of modern landscape architecture (minus the trashcan!))




















(an astrology/time clock at Galileo Museo)














(some books from the historic archives at the museum, these are from 1721)
















(historic world map; made with the Garden of Eden at the center)




















(Galieo Galilei's right middle finger)

















(a glimpse of the Duomo of Florence)
















(our professor, Tony in front of the church that fronts the Duomo)



















(A little bit of irony. I shouldn't have to explain this one....)

What! Did I Just Eat Fish!?

Martedi, Febbraio 2:

Today was our first real studio class. We practiced some sketching (wow, it's been awhile since I've done free hand sketching!) It felt good though, to relax and sketch for awhile. Lunch was bean and chickpea soup, breaded perch (yes, I actually ate some fish), green beans, and fruit. We had seminar in the afternoon and then a group of us walked to Enzo's and got pastries. I had Cioccolata Calda (it's so thick and delicious it tastes like chocolate pudding!) Dinner was pasta with red sauce (I picked out the onions and mushrooms), turkey with gravy and broccoli, and fruit again.

AND!....we got an update on the 'Bachelor' from Emily's friend.

Hot Dogs! In Italy

Lunedi, Febbraio 1:

Lunch today was vegetable soup, carrot and ham quiche (interesting....), hotdogs and fruit (still no pears for almost a week. I miss my pears). After lunch I had an afternoon siesta (ahhhhh, I'm really getting a hang on this Italian lifestyle!) Took a walk around town (1.25 miles). For dinner we had Pesto (soooo delicious!), roast chicken with red sauce, peas, and fruit. We tried the Rosato Wine (best I've tasted so far, it didn't burn after).

"Mama Mia!"

Domenica, Gennaio 31:

Today I slept in (till noon!) I know, I know, you're thinking, why would I waste my time sleeping in so late when I'm in Italy? Well, the thing is...sleeping is not really wasting time. It felt so good! When I got up I went to lunch at Cafe Rogge with Laura and Heidi. I ate Pizze Salomino. It had a thin, flaky crust with a red sauce and pepperoni. After lunch, a bunch of of us walked down to a local football game (about 2 miles total). We thought we had to pay (it cost 10 euro) to get in so we started to walk away. Then the ticket man came running up to us and asked "Santa Chiara?" and waved us in for free! Yes! It was an intense game. The crowd was so loud even though there weren't too many people there. We recognized a few words: one coach kept yelling "Francesco!", and a fan behind me kept yelling "Mama Mia!" at the refs, at the players (quite possible with a few choice words thrown in). Laura also heard a "Rocco" out there too. For dinner we had macaroni, meatballs, veggies, and apple tort for dessert!

(View of the stadium from above, within the city walls)

(Josh, Emily, and Amy walking to the game)

(the trail down to the stadium)

(the Medieval part of Castiglion Fiorentino provides a nice backdrop for the stadium)

"1 is a Womanizer, 1 Needs a Ouija Board, and 1 Uses a Phychic"

Sabato, Gennaio 30:

This day was our first field trip to Arezzo! Our tour guide, Giovanni was hilarious! He had so many fun anecdotes, I wish I could bottle him up and take him along all my trips! The first part of the trip was nice, then the rain came! (I wouldn't have minded as much if I had remembered my umbrella! I guess I will need another trip to the market). We ate lunch at Il Chioschetto (it was one of the only restaurant open at siesta time in the afternoon and we were all soooo hungry! There we had our first Italian Pizze! (Oh, my goodness, we all had been craving pizza for sooo long!) The waiter even spoke English, but we all still tried out some of our Itlalian. I think we were entertaining to some local diners as they sat patiently watching us and smiling at our broken Italian. I tried to order some Iced Tea, but was informed this is only a summer drink (ahhhh, so sad!!!) After a long lunch we made our way back to the train station so we could prepare for our 1.5ish mile hike back up to Santa Chiara. All in all, we walked 5.5 miles that day.

Anecdotes of the Day (courtesy of Giovanni):

-His wife is from Dallas, and taught him English so we should be able to understand him (saying it with a Texan accent and throwing a Y'all in there)

-"The worst thing the Italian government did was save the Fiat! They are taking over, they're everywhere. (and they're ruining buildings with all their pollution!)"

-mocking the Italian government and the people running for office, he jokes that "one is a womanizer, one needs a Ouija Board, and one uses a psychic"

-He warned the guys not to date women from Arezzo because they have such high taste and will expect the guys to buy them everything.

-"Italian women may be beautiful, but once you take off their purse, coat, and clothes there is nothing left!, Their purse is all the weight they have!" He went on to say, "My wife is beautiful and has a nice smile, and when you get rid of her purse and clothes, she is STILL THERE!"

-He bashed on the pope too: "Unhappy pope. Always makes faces when he hugs little children", "he makes announcements [with hands together in a bow], that he [the pope] is going on vacation. While the little man is here working. Why don't you work for once and give all of us a vacation!"

-His mom said he used to talk so fast as a kid, being a tour guide is perfect for him.

-He gets so excited about facts, he starts to tell his wife something and "she says I know, I know Giovanni, you told me before!...I heard it before! But it gets really bad when she just asks to stay in the car. Then I get sad!"















(window detail on a hotel)











(Ruins of a Roman Amphitheater in Arezzo)















(Medieval storefront)















(Clock tower in Piazza Grande, Arezzo)













(Store fronts facing the Piazza Grande. These were shown in the movie "Life is Beautiful". The middle creme one is from the scene where the lady drops the key to the man below.)






























(the loggia adjacent to the Piazza Grande)












(Wealthy families' coats of arms. The large one on the right is from the Medici Family.)
















(Old Man. I've noticed I like to take pictures of unsuspecting old people. They just make such great scale figures!)













(Old Couple. More unsuspecting old people. This couple was so patient as they waited for me to take a picture of the fort wall that surrounds Arezzo, but they didn't realize I really wanted them in my picture.)










(Il Chioschotto, one of the only restaurants that was open during 'Siesta' and It was a lucky find!)












(My Quattro Formaggio Pizze! Oh, so delicious! It had a creamy white cheese sauce instead of traditional red tomato sauce.)











(My Aqua Naturale, and Emily's 'Coca-Cola Light')















(our group at lunch)