the past few Days...

Lets play quick catch-up shall we? Most of my recent blogs have been focusing on the past, on what I haven't gotten to because I've been busy. But what have I been doing lately that's been exciting?

Several things, actually. I went to Florence's National Archaeology Museum with my Mythology class to finally see the Francoise vase. We talk about this vase at least once a class, in both classes I have with this professor and our textbook constantly references it so it was nice to finally see the real thing. The vase is this GIANT vase, originally used for mixing wine and water, that depicts many scenes from mythology. Most of these are from the Trojan war but there are also scenes showing other heroes such as Theseus (the guy who killed the minotaur for those who don't know). The class did presentations in front of the vase and also by these little figures found in temples of worshippers and Heracles about the scenes on the vase and the heroes associated with the figures. Last of all we saw the chimera that had been found in Fiesole. Its a poor representation of a chimera, where the goat head had been stuck on haphazardly, but that was because half of the statue had been made by a sculptor hired by the Medicis. When it was found it was only half finished and that was a huge no-no in Renassaince culture so they did their best to make the bronze look finished.

After class was over I did some exploring on my own. Through the class we had gotten into the museum for free and I was going to take full advantage of my time there as I highly doubt I would ever be going back. We had covered most of the museum that was open at the time, with one exception: the Egyptian rooms. Remember how I freaked out about touching the super old Etruscan ruins? Yeah, well, the stuff I found in that room trumped those by about a thousand years. There was a mini-pyramid, bronze statues of heads, obelisks, all preceding Christ by about 1,500 years, give or take a couple centuries in each individual case. The largest artifact, and one of the most interesting, was a full-sized, completely intact chariot. Yes. A chariot. But before I reached that room I made a couple of friends... that had been dead for millenia. Four mummies, two of which had half their bandages peeled away so you could see the dried out and blackened husk of what had been a prominant Egyptian. Really gross but super cool. Also in the museum were papyrus fragments written on in heiroglyphics, pendants and jewelry, paintings and frescos (or the Egyptian equivalent of) statues, everyday objects like headrests and plates... the list goes on but I won't.

Sorry for the lack of pictures but I was without people with cameras.

One last thing before I let you go. Last night I went to a ballet. And when I say ballet, I mean it in the loosest sense of the word. API took us to see Momix, a dance company who uses light, funky costumes, dance and a lot of artistically draped and blowing cloths. It was utterly fascinating but not a ballet in the traditional sense at all. Often, the dancing was overshadowed by some funky effect and the dancing itself was only loosely balletish, as in they did a lot of moves that are not ballet steps. I found it delighful despite some of its weirder moments.

So, ladies and gentlemen, be prepared for a blog on Pompei, then I should be all caught up. (fingers crossed) This weekend API is shepherding us to Lucca for some wine and olive oil tasting! Life is good, and the weather BEAUTIFUL here in Tuscany. (I spent the afternoon laying outside after a fantastic lunch at Mario's. Mmmm...)