Cinque Terre- Vernazza splendido!

Day trip #1 was great for my own educational purposes, but Day trip #2 to Vernazza in the Cinque Terre was just pure relaxation and fun! I think this was equally as picturesque as Venice, and I went just as shutter happy, taking a ridiculous amount of photos of the panoramic views that can be found everywhere in this little slice of heaven on the coast of Italy! So, that means this post will be filled with more photos than anything:)












I again had to prove my mastery of changing trains by making one change in Pisa and then another in Monterosso (one of the 5 towns in the Cinque Terre) before leaving Monterosso on a 3 car train to Vernazza where you catch your first glimpse of the town after going through this long tunnel through one of the hills). I would suggest that anyone who really enjoys hiking and/or relaxing to take a trip here. It was absolutely spectacular! The town has a population of about 500 people, who all are a part of families who have lived in the area for generations. There were tourists there, but it was a different group than what I saw in Venice, Milan, or Florence because many people either came there to hike, relax by the water, or take their honeymoon. I did a bit of the first two, making it into a great day!











I hiked around most of the day, before taking a break down by the water and consuming some well deserved gelato:)








At the end of my day, I went into some of the little shops and climbed up to the castle where I took even more pictures from the top of the tower!








I would love to go back here, and spend a relaxing week!

Hopefully off to Lucca and Siena this weekend!
Ciao,
Rachel

Finding the 100 languages in Reggio Emilia

Since the Italian railways are on strike until late tonight, I postponed my trip to Lucca and instead am able to catch up on my blog for those of you who were curious about what I have been up to this week!

This week I went to Reggio Emilia and the Cinque Terre, but I will separate the trips into two different posts since I had totally different experiences/reasons for going to each area. Okay, well one of my goals for this trip to Italy was to not only relax, explore, eat and enjoy many different areas of Italy, but also to go to the area in Reggio Emilia where the Reggio approach to teaching originated. As many of you know, I have been working as a Title I Instructional Assistant at a Reggio-inspired preschool in Indiana. I really feel like working in a school that uses this approach to teaching has helped me combine two of my passions: art and education. I have had the privilege to work alongside amazing teachers this year who have further helped me make the decision to pursue teaching as my career, and become hopefully in the near future a highly effective teacher.



Instead of going into a long discussion on exactly what the Reggio approach is, I'll direct you to two websites which sum it up nicely in case you are unfamiliar or curious about it: http://zerosei.comune.re.it/inter/index.htm and http://www.reggioemiliaapproach.net/

I knew that I wanted to take several day trips this week, and so Wednesday I randomly decided to take the train to Reggio Emilia, where I had my first experience transferring between several trains. Obviously, sitting back here in Florence and writing this shows that my train transferring skills were a success! I did not exactly have the most thought out plan upon arrival in the town, but I knew I wanted to try and see at least from the outside the famous Diana school and the Malaguzzi Center. I hope to at some point go back and be a part of one of their conferences so that I can actually tour the schools, but it was definitely worth the trip to see what I did and just get a feel of the area.

It was nice to get off the train and go to an area that is not so touristy, since I have been going to places up until now that many people go to. It was a beautiful day to just walk around and hang out outside in their main piazza.










The first area that I actually went in search of was the Diana school, but as I walked into this large park where the school was supposed to be, I thought that I had the wrong address, and feeling slightly defeated I decided to take a break and relax in the park. This will become a silly moment later when I decide right before leaving to go back to the park, but more on that later...

After taking a break in the park, eating my lunch under this awesome large tree,















I went in search of the Malaguzzi Center. I had more success finding this since the center spans several blocks, and therefore would be really hard to miss.



















I thought at first that I wouldn't be able to enter, but at the very far end there was a small gate left open. This was amazing to see, and I'm sure my colleagues would be excited and thrilled to see all the exhibits I saw inside. I went into their light studio first, which our school in Indiana has a pretty cool one, but the center has room after room after room of different light equipment with different areas devoted to various explorations of light. I'll have to share my findings with my fellow teachers when I get back (but it was great)! Here are some photos of some of the other exhibits and the documentation (a huge part of the Reggio method) was incredible!


























There were also rooms full of materials for children to build and interact with,


























as well as, the original draft of the design for the theater curtain the Reggio children designed for the theater in town.




































I was quite satisfied having seen the center, and all the information I acquired there, and so I decided to head back to the park for the little bit of time I had left before heading back. Luckily, I decided to text my sister (who had been there before) just to see if she knew where the school was, and she said that it was literally IN THE PARK! I go back to the tree where I had lunch, and sure enough I heard children's voices behind this circle of bushes (to give me some credit, there where no children outside on their playground when I had been yards away from the school earlier haha).








This made the trip even more worth it because I got to see the children run around yelling in Italian, and how cool is it that the school is just in the park hidden behind some bushes? Awesome!
Ciao,
Rachel

Venezia, Ti Amo!

This past weekend I made it to Venice, and I don't think my words will do it justice so I will be sure and include lots of pictures! I don't think I knew quite what to expect, but I think it was almost better having few expectations because I really enjoyed traveling to what felt like another Italy.

Well, I was totally sold on the city since the first thing I did after a short 2hour train ride was take a water taxi/vaporretto along the Grand Canal to my hotel. I made sure to take the slower boat that took more stops so that I could really get more of a feel of the city. I felt like a crazy person taking as many pictures as I did, but so many people around me were just as shutter happy as I was. Here are some of my first glimpses of Venice:

















It truly is a city of elegant decay!

One expectation I did have upon arriving in Venice was that I must accept that I would get lost, but after getting off at Accademia stop to cross over into the Dorsoduro district, I really didn't have much trouble finding my hotel. My hotel was great! It was an old 16th century building with lots of staircases, and windows looking out over the water.





Shortly after dropping my stuff off, I decided to walk around and make it to some of the major sites. I had my map all ready in case I got lost, but to tell you the truth I didn't end up using it at all. My new friend Rick Steves, said that it is sometimes better just to follow the signs for the major landmarks to orient yourself instead of worrying about all the particular street names.it seemed to work really well for me!









I first went to San Marco's Plaza where there were several large cafes with competing bands playing all the Italian classics.



There were people feeding pigeons, and tons of street sellers offering you purses, gondola attire, masks, scarves, and other souvenirs. While I found this city to be extremely touristy (where I heard more English spoken than anywhere else I've been in Italy), I still found Venice wonderful, and especially at night almost magical! I went inside the St. Mark's Basilica, where I saw more Byzantine mosaics then I have ever seen in my life (the first time I saw mosaics like this were in the Haggia Sofia, but there were only two large ones uncovered). The entire ceiling was covered with mosaics, and I can only show you what the outside ones looked like because we couldn't take pictures inside.











For the rest of the evening, I went exploring and window shopping at all the little shops near the Rialto Bridge before finally grabbing some food to eat and taking it to enjoy by the water just as the sun was setting. And I thought I liked Venice in the daytime...

















Venice felt very safe to me, and even at night as I was walking around there were the sounds of many people chatting, the waves slowly coming in, and the boats going past. There is nothing like a city where your only options of transportation are either by water taxi, boat, on foot, or on a gondola (I heard many gondola "drivers" singing as they took people around haha).

The next morning, I awoke again to the sounds of the water rolling in, and opened my window to discover the beautiful sun already out! Here are some views from my window.











After having breakfast in the hotel, I went to the Gallerie dell'Accademia. When I got my ticket, I asked the lady if they had any student discounts for art students (since I still have my student ID), and she told me that they aren't really supposed to do that unless you are a student in the EU, but that if I didn't say anything that she would let me in for half off! Sweet! The museum was nice (obviously not as amazing as the Uffizzi...that would be hard to beat), but it brought me back to thoughts I had when I first started my art history courses about how many different ways artists interpreted what the Baby Jesus should look like. Let's look at a few shall we...some of them are just plain strange to me:























Which one do you think looks most like the Baby Jesus?

After the museum, I wandered and then decided to take the boat over to the island of Murano, where they make the famous Venetian glass. The boat ride was a good 45 mins. with all the stops, but well worth it! When you get on the island, you can watch a glass blowing demonstration, which I think is just so amazing.











Then you can explore the many shops with more of the Mirano glass. Upon returning from the island, I took the boat back to the train station to head back to Florence!

What a fantastic weekend! I got many gifts for people back home:) I think everyone should go to Venice at least once in their lives!

Well, only two more weeks in Italy and I plan on some day trips to Reggio Emilia, Cinque Terre, Lucca, Siena, and then a few days at the end of my adventure in Rome!

Ciao,
Rachel