10 Best Photos 2019 Trip

Madison’s top 10 photos!

June 28, 2019

A View for the Magazines (Milan)

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Like a movie (Poppi)

Blog postings for Poppi, Homepage

10 Best Photographs

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Venice: The Labyrinth

Second Blog postings for Firenze (or alternate city)
by bri_eckenrode

When I used to think of Venice, I would imagine gondolas gliding down the canal with gondoliers singing and standing on the back. I have always thought of it as the place that people fall in love and take romantic boat rides together. When I arrived, I realized that it is so much more than that. Venice is decorated with colorful buildings, artistic bridges, and blooming flowers everywhere you look. It is a quaint island with history and character. It is almost as though the streets have a personality, because you can walk along them and truly get lost and forget about reality. When you stroll through the mazes of buildings, you have no choice but to appreciate the beauty of architecture and humanity. You are constantly surrounded by tall structures that can put you in a tranquil state of mind. It is clear that the Venetians put effort into the exterior design and appearance of their apartment or home. All the colors of the walls on the buildings, clothes hanging from string, and flowers in window boxes coordinate with each other. When you walk deeper into the calmer parts of the city, you can see people walking by, taking their time. There does not seem to be any type of hurry for the locals. When you enter the busier parts of the city, you can find unique shops that have homemade crafts or food. You can even see some stray dogs prancing down the cobblestone streets. It is shocking that an island held up by wooden posts could have so many shops, buildings, and churches. One of the churches I got to see was St. Mark’s Basilica, and the art on the outside of the church is jaw-dropping. It reminded me of a castle that had paintings and statues all over it.

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Dante in Firenze

Blog postings for Firenze
by bri_eckenrode

Florence has been an interesting adventure of discovering new types of people and learning to function in pouring down rain. Florence is the perfect place to people-watch and listen to people’s conversations in different languages. Not only is it good for examining strangers walking around, but you can analyze the lives of the people from the 1200s who lived there. Today, I was able to walk through the house of Dante Alighieri and look closely at some of his household items. The house has been turned into a museum, so many of his belongings are protected in glass cases now. There is a dagger that was possibly used by him and even ceramic, decorative plates. The one part that really fascinated and surprised me was the displays of dried up flowers and herbs. Apparently, Dante was a doctor and chemist who was able to use nature for medicinal purposes. It amazes me that he was able to create such masterpieces with his words and still be able to use his brain for science. Today, it is rare for people to have more than one specialty or focus. Dante is proof that the human brain is capable of mastering many different types of subjects. Another special place that I got to visit was the Santa Margherita de’ Cerchi, which is the place that Dante and Beatrice met and fell in love. Beatrice’s tomb is located inside, and people put love letters in a basket next to her tomb. It is very sweet and symbolic that people fill the basket in hopes that they will have a love that is as eternal as Dante and Beatrice’s. There is a painting on the wall of the church that really reflects the emotions that were being felt when Beatrice married another man. Beatrice is walking down the street with her new husband and Dante is walking ahead of them on the sidewalk with his head down. It is clear in the painting that Dante is heart broken and ruined, because he lost his one true love. You can also tell by Beatrice’s face that she wishes she could be with Dante, but does not have a choice. I loved walking through Dante’s house and church, because I feel that I have a stronger connection to The Divine Comedy: Inferno. This experience helped me imagine him as an ordinary human like me, (even though Dante was far from ordinary.) This all makes it easier for me to place myself in his state of mind.

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The Divine Rome

Blog postings for Roma
by bri_eckenrode

Today, I was gifted with the opportunity to experience the magnificence of St. Peter’s Basilica. The moment I walked in, my emotions were taken over by the shimmering, gold accents which are intricately placed among the arches and walls. Michelangelo included rich shades of red and blue, which popped out and grabbed my attention. Not only did he coordinate the colors to make them stand out to the human eye, but he also made sure all the structures were symmetrical. After Michelangelo created the basilica, Bernini came in and built the Baldacchino, which has a detailed roof with massive, spiraling pillars at the base. The basilica is in the shape of a cross, and the Baldacchino is placed in the center; however, it is not perfectly symmetrical with the rest of the building. When I entered the basilica, I instantly realized how small I am as a human being, but at the same time, it hit me how amazing we truly are. We are all so tiny compared to our earth, yet we carry the mental and physical capabilities to create whatever we want. Michelangelo’s entire life was centered around art and the impact it has on himself and others. St. Peter’s Basilica shows the power of faith in religion and determination in humans. In order for Michelangelo to decorate the inside of the basilica or paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel or sculpt the Pietà, he had to believe in a higher power, while believing in his own immortal abilities. Pietà was one of the main aspects of the church that moved me emotionally. When I paid close attention to Mary’s facial expression, it ripped my heart out, because I thought of my own mother grieving the loss of me or one of my brothers. The strength of a mother’s love is like no other. The Pietà statue made me excited to become a mother one day and put my entire heart into loving my future children, but it also scared me. It is frightening to love someone to that extent, with the knowledge that everyone dies at some point. That was the message that spoke to me while I examined the meaningful sculpture. It’s amazing how different of an experience it is to see a building or piece of art in person, as opposed to online or in a picture.

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Milano, Bellagio & Lake Como

Blog postings for Milano, Milano blog postings 2019
by Sarah.Snee

The last stop on the incredible tour of Italy was Milano, a city I only remember learning about during my Italian class in highschool where we had to remember a handful of major cities in the country. I had zero expectations, except for the idea that I would be seeing a lot of supermodels who dressed better than I did. (That part was true). I had no idea that there was a Duomo in Milan (now I find it strange when I arrive in a city where there ISN’T a duomo to climb to the top of) but I was eager to see it because the duomo in Florence still remains to be my favorite piece of architecture, although Milan’s comes very, very close. As I expected, the duomo took my breath away. It looked so out of place and unmoving in an eerie sort of way. I couldn’t stop taking pictures of it in the hopes that I could capture its essence. I didn’t, of course, but at least I tried. Climbing to the top was far less challenging than Florence’s duomo (although I wouldn’t know firsthand) but surely just as worth it. I remember standing at the top staring out across the city. I’m not sure how long we all stood up there. Again, I felt out of touch with time wandering around such a historic monument. I wish I could articulate the feeling. The last day of the trip, we were given the option to travel to Lake Como. After seeing some of the images, I knew I had no choice but to go, and I’m so, so glad that I did. It was the perfect way to end the trip even though the morning was pretty stressful. We only had about ten-ish minutes to buy our tickets and find seats on the train, but, thank goodness for Dr. Permenter, we all made it in time. My favorite part of the day was spent in Bellagio, which is about an hour’s boat ride from Lake Como. It was the quaintest little town filled with small shops and restaurants. Although slightly touristy, Bellagio still felt authentic. My friends and I all wandered around for awhile before stopping to sit as close to the water as we could get. It was a beautiful day. I remember closing my eyes and just listening to the sound of the water hitting the rocks and the seagulls from above me. We even saw a mother duck swimming along with her babies, which was probably the cutest thing I had seen. We all ate at a really nice restaurant where I had the best ravioli I have ever had (RIP) and then we got gelato as well, which I’m sure Dr. O’Connor would be proud of. After that we regretfully got on the boat to Lake Como, which was still very nice but nothing compared to the beauty of Bellagio, at least in my opinion. I wish I could relive that day over...

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Poppi: A Breath of Fresh Air

Blog postings for Poppi, Poppi/Bologna blog postings 2019
by Sarah.Snee

Before travelling to Poppi, one of my classmates and I were assigned the presentation to the rest of the classes on various aspects of the city; so I had a small idea of where we would be travelling the following day. However, I surely didn’t comprehend exactly how small Poppi was until I stepped off of the bus onto the cobblestone roads and truly took it all in. Compared to Florence and Rome, Poppi was a fraction of the size and population–it was the breath of fresh air that I needed. I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did, especially the whole staying the night in a convent thing, but Poppi now holds a very special place in my heart. There wasn’t a single tourist in sight. I remember seeing the families walking through the streets with their children. I couldn’t understand a single word they were saying, but they were all smiling and laughing. Once we got settled into our rooms at the convent and found a small cafe to get water and snacks at, we eventually found the bar/restaurant that had WiFi (of course we were all searching for it). We all had a few drinks and mostly just sat around and talked. I remember finally feeling relaxed. Well, maybe it was from the drinks that I had, but sitting outside right next to an amazing view of Poppi and the vast expansion of hills and mountains, I felt content. In the other cities I always felt stressed and on edge, but Poppi was the unexpected getaway that we all needed. Travelling to the ancient castles was also an unforgettable experience. I always get a strange feeling whenever I visit a place with so much history, almost as though I’m out of touch with reality. I find it hard to understand just how much took place on the same land that I walked on centuries before me. Even now I find it hard to describe how I felt staring out into the fog that had settled beneath the hilltop and out from around where we stood near the same castle Dante had visited himself. Whether or not I’ll ever be able to find the words I need, I enjoyed Poppi immensely. I never expected for such a small place to affect me so greatly, which sounds extremely cliche, but, I’ve found out, most of the time they’re true.

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Two Countries in One Trip?

Blog postings for Milano
by marissawhite

On our very last full day of the Italy trip we had the choice to go around Milan or Lake Como. I took the opportunity and saved 30 euro for train tickets and spending money while we are there. I am so happy that I chose to. There was about 15 of us maybe less that went and we all got very close. We separated into small groups and wondered the 3 different cities. First we got a train ticket from Milan to Varenna. The view just at Varenna was breathtaking. Being so close to the Swiss Alps was unreal. Then a ferry from Varenna to Bellagio. Then another long ferry ride to Como. Walking around Como was interesting. We weren’t exactly sure where we were going to go or what we were going to do. We walked around just looking at sights we haven’t seen before and explored. Once we had spent most of the day hopping from city to city we decided to head back to Milan. What seemed to be an easy and not long train ride turned into something much worse. We walked a mile to the train station that was supposed to take us to Milan. We went to to platform that we thought was taking us back to the central train station in Milan. We hopped on the train and settled in for the ride. It wasn’t even five minutes and I got a text message saying “Welcome to Switzerland! Data and texting rates apply where you are located.” We realised we weren’t going in the right direction and started to worry. There were 5 of us in the group and one of us didn’t have our passport in case something happened. We went inside and looked at trains back into italy and found one that left in 5 minutes to go back to Como. We weren’t thinking, so we didn’t buy train tickets we just went out to the platform and waited to get on. The bad part about that was we didn’t have tickets for that train and could’ve gotten into big trouble. We lucked out though. We got back into Como and bought new train tickets for Milan and made sure to get on the right train to Milan. We made it back after 2 hours of going to another country and coming back.

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Breathtaking views

Blog postings for Milano, Homepage
by madison.pilk

It was our last full day in Italy and the group had the choice of staying in Milan or going to Lake Como. I chose to go to Lake Como. Our departure there was a little stressful. We all walked to the metro together and rode it to Milano Centrale. In Milano Centrale, we bought train tickets to Varenna. By the time everyone that was going had bought their ticket, it was 8:06 and our train would depart at 8:20. This is where things got a little stressful. We all raced upstairs to look at the departing trains to find our platform. The tickets we buy usually have a train number on them, but since this was one of the local trains, we didn’t have the luxury of figuring it out by train number. We had to look for where each local train would go. Thankfully, we had Dr. Permenter with us because she was the one that was able to find out which train we needed to be on and we all hopped on, just in the nick of time. We were almost at our stop, Varenna, when we were starting to see the Swiss Alps and some of Lake Como. We had finally arrived at our destination and started walking towards the ferry. Once we were close to the ferry, we saw beautiful Lake Como and the Swiss Alps. We stayed in Varenna for a bit doing a little shopping and having photo sessions. Our next stop was Bellagio. When getting off the ferry and into the town, I noticed some steps that lead into the water and told my group that we should sit there for a while, they all agreed. We all sat there enjoying the views and taking our last looks of Italy in. After about an hour or two, we went to a restaurant for some lunch. I had to try their minestrone soup, mostly because I was a little chilly, but it was a must try while in Italy, because they have a yellow broth instead of a brown broth like America does. It had to have been the best soup that I have ever tasted in my life. After lunch, we all decided to move onto our next destination, Como. We had barely made the boat to Como. When we got on, we saw that the entire group was already on the boat. It took about an hour to get to Como from Bellagio. When we arrived, we all decided to find out where the train station was so that we could get our tickets back to Milan. After buying our tickets we went to a park by the Tempio Voltiano. We sat and watched the swans for the last few hours. It was kind of bittersweet at the end of the day because we had seen some breathtaking views of Lake Como from three different towns and it was also our last full day here. We will miss you Italy and we...

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Sitting on top of a duomo in Milan

Blog postings for Milano, Homepage
by madison.pilk

Milan is known for being the city of fashion. However, I do not keep up with fashion and I am definitely not a fashionista. So, instead of looking at the next clothing item to buy, I did a spire walk. It was quite interesting to walk up a spiral staircase with hundred sixty nine steps to get to the edge of the roof of the Duomo di Milano. We had an amazing view of the spires from the moment we walked out of the door of the staircase. I think it was even better that we were able to walk up another seventy one steps to be sitting on top of the roof. The view from up here was absolutely breathtaking! Nothing could have made the city more gorgeous, except maybe the removal of all the construction work being done of the Duomo and the buildings nearby. While I didn’t get to go up in the Duomo di Santa Maria and see the entire city of Florence, I was able to climb the Duomo di Milano and see the entire city of fashion. When in Milan, you should visit the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele and spin the balls of Taurus the Bull. Spinning on his balls three times is said to bring one good luck. This has actually created a divot in the floor. Also, if you are able to do one complete spin without touching your other foot to the ground in this very divot, it is said that you will return to Milan one day. I might not have spun around in the divot three times, I was able to do a complete spin on my right foot without my left touching the ground.

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