There's Nothing Quite Like a Two Hour Long Mass

For Palm Sunday, I decided I would save the Vatican crowd of the big show on Easter. So it was off to Basilica San Paolo (St. Paul Outside the Walls). There are two things about Palm Sunday you should know.

The first thing is about the palm branches. They are actual branches from what seems like the lesser-known palm bush.

Not a single strand of Palm leaf to be crafted into an origami cross. Just palm twigs; to be carried around and nothing else.

The second thing, at least at San Paolo, was that they like to sing. And by sing I mean Gregorian chant style.

And what do they sing?, you might ask. They sang the entire Passion of Christ according to Luke. In Italian. In monotone. For an hour.

With no palm leaves to fold into origami crosses.

Week 11 photos can be found here.

A Quickie in Haiku

Bought my camera
It's portable and it's good
Here's last weeks photos

Frank in Florence

It's official: Art History Professor is the best job I will never have. With that in mind, I present to you the top ten things I learned in Florence from Frank Dabell, our British Art History professor.

10. Frank was born in Paris.

9. Frank almost saw The Beatles perform live. He also almost had JRR Tolkien as a professor at Oxford, but Tolkien died 2 semesters before he could.

8. Frank can get you into the Uffitzi Gallery, for free.

7. Frank knows EVERYONE even remotely related to the art history profession, and they all seemingly owe him a favor.

6. Frank lived in Florence in his teen years, and would jump off bridges to the support beam just out of view to frighten tourists.

5. When you and the rest of the table offer to pay for his 12 Euro meal, he will insist on leaving the tip; of 10 Euro.

4. According to Frank, the Medici crest once killed an Australian man.

3. Frank was on the scaffolding for some of the restoration of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling.

2. In some Florentine restaurant, Frank is now known as "Mr. French" because he mocked their translated French menu.

1. Frank is the only man able to speak fluent Italian in a British accent.

Ultimately, the experience was great, not just because we were studying in Florence, but because we were studying in Florence with someone who knows everything there needs to be known about Florence. And that someone was Frank Dabell.

Of course I have pictures from my trip, as well as pictures from Week 9.

Make Friends Not Photos

I have discovered that I can make friends simply by sitting in a park and drawing. This is a good thing since I don't drink. In fact, it brought abut a revelation: Making art in public spaces makes you cool.

At the beach, when you make a really neat and complex drip castle, people walking by notice enough to comment. In the park, when you're sketching with an ink brush, people walking by notice enough to comment... in Italian.

Then they offer you food, and invite you to partake in their picnic birthday celebration. Then you get to draw ink sketches of them, and pretend your on a photo shoot as they model for you.

But when you're just walking around with a camera, legitimately "making art"; you're labeled as a creeper. People don't gather to see your photos. In fact they usually ask you to delete the picture. Nobody asks you to erase a pencil sketch.

Anyway, here's photos from week 8, and Spring Break part one.

EDIT: Spring Break part two.

Holy Translation Batman!

When one sees a sign indicating that the Villa Adriana has "Vigilance Divisions", one can only picture an eclectic group of individuals running around in prismacolored (or black) spandex, defeating criminals for the sake of justice. Sadly, Batman nor Robin were to be found on the premise.

Oh, and here's last week's photos.

Cinematic Adventures

I went and saw "Alice in Wonderland" at Cinema Metropolitan last night. This is one of the movie theaters in Rome that show films in their original language with Italian subtitles. It also means that Italians have to read the entire movie while I get to just watch.

There's something about theaters in Rome: they have assigned seats. I, an American used to obnoxious American movie theaters with their sticky floors and overpriced popcorn, did not know this.

About 5 minutes in, I had to move after being told that the I was in the wrong seat by the person with the right ticket. Then I had to move again, since I was now sitting in one of his friend's seats.

But I didn't mind.
I didn't have to read the entire movie.