The Italian Job

Monday, May 4, 2009

Cinque Terre pictures

Cinque Terre and the Massage Parlor Hotel

Traveling words of advice: The happy-go-lucky, free spirit traveller is neither cute nor realistic...BOOK A HOTEL!

It was Wednesday night. I finally finished my big Michelangelo term paper and my Venice Biennale project...Cinque Terre was in my grasp! Thursday night, like any self-respecting college age person, I went out dancing...Mistake #1. At 8:30am Friday morning we attempted to venture to the train station. Funny, no trains or busses seemed to be running (mistake #1.5 for not noticing this was strange). Finally at 9:30 we boarded a 5 hour train for La Spezia where we would then transfer to a regional train to the Northernmost town, Monterosso. Sure that we didn't need to book train tickets ahead of time (because who else in all of Italy would be going from Rome to Cinque Terre at that exact same time?? Turns out everyone), we boarded an incredibly packed train and ended up having to sit on retractable aisle seats for the entire ride (retractable because every time food carts, people, or luggage have to go by, the seats must retract = getting up every 5 minutes for 5 hours). No big deal, we were on our way to Cinque Terre.

We arrived in Monterosso around 3:30 where we quickly began the first and hardest part of the entire hike to the next city, Vernazza. Within the first uphill portion all the inaction and carbohydrates of the past 5 months became a serious reality. I am SO out of shape. However, at the peak moment of pre-heart attack chest pains, an absolutely real and amazingly fresh lemonade stand appeared out of nowhere like a mirage. It was glorious. We arrived in Vernazza two hours later at which point we realized we better get to work on a place to stay for the night and a dinner reservation.

Small Digression: I never travel without plans. Never. I don't like surprises and I like knowing I will have a roof over my head (if at all possible, a nice roof). Roberto claims I was toilet-trained to early...who knows. However, everyone I talked to who had previously done this trip said do not book anything before you go because you don't know which city you will want to stop for the night in. For those of you unfamiliar with Cinque Terre, it is a group of five small seaside towns all linked together by a mountain trail. It is absolutely beautiful and is considered the highlight of many traveler's trips to Italy. While the towns themselves are very small (pop. 1000 or less) and have few hotels, almost all restaurants and stores rent rooms above them for very cheap. I was told that it was a guaranteed way to spend the night in one of the town. Yeah, guaranteed unless you are going on Italian Labor Day (mistake #2-2000)!

We quickly realize that the beach was becoming a very real option for the night. Needless to say I freaked out. Pandering like homeless people for a bathtub, closet, or hallway to sleep in, we were repeatedly turned down. Around 8:20, by the grace of God, we somehow are put into contact with an American woman who rents rooms of her own. However, she too had no space. In fact, she told us she could have rented that night at least 50 times easily. However, taking pity on 4 sad American girls, she told us she has a one room massage parlor we can sleep in . This is of course illegal and has no working bathroom. We jumped for joy. It was the dirtiest and coldest night of my life.

There is always a bright side: the food! Regardless of "homeless person status" for a night, we were the best fed homeless girls alive. The food was AMAZING. Pesto pasta, muscles, spaghetti with clams, dessert wine, tiramisu....mouth watering yet?

The rest of the hike was both beautiful and fun. It got easier every time we ventured to a new town which was much appreciated. At one point we climbed down the side of a mountain to a secluded rock beach where I attempted to bathe myself in some sort of fashion. Meanwhile what looked to be a 50ft luxury yacht, complete with party full of obviously beautiful people, was anchored longingly offshore. Duh.

Later that night we made our way back to Rome accompanied in our cabin by two of the smelliest women I have ever been around....I was beside myself. Go figure.

Well it certainly was an interesting last trip! I loved Cinque Terre but I have to say if I ever went back it would have to be under very different circumstances. I have eight days left and four finals, all of which I am not exactly worried about. In the meantime I am going to try and soak up everything Roman I possibly can. Shoot me an email if you want anything specific from Rome. Your time is running out!!

Best, Lauren

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Art Reading

So, here are two small artsy topics I meant to post last week that I never got around to putting up. I think some of you might find them interesting. So if you can use some weekly reading, check these out.

Roberto and Margarita, as they often do, ventured on yet another medical conference/golf trip last week. In flight, Roberto discovered this article in Vanity Fair and sent me an email with the info. The story is about the two years in which the Mona Lisa was missing from the Louvre due to the fact that it was stolen right off their wall. If you have a free ten minutes or so, I would suggest reading it. It was really well written and very interesting. I real live art historical mystery people! Dan Brown should turn this into another multi-million dollar novel.

Stealing the Mona Lisa

Secondly, last Thursday I attended a guest lecture by Prof. Manfredi Piccolomini. He is a leading scholar and private collector of one of the newest art crazes, Chinese Contemporary Art. To begin with, he was an excellent speaker. He is a good friend of my Michelangelo in Rome Professor so she gave us the background info on him (he is married to the producer of The View!). He splits his time between the US (prof. of Italian culture) and China. He also serves as a liaison between major US museums and those of Europe and coordinates the exchange of major art pieces for shows. Pretty important guy.

While much of the art was not exactly my favorite, it is an important, fast-growing art culture that is sure to be studied intensely in the next few decades by contemporary art historians. One of my favorites which he talked about and has been collecting is the artist Ai Wei Wei, designer the "Birds Nest" stadium for the Beijing Olympics and one of Beijing's most important artists. It was a fascinating discussion which I enjoyed very much. If you are at all interested in contemporary art, check out his web site New Chinese Art. Go to "the collection" and check out the strange and beautiful art (mixtures of appropriation art, pop art, portraiture, hybridity, etc.)

Best, Lauren