Tuesday, May 24, 2011

What Goes Up Must Come Down

Saturday was an incredibly active day.  It started with an early morning exercise program called "Climb the Dome" - the incredible dome of the Duomo in Florence.  It's official name is Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, and to climb the dome, one must walk 463 steps UP, plus another 463 steps DOWN.

All the guidebooks suggested going to do this as soon as it opened to avoid standing for hours in long lines.  We followed that advice and were very glad that we did.  Not only did we avoid lines, but we also were able to linger in choice spots along the way - something that could never have happened were we to be part of the "herding" that necessity dictates when dealing with huge crowds.

The dome was built with steps between the outer and inner walls.  At certain places, the interior features catwalks that follow the perimeter of the dome's circumference.  I didn't feel comfortable taking pictures inside the cathedral because a mass was taking place in the side chapel at the same time we walked through the main dome.  I did take some pics from inside the steps (as seen above) and LOTS of pictures once we reached the top of the dome and were able to be on the outside looking down on Florence below.

Looking through a keyhole window halfway up the steps


View of city below

Dome on left is Santa Lorenzo

The Campanile (Bell Tower) next to the Duomo
My mom-in-law along the balcony
Close-up of people on the Bell Tower
Looking across the Arno Valley to San Miniato al Monte















After a short break for breakfast and a detour to the Mercado Santa Lorenzo to assist my brother-in-law and sister-in-law with negotiating the purchase leather jackets, my wife and I took a walking tour detailed in one of our Florence guide books.  It suggested allowing two hours to complete the walk.  Using Google maps, I got a projection of 45 minutes.  I figured the difference was in allowing time to linger at points along the way.  When my wife and I were actually done, we spent almost five hours!
The walk took us to the south side of the Arno River, crossing on the famed Ponte Vechio - a bridge lined with shops on both edges.  It was the only bridge crossing the Arno that was not bombed by Allied forces in WWII as they invaded Italy from south to north in 1944.  The Ponte Vecchio initially was the primary fish market.  But the Medicis decided that the smell was too unpleasant during the summer months, and their home was too close to the bridge to escape the smell.  So they ran the fishermen out and invited the goldsmiths in.  To this day, if one wants to see gold, silver and other precious metals and gems, the Ponte Vecchio is the place to go.

Florence is almost two difference cities between the north and south sides of the Arno.  The north is significantly built up with streets, houses, churches and other buildings.  The only green spaces are the interior courtyards of the larger buildings and most luxurious apartments or hotels.  On the south side, the hills are predominant, and there is a lot of green space with trees, gardens, and flowers.  The largest garden is behind the Palazzo Pitti, the last and grandest of the Medici homes.  Called the Bobili Gardens, it became a model for combining formal and informal plantings throughout Europe.  We chose not to go inside because we knew just the garden alone would probably be two+ hours, and we had several other places to see.  Besides, one must save a few things for the next time, right?

Doesn't look steep, but it is!

City Wall on the left looking downhill

From top of hill looking northward

Still going downhill - a LONG way down!

Finally, looking back to where we started


































 We went up and down the hills, following the remains of the ancient city walls to reach the Church of San Miniato al Monte (Church of Saint Minias on the Mount).  It is up on a hill so high that one can look DOWN on the top of the Duomo's dome on the north side of the river.  Our guidebook said the view would be spectacular from there - and they understated the truth!

San Miniato al Monte - on top of the hill, naturally
San Miniato's Bell Tower























The Duomo is the huge dome just right of center

 
View across the piazza and back towards Florence

View from the cemetery behind the church














One surprise at San Miniato al Monte was that a wedding was happening in the church during our visit, yet we were still allowed inside!  My wife said that the wedding party had to know that their service would be observed by tourists when they made their arrangements.  I said that if I were the priest in charge, I wouldn't allow it.  I found it to be disturbing and detracting from the sanctity of the experience.  Given the Roman Catholic belief that marriage is one of the Sacraments - an even higher theological standard than what we United Methodists hold - I am flabbergasted that they allowed it!  Obviously, I didn't take pictures...
Me and my wife soaking up the sun

I took LOTS of pictures of the cemetery behind the church.  Unlike the church, which dates back to 1018 to enshrine the remains of St. Minias - beheaded for his faith in the 3rd century by Emperor Decius, the cemetery was opened in the mid-1800s. People - rich people - decided that one of the ways that they could honor their loved ones was to build what I call "pianissimo chiesa" (little church).  They really did look like what one would build if one wanted a child's playland church.  These little buildings were incredible, like miniature cathedrals.  The architectural variety was amazing, and most of them were very pretty.  However, I'm not sure if i found them to really be beautiful.  For me, beauty points beyond the initial visual impression of something to the deeper, more profound experience of the meaning behind the visual impression.  The deeper meaning that I took from these homes for dead people is that they were worth more dead than alive.  I don't think that was/is the intent - but it's what my own background brought to the context as I looked at them.

Notice the details in the facade, the fresco over the arch, and the mosaic over the door

A row of "Little Churches" in the cemetery

A little city of little churches - just for dead people


















Incredible architecture - but who really enjoys it?
San Miniato seemed about being the church for dead people than the living, for the touristi rather than the congregation of the faithful.  Maybe I'm reading too much (or too little) into this.  I don't really know.  One thing I do know, if my kids/grandkids were to build one of these pianissimo chiesi for me, I'd come back to haunt them!!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Juxtaposing Old and New

Friday was a more relaxed day in terms of scheduled agendas.  The only hard and fast event scheduled was a noon guided tour of the Davanzati Museum's upper floors.  The Palazzo Davanzati dates back to the 13th century in it's initial construction.  It was expanded twice - by adding additional floors above the existing ones.

It's unique in Florence for two reasons:  1) It focuses more on the domestic life than the other museums in the city, and 2) It was almost lost to dilapidation and neglect until rescued by a wealthy collector of Tuscan Renaissance pieces in the early 20th century.

Very little of what's on display actually came from the Davanzati family.  They got caught on the wrong side in one of the many coup attempts against the Medici.  They were evicted from their home and the family was then lost in the tides of history.  Their palazzo was converted into the offices for the Royal tax collectors.  Graffiti was written all over the walls by those waiting to pay their taxes, and even the clerks used the walls for short term notes.  When the house was restored and transformed into a museum, they left several examples of the graffiti on the walls for us to see.  Unfortunately I can't post any photos because I was not allowed to take them by the staff.  So only a couple of pics from the outside are below.

The most interesting aspect of the house from my wife's and mother-in-law's perspective was the collection of laces and needlework from the 11th-16th century.  They liked it so much that they've talked about coming back because they weren't able to see it all.  My father-in-law enjoyed seeing the kitchen.  As a certified chef, he takes great interest in all things culinary.  How we prepare meals is surprisingly little changed over the last 600 years.  The processes are similar, the tools used to do the processes are not.


For me, the most interesting aspect was how much of the architecture of the house was focused around defense.  The ground floor was used as a courtyard for horses and carts and the garrison of soldiers.  The first floor (what we'd call 2nd floor in the US) was the primary public space used for entertaining guests.  The next two floors were used by the family and their servants.  The kitchen was on the uppermost floor to reduce fire hazard and smoke going through the rest of the house.  Below ground, they house had an enormous cistern to collect rainwater from the roof.  The house was also strategically placed over a well, so their water supply was completely self-contained.  That was important in a day when enemies could besiege the house or enemies could attempt to poison the water supply.



The original building was built to resemble what I call a "square donut."  It was completely open to the sky in the center, with gutters and drainpipes to gather water from the rooftops and empty into the cistern.  There originally were no stairs connecting the floors to one another.  Instead, they used ladders that could be pulled up to prevent attackers from easy access to the upper floors should they gain entrance to the ground level.

It's hard to fathom the kind of life these people led - being so conscientious of mortal danger on a daily basis.  We take the freedom from fear for granted most of the time.  That kind of life is only in other parts of the world, or in other types of environments from our own.  Ironically, this freedom is perhaps the most precious and simultaneously least appreciated of all freedoms that we cherish.



I give great thanks to the men and women in our military forces who do so much to protect us.  I also give great thanks to those who serve as police, sheriffs, firefighters and other personnel who do so much to protect us and respond to emergency situations.  I am grateful to live in a place and time where personal differences are settled either in reasonable conversation or in a courtroom rather than with knives, swords, and cannon.

And most of all, I am thankful to God for the peace that comes from knowing that whatever may happen to me, my security is assured through the acts of Jesus Christ.  I know I am a child of God, and my eternal home is even more secure than my temporal one.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Brava! Tuscano!! Magnificato!!

On Thursday, I may have experienced heaven - or at least as close to heaven as I will ever get while on earth.  And if that "prophet" from Family Radio is right, I will not have much longer to experience earth.  Today, Saturday, is supposed to be the Great and Terrible Day of the Lord.  While I anticipate Christ's return imminently, I don't expect it to happen today just because a guy with a mic and radio antenna says so.  But that's a diversion from the true subject of today's posting...

Ah Tuscany!  Oh the wondrous beauties of the Chianti region!!  I know have a clear visual image in my mind for what love looks like when applied to creation.  God really knew what to do when making this portion of the planet.  I love Ohio - and as an Ohio non-native, that is an adoptive love, love by choice.  Chianti, however, there is no choice but to love it.  Once you've seen it in person, it's lure is irresistible.  Maybe this is where Calvin got the idea of irresistible grace??


 These pics are from one of the two wineries we visited in the Chianti region.  A whole day spent sampling a variety of the best olive oils, cheeses, meats and wines that this area produces.  It was lots of fun and incredibly educational.  For example, I never knew what subtleties one could taste from different varieties of olive oil.  I also never knew that there was a particular best method for experiencing those varieties of taste.  One puts just a drop of oil on the tongue, then one starts "slurping" air from the corners of one's mouth to generate saliva.  The saliva is necessary in order for the oil to break down into the taste buds.  Taste buds, it turns out, are three-dimensional.  Think of incredibly tiny trees all on the surface of the tongue.  It's like a forest, where the foliage is so thick, things have a difficult time reaching through the trees to the floor.  The olive oil stays stuck on the top of the "trees" and all one can taste is the slippery nature of the oil.  However, the saliva breaks down the molecular structure of the oil, and so the oil then can flow through the "trees" down to the "floor" and a whole new realm of taste becomes possible!


The mouth also has "regions" where certain types of tastes are emphasized.  We have a bitter region, a sweet region, a tangy region and an acidic region.  Once the oil breaks down, one swirls it in one's mouth in order to experience all the ways the mouth's regions are affected by the oil's subtleties. 

As I followed the directions of proper tasting, I was amazed at the results.  My culinary experience will never be the same again!  Who knew that something as simple as olive oil could ever provide this variety of flavor?? Crisco will always be a plain old blah, dull oil after this! 

The wines of Chianti are also spectacular.  We enjoyed a number of varieties of both red wine - which is what Chianti is famous for producing - and white.  I acknowledge that for some people, alcoholic consumption is a problem.  They have either very practical experience-based objections to it, or deeply embedded moralistic rejection to the very idea of it.  I grew up experiencing the latter objection.  As an adult, however, I have come to realize that alcohol - in itself - is morally neutral.  The morality - the rightness or wrongness of it - lies in the person.  therefore, for some people, it is wrong, and always will be wrong.  For others, it is right and will always be right.  And still others, they really don't care much either way.  I belong in the last group.  I enjoy it, but I don't see it as a necessity to life.

Wines, too, have amazing subtleties that one needs a wise teacher to learn how to experience and appreciate.  Both our guide and the vintners we visited were experts in showing us how to understand and enjoy them.  With a more educated palate, I think I've been spoiled against the entire concept of "cheap wine."  And that's not the same thing as "inexpensive wine."  The former is stuff that really isn't worth putting into one's mouth.  The latter can be a whole world of surprising adventures.  And "expensive wine" doesn't guarantee being a good wine.  Expensive really means more complex, longer creation processes - and they don't necessarily mean the wine that results from the processes is superior to less complex and time-consuming processes.

The bottom line for me from all of this is that God gave us an incredible gift when God designed our gastronomic systems.  The ability to experience what God created in nature, and the ability to creatively use nature's bounty, are both amazing gifts.  The Psalmist talks about experiencing God as he looks at the moon and stars.  I also experienced God in the indescribably wonderful Chianti region of Italy.  Thank you, Lord, for all your wonderful gifts!!

Friday, May 20, 2011

Beauty Comes in Many Forms

Over the past two days, my wife and I have experienced so much in Italy!  Florence is a beautiful city, and over the centuries, that beauty has been expressed in numerous ways.  Sometimes, however, the beauty is more difficult to see because our modern eyes no longer see beauty in the same way that our ancestors did.

Wednesday morning, we went to the Central Market.  It is next to Santa Maria Novella, a huge church and the final resting place for several generations of the Familia Medici - the ruling family at the height of Florentine political and economic power in the early Renaissance period.  The Central Market is a large building with many different food vendors.  And what they have for sale is nothing less than amazing.  Take a look at some of these pictures.  Isn't the produce beautiful?  Look at all the cheeses, and meats, breads and more!


They all looked beautiful and tasty.  My eyes feasted while in the market.  And my mouth feasted later on what we took back to our apartment for dinner.  We've settled into a pattern of eating one big meal per day, and lighter meals the rest of the time.  But when I say one big meal, I mean one BIG meal!  So we'll see how well I manage to stay at my weight goals for the wedding.  Hopefully with only one big meal combined with lots of walking, I won't get too far off track.


  Some of the market's beauty, however, was a little hard for me to appreciate.  Take a look at what some consider to be appetizing food choices below ...
 Above: whole pig's head.  Left: Squid.  Below: Swordfish.

Actually, I've had swordfish before, and it is quite tasty. However, I never had to look at it's head and sword before eating...
So beauty can be defined in many ways.  We found that to be true not just in Central Market, but also in the Uffizi Gallery.  The Uffizi is a six-hundred year old palace built by the Medici to display and protect their vast collection of art, weapons, and other examples of their fortune.  Today, it's a museum containing some of the most famous Renaissance paintings in the world. 

More than fifty rooms display hundreds (maybe even thousands) of pieces dating from the ancient Etruscans to the 18th century.  Obviously, the latter examples are post-Medici acquisitions, but they do serve a valuable purpose: the continued development of fine art over more than two millenia.  I'd love to show some pictures from this experience, but we weren't allowed to bring cameras.  However, the intellectually curious can Google image search Giotto, Lorenzetti, Monaco, Veneziano, and the "big guys" like Lippi, Botticelli, DaVinci, Michaelangelo to see what's in the Uffizi.

I spent three hours in the Uffizi, and probably could have stayed for at least another hour or more.  We had to hurry through some of the later rooms because my in-laws were "done" and ready to go.  My wife was more tolerant/enthusiastic and stayed with me all the way.  I didn't necessarily understand/like everything that I saw, but I was amazed at the sheer creativity of the human spirit inspired by the Holy Spirit. 

I do indeed believe many of these works were divinely inspired - even the works that were not specifically religious, although the vast majority of them were.  In those days, artists were both enticed and expected to draw their inspiration from the Christian faith.  Their works were considered to be both worship in themselves (as they were created) and inspiration for worship once they were completed.  However, it wasn't the artwork being worshiped, but the Creator/Savior/King that they pointed towards.

I could imagine what it may have been like to enter the sanctuaries where many of these artworks were originally housed as altar pieces and the awe of God that they would have evoked.  My own worship was evoked by them even outside the context of a church.  I am saddened that in many ways we've lost this sense of offering the best of our creative arts in the religious context.  Now, the state of the art in creativity is often expressed in ways that dishonor God, creation, and humanity.  It's used to express rampant selfishness, cruelty, and the worst of our character rather than the best of God's character.  But it doesn't have have to stay that way.  We can work to change it by offering our best to God in every aspect of our lives.

I recognize that the artists behind many of these masterpieces may have led troubled, even decidedly  non-Christian examples of life outside their works.  But for me, that only proved that God does indeed use all things to point back towards the divine.  All of us are imperfect beings, striving towards perfection.  So I am not disturbed by the examples of imperfection so much as I am inspired by our striving towards perfection.  That beauty comes in many forms, and it's beauty is determined more by the eye of the divine beholder than by my own eyes.  Therefore, my prayer is that I can learn to truly see beauty through God's eyes.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Travel Lessons: Patience and Flexibility

My wife and I left Monday for our 10-day trip to Italy.  I hope to occasionally post updates and pics from our trip while we're away.  These entries will be both a way for us to share our experience with family and friends, and also to become a journal that I can look back on this vacation and relive the experiences again.

In my quiet times, I've been praying that God would work to build up the Fruit of the Spirit to a greater extent within me.  I want to be more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self controlled.  On this trip, God has started answering that prayer.  I am convinced that God created travel experiences so that we could build virtues - especially the virtue of patience.  

Our travel from Toledo to Florence contained three flight segments.  1) Detroit to Philadelphia, 2) Philadelphia to Frankfurt, Germany, 3) Frankfurt to Florence.  Detroit flight was scheduled to leave at 1:30 p.m.  We finally did leave after 4:30 p.m.  Of course, the 3 hour delay caused us to miss our connection  from Philly to Frankfurt.  Thankfully, the Detroit staff for US Air were very helpful and proactive for us.  At check-in, the agent told us our flight was delayed due to weather and that she was creating a back-up itinerary for us in case the delay caused problems.

The Liberty Bell is in Philly

We arrived in Philly and had the back-up in place.  Our new flight left Philly at 8:30 p.m. and still got us to Frankfurt with an hour layover before taking the originally scheduled flight into Florence.  As we walked down the concourse to find something for dinner, I saw that a flight leaving for Rome was soon leaving.  I stopped at the counter to ask whether or not we could possibly get on that flight, he told me I would need to go to "Special Services" and make arrangements.  However, I would have to hurry because they were ready to take off within 15 minutes.

This airport bell is Lego Bricks
We walked towards Special Services and discovered there were a lot of special people needing service.  The line was easily 50+ people long.  I looked at my wife and said, we'd never make it.  So we didn't even try.  Bad decision.

At 8:25 p.m., we still lacked a plane at the gate.  We were told it was being serviced in the hanger and should arrive in about 5 minutes.  30 minutes later, the plane came to the gate, but we were not boarding because they still needed to service the plane.  That should take about 10 minutes.  Almost an hour later, we finally began boarding.  The pilot came on and told us we would leave the gate as soon as all passengers were seated.  20 minutes later, the pilot told us that we had two passengers on the manifest who had not boarded the plane.  Security rules required that their luggage be pulled from the plane, so we were waiting until that happened.  It should take five minutes, he said.  30 minutes later, he told us they were still looking for the luggage, but it should only be another five before we can go.

I've decided that US Air must be on GST - God Standard Time - because I was definitely feeling the "for God, a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day" with the five minutes becoming hours!

Finally, shortly before midnight, our plane lifted off for Frankfurt. Obviously, we had burned the hour window to catch our flight to Florence, so we knew we'd have to make new arrangements once we got to Frankfurt.  We arrived Frankfurt at 12:45 p.m. local time Tuesday (6:45 a.m. Toledo time).  The next available flight to Florence didn't leave until 4 p.m. (or 1600 as they use in Europe).  So we had another 3-hour delay before reaching our final destination.

Hooray for Lufthansa!  They left on time!!  We arrived in Florence at 5:45 (1745).  We were supposed to have arrived at 9:00 a.m.  So travel delays cost us half a day for our activities in Florence. One activity that we missed was getting into the Accademia.  In a moment of extreme optimism, I booked our tour ahead of time but put it on the same day that we were scheduled to arrive.  Those tickets are non-refundable and cannot be exchanged.  You miss your time, you miss your chance.  So I hope to be able to buy new tickets to see the Accademia before we leave.  It's most famous for being the home of Michelangelo's masterpiece, "David", and other sculptures.

Tuscan countryside from the air
 We arrived at our apartment in Florence and were warmly welcomed by my in-laws.  They had dinner ready, and it was FABULOUS!  I am sure I will write many times about the food here, so I won't go into details in this post.  It's already too long as it is...
View on the ground from Florence Airport

Friday, May 13, 2011

Where Does the Time Go?

The "big me" before starting the process
I've meant to update both the weekly weigh-down chart and write a couple more posts several times without success during the past three weeks.  Every time I think I will sit down and make it happen, something else comes along that takes higher priority.  With a pending trip to Italy and a daughter's wedding, my "to do" list has been ridiculously long!  But at last, I'm taking a few moments to bring you up to date on my progress towards healthy and holy living.  You can even see the difference now!

Getting to 210 pounds was a whole lot easier than getting to 200.  As you can see from the weigh-down chart, I've slowed way down in the number of pounds lost each week.  I'm into the fifth week below 210 and I've just cracked the 205 mark.  I did reach 202.6 earlier in the week, but I went right back up again to 205 as of this morning.  It might just be "water weight" that will go away, or it might be more muscle added from my strenuous workouts (Thanks, Josh!).  Or it might be that I'm reaching a plateau that will require additional time and effort to break through.
The "small" me as of April 18, 2011

Going to Italy for 10 days is only going to make the final five or so pounds harder to lose.  While I anticipate a lot of walking around Florence and the Tuscany region while there, I also anticipate lots of REALLY good Italian food!  I plan to enjoy everything, including the pastas, desserts, fresh veggies, etc.  So I will need to maintain good portion control while I'm there.  Do lots of sampling and don't gorge just because something's particularly tasty. 

What I won't get in Florence is the weight-training regimen to which I've grown accustomed.  With the airlines limiting me to 50 lbs. luggage, I can't afford to bring 30 lbs in dumbbells!  Maybe I will find things where I'm staying that could become a substitute?  We'll see...

It's amazing that this trip is already almost upon us.  My wife and I have been prepping for this since last fall, and now suddenly it's here.  And even more importantly, once we return, we only have two weeks before my daughter gets married!!  Where does the time go?

I'm glad that God stands outside of time.  I take comfort in knowing that for God, a thousand years is like a day.  And I am also glad that eternal life is something to which Christians can look forward to experiencing.  I'm ready to be rid of time once and for all.  (Hmmmm ... that statement seems loaded with subtle and unintended irony!)

This is NOT my pic, but I look forward to taking something like this!
I plan to take some time during our trip to post pictures and descriptions of our adventures.  You are welcome to come along virtually by returning to this blog site to see what's going on while we're gone.  If you've been to Florence and have recommendations, please share them.  I will try doubly hard to take pics of anything suggested to us to do, visit, experience, etc.  Then you can see that we've truly been there/done that!!