Archive for the 'Art' category
Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II and Capitoline Hill
I walked and walked and walked. I walked all the way from Baroque Cornaro Chapel to Monumento a Vittorio. It wasn’t a very long walk, but took 20 mins, and it was exotic hot to walk along the path until my destination. I didn’t get around in the military museum, but took few shots of the Monumento.
It took me another 10 minutes walk to get to Capitoline Hill. I wanted to see the she-wolf suckling Romulus and Remus in Capitoline Museums.
The museum was great, and spent 2 hours in there before I found my way to Jewish quarter and Trastevere.
I saw a couple of taking wedding photos with Capitoline as a background. What a classic idea! Beautiful!
St Teresa
I had a long day to go, the second last day in Rome. I committed myself I had to finish the rest of tourist spots, before I left Rome.
St Teresa, Baroque Cornaro side-chapel – I felt touch when I saw St Teresa, a statute I admired for years until today. I eventually saw it. She looks so peaceful and kind.
What A Room With A View! It’s Firenze!
Firenze! Firenze! Flower! Flower! Firenze means flower in Italian.
Bellissimo! This is Florence!
Some of you might ever watched “A Room With A View“, which was a movie taken in Florence – a beautiful love story happened in Florence during 19th century.
I joined a one day tour, and with a “World tour”, a tour with a family from Los Angeles, a couple from N.Z., a girl from N.Y., and a group of visitors from Dubai. We were guided by two interesting tour guides, a handsome Italian man toured us from Rome to Florence, and a traveler looking local guide with “Pui Yee” glasses in Florence. 
The tour was short, but we needed to leave from Rome around 8am, and the road trip took 3 hours. We headed back from Florence at 4:30pm. It was very short actually as we arrived around mid day in Florence. The local guide quickly took us to the Galleria dell’Accademia seeing “Sexy David” once we got off from the tour bus. It was the David that we couldn’t take photos, but we could take photos of the one placed in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi. It wasn’t the original statute.
Sexy David! The statute I longed to see, and I saw it!
Florence was beautiful, but time was too short. We browsed around in the area of Duomo (Santa Maria del Fiore), and had lunch nearby, a nice simple Italian lunch in a local restaurant. Pasta was nice, and the conversation of the group was interesting. I like talking to people from different countries, where I don’t belong to. It was a life exposure experience.
We had one and a half hour free time after lunch. I missed to visit Ponte Vecchio, as I spent my time to buy leather bag for my Dad, and a leather jacket for myself. 
Leather goods are well known in Florence, but I still found Spanish leather goods are more sophisticated. Here is the demonstration of goldsmith and leather making arts in a local store. You can see a girl with sunglasses in the mirror, who was busy taking photos and it was me.
We passed by a place selling wine and food on the way to Florence in the morning. I bought a pack of pasta, a bottle of pasta sauce and many chocolate.
When we were on our way back to Rome, we passed by an old village. Here is a video.
Vatican Museum
It took around 15 minutes walk from St Peter’s to the Vatican Museum.
The garden gave me a bit of feeling of Oxford University, is the same type of garden look in square shape.
I browsed around every floor, and the last room is filled with art works of Michelangelo all over the ceiling. The ceiling decoration was commissioned in 1508 by Pope Julius II della Rovere. Michelangelo was given the task of creating a monumental image covering an area of 500 square metres. The nine primary scenes from Genesis represent the Separation of Light from Dark, the Creation of the Sun and Moon, the Separation of the Waters, creation of Adam, Creation of Eve, Expulsion from Eden, Sacrifice of Noah, the Deluge, and the Drunkenness of Noah. No photos are allowed in this room. This room is with the lowest temperature compared with other rooms as the low temperature can maintain the quality of paintings.
This room is full of visitors. People were standing, and sitting by the sides. The room was completed packed with almost no extra space. Many looked up the ceiling, and amazed with what they saw. Some were too hot to speak, and looked like falling in sleep. No one wanted to leave the room. The noise was a bit loud. Security guards kept telling people to be quiet in three different languages – Italian, Spanish and English. I guess part of reasons the people stayed in this room for long, they were just too hot. There was not much air conditioning in every room, and each room was packed with many visitors.
Museu Picasso and Dali Gallery
You cannot miss these two major museums and galleries when you are in Barcelona.
The Picasso museum is not with too many paintings as the Picasso gallery in Paris. I am not surprise. In fact, I doubt that if you could say Picasso can represent one of the artists in Barcelona. He was a Spanish, but moved from the town of La Coruna to Barcelona, where blossomed as an artist. Picasso actually became the real star when he was in Paris.
Dali Gallery really worths seeing as you can see all the artworks of Dali in here. It was a great experience.
Sagrada Familia
An unfinished piece of work from Gaudi before he passed away, Sagrada Familia. After a lifetime of dedication, the church was only partially complete when Gaudi died in 1926 and, as a work in progress, it offers the unique chance to watch the eighth wonder of the world in the making. During the last 80 years and at incalculable cost, sculptors and architects have added their own touches to Gaudi’s dream. Now financed by over a million visitors each year, it is estimated the project will be complete by 2030.
The most magnificent of the Gaudi’s works is that the way he transformed the images and the object in his own vision. The outline and features are extraordinary. Can you imagine someone who was from the last generation would have such a “forward” thought in his works? You wouldn’t feel his works were from more than 100 years ago. They look modern and contemporary. When I first read about works of Gaudi, I thought he was artist from 50s. That’s why he was a genius artist.
La Pedrera
La Pedrera, completed in 1910, this fantastic, undulating apartment block, with all the remarkable works of Gaudi. It is also known as Casa Mila, was Gaudi’s last great civic work before he dedicated the rest of his life to the Sagrada Familia. The church I was going after La Pedrera.
It contains a museum dedicated to the architect, the exhibition centre of the Caixa de Catalunya, a furnished museum apartment, as well as private residences.
What makes La Pedrera so magical is that every last detail, from door knobs to light fittings, bears the hallmark of Gaudi’s visionary genius.
Enjoy the talent and genius vision of Antoni Gaudi!
Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya
Incorporating one of the most important medieval art collections in the world, the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya is housed in the majestic Palau Nacional, built in 1929. The major attraction of the museum is the Romanesque art section, consisting of the painted interiors of churches from the Pyrenees dating from the 11th and 12th centuries. There is also the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, with works from the Gothic period to the Rococo; the Cambo Bequest, with works by the likes of Goya and Zurbaran; and a collection of works by Catalan artists from the early 19th century to the 1940s.
Apart from all the fantastic paintings and art works in the museum, another major attraction is the look out from the museum on top of the hill. You can see part of the whole scene of Barcelona. There is an open cafe outside the main entrance of museum. I sat in there for a while, and enjoyed so much of the whole environment and atmosphere of Barcelona. Weather was hot, extremely hot, 36C at least everyday. The day light was long, very long. It wouldn’t get completely dark until 11pm everyday.
Musical and Beautiful!! – Palau de la Musica Catalana
A beautiful theater with art of Catalan, designed by renowned architect Lluis Dome-nech i Montaner – Palau de la Musica Catalana. It was called “Garden of Music” with decoration of stained-glass, ceramic, stone, wood and marble, all of which Domenech used liberally, most notably in the opulent foyer and bar. It is amazing! I didn’t get in to see too much details as I need to join a particular tour that I found I might not have time to do so.
