Day 10 (Last Friday)

   Day 10 (Last Friday).... TUSCANY!

7-10:45 a.m.

We boarded the bus for Tuscany. Our friends Thomas and Courtney were on the blue bus (A.K.A the cool bus) with me, but Jordan was sentenced to be on purple bus.... Defeat is bitter indeed for any Roman.

11a.m. -1 p.m.

Our first stop was the city of Cortona! Here is a great view from the city walls:

We had a guided tour of the city, and we visited a church with some great paintings. There is an especially famous fresco by the artist Fra Angelico located here called The Annunciation.

1-3:30 p.m.

Lunch! Apparently, Italians really like to eat, and they really take their time doing so. We have a 5 course Tuscan meal. It was molto buona (very good).

4-6 p.m.

We go to our next stop, Arezzo! Here is a view of the town:

We had another guided tour, here is a link to a video of the main piazza:

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10151093889926985

We also got to visit several churches, and inside one of them we saw this fresco of Mary Magdalene by Piero della Franchesca:

In this fresco, her hair is wet as a reminder of her washing Jesus' feet with her hair (although, I had thought that it was another woman who washed Jesus' feet with her hair, so I did some research and this is what I found). The cup she is holding contains perfume and is supposed to be reminiscent of her going to anoint Jesus' body at the tomb and then finding it empty.


Also, we saw another church with a bent column:

 

There are two different legends as to why this occurred.  The first story claims that the architect did not receive all the money he was promised, so he created the column this way to spite his patron. The second story is more mysterious. You will notice that the top of the column has a bull's head, which apparently was the symbol of the devil in medieval Europe. So the story goes that God sent angels to smash down the column since it was a representation of the devil. 

7 p.m.-12 a.m.

We went back to the hotel, checked in, cleaned up, ate another 5 course meal at the hotel restaurant, and then went to bed.

Quote of the Day
 "What's up purple bus?" (Me to Jordan after we got off the buses, this is his new nickname).

Italian Culture
Our bus drivers are wicked good at driving big buses through small places.It must be the design of the buses. I saw them make corners that I probably couldn't make with my 1994 Honda Accord.