follow your dreams no matter how hard it gets.....: June 2010

Here I am in Nice, France. So far it has been like this : 1) 4 days in Greece where I got used to being in a foreign country. 2) Greece program with Radford University where we saw 32 sites in just about 18 days. 3) long ferry ride to Ancona 4) train to Rome 5) Rome 6) Train to Florence 7) Florence 8) train to Piza for just a few hours 9) on to Nice, France for a few days while spending a day in Monaco and 10) tomorrow I Leave for Barcelona, Spain.
   I wish that I could post all of my pictures but I have honestly taken just over 10,000. This is no joke. There is too much to see in just one lifetime. The primary goal of this trip is Art and it has been filled with it to this point. The art galleries in Italy are plentiful and each one is as beautiful as the next. As time passes by I begin to realize that I have evolved to a more modern form of art. I always thought the the painters of the Renaissance were the best but have learned that they were masters of technique and not of much more than that. Just a few days ago I visited the Sistene Chapel and what I thought would be the one of the greatest things I have ever seen was a bit of a disappointment. The only thing that amazed me about the Chapel was the way that he distorted perspective to make such a curved ceiling look flat. That and the amount of work that one person was able to do in just 4 years. The actual painting was not what I had expected. It looked more of a mechanical drawing of human bodies. It lacked expression. With the visit to the Vatican gallery which hoses the Sistene Chapel) there was a small section of artists from 1800-1950 which was much more impressive. The worst part and the best part about this was that the hordes of people were passing right by all of this wonderful work in order to see a fresco that they didnt even understand why they liked it. I feel it was because they are told of its greatness. Raphael's School of Athens was by far much more impressive ; the quality of the paint, the colors within the figures, the expression of the form. All better than The Sistene Chapel. Back to the art from the 1900's. There was a sense of freedom involved. Not a labored depiction of another persons ideas.
     Rome in all was made for the tourist. I have always dreamed of the Colosseum. After visiting Greece I think I was spoiled. There are places in Greece where you can feel the work of the ancient people and even the feel the people that lived in these places. The Colosseum felt more like Disney. A made up place that was made for tourists. Rome has places such as The Pantheon and The Trevi Fountain where you can be trapped within thousands of people but still feel like it has not been changed just to make money on tourists.
    Anyhow, I was happy to leave Rome and be on to Florence. Florence had a sort of Buffalo feel to it where the people were friendly and you could sit in the grass and not be bothered my hundreds of tourists hoping that you would take their pictures.If you cant tell I am tired of tourists and even more so, feeling like one. In Florence I was able to experience a more local culture where the art galleries were filled with the high Renaissance and northern Renaissance. These artists were masters of technique. It is amazing to see how much time was spent on one work at a time. We are a much more instant gratification type of society where we dont spend more than a few months on any one piece and it shows.
     After Florence I stopped in Piza which was nothing like what I had expected. The leaning tower was HUGE. I expected this little tower that was falling over but it was this enormous structure that was defying gravity. I sat and drew for a few hours under a fountain in the middle of the square. I was happy. After Pisa it was onto Nice, France. The first day was spent at the Aquarium which was inspirational. The colors and textures were limitless. There was a feeling as though the busy mechanical world was left behind. After the Aquarium I found myself searching out a trail that led up to the clouds. This is by far one of my favorite parts of the trip thus far. I sat atop a mountain looking upon the city of Monaco with nothing but clouds surrounds me. There is nothing that can compare to the feeling of having your head in the clouds. After a little meditation and sheer enjoyment I made my way back down and headed back to Nice. The next day I was to head out to Barcelona but alas the train was full and am stuck here one more day. Therefore I spent the day at a few local galleries that housed the work of mostly french artists and the acclaimed The Kiss by Rodin. He was a master of the human figure, showing hands and feet unlike any other. You could feel the flesh laid over the bones and the elasticity of the skin. This out of a large piece of marble.
    Well, I am off to Barcelona tomorrow and then the Guggenheim in Bilboa and hopefully, if I can find tickets, a bullfight in Madrid. Well here come the pictures now. Traveling is fun, exciting, heartbreaking and painful all at the same time. Till next time.