Paris & Rome 2018

[Greg]

Rome's food awaits you.

[Drunk Monk]

Better than San Jose?

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cannabis has been legal in all 3 countries. I used to always take pix of head shops, but now that Cali is legal, it’s like meh.

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The bar downstairs went until 2am last night. The garbage trucks started at 6. Still got a decent nights sleep tho.

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As you might have noticed from my gram, I’m wearing glasses now. Trippy to see clearly again and even trippier with all this great art. Kinda overwhelming

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I still don’t know how to properly use a bidet.

[cranefly]

I still don’t know how to properly use a bidet.

Still, I bet the bidets are pretty good over there.  I mean, compared to what you might have experienced elsewhere.  On a scale of good, better, ...

[Drunk Monk]

STIBBERT FTW!

[Greg]

Ha-Ha! Four eyes!

[Greg]

Florence Fun Fact!

The word 'bankrupt' originated in Florence. There was a market in Florence where Merchants all had their benches to do trading. When the Merchants could no longer afford to trade, the market owners would come and ceremonially break the merchant's bench, which translates into bankrupt. If you find the sheep statue, you have found the market bench breaking occurred. Today the covered area is a small flea market.

Thus ends the fun fact

[Drunk Monk]

After this trip, I’ll know the meaning of bankrupt well, thanks.

I’ve had reading glasses for years. Now I’ve joined the daily spectacled doom.

Just finished Boboly Gardens & Pitti Palace. Nice tromp l’oeil and cool artifacts. Musta been good to be a di Medici. Had some decent bruschetta and spaghetti but not mind blowing. The new Airbnb is really nice - a corner apt facing the medieval gate, strong ac & WiFi. But tomorrow, we leave for ROME.

[Drunk Monk]

But back to the Stibbert - it’s the most amazing collection of arms & armor I have ever seen in my life -

IN MY LIFE

- but it is one of the world’s largest. It’s a private collection from a rich Brit from the last century. Only some is in cases. Walls and walls of swords, pole arms, bows. Cases of daggers, fitting, parts. Loosely organized by period and origin. Cases stacked with shelves of pieces. Rooms of armor. And all high grade, parade armor, battle, even the suit one of the Medici died in. I could’ve spent my entire vacation in there. My camera crashed because I was taking so many pix (fortunately after completing the armor sections). Tara mocked me for fangirling. Three major sections - europeon, Middle East & japan. Small cases dedicated to China, India, Indonesia, etc. so dense. A single glass case might hold several dozen pieces. Walls of swords - thousands of them. Just unreal. It went by too fast. If I ever come back, I’ll buy multiple tix and just keep going round. The tour is guided and you must stay with your guide. Our guide just gave up on me ‘I think you know everything I’m going to say’ she said. I said just point out the details. She showed me some Islamic chain mail where every ring had characters of protection form the Koran. So beautiful. I think I cried a little bit.

[Drunk Monk]

arrivederci a firenze. ciao roma

[Greg]

I just like how DM is approaching his vacation as if he is on the lam from Interpol, changing hotels every other night to keep the po-po off his trail.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

Old habits are hard to break.

[Drunk Monk]

It’s italpol, mr smarty pants and the Firenze italpol have the coolest hats.

Our new Airbnb has true Italian style, in some centuries old building but redone with exposed ancient refurbished ceilings and walls where some of the original peeks through and stained glass sliding doors.

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Got caught in a thunderstorm and ducked into a really pricey cafe. Got lost. Saw some churches but not the pantheon we were looking for. Hit the local market for 3 bags of snacks - cheaper than our lunch.

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We grabbed one last cappuccino & pastry at Revoire, an excellent caffe just outside the Uffizi.  I highly recommend it.  Stacy had a second cappuccino and they made a little bear face in the foam.  Stacy was worried it was a pig at first because she went for seconds but it was clearly a cute little bear.  Now we wonder what she would've gotten if she had a third.

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There was a touristy Gladiator Museum at the plaza.  I thought about it but it looked cheesey, like a Pier 39 tourist trap.  It was $12 euros, which is what I paid for the Musee Armee in Paris.  Seems ridiculous.  I think there's a special exhibit of armor at Hadrian's tomb right now, at least according to some street banner i saw.  Fingers crossed.

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armi e potere nell'europa del rinascimento

eapons and power in Renaissance Europe
Castel Sant'Angelo and Palazzo Venezia
26 July 2018 - ArtCity Estate 2018 - Exhibition

26 July / 11 November 2018 
Rome, Castel Sant'Angelo and Palazzo Venezia 
edited by Mario Scalini

Opening on Wednesday 25th July, 7.30pm, Castel Sant'Angelo

The Polo Museale of Lazio directed by Edith Gabrielli organizes in Rome, in the double seat ofCastel Sant'Angelo and Palazzo di Venezia , an exhibition dedicated entirely to the world of weapons in the Renaissance age. The exhibition, curated by the specialist Mario Scalini, sees in the catalog the presence of Massimo Carlo Giannini.

The weapons, always companions of life and death of Man, assumed right in the Renaissance an all-encompassing dimension, especially in Italy. The system of values that the weapons underwent, in fact, went so far beyond their concrete use, namely the wounding, killing the enemy or, on the contrary, defending oneself. In a society that sensed combat or at least the threat of struggle in recurrent or endemic terms, this system involved social and ritual, symbolic and iconographic aspects. In this way they include, among other things, tournaments and revelers, bright, spectacular and truculent self-representations of the aristocratic and, indeed, fighting class.

Several factors contributed to this dimension. For example, advances in the field of technology were important: on its own, the rapid establishment of gunpowder gave rise to a sort of escalation of firearms - and of course adequate defensive countermeasures. No less weight had the geo-political structure: from 1494 onwards the Italian states became, in fact, places of confrontation and disputes for the great international powers, first of all Spain and France.

The exhibition deals with every aspect of this complex interweaving of arms and men, mythology and representation of power. It takes into account, among other things, the long tradition of military textbooks, already in vogue in the Byzantine period, as well as some symbolic images of the time, which depict gentlemen and sometimes even armored ladies at all points. Castel Sant'Angelo and Palazzo Venezia are home to two of the most important cores in the world of historical weapons. Starting from these extraordinary collections, for the occasion restored and rearranged, a series of international loans and a refined exhibition make known to the specialist and the normal visitor of the museums a phenomenon that has remained for a long time in the darkness.

Timetables

Sant'Angelo castel 
Every day 9.00am - 7.00pm 
Until 9 September from Thursday to Sunday 9.00 - 23.30 
The ticket office closes half an hour earlier

Palazzo Venezia 
Tuesday to Sunday 8.30am - 7.30pm 
The ticket office closes an hour earlier

Tickets 
During the ArtCity period a single ticket is set up that allows entry to Castel Sant'Angelo and one to Palazzo Venezia with a visit to the two sections of the exhibition.

Castel Sant'Angelo and Palazzo Venezia 
single whole € 15.00 
single reduced € 7.50

Only Palazzo Venezia 
full € 10.00 
reduced € 5.00

Admission is free on the first Sunday of each month at both sites.

Info and reservations 
+39 06 32810410 
(Monday to Friday 9 am-6 pm and Saturday 9 am to 1 pm)

The entire project of ArtCity 2018 can be consulted on the site 
www.art-city.it

[Drunk Monk]

I just had the best instant miso soup in my life -

IN MY LIFE

- can’t explain that. I’m so confused. Must be an art & architecture overload. It was some comfort food, an impulse buy at the market. Took forever on this weak gas stove but so worth it. I had seconds.

So far, Rome feels the most city like, far dirtier and more congested than any of the previous cities. There’s cheese tourist traps and overpriced eats. But then there are these ridiculous cathedrals and fountains.

[Greg]

If they are putting cheese in the tourist traps, you are doomed.

[Drunk Monk]

Tru dat