Jen's Trip to Italy April 2008

My trip begins on Thursday 3 April 2008. I am flying from Dallas, TX to Chicago, IL and then , hopefully, to Rome, Italy. My sister, Karen, and her other half, Angelo, are both accompanying me as my guests. You can see Karen's work here: www.karennaylorglass.com and Angelo's work here: www.angelofico.com We are going to go to Florence for a few days and meet up with two other ladies, Nancy and Ofilia. Then, we go on to Venice, or actually, Murano. I am taking a glass class there, organized by Ofila. You can see her work here: www.ofiliaartglass.com The class will be taught by Lucio Bubacco and his work is here: www.luciobubacco.com I will update my trip and post pictures on this page!!

 

1st Update 6 April 2008

We left Chicago on 4 April 2008, arrived Rome on the 5th and took the train directly to Florence. The first day, we spent walking around our new town, drinking wine, and sleeping. The second day, we went to Tim's lampworking studio, where Ofilia gave our tour guide, Elana some lamporking tutoring. After that, we visited Lily's bead store, the Beaded Lily. Lily is Tim's wife! Their web site is at www.beadedlily.com We had a wonderful dinner with them after touring many of the sites in Florence. Oh yea, we saw lots of markets...... We ended the day with a beautiful view of the reflection on the river, outside Karen and Angelo's room. And, a little more wine.

Angelo, Karen & Jen start our trip	Elana getting coaching from Ofilia	Tim at work	On the bride of gold shops

Fountain	Dante's home, perhaps	Outside the Duomo	Outside the Duomo

Doors to the Baptist	Inside Duomo dome	Karen admiring the dome	Auto parking garage

Ofilia taking a picture	Karen & Angelo's room view	Karen & Angelo's room night view

2nd Update - 7 April 2008

Yesterday, we got a fairly early start to our day and went to see David. Wow, was he big! There were a lot of students in there sketching him. After viewing David, we said Caio to Ofilia, as she was heading back to Murano. Nancy, Karen, Angelo and I decided we should go to the Uffizi and see some famous paintings. You can see Nancy's website here: www.beaverislandjewelry.com We went and made a reservation, then picked up a bite to eat. The most reasonable way to eat is to get little pizzas or paninis to go. Well, that and our dinner, but we will get to that in a bit. We had our picnic lunch on the streets on Florence, then went to the Uffizi for a good three hours of walking around looking at paintings and sculptures. We did see Venus on the Clam Shell and others. Very cool. After that, our feet were telling us it was time to go home, so we made our way back towards the hotel. Of course, we decided that we needed more wine and cheese for our evening meal, so we found a little grocery. A very economical way to buy red wine is by going to the grocery stores. Yes, we found tasty wine for 2-3 Euros a bottle!! Of course, we are up to a few bottles a day, now....

Monday, we got up early and said goodbye to our hotel, had our morning cappucinos, and jumped in a car with Elana. She took us to the quaint, Tuscan town of Montepulciano. This town was built up between the 13th and the 16th century. You can find some info about the time here: www.pulcino.com There are many wine shops in the quaint town of Montepulciano. We bought some good, smelly cheeze there, too. I guess, we should call this the wine and cheeze tour! After that, Elana brought us back to the train station in Florence, where we boarded the train to Venicia. I'm not quite sure where we are now, but we are on the way. Please see our antics from these past two days in the following pictures. You can also see our travels from Nancy's perspective, here: www.beaverislandjewelry.blogspot.com

We made it to Murano all together! Tuesday, Nancy and I got up early and went to the coop to do some food shoping. The food here is yummy. After that, we went to see some glass blowing at the Schiabon Gallery. It was very cool. Then, we took the boat into Venice, and saw how gold leaf was made. Wow, I have a whole new appreaciation for that!!! We took the boat back to Murano to see Davide Salvadore dance with his glass. Another, Wow. See his work at http://www.davidesalvadore.com We stopped in two other shops, one being the shop of Paolo Cenedese. He showed us how to make beautiful coral and a shell. His work can be seen here www.paolocenedese.it After that, we found out where class will start tomorrow morning, with Lucio. Then, home to red wine, sausages, pasta, and pesto. Shoot, I really can not ask for much more! Big update after I begin class!!!

Statue of David outside. This is a copy of the original David that we saw at the Academie	Lunch in the streets of Florence. Actually, outside the rear exit of the Uffizi!	Nancy enjoying Florence.	View outside the Uffizi from the coffee bar

Interesting view of the Duomo dome from the Uffizi coffee bar area	Someone having a foot soak after a long day of walking....	Leaving Florence on Monday morning, we were distracted by a pink 'smart car'	Crossing the river on our way to the train station, there was that reflection on the river!

Tuscany country side viewing Montepluciano	Walking into the city of Montepluciano	One of our favorite stores; meat, wine, and cheese!	Church bell ringer in town!

Kitty in the window!	The town well	The town church. Yes, we go to church alot. Well, okay, we go in some of the great churches!	The Tuscan country side

Another great picnic lunch. Left to right Nancy, Elana, Karen & Angelo	Dorky picture of sisters on the boat from Venicia to Murano. Why yes, we have matching Smith sunnies!	Watching the gals at work at the gold leaf labratory in Italy. www.berta-battiloro.com	Closeup of work at the gold leaf shop in Venice. Yes, they have pics of men on the walls, including Brad!

3rd Update on 10 April 2008.

Wow, all I can say is Murano is very cool (and yes, it is raining a lot, but not cold) and class is very fun. Lucio is a great instructor and fun to be around. We have many demos and plenty of practice time. It is fun to go out and about Murano for lunch. We usually squish in just a little shopping, before class, during lunch, and after class. Karen, Angelo, Nancy, and I have been cooking delicious Italian meals in our little kitchen. Of course, we are drinking plenty of red Italian wine, too. I will let the pictures tell the story. More to come in a few days............

A fabulous demo by Davide Salvadore and his assistants! http://www.davidesalvadore.com	Walking across the bridge to class	First day of class. Is Jen happy?!?	Inside Lucio's display room. Everyone is in awe.

We are intently watching the Master at work.	Everyday for lunch hour, we go to a great restraunt for good food and good company.	There we are again, mesmerized.	Oh yea, Jen is having fun.

We were in Carlo Dona's tool shop at 8am! Some money exchanged hands today. We also made orders!	More tools. Why yes, I now own a rod warmer....	It's a picture of my roomate, Nancy, hard at work.	A dorky picture of my lunch. Knoche crab in a creamy sauce. Yummmm

Lucio at work	Lucio making a mermaid at the end of class	The finished mermaid	The mermaid up close. Amazing.

Update 4 - April 23, 2008

Even though, I am now home, I will break my story down a little bit. We had three days of classes and then two days off for Saturday and Sunday. Back to class for another 3 days and then most of us went into Venice to see the Orsoni glass factory.

Empties......	Murano in the early morning fog	The daily morning coffee ritual	The finished mermaid. Wow....

Lucio making a bead	Warming the bead on the burner	Lucio's work is magic in the sunlight	My roomate, Nancy, in class

A party with food and beads!	Oh no, she is not happy to be caught on camera!	Friday night potluck party and bead trade.	Evening falls on the canal in Murano

Venice	Inside the Doges Palace. The Secret Itinery Tour is recommended	Jen feeds the pidgons at St Marks. Doesn't everyone do this?	A fabulous glass turtle shell

The colorful streets of Murano	Angelo and Karen on Burano	Black kitty on Burano

Great plac on a home in Burano	Picnic lunch and wine on Burano		Outside the beadshop on Burano

The glory of Italy	Ruins	Jen and the red public art sculpture	Canal on Murano

The blue star glass sculpture	An old boat near the seedbead store	Daily lunch at the local restraunt	Red shirt and red glass

Jen at work. Dave at work in back	Ceasar Toffolo demoing boro	A fabulous miniature light	www.toffolo.com

Lucio at work	The completed piece. Oh wow!	Mosaic of a glassblower in Murano	Jen blows.....on her new pipe.

Lucio and Davide during our party for Lucio. It was fun!	Yes folks, he really is the ITALIAN STALLION!!!	Lucio makes the final class demo.	A beautiful carnival girl.

The fish market. This was almost all sold out by the time we came back from our Orsoni tour!	Cleaning all the rays (flat fish or sting rays) for the market.	The gang poses with felix the cat	Jen poses

Jen & Karen pose by our colors	Sheets of glass in the 'library'	Old color pots for melting glass.	Colors sorted into shades

Cutting the smalti into small pieces	Hand cutting the gold leaf smalti	Irene taking a class in mosaics. She came with her sister and daughter!	A lady from Adelaide , Australia! Taking the mosaic class.

Smalti mosaic art at Orsoni	The mail boat in Venice	A mask shop in Venice	The realto bridge in Venice

Frypan sculpture on the canal	A beautiful mosaic building on the Grande canal	Angelo and Karen on the boat in Venice on the Grande Canal	Angelo & Karen through the bottom of an empty wine glass...

Jen buys a mirror for Bagznbeadz!	The very large glass abacus	Murano public art	Beautiful old mosaic on a building

A glassblower on the gate.	The blue star light sculpture on Murano at night.	Wine and tiramasu on our last night.	A picture by fire light or rather, lamp light of Murano.