Duomo

Duomo stemming from domus dei = The House of God. In this case it is also the seat of the bishop. Another word for Duomo is cathedral meaning chair or in this case the chair of the Bishop. 

Picture of Duomo above was by my neice Candice 

Picture by Candice.

 Saint Peter by Michael Angelo.  He was commissioned to sculpt three others however his work was interrupted by a far more important work, that of the David!  AWESOME! So he left Sienna for Florence, his home town to sculpt what is known as the most perfect representation of man in exhistence 

 The frescos in this room were created for the library within the cathedral.  The books ended up being stored in Rome and so the library was never used and so the  frescos within those walls are still bright and bold.

 A bronze by Donatello

Italians of the middle ages had major case of Duomo envy.  Siena had the largest Duomo at one time until the plans for Florence's Duomo were created and ground was broken.  When Siena found out about Florence's plans, they broke ground to extend their duomo and then Florence reacted to Siena and extended their Duomo.  Both cities were beat out by the Duomo in Rome Saint Peters.  All the buildings were magnificent and still are.

Siena

First stop on the trip was the city of Siena--an ancient city that was once one of the most powerful city states in Italy until the black death killed thirty thousand of it's fifty thousand residents in the 14th century, yet its city walls still stand as do the many homes, palaces and businesses which were created hundreds of years ago. The city is rich in pride and tradition.

One tradition that I found particularily fascinating is that the city is split up into 17 districts and loyalty to that districts surpasses even family. If one child is born in one district and another in a different district fist fights may erupt when it comes time for Il Palio-- a horse race held twice a year. Each district is represented by a horse that races around Il Campo (the city center) three times. The winners have definite bragging rights. During the week of Il Palio families are no longer families instead they are loyal only to their districts: best friends will not talk, husbands and wives separate, brothers will throw punches.

plaque representing a district

Il Palio

Il Campo

Il Campo

Look Lunch--Squab was on every menu in Florence and Siena. Squab is pigeon. I don't get it. Robby was the brave one and tried it out. I am very impressed. He said it tasted like chicken...

I had an incredible birthday dinner.
More on that tomorrow. Gotta hit the hay, it is 2:30 here. Ciao.

Morning Hike on the Property

I took a morning walk on the property. Luckily we didn't see any wild boar that are suppposed to roam the property. Off to Florence.

Tuscany and Tre Querce

Arrived safe and sound to our Tuscan "home away from home" Tre Querce I will go into more details later but for now just some picture of where we are staying and where I get to spend my 45 birthday. It is truly surreal and the trip of a lifetime. I have been so emotional today loving every bit of what I see and experience and yet missing my kids. More to come. Buena Sera!

Tre Querce--in the beautiful rolling hills of Tuscany where wild boar are supposed to roam the property. Praying i don't see one but if I do, I will have may camera ready for a picture before I sprint, brace and all.

Time Well Spent

There are many things that I love about living in Souther California and one of them is the diversity of the landscape. We have the mountians, the deserts, the beaches and the central valley. Beautiful! One of my favorite times of the year is January. Why you ask? If you ask you probably live in the likes of Minnesota, Utah, Idaho, Illinois, or any other winter laden landscape. But here in Southern California, we have amazing skies in January. The rains bring those cumulous clouds with their depth and moodiness. January brings brilliant blue skies and green hillsides, January brings cooler temperatures but nothing a light sweater, scarf and boots won't fix.
January also brings snow in the mountains: beautiful white capped mountains that are only about 25 minutes from where I live. So if I get the urge, if I feel I miss the snow of my youth and want to treat my kids to a bit of the Frosty, i can head up to the mountains to experience it and then come back down the hill to green grass and flowers.
Yesterday our plans to hike the wilderness loop in Claremont were thwarted due to a closure of the park. I believe the heavy rains caused some problems along the trail. So wondering what to do instead we headed up to the local mountain. It was only about 15 min from where we were and so off we went.
We were surprised to see so much snow up on the mountain. The snow was very low. We were probably unprepared as we only had our work out clothes and sweatshirts on. We had just been stretched, and wringed, and limbered in a yoga class. however, we did at least have our trails shoes on. None the less, and probably foolishly, we began to hike up the Ice House Trail.
The trail was icy in some parts but mostly filled with packed snow. It was beautiful, tranquil and so worth cold hands and red noses as we continued up the trail a little over a mile. I love the quiet of the snow--the way the snow blankets the earth and caresses it. It reminds me of sleep.
The river that ran beside us with its icy blue waters added to the beauty. All in all, despite the fact that i was second guessing our decision in the beginning, and my friend Brynna joked that she never wanted to be one of "those" people that had it written in their obituary that they had died during a hike or excursion because they were unprepared... we ventured forth and had a wonderful time. btw these pics were taken by my little cell camera. so glad I had that to record our trip.

Kids