April 5 - Florence

Concert on period instruments

Beautifully crafted door

Flag display before church Easter morning

My assumptions that Roman Catholics parishioners were compensated for enduring the church's muddled theology with a rich and aesthetically attractive worship was entirely destroyed by the Duomo's utterly contemporary extravaganza Easter morning.  The large pole you see near the alter was used to support a cable which was tethered to a large fireworks display outside the front door of the church.  At a high moment of excitement in the service, this dove came alive with three rockets attached under its back tail which propelled it out the front door of the church.  Upon its exit, another rocket powered dove flew back into the church, hit the pole and exploded into a brilliant show of fireworks to the uproarious applause of the audience.   "Magnifique!" was heard throughout the crowd.

Dante's school

Trivulziano's 1337 Codex of the Divine Comedy

Venice

Venetian canals

Views of the Doge's palace

Views of the Campanile

Bridge over the Grand Canal

Vivaldi concert in Venice

Ancient harpsichord

While we were walking back from the Vivaldi concert, we found how dark Venice can get.  If you are in a rush to get anywhere, Venice is an absolutely infuriating maze of twisted streets and odd alleyways.  If you are willing to let yourself get lost in the experience, it will truly make you feel you have stepped back in time.  The city has never allowed automobile traffic, so the streets were never widened to accommodate them.  The streets are often barely wide enough for three people to walk abreast and the map of the city looks like a plate of spaghetti yet without the organization.

Athens

Can you read this?

Connecting to Mr. Callihans class from a hotel on the Peloponnessian isthmus near Corinth.

Sunrise over the Aegean

Germans in Greece

The channel through the Isthmus.  In the picture on the left you can see the Adriatic Sea and in the picture on the right you can see the Aegean.

Ancient Corinth

Temple of Apollo

Dad tries his hand at the column lift.  I did not watch him the whole time, but I don't think he was successful.

Latin inscription

Mr. Hinrichs sits on the Bema from which the Apostle Paul preached to the Corinthians when accused by Galilleo (the brother of Seneca) and the Jews.   See Acts 18:12

The Acro-Corinth.  The Corinthian fortress

The Serene spring from which the Corinthian drew their water.  You can still hear the water!

This decoration is very appropriate for the Corinthian traders- a ship.

Two interesting variations on column fluting

Road from the port leading up to the city

Examples of the various styles of capital.   The last on the right is a special form with a Chimera figure.

New style of column being developed for the soon-to-be-released Spring collection.

Ornamented columns

Temple of Octavia

Marble decoration

Examples of beautiful fresco border patterns

Bacchus fresco

Shephard boy fresco

Roman basin

Early Greek toys

Augustus

Greek inscription

Early Christian prayer for the health of Justinian

6th century B.C. Sphynx

Mycenae- the (supposed) Palace of Agamemnon

A few French friends decided to join us for the afternoon

Mycenae, pronounced "Mikines" in modern Greek.    The are many differences between modern and ancient pronunciation.

The Lion's gate

The palace on the summit

View from Agamemnon's living room.

The walls around the fortress were twenty feet thick!  The interior of the walls was filled with dirt and rubble- not fitted stone (a little shoddy if you ask me!).

Can you imagine trying to attack this fortress?

Marble in its natural state- in the ground. 

Agamemnon's back door

Back side of the palace

The cistern

Down to the cellar!

The grave circle- where Ernst Schliemann found the supposed death mask of Agamemnon.

Clytemnaestra, you home, honey?

The walls were called cyclopean because the rocks were so huge that it was thought they must have been placed by the giant cyclopae.

In may point of the wall, the rocks were not closely fitted, however, there was flat ground in front of the wall at this point that could have been used to set up a battering ram, so the rocks were cut to fit quite tightly.

One of the many tholos style tombs.  They one is called the Tomb of the Lions and its top had fallen in.

Ceiling in the Treasury of Atreus.  This tholos tomb was still intact.  Notice what fine workmanship went into cutting each stone.

Entrance to another tholos tomb.  Notice the thickness of the walls.

Notice the size of the stone over the entrance!  Nearly thirty feet across and six feet thick!   Thinking about how the ancients were able lift such a stone is so mind-numbing that you find yourself vulnerable UFO speculation. ;-)

This stone had begun to decay and you can see that it is actually composed of small river rocks.  Most likely, the pressures of the waters of the flood provided sufficient compression to make these composite stones.