Our first weekend away from Arezzo! Here we go!
Well on Friday we had our art history class in Florence (Firenze as the Italians call it, and therefore what I call it now). We spent the day looking at art all over the city; at our first stop at a Renaissance church and as we were sitting on the steps, taking notes, a cat (which stray cats are everywhere in the city) just threw himself on my notebook looking for attention. I don't even like cats but this was precious. It was so fairytale like, so magical, so sweet, so Italian.
We ended our day at the US Consulate for a presentation about security. The Consulate was much more interesting than I expected and I was fascinated by the jobs of those people. We got a small taste of Firenze in those few hours and I cannot wait to go back; although, my roommates and I decided we like Arezzo gelato better!
From Firenze on Friday evening we took a train to Venice and arrived in Venice. As soon as I walked out of the train station I was in awe. This was for real! It was not a movie set! Venice was truly magical. Think Disneyland but not manmade! Six of us stayed in a two bedroom (actually a one bedroom with a all the furniture taken out of a living room with a king size bed plopped in the middle) with high ceilings and an incredible view! That night we went and had glass of wine at an Irish pub and took it easy.
The next morning we got up early and hit the ground running! As shown above, I started my morning off with a cappuccino and a bite of Holly's croissant! Haha! We then proceeded to a 6 Euro water taxi, which was the best 6 Euros I've spent! It was truly incredible. Why would anyone pay 80 Euro for a gondola ride? Unless of course, you were the couple we saw at dinner who had an opera singer and an accordion player aboard their gondola. That could have been one of the most romantic things I'd ever seen.
The water taxi took us to Piazza San Marco where we went into the museum across the piazza and St. Mark's Cathedral. I really wasn't too impressed with St. Mark's unfortunatly. I think I had too high of hopes. You could only get into the main nave of the church for free but to go into the trancepts you had to pay anywhere from 2-5 Euro. You even had to pay to get into the space where you light candles and kneel! They also did not allow you to take pictures but I snuck one anyway. Don't get me wrong, it was an incredible church that has amazing historic roots. At one time this was one of the most powerful churches in the world and I am so thankful I actually had a chance to see it.
From there we met up with the rest of our gang for lunch at this cute little place a little outside the square (we went there because everything in the piazza was priced outrageously) for pasta and pizza. I had an incredible plate of vegetable pasta and it was the perfect Venetian lunch.
Then it was off to the Doge's Palace but something was definatly different when we got back to the square; half the piazza was flooded!! Venice really is sinking!! We had to take our shoes off and wade through the water in order to get to the Doge's palace. Even the restaurants and store fronts in the Piazza were flooded. I couldn't believe my eyes! Of course, we took a ton of pictures and played like kids in the water (which probably wasn't very sanitary now that I think about it). Only in Venice would this happen!
The Doge's palace was an immense palace that was interesting to see. We spent a few hours in there(which was a little to long in my opinion and I usually like museums) and my favorite part was defiantly the dungeons!
We made our way over to the Peggy Guggenheim museum which was one of my favorite parts of Venice. The museum was her house that housed all her collections of modern art. I was astounded by all the famous pieces in this small gallery that I had read about in art history books. One of the coolest thing was her wishing tree in her garden. On small pieces of paper, people write their wishes and put them on the tree in hopes they'll come true. I wished for contentment, happiness, excitement, and wonder in order to share them with others.
As the day progressed we shopped along the buzzing markets of the Rialto Bridge and of course, as everyone does in this magical city, got lost. Just when you think you're going the right way, the sidewalk drops off into a canal and you find yourself in a dead end. We ended the day at dinner at an incredible little place on a smaller canal. Our waitor was adorable and the owner Luigi loved us! The atmosphere, the good friends, the wine, and the food made it one of the best dinner's I've ever had. I took no pictures though.
The next morning we woke up and boarded a train to Verona. The train was only about 45 minutes but I still managed to fall asleep. As soon as we got there we went to Juliet's house. We stood on her balcony, which, disappointingly was rebuilt in the 1940's, we saw the actual family palace. There was a place where you could send a letter to Juliet. More noticably, there was a place you could send E-mails to Juliet! That cracked me up! Who knew she was so hip?
It wasn't like the movie Letters to Juliet but it was still a cute little town. My favorite part of the day was actually sitting at lunch in the sun people watching. Verona is such a sharp contrast to Venice when it comes to keeping yourself entertained. Overall the weekend was incredible. I saw so much and am so incredibly thankful that everyday I stand in awe of something completely amazing to me.
