July 15th
So yes, I've been dating these, sorry. It just helps me keep track because most of them are stored as notes on my phone til wifi becomes available. Anyways, here goes!
Harry. Potter.
So wonderful. I have very few words, and will keep most of them to myself for those of you who will be delayed like I thought I would be. But it was definitely the end of an era. It made me sad to think about the ending of my childhood. But, I know that as soon as I get back there is an HP marathon waiting for me, and another trip to see the last one (at least one). And I have them all on DVD so really they will never leave. How wonderful again!
Ok. So yes. We spent a night in Rome watching Harry Potter. It was a nice break though because we've been so busy and running non-stop and it's kind of a nice reminder of the closeness of home and of rest. So it was great. Plus, I love Harry Potter and it brought me all kinds of joy to see it before it was released in the states :)
After HP, I went straight to bed, hoping to be alive for today. Thankfully, I was! And though my nose/head is still a mess with congestion, the lecture was still interesting. And it gave me inspiration for my paper, of which I managed to crank out about 75 percent of it after class and before our afternoon tour.
We were lucky enough to have the same wordy tour guide as in the Vatican today, but it was ok. I mainly just enjoyed wandering around the Roman Forum and the Colosseum while pretending to listen to his voice through my headset. Ps you definitely don't look like a tourist with those headsets on and the walker talkie looking thing hanging around your neck.
Anyways. The Roman Forum and the Colosseum were pretty sweet. Not so much on the tour guides stories, but still way cool to see.
Not too much exciting happened after the tour - I think I sweated more on the metro ride home than the whole tour. Then we attempted to find wifi to finish our papers. I managed to crank it out and finish in time for dinner. After dinner and some gelato, I headed straight to bed to get some rest.
Thankfully, the rest helped and j felt a bit more clear headed the following morning. Which was good because I had my final that morning. Not that it required much brain power, but in case it had.
The afternoon was quite busy - exploring some Roman sites like the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon (so absolutely wonderful), and many a churches. And let's not forget to mention that there is a wonderful gelato shop near he Pantheon, which about 150 flavors to choose from. Oh, no big deal, just the best gelato ever. Yes, we have pictures of the inside, don't worry! Haha, it was super exciting. There were even mousse flavors. I had Mars bar mousse and a flavor called something isabella that looked like vanilla and raspberry. I don't know what it truly was. Other than delicious. Oh. And they had giant cookies on a stick with the Pope's face on them. Yep, pictures are coming of that, too! Hahaha.
In all our wandering, after the gelato was safely consumed, we ended up in what I believe must be the shopping district - so naturally we took advantage. It was only fitting though, since it was our last day and we still had some cash to spare. Plus, my backpack wasn't packed to bursting yet so obviously I needed to find a few more things to bring home. Yes, I was successful! And no, I didn't go broke, yay me!
In the evening, our whole group (I'm pretty sure it was all 43 of us) met in a square for goodbye drinks. It was a little bittersweet and there were more than plenty of hugs shared, as well as stories, and a few more laughs with Steve and each other. Afterwards, a lot of us made one more trip to the Trevi Fountain - to see it at night and to make sure we made our wishes. It was definitely the perfect way to end the trip.
Well, other than the fact that the adventures left me packing in the middle of the night and getting maybe two hours of sleep before waking up to be out of the hotel for 3:45 am. That, and our first flight to Frankfurt was more than a little rough. It didn't help that the check in desks were beyond behind schedule and a crazy mess. They finally realized we needed to check our bags when we only had ten minutes before boarding. Then there was a nice sprint to security, where we cut and made it through about two minutes after boarding was scheduled to start. I say scheduled because we definitely waited in another line when we got to our gate because of technical difficulties... Like no seating arrangements. Good times!
Anyways, we made it through that and safely to our second, and last flight home in just enough time to load up on snacks. It's nap time for me soon now - they're about to serve our meal, then my neck pillow and I are off to oblivion. Only 9 or so hours til touchdown on Texas! That's enough for a night's sleep :)
Lucy
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Friday, July 15, 2011
Roaming Rome
July 13
So I have successfully started the last leg of my journey. This morning we checked out of our hotel in Florence and climbed on our last bus ride to Roma. Thankfully, it wasn't too rough of a bus ride.
For the most part on our travel days, I just sleep. I'm sure you all know how great at sleeping I am, so the traveling days aren't too bad for me. And since it's hard to be fully rested when you've been sleeping in hotels, buses, boats and trains for a month, I've been sleeping the whole rides. So yes, I did spend most of today asleep on a bus. We did get a pretty nice break in Siena for a few hours around lunch time, too. The view was beautiful. A few dedicated people even ran all the way down the hill to take pictures in sunflower fields. I didn't make that far, but it was nice to see the Duomo in Siena and just stretch my legs and refuel.
After our lunch break, we climbed back on the bus and I went back to sleep to finish out the ride to Roma.
Tonight we are having an unscheduled walking tour with Steve, which I'm quite looking forward too. And the next three days are quite busy, so I'll be here and there - and studiously researching and writing my term paper. But don't worry, I'll be up bright and early (if I sleep at all) on Sunday to catch my 6:20 flight home. Just found out we have to leave the hotel at 3:45. Yep, am. Giddyup!
Anyways, I'll let you know how Roma is when I get the chance. Miss you all!
Lucy
July 14th
The walking tour last night was pretty fun. We walked around and saw some of the fountains, including the Quattro Fontane, with it the Carlino, and the Trevi Fountain. It was absolutely nuts how many people were crowding the fountain. It was really cool to see though. And in the heat of the day, it was really tempting to see - I definitely wanted to go swimming. The unfortunate scenario of a massive fine prevented me, though.
After the Trevi, we continued to "Follow the Steve" as I like to call it. All the way up to a pub with a sign that said, "Skip the Trevi, have a bevy". It was happy hour, so Steve continued right on inside.
After just hanging out for a while, a few of us decided to split off and find some dinner. I honestly don't know how Italians take so long to eat - I'm usually ravenous by the time we sit down, and then the lax atmosphere doesn't put my food in front of me right away and I get so antsy. Hopefully I'll manage to have a proper meal and not be antsy at least once before the end of the trip!
Anyways, after a nice dinner, we wandered back to the hotel and my exhaustion brought me straight to bed. Unfortunately, I woke up with a head full of congestion. Not fun, especially on the one morning we had to wake up extra early for a trip to the Vatican.
But don't worry, I'm a trooper. Popped my sudafed, stole a large amount of tissues from our hotel room, and began chugging water to hydrate. The benefits of my high tech medicinal techniques has yet to kick in, but I'm still trooping. And the Vatican was still awesome. It was quite huge, and our guide told us more than plenty about everything we saw. But it was worth it. Wearing my dress, tights and sweater to be fully covered (in the nice, sweltering summer weather) was worth it. The Sistine Chapel is so crazy. So are the guards who yell, like clockwork, "Shhhhh! Silence! No foto!". I might have enjoyed making fun of them. The ceiling was cool too :) At Steve's recommendation, I'm considering getting a book on it, because you definitely can't study it in a brief twenty minute visit with a million of your not close friends. And your neck starts to hurt after awhile. But still way cool.
Even better than the Sistine Chapel was St. Peter's Basillica. For at least the first ten minutes, I just stood there in awe, looking up. Ok, let's get real - that's how I spent the whole visit. It's phenomenal. And massive! I definitely felt like a small child or even just a tiny doll in a massive doll house. A more than massive play house. It was nuts. But so cool. The ceilings, the floors, the sculptures, the mosaics, and just it all. I'll stop listing every aspect, but it was wonderful. One of my friend's took some nice pictures (for her and me) so I'll post them later. Get pumped!
Sidenote about pictures. I'll probably just post pictures in order of my trip when I get home. So I'll relive the trip, city by city, as I can once I'm back in the states. So stay tuned, things won't end Sunday!
Anyways. After the Vatican, the sudafed was wearing off so I drugged back up and took an epic nap for the afternoon. I was still feeling rough afterwards, but I did manage to start my paper... And I'm now in a theater, typing this on my phone, waiting to see Harry Potter 7.2 - needless to say, I'm excited and need to go!
Let you know what I'm up to later, after my date with Harry :)
Lucy
So I have successfully started the last leg of my journey. This morning we checked out of our hotel in Florence and climbed on our last bus ride to Roma. Thankfully, it wasn't too rough of a bus ride.
For the most part on our travel days, I just sleep. I'm sure you all know how great at sleeping I am, so the traveling days aren't too bad for me. And since it's hard to be fully rested when you've been sleeping in hotels, buses, boats and trains for a month, I've been sleeping the whole rides. So yes, I did spend most of today asleep on a bus. We did get a pretty nice break in Siena for a few hours around lunch time, too. The view was beautiful. A few dedicated people even ran all the way down the hill to take pictures in sunflower fields. I didn't make that far, but it was nice to see the Duomo in Siena and just stretch my legs and refuel.
After our lunch break, we climbed back on the bus and I went back to sleep to finish out the ride to Roma.
Tonight we are having an unscheduled walking tour with Steve, which I'm quite looking forward too. And the next three days are quite busy, so I'll be here and there - and studiously researching and writing my term paper. But don't worry, I'll be up bright and early (if I sleep at all) on Sunday to catch my 6:20 flight home. Just found out we have to leave the hotel at 3:45. Yep, am. Giddyup!
Anyways, I'll let you know how Roma is when I get the chance. Miss you all!
Lucy
July 14th
The walking tour last night was pretty fun. We walked around and saw some of the fountains, including the Quattro Fontane, with it the Carlino, and the Trevi Fountain. It was absolutely nuts how many people were crowding the fountain. It was really cool to see though. And in the heat of the day, it was really tempting to see - I definitely wanted to go swimming. The unfortunate scenario of a massive fine prevented me, though.
After the Trevi, we continued to "Follow the Steve" as I like to call it. All the way up to a pub with a sign that said, "Skip the Trevi, have a bevy". It was happy hour, so Steve continued right on inside.
After just hanging out for a while, a few of us decided to split off and find some dinner. I honestly don't know how Italians take so long to eat - I'm usually ravenous by the time we sit down, and then the lax atmosphere doesn't put my food in front of me right away and I get so antsy. Hopefully I'll manage to have a proper meal and not be antsy at least once before the end of the trip!
Anyways, after a nice dinner, we wandered back to the hotel and my exhaustion brought me straight to bed. Unfortunately, I woke up with a head full of congestion. Not fun, especially on the one morning we had to wake up extra early for a trip to the Vatican.
But don't worry, I'm a trooper. Popped my sudafed, stole a large amount of tissues from our hotel room, and began chugging water to hydrate. The benefits of my high tech medicinal techniques has yet to kick in, but I'm still trooping. And the Vatican was still awesome. It was quite huge, and our guide told us more than plenty about everything we saw. But it was worth it. Wearing my dress, tights and sweater to be fully covered (in the nice, sweltering summer weather) was worth it. The Sistine Chapel is so crazy. So are the guards who yell, like clockwork, "Shhhhh! Silence! No foto!". I might have enjoyed making fun of them. The ceiling was cool too :) At Steve's recommendation, I'm considering getting a book on it, because you definitely can't study it in a brief twenty minute visit with a million of your not close friends. And your neck starts to hurt after awhile. But still way cool.
Even better than the Sistine Chapel was St. Peter's Basillica. For at least the first ten minutes, I just stood there in awe, looking up. Ok, let's get real - that's how I spent the whole visit. It's phenomenal. And massive! I definitely felt like a small child or even just a tiny doll in a massive doll house. A more than massive play house. It was nuts. But so cool. The ceilings, the floors, the sculptures, the mosaics, and just it all. I'll stop listing every aspect, but it was wonderful. One of my friend's took some nice pictures (for her and me) so I'll post them later. Get pumped!
Sidenote about pictures. I'll probably just post pictures in order of my trip when I get home. So I'll relive the trip, city by city, as I can once I'm back in the states. So stay tuned, things won't end Sunday!
Anyways. After the Vatican, the sudafed was wearing off so I drugged back up and took an epic nap for the afternoon. I was still feeling rough afterwards, but I did manage to start my paper... And I'm now in a theater, typing this on my phone, waiting to see Harry Potter 7.2 - needless to say, I'm excited and need to go!
Let you know what I'm up to later, after my date with Harry :)
Lucy
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Duomo, Duomo, Duomo
So I have to say, Florence had yet to floor me. I did almost wish our free day had been in Rome, but I completely take that back. Most of our group went galavanting off on a wine tour today, and many went on train adventures to the beach or Piza. But I am so glad I didn't
Myself and two friends decided to brave the line for the duomo this afternoon. It was later, so our line was waiting in the shade, which definitely helped. But the line did move pretty fast. And it was beyond worth it. The line was shorter than going into the cathedral and we saw so much more. Instead of standing under, in one spot, we climbed. We stood next to the ceiling paintings. I could almost reach up and touch the cracks in the inner dome. Don't worry, those are not serious cracks! And we could see the whole inside of the floor plan downstairs. Not to mention climbing up between the two domes. You can barely tell unless you're taking in your surroudings as you climb and see the curve of the inner dome to one side. And right before you reach the top, you literally have to walk up the inner dome. The steps are almost vertical, very much like a ladder. Not worrisome going up, but a little tricky climbing down. But still worth it.
From the top, we had a gorgeous panoramic view of Florence. We could see the Santa Croce, the Medici palace we walk past to dinner at night, the city center arches , and a phenomenal amour more. Including the mountains in the distance! Even though it would have looked phenomenal on film, the view was still worth it without being able to document it.
And long story short, the Fuomo made Florence worth it. Dinner afterwards and time with friends was fabulous. But the Duomo took my breathe away. Of suggest it to slob
I'm off to Rome tomorrow, so I'll update you when we manage to steal wifi there. I love you all, though! Cross your fingers I actually write my term paper on the bus tomorrow like I've been saying I'm going to!
Lucy
Myself and two friends decided to brave the line for the duomo this afternoon. It was later, so our line was waiting in the shade, which definitely helped. But the line did move pretty fast. And it was beyond worth it. The line was shorter than going into the cathedral and we saw so much more. Instead of standing under, in one spot, we climbed. We stood next to the ceiling paintings. I could almost reach up and touch the cracks in the inner dome. Don't worry, those are not serious cracks! And we could see the whole inside of the floor plan downstairs. Not to mention climbing up between the two domes. You can barely tell unless you're taking in your surroudings as you climb and see the curve of the inner dome to one side. And right before you reach the top, you literally have to walk up the inner dome. The steps are almost vertical, very much like a ladder. Not worrisome going up, but a little tricky climbing down. But still worth it.
From the top, we had a gorgeous panoramic view of Florence. We could see the Santa Croce, the Medici palace we walk past to dinner at night, the city center arches , and a phenomenal amour more. Including the mountains in the distance! Even though it would have looked phenomenal on film, the view was still worth it without being able to document it.
And long story short, the Fuomo made Florence worth it. Dinner afterwards and time with friends was fabulous. But the Duomo took my breathe away. Of suggest it to slob
I'm off to Rome tomorrow, so I'll update you when we manage to steal wifi there. I love you all, though! Cross your fingers I actually write my term paper on the bus tomorrow like I've been saying I'm going to!
Lucy
An Italian Relaxation
Today is a free day and so far it has been the best day yet. Ok, maybe I'm exaggerating, but sleeping in, having a late breakfast in my pjs and not even know what my plans are yet. Well, that's a lie, I have plans. But they are relaxed and flexible and I love it.
That's not to say I've caught up on sleep, because who can in squeaky hotel beds, but it's ok. I'll catch up soon enough!
I did get to see plenty yesterday, though! The walking tour, though it was beyond ridiculously hot, was nice. We saw so much - including the Santa Croce, definitely the best part. We saw the graves of Michaelangelo, Machiavelli and Galileo, as well as many others. Really legit. I didn't have my camera, but the sights were still lovely. And I looked super cute with my shoulders and knees covered (using a scarf as a sarong). The guard laughed at me, but I was allowed to go inside so I didn't complain. I'm pretty sure someone took my picture in my ridiculous outfit, so don't worry, you will get to see it later.
Last night, the day just got even better when we had a true Italian dinner. None of the staff spoke any English and that's how you know the food was lovely. The vino and limo cello were too :) the night ended peacefully on our hotel's rooftop garden, sharing stories and nothing too terrible.
Well, the day is about to begin, so I must be off. Talk to you again soon!
Lucy
That's not to say I've caught up on sleep, because who can in squeaky hotel beds, but it's ok. I'll catch up soon enough!
I did get to see plenty yesterday, though! The walking tour, though it was beyond ridiculously hot, was nice. We saw so much - including the Santa Croce, definitely the best part. We saw the graves of Michaelangelo, Machiavelli and Galileo, as well as many others. Really legit. I didn't have my camera, but the sights were still lovely. And I looked super cute with my shoulders and knees covered (using a scarf as a sarong). The guard laughed at me, but I was allowed to go inside so I didn't complain. I'm pretty sure someone took my picture in my ridiculous outfit, so don't worry, you will get to see it later.
Last night, the day just got even better when we had a true Italian dinner. None of the staff spoke any English and that's how you know the food was lovely. The vino and limo cello were too :) the night ended peacefully on our hotel's rooftop garden, sharing stories and nothing too terrible.
Well, the day is about to begin, so I must be off. Talk to you again soon!
Lucy
Monday, July 11, 2011
A few trivial updates
Learning how to steal wifi is probably the epitome of a broke college student. Everyone searches for the one network we can get on just to check Facebook and skype and all sorts of things. As you can tell, we're getting pretty good at it.
Just a few things in this post. For one, my camera is beyond my repair capabilities :( I know, I promise I'm more upset than you are. Taking pictures on my phone is not how I wanted to capture Florence and Rome. But as it is only the last few days, I will survive. And probably steal photos from some friends who also know what's up.
Next, my eye is completely recovered. I probably just got something in it, but whatever it was is gone now and I've thankfully abandoned my glasses once again. Which is awesome because it's ridiculously hot. All of my clothes finish the day soaked in sweat. It's quite delightful smelling, promise. It has made me immensely grateful I brought my waterbottle. Otherwise I'm pretty positive I would have had a heat stroke by now.
Naps have become a more frequent activity for the group as a whole because no one seems to get enough sleep and venturing out into the heat does not sound appealing at all. But don't worry, we have an afternoon walking tour today! Thankfully, we stayed inside this morning for a lecture almost as if they're trying to keep us as cool as possible so we don't pass out during the tour. It should be delightful though! I'll let you know later - and hopefully I'll acquire pictures some how!
Lucy
Just a few things in this post. For one, my camera is beyond my repair capabilities :( I know, I promise I'm more upset than you are. Taking pictures on my phone is not how I wanted to capture Florence and Rome. But as it is only the last few days, I will survive. And probably steal photos from some friends who also know what's up.
Next, my eye is completely recovered. I probably just got something in it, but whatever it was is gone now and I've thankfully abandoned my glasses once again. Which is awesome because it's ridiculously hot. All of my clothes finish the day soaked in sweat. It's quite delightful smelling, promise. It has made me immensely grateful I brought my waterbottle. Otherwise I'm pretty positive I would have had a heat stroke by now.
Naps have become a more frequent activity for the group as a whole because no one seems to get enough sleep and venturing out into the heat does not sound appealing at all. But don't worry, we have an afternoon walking tour today! Thankfully, we stayed inside this morning for a lecture almost as if they're trying to keep us as cool as possible so we don't pass out during the tour. It should be delightful though! I'll let you know later - and hopefully I'll acquire pictures some how!
Lucy
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Finding Firenze
So my computer does not like the new wifi system next door to our hotel so I'm typing this on my phone. Please forgive any errors, I'm doing my best!
Anyways. I last left you when I was spending money in the Venice markets - they were lovely! I don't remember if I mentioned, but we did get to visit the Academia in Venice, as well as the Guggenheim. The Guggenheim was definitely my favorite of the two. Some cool stuff there - including Jackson Pollock, who I had never heard of before, but surprisingly enjoyed. Their was some crazy stuff too, but when isn't there?
After the Guggenheim, we packed up and enjoyed a nice, steamy ride of the ferry before our four hour bus ride to Florence. This is the first time I've been consciously thankful for the cram amine I've been taking on travel days. All sorts of motion sickness pills and techniques were being passed all over the bus for the last hour or so, it was a little rough. We all survived though and got to enjoy Florence for the evening! It was stupendous just walking down the street, aimlessly following streets to find some dinner, only to come around the corner and have the Duomo looming overheard. So phenomenal. I didn't take my camera with me, something I sincerely regret now since my camera is having technical difficulties :( will update on that once I manage to figure it out.
This morning we visited the Academia of Florence, and there was some cool stuff. Their prize piece is definitely Michaelangelo's David. Not too bad if you ask me. It's definitely way taller than I was expecting. I haven't figured out what makes it rank so much higher than some of the other statues, but that's just me. Maybe I'm also biased when it comes to David's, but who could say.
After the Academia, there was quite a movement to the leather market. Delightful smell - even despitethe heat and sweat going on. I enjoyed looking around. And no, I didn't go crazy! I just found a thing or two. And helped some friends drive down their prices :)
After lunch, where the pizza maker was sweet enough to make out bread into little pizza hearts, we headed to the Uffizi. The tour guide we had was a little dry, and hard to handle in the epic heat, but we wandered on our own for awhile, enjoying the pieces for our own delight. The late afternoon yielded some shopping before some relaxation - and a cafe with free wifi, obviously.
Oh, and just a side note, I don't have pink eye. My eye was quite swollen last night, and still pretty bad this morning, but the day and plenty of cleanings have helped. And I'm pretty sure the girl who had pink eye was a bit of a false alarm. So I am ok, don't freak out over my melodramatics. But I'm sure you are all used to that by now :)
Ok too much phone typing! Need to get back to exploring and enjoying my last week of Italia! Hopefully we will be a safe distance from the leather market, otherwise I may come home broke :)
Lucy
Anyways. I last left you when I was spending money in the Venice markets - they were lovely! I don't remember if I mentioned, but we did get to visit the Academia in Venice, as well as the Guggenheim. The Guggenheim was definitely my favorite of the two. Some cool stuff there - including Jackson Pollock, who I had never heard of before, but surprisingly enjoyed. Their was some crazy stuff too, but when isn't there?
After the Guggenheim, we packed up and enjoyed a nice, steamy ride of the ferry before our four hour bus ride to Florence. This is the first time I've been consciously thankful for the cram amine I've been taking on travel days. All sorts of motion sickness pills and techniques were being passed all over the bus for the last hour or so, it was a little rough. We all survived though and got to enjoy Florence for the evening! It was stupendous just walking down the street, aimlessly following streets to find some dinner, only to come around the corner and have the Duomo looming overheard. So phenomenal. I didn't take my camera with me, something I sincerely regret now since my camera is having technical difficulties :( will update on that once I manage to figure it out.
This morning we visited the Academia of Florence, and there was some cool stuff. Their prize piece is definitely Michaelangelo's David. Not too bad if you ask me. It's definitely way taller than I was expecting. I haven't figured out what makes it rank so much higher than some of the other statues, but that's just me. Maybe I'm also biased when it comes to David's, but who could say.
After the Academia, there was quite a movement to the leather market. Delightful smell - even despitethe heat and sweat going on. I enjoyed looking around. And no, I didn't go crazy! I just found a thing or two. And helped some friends drive down their prices :)
After lunch, where the pizza maker was sweet enough to make out bread into little pizza hearts, we headed to the Uffizi. The tour guide we had was a little dry, and hard to handle in the epic heat, but we wandered on our own for awhile, enjoying the pieces for our own delight. The late afternoon yielded some shopping before some relaxation - and a cafe with free wifi, obviously.
Oh, and just a side note, I don't have pink eye. My eye was quite swollen last night, and still pretty bad this morning, but the day and plenty of cleanings have helped. And I'm pretty sure the girl who had pink eye was a bit of a false alarm. So I am ok, don't freak out over my melodramatics. But I'm sure you are all used to that by now :)
Ok too much phone typing! Need to get back to exploring and enjoying my last week of Italia! Hopefully we will be a safe distance from the leather market, otherwise I may come home broke :)
Lucy
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Vive Venezia
Don't kill me if the title isn't correct... I'm good at ciao and gratzi and that's about it, haha!
BUT. Venice is lovely!
Definitely by far my favorite and I've only been here one day. We've wandered the streets and canals and definitely gotten lost and it's been great.
We came in early last night and just spent some time looking around before settling in for some Italian pasta, followed, of course, by gelato. It was delicious. We did some more wandering afterwards, just enjoying the lights along the canal before turning in early.
This morning we had to be up early, but it was worth it because the breakfast in this hotel is wonderful. Sadly it was cut short because a lot of us had to change to accommodate a visit to St. Mark's Cathedral, where we needed to have our shoulders and knees covered. I ended up wearing leggings under my dress for that portion of the morning - real cute, promise. The visit was great though. The inside of the cathedral is beyond elaborate, and the intense amounts of detail are yet again, breath taking. I do still love Chartes more, but Chartes and I have a once in a lifetime kind of love. After St. Mark's, we walked through the Doges Palace next door. It was an incredibly different sort of wonderful, one I think I liked more than the cathedral. There was a lot more openness. Can't say much for the simpleness, though because both places were covered in gold leaf. We did get to cross the Bridge of Sighs - which I was unaware lead from the Palace to the prison. And it was actually deemed the Bridge of Sighs because of the prisoners sighing as they walked across it to the chopping block. Terribly depressing if you ask me! But still really cool to see and learn.
After the square, we followed our crazy tour guide all over Venice. It was kind of ridiculous how fast he expected all of us to follow him when it's a group of over 40 down narrow streets, filled with cute shops which distracted all the girls in the group - which is about 90% of our group. It definitely sparked ideas for our free time after the tour! We did see some other places with our tour guide - primarily the Basilica dei Frari. There was a lot more sculpture inside of this cathedral, which I really enjoyed. The unfortunate thing about having a tour guide, though, is that they tend to rush you through some of the nicer things so that you see everything. So we saw and heard a lot, but mildly briefly. Still enjoyable though!
After the tour finished, they took us to the canal where we could take a very short gondola ride across the canal to make our trip back shorter. It was fun to experience and photo graph, as well as very telling that I could not handle a full gondola ride all across the canals. I was way too nervous I was going to fall out at any second - not very relaxing.
This afternoon we had a brief lecture, followed by shopping. The shopping was not a class requirement, but I'm pretty sure the whole class did some shopping of some sort. The few I was with definitely ran into other groups throughout the afternoon, in various states of purchases. It was great. Don't worry, I'm not broke, yet! I did come home feeling like the picture of an Italian vacation in a summer dress, Venetian hat, and a spring in my step. The spring possibly due to the visit at a local wine bar with our professor, but either way, I had fun!
It was a delightful day, and there is more to happen tomorrow! It's crazy I'm down to only ten days left - how times flies!
Need to go make the most of what I have left!
Lucy
BUT. Venice is lovely!
Definitely by far my favorite and I've only been here one day. We've wandered the streets and canals and definitely gotten lost and it's been great.
We came in early last night and just spent some time looking around before settling in for some Italian pasta, followed, of course, by gelato. It was delicious. We did some more wandering afterwards, just enjoying the lights along the canal before turning in early.
This morning we had to be up early, but it was worth it because the breakfast in this hotel is wonderful. Sadly it was cut short because a lot of us had to change to accommodate a visit to St. Mark's Cathedral, where we needed to have our shoulders and knees covered. I ended up wearing leggings under my dress for that portion of the morning - real cute, promise. The visit was great though. The inside of the cathedral is beyond elaborate, and the intense amounts of detail are yet again, breath taking. I do still love Chartes more, but Chartes and I have a once in a lifetime kind of love. After St. Mark's, we walked through the Doges Palace next door. It was an incredibly different sort of wonderful, one I think I liked more than the cathedral. There was a lot more openness. Can't say much for the simpleness, though because both places were covered in gold leaf. We did get to cross the Bridge of Sighs - which I was unaware lead from the Palace to the prison. And it was actually deemed the Bridge of Sighs because of the prisoners sighing as they walked across it to the chopping block. Terribly depressing if you ask me! But still really cool to see and learn.
After the square, we followed our crazy tour guide all over Venice. It was kind of ridiculous how fast he expected all of us to follow him when it's a group of over 40 down narrow streets, filled with cute shops which distracted all the girls in the group - which is about 90% of our group. It definitely sparked ideas for our free time after the tour! We did see some other places with our tour guide - primarily the Basilica dei Frari. There was a lot more sculpture inside of this cathedral, which I really enjoyed. The unfortunate thing about having a tour guide, though, is that they tend to rush you through some of the nicer things so that you see everything. So we saw and heard a lot, but mildly briefly. Still enjoyable though!
After the tour finished, they took us to the canal where we could take a very short gondola ride across the canal to make our trip back shorter. It was fun to experience and photo graph, as well as very telling that I could not handle a full gondola ride all across the canals. I was way too nervous I was going to fall out at any second - not very relaxing.
This afternoon we had a brief lecture, followed by shopping. The shopping was not a class requirement, but I'm pretty sure the whole class did some shopping of some sort. The few I was with definitely ran into other groups throughout the afternoon, in various states of purchases. It was great. Don't worry, I'm not broke, yet! I did come home feeling like the picture of an Italian vacation in a summer dress, Venetian hat, and a spring in my step. The spring possibly due to the visit at a local wine bar with our professor, but either way, I had fun!
It was a delightful day, and there is more to happen tomorrow! It's crazy I'm down to only ten days left - how times flies!
Need to go make the most of what I have left!
Lucy
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