Canal Running through Venice
Piazza San Marco- Top of the Cathedral
Burano :)
Isn't it amazing?!
2 of the 4 from the Beatles Band!!
My roommates and I returned to Firenze from Venice Sunday night. It was our first trip completely on our own!! We were amazed with how "smooth" it went... Getting there was no problem since Ashley had been there a week before for a Coldplay concert. She knew exactly where to go and got us a sweet deal on a hotel. On Saturday we toured Venice and Murano. Venice was amazing... small streets all closed in by shops and hotels and restaurants and surrounded by the Adriatic Sea. Canals run through the entire city and its just so surreal. There truly is no other place on earth like Venice. Here everything was a little run down and authentic looking. Very few places had been touched up with a new paint job or wood work or anything... it was very vintage and very cool. There are masks everywhere you look in Venice! They were so neat to look at and play with... I bought a pink and silvery gray one to match my new room at Butler :) After walking through Venice to Piazza San Marco (the only piazza in Venice and its HUGE with a large cathedral right on the sea) we took a water taxi to Murano. This is place famous for its blown glass. It was everywhere!! I wish we could have seen a maker blowing the glass... that would have been so cool! The glass was very pretty, not so much my style, but pretty to look at nonetheless. That evening we had dinner on a canal and went to a "Beer Fest" in Campo Santa Margherita. Now I know what you're thinking... its exactly what we were thinking too... like beer pong and lots of people drinking lots of beer. Well we were very wrong. "Beer Fest" was at this little bar in the corner of the Campo with about 8 tables outside. They were highlighting Birra Venezia for the night and decided to call it a Beer Festival......... weird. Anyway, we got a free t-shirt and some beers. All in all a pretty fun evening. It was easy to get lost in Venice, even when Mara told me that before hand I figured it wouldn't be too bad... it was so difficult getting around the place! I had to use a little of my very poor Italian to get us directions back to the bus station.
On Sunday we took another water taxi over to Burano. Burano is lesser known than some of Venice's other islands, but this had to be one of the most amazing places I have ever seen. It was absolutely incredible. The kind of place I would love to retire to. You could see the island from a great distance away due to its famous brightly painted houses. When this village was settled many years ago it was a fishing town. All of the fishermen decided to paint their houses vibrant shades of red, blue, pink, purple, green, etc. so that they could spot their house from sea and know which direction to head. It was amazing. Aside from the color, it was quiet and quaint. It seemed as though nothing could disturb this peaceful little town that is also famous for its hand stitched lace. I mean seriously?? A little island of pastel houses that hand stitches lace for a living? I'll take the next boat, please. I did get to see an old woman stitching lace inside a shop... so cute. We didn't have long in Burano because we had to get back to catch our train, but the four of us could have stayed there for days. It was so wonderful. I am so happy I was able to see this place. I fell in love with Burano in less than 20 minutes.
And then we had a lovely experience with European public transportation. To make a long and complicated story short... we essentially missed our connection train to Florence from Bologna. Oh and before that we had to stand on the train to Bologna from Venice. I legit sat on the floor in the aisle of a train... sheesh. So we finally made it back to Florence around 10 or so. We were all exhausted and of course I had to get up for class at 8 while the rest of the group got to sleep in. Oh well! This is our last week of classes for this session. I just got home from presenting my oral speech in Italian. I had to choose a topic and talk for 3 minutes. I chose to describe mia famiglia :) I talked about each person, how old they were, if they worked or studied, what they liked, what they looked like, etc. I even brought my picture of the family to pass around class... so hopefully that gets me at A :) Tomorrow I take the written final exam... ugh that's going to be horrible. So we are all staying in tonight to get some study time.
Last evening we went to our favorite Tuesday night hotspot... BeBop. Every Tuesday they have a Beatles cover band!! Its so fun!! They are four Italian guys that surprising look and sound exactly like the Beatles. Last night they even came out after intermission wearing the Sgt. Pepper's outfits! So fun. But I met my first person from Ohio there! It was so funny. He is really close to us... right near the outlet malls on the way to Columbus. I told him I lived in Cincinnati and he asked if I missed skyline.... obviously. We chatted for a while reminiscing on Ohio.. it was pretty funny.
On Friday we are off of school because its a holiday for Florence. It is celebrating the feast of their patron saint... John the Baptist. Friday night they have fireworks to celebrate John the Baptist. We are very excited!! Then we are taking a trip to the Cinque Terre... something I've been looking forward to since I found out I would be able to come here. I am so excited to go and I can't wait to tell you all about it after the weekend.
Hope everyone is doing well. Love and miss you all!!
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