Il tutto di Veneto

This weekend we traveled to Venice for an art history trip with the program.  Unfortunately, it was extremely wet all weekend, but that seems to be the consistent weather report for Venice: damp. The first day was filled with many activities. I feel like every corner we turned we encountered yet another stand for tourists. I was also constantly freaking out over the canals. After we arrived we went to our hotel that was extremely close to Santa Maria Novella. I was furious to find that my beautiful camera decided to stop working (it could turn on/off and take video but would not take a picture – I was convinced the lens was cracked or something) and had to settle on using my iPhone to document the entire weekend, but more on that later. We had some lunch, and then headed to the Chiesa dei Santa Maria dei Frari. The church holds Tiziano’s Assuzione della Vergine and Pesaro Madonna, many tombs, and a sacristy.

Chiesa di S. Maria

Assuzione delle vergine

Next was the big stop: the famous Piazza di San Marco! It war ridiculously crowded, and it wasn’t any better inside the Basilica. I couldn’t get a great picture inside, but the mosaic title EVERYWHERE was magnificent and so unique to the rest of the churches I’ve seen in Italy so far. We were also wondering if we could go up the Campanile di San Marco, the bell tower, but figured it was probably impossible. After Bologna, I’m going to avoid towers for a long, long time. Our teacher told us that foreigners were never actually allowed up the tower in the past because Venice’s main advantage (pre-Napoleon, anyway) was how difficult the city was to navigate. If a foreign trader, for example, was able to get up the tower, they could have drawn a map and Venice would have lost its main military advantage.

Ponte di Rialto!

The Tower (aka massive library inside)

Zodiac clock in Piazza S. Marco

TILES INSIDE

From the second floor of the Basilica :)

Ahhhh gondolas but at 30 euro way too much ahah

We were all surprised to learn that these two stops were the only two we had to make for our class trip! From here on, we had a day and half to do whatever we liked in Venice. Additionally, we had Monday off from our classes, so I made travel plans with a friend to hit up as much of Veneto as we physically could.

Just about died (via Instagram) 

A while before dinner I decided to get something to eat because I was staring, and I found an amazing calzone somewhere in the heart of Venice. We dined at a restaurant near our hotel, and afterwards, gelato, of course! Peach and mango, to be specific. AMAZING. For day 2 of Venice, most of us decided that Palazzo Ducale had to be our main destination. It had dungeons that did not disappoint. Neither did the museum! So many weapons and a few other interesting things…ie. A medieval chastity belt. Ouch.

A scarier version from Men in Tights

dundundundundundungeons

Palazzo Ducale took up most of the day, but after that we all parted ways, and the real adventure began. Rach and I went to San Marco and purchased 24-hour tickets to use the water taxi in and around Venice. Our first stop: Murano, an island which is famous for its hand-crafted colored glass. We ended up splitting a miniscule lunch at a small restaurant here, much to the chagrin of the owner. #sorrynotsorry

Insane glass!

Murano was tiny, and unlike Venice, virtually empty of tourists. It still had the feel of Venice, but the lack of crowds was fantastic. We walked around the island for a while, and I got some great souvenirs for my friends in the form of small, glass animals. There were many large glass sculptures around the island too!

It didn’t take long for us to great through Murano before hopping on a water taxi and headed to the night’s destination: Lido di Veneto, a larger island on the south side of Venice. The taxi seemed to take FOREVER, and we had to change at Piazza San Marco. While this was a great, wholly unique experiences, I do not wish to repeat it. Tooooo breezy. We had some trouble finding our hotel when arriving in Lido, but after some bad directions on my part (I blame Google Maps and my inherent lack of direction) we arrived! We were shocked to find how nice our hotel was for how little we paid for the night. The receptionist was also lovely, and she spoke 3 languages! She told us that practicing with clients help, and I can completely understand her decision to immerse herself - the same method is helping my Italian! I can call the ProntoBus pretty well now, but I’m a bit upset that I only have my literature class at the University to look forward too. I loved my grammar classes with Francesca and definitely want to continue studying Italian grammar on my own when I get back to the States.

Once we settled into the hotel we checked in with our families with our limited internet access. Rach and I basically sat in silence for our few precious minutes of paid internet, haha. My parents also recently got iPhones, and oh man. I feel bad for not being at tome right now to help them with the transition. Soon enough our internet ran out, and the receptionist gave us a recommendation for a restaurant. Lido, like Venice, was wet, but like Murano, virtually unpopulated with tourists. We couldn’t find the recommended restaurant but found somewhere else. This restaurant was super crowded, but the food was fantastic, and the service was awful, so there was a strange balance. We walked around Murano for a little bit before heading back to our hotel, taking showers, and watching Honey Boo Boo in Italian before falling asleep.

In the mornin'

:)

 Our water taxi and train the next morning were fairly early, so we got up, had the BEST free breakfast ever before heading out to the coast of Lido and experiencing the Mediterranean. I don’t even go to the beach very often when I’m home, and yet, I’ve missed it since seeing it in Viareggio. Lido seems like it would be a beautiful place to spend a summer vacation, and I’m definitely making a mental note of this for the future. Thankfully, our water taxi took us all the way back to Santa Maria Novella, and we got some great canal shots of the inside of Venice!

Our train was relatively on time, and after 20 years I was back in the place where I was born: Padova :)

Again, it took us some time to find our hotel, and when we passed a pretty church we saw a man with a broken nose inside and proceeded to walk away very quickly. We also saw a homeless man that was on our train and were marginally concerned. We stayed at the Best Western Birri Hotel, where my dad worked when I was a baby. I met some of his old friends, who were all surprised to see me, haha.  Two of my dad’s other old friends also agreed to show us around Padova, which was extremely handy because after two full days of walking we were exhausted.

Downtown Padova was precious, and had few cars! We saw the Piazza dei Signori, Palazzo della Ragione, Prato della Valle, and the Basilicia di Sant’Antonio, which was my favorite. Like most (if not all) churches in Italy, it was beautiful. It’s also one of the most popular places for pilgrimage by devout Catholics. Sant’Antonio (or Saint Anthony) was well-known for his powers of healing. His tomb still erests inside the Basilica, and it’s said if you touch the tomb and are ill, you will be healed. Obviously, no photos were allowed inside, but we got to touch the tomb! We also saw a short film about the Basilica in a different part of the Church, and after seeing the gift shop I remembered how so many churches were also great businesses. By the end of the day, we were even more exhausted, and my dad’s friend was kind enough to get us dinner, and we ate in the hotel bar before turning in early. (For some reason I never uploaded my Padova pictures....but w/e this is the best one anyway!)

Basilica di Sant'Antonio! via my Instagram

The next morning, more of my dad’s friends came to see us, or rather my dad’s friend’s sons, Niccolo and Mattia. They visited us in Maryland back in 2007, and I almost didn’t recognize them when they came to pick us up. I was super nervous about having to use my Italian around them, despite my many improvements. The drive from Padova to Vicenza didn’t take very long, mostly because the boys were speeding, but shh. It was strange to be reintroduced to their mom and aunt, whom I met before, but it was great to see everyone again. Unfortunately, my dad’s friend was out of the country at the moment, so I made (unspecified) plans to return and visit them before the end of my semester.

Remember my broken camera? Yeah. Not so much broken as filled with cheap batteries. I’m a genius, clearly.

We had a delicious home-cooked meal before exploring the town of Vicenza. The family gave us a book of Vicenza (in English!) to decide what things to go see. The boys and some of their friends showed us around Vicenza, but of course it was Monday, which is the equivalent of a Sunday in the States, therefore many places were closed for the day. Even so, it was still beautiful! We went to a beautiful church first, and I definitely felt like we were getting many stares for being some of the only tourists around.

All of Vicenza!

The villa that was closed :(

 After we got a nice tour of Vicenza, we went to Verona for the last leg of our 4-day weekend. Verona was really cute. We saw the Colesso, the third oldest colosseum in the world, and met some Romans, La Casa di Giulietta (take a guess), and explored the nearby Piazzas. Our hosts were nice enough to put us a Freccia back to Parma, so we could make it back in time for our classes. I felt bad that we had to cut the weekend so short, and I couldn’t say goodbye to everyone, but I’m sure I’ll see them again.

Guess whoooo?

Romeo's POV, probs

Arena di Verona!

Inside the Arena!

Chillin' with some Romans

To come: EASTER BREAK!