Buongiorno!
Ah Italia! I spent the rest of spring break traveling through Italy, bringing my trips to the boot count up to three. I must say it never gets old, in fact Paris is lucky I managed to find my way to the airport and put myself on a plane (not that I don't love Paris, but leaving such amazing food behind never gets any easier). This was my first time in Venice, and as my friend Bob can attest to, it is one of the most beautiful cities in Italy. Despite its major tourist draw, Venice succesfully maintains a calm and quaint atmosphere, as long as you're willing to venture beyond major piazza of course.
We arrived in the city early in the afternoon, taking a vaporetto to our hostel. Now, I realize everyone's big Venice dream is to take a gondola ride through the canals while the gondolier serenades you with an Italian operetta, but personally I think a quick trip on a vaporetto is just as good for a fraction of the cost (a tiny fraction- who knew gondola rides were so expensive?). Oh, just to make sure we're all up to speed, vaporetti are basically water buses that run up and down the major canal and to the various islands in Venice. After checking in at the hostel, where we met the very sassy manager (seriously, what is it with people who run hostels?) we spent the rest of the evening walking up and down the Grand Canal and eating gelato, which in case you're unaware is a daily requirement when visiting Italy.
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| St. Mark's Basilica |
The next day I spent on my own for the most part. I'm not sure what it is with college students, but the ones I traveled with never seemed to know what they wanted to do or even what there was to do in each city and if anything cost any amount of money they generally refused to tag along. Ironically, they spent most of their time shopping in Italy while I was in and out of musuems, churches, and other places of historical significance- who do you think spent more money in the end? Anyway (I promise I won't use this post to vent), I spent the morning walking around the Dorsdoro area, across the Grand Canal from St. Mark's -- a very pituresque and less touristy section of the city. Then I used the afternoon to walk through the Doge's Palace and the Correr Museum, learning a little bit about the history of the city. That evening we had dinner in a restaurant near Piazza San Marco, then spent our last night in "The Floating City" doing what? Eating gelato in the piazza of course!
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| Interior of the Doge's Palace |
The next morning we took a train to Florence, the center of the Italian Renaissance. This was my third, but longest visit, with two whole days of spring break dedicated to the city. I knew Florence was a fairly small city, but I don't think I really realized it until this trip. Elon University also has a study abroad program in Florence, and in the two days we spent there, we ran into three or four students on the Florence program. Just to put that into perspective, I never run into people from my own program in Paris unless it's on purpose.
Since I had already been there, Florence was a very chill part of my spring break. I showed the others around the main sights: the Duomo, the Ponte Vecchio, the Piazza della Repubblica and the Piazza della Signoria. I decided David probably looked the same since the last time I saw him, and while the others went to the Accadamia (believe it or not, I convinced them that they could not leave Florence without seeing him) I went to Santa Croce and the Great Synagogue. The security at the synagogue was intense. I had to leave all of my stuff, camera and everything, in a locker and then I had to stand in a sort of cabin to be scanned before I could enter. Once inside, someone followed me and the French family who entered right in front of me around, closing and locking all of the doors behind us. The synagogue itself was beautiful-- with its Islamic inspired architecture it greatly resembled the Spanish Synagogue in Prague.
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| Santa Croce |
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| The Great Synagogue of Florence |
After meeting back up with i miei amici, I led them to the large open-air market, which I'm sure was much more exciting than David. (They're very nice people and I promise I did enjoy hanging out with them.) Inevitably, much shopping was done at the market, even by me. For dinner we went to a Dante inspired restaurant (only in name, not in decor or anything else luckily) recommended by one of the students studying in Florence. I had an amazingly delicious pizza made with several types of cheeses and topped with eggplant. Then we had a farewell scoop of gelato and prepared ourselves for the voyage to Rome.
Next time: Rome, Capri and I promise I won't forget to tell you about the angry Italian lady.
We arrived in the city early in the afternoon, taking a vaporetto to our hostel. Now, I realize everyone's big Venice dream is to take a gondola ride through the canals while the gondolier serenades you with an Italian operetta, but personally I think a quick trip on a vaporetto is just as good for a fraction of the cost (a tiny fraction- who knew gondola rides were so expensive?). Oh, just to make sure we're all up to speed, vaporetti are basically water buses that run up and down the major canal and to the various islands in Venice. After checking in at the hostel, where we met the very sassy manager (seriously, what is it with people who run hostels?) we spent the rest of the evening walking up and down the Grand Canal and eating gelato, which in case you're unaware is a daily requirement when visiting Italy. 
The next day I spent on my own for the most part. I'm not sure what it is with college students, but the ones I traveled with never seemed to know what they wanted to do or even what there was to do in each city and if anything cost any amount of money they generally refused to tag along. Ironically, they spent most of their time shopping in Italy while I was in and out of musuems, churches, and other places of historical significance- who do you think spent more money in the end? Anyway (I promise I won't use this post to vent), I spent the morning walking around the Dorsdoro area, across the Grand Canal from St. Mark's -- a very pituresque and less touristy section of the city. Then I used the afternoon to walk through the Doge's Palace and the Correr Museum, learning a little bit about the history of the city. That evening we had dinner in a restaurant near Piazza San Marco, then spent our last night in "The Floating City" doing what? Eating gelato in the piazza of course! 
After meeting back up with i miei amici, I led them to the large open-air market, which I'm sure was much more exciting than David. (They're very nice people and I promise I did enjoy hanging out with them.) Inevitably, much shopping was done at the market, even by me. For dinner we went to a Dante inspired restaurant (only in name, not in decor or anything else luckily) recommended by one of the students studying in Florence. I had an amazingly delicious pizza made with several types of cheeses and topped with eggplant. Then we had a farewell scoop of gelato and prepared ourselves for the voyage to Rome.
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