Venice

I’m sorry it has taken me so long to write an update about my life here, but I haven’t felt very motivated to write lately, and now that I have internet access, I’m only writing this update by the sheer force of my will. Okay, it’s not that bad, I do have some desire to write, but still…

Let’s see… the most eventful things that have happened to me recently are that I went to France for the first time (and now many times since then; we are staying right on the border) where I went swimming, rafting and hiking. I also took a three day trip to Venice, which was so much fun!

Venice really is a magical city. It is full of people, carnival masks, smelly rivers, pigeons, and bed bugs. Yes, bed bugs. I definitely got bitten by them while staying in a hostel there. I still have the marks from them two weeks later.

I spent most of my time wandering around the less crowded streets and stumbling upon pretty bridges and old churches. The main things I did go to included St Mark’s Square, St Mark’s Basilica, the Peggy Guggenheim modern art collection, the Glass museum, a glass blowing factory, the cemetery, and I took a boat down the grand canal a few times. I never did take a gondola though; they were just too expensive (cheapest fare was about 60 euro for an hour).

St Mark’s Square…not as cool as I was expecting. It is definitely huge, and the fact that it is supported above water and not ground is pretty cool. The shops that surround this piazza were mostly really expensive jewelry stores, a few café’s and some tourist shops. There were definitely a lot of pigeons though, and they were very friendly.

St Mark’s Basilica… really cool. I think it is just as impressive as St. Peter’s cathedral in Rome. It isn’t as big, but the golden mosaics inside are amazing. Words can’t really describe it, but I’ll post some pictures. I went inside, saw the mosaics, which all have a gold background, so the whole building lights up from the light that reflects off of the walls. You have to pay to see some special things, and out of the three things to see, I chose to go into the museum, which was upstairs and skirted the edges of the nave and transept. I got to go outside and see the square from above as well as have a view of the surrounding area. The museum had some cool things that showed the different phases of the cathedral, and how it was reconstructed. They also had some really huge and old bronze horses that used to be outside on top of the cathedral, but were replaced by new ones, old tapestries, and lots of other cool stuff. You could also go up close to the golden mosaics which was really cool.

The Peggy Guggenheim collection… I consider myself only mildly interested in modern art, and I found this museum to be amazing! Peggy Guggenheim was a supporter of, and major collector of modern art. I got to see original artworks created by Picasso, Pollock, Kandinsky, Brach, Matisse, Hopper, and many more. Those are the only ones I can remember right now. I’m really glad I went here. And, it was one of the few places where I could get a student discount without being a member of the European union!

The Glass Museum…this is on a separate island called Murano. Murano is really famous for it’s glass, and they were (I think) the first people to invent mirrors. The museum was cool because I got to see really old glass that dated from the B.C. era. There were lots of really cool things made of glass that I got to see, but I think the coolest thing was a life size bed with sheets made with glass. Another cool thing was a table centerpiece that was a garden made out of glass. It was about 4x8 feet big, with intricate walls and arches and plants all made of glass.

Glass Factory…this was really cool too, although there were a lot of people so I didn’t get to see very well. They were making some kind of statue of a woman. They showed us a picture of the finished product, and what amazed me most was that they could know what it would turn out to be, with lots of different colors and intricate designs, because while working with it, the glass is just a red ball that looked nothing like the finished product.

The Cemetery…the different thing about cemeteries in Italy is that there is no grass. The graves are either covered with a stone slab, or with gravel. But there are so many flowers all over the place. Check out my pictures to see what I mean. They also have family tombs. I’m not exactly sure how it works, if the bodies are actually buried under the floor of the room, or what, but there were lots around this cemetery. What I mean by tomb is a room, a bout 5x10 square feet that is gated off. Each family can decorate the inside however they want. Most have an alter, and a cross, and lots of flowers.

The Grand canal…It was fun to ride down the grand canal the first couple of times, but when I realized that it was faster to get to most places by walking, I didn’t ride the boat busses much anymore. The busses are really crowded and more really slowly. As far as the canal goes, I didn’t think there was anything special or charming about it, in and of itself. I did like to watch the gondoliers go by, but I don’t think I ever heard one sing the entire time I was there. It was also cool to see the bridges and the fronts of really old buildings. Most of the building that face the grand canal were once Palaces and are either now empty, or have been turned into museums.

So, besides all that, I just wandered around, got lost a bunch of times, found my way back again, and spent a lot of money.

As far a s the hostel goes, it wasn’t too bad besides getting bed bugs. We got free dinner every night, and free breakfast, but the breakfast wasn’t served until 10 am, so I usually got fruit from the grocery store.

Do I want to go back? Definitely.

I don’t know when I will be able to post pictures, but I’ll post a link when I do. Ciao!