Friday morning, I woke up early and headed for the train station. On the way there I passed my favorite granita place where the owner was just opening up for the day. Since Christa and I have become regulars, with the same order each time, the man knows us. He came out to say hello and had a quick broke English-Italian conversation before I headed on my way. It was a great way to start the morning, feeling like I has an Italian friend and wasn’t just an average tourist! I arrived in Venice with 3 other girls to be greeted by a phone call from Giuseppe. He called to let us know that there had been a mix up in the reservation but not to worry because he had arranged for us to stay in a hotel right next to the hostel for the same price. He assured me that he would “send message to my phone of address” before saying “ciao ciao!” He sent the sweetest text with directions and an address, along with wishing us a great stay in Venice. We arrived at our hotels after figuring out the ferry system and realized the mix up had been a blessing. The hotel was very nice and had AIR CONDITIONING, which believe me is all you want in Venice. It was moto caldo (very hot) every minute of the day and night in Venice but so beautiful that it almost didn’t matter. After dropping off our bags, washing our faces, and putting on sunscreen we headed straight to St. Mark’s Square (about 3 minutes from our hotel). We took turns of 2 people standing in line and 2 people looking around until we got into the church. The church was utterly amazing. Everything was covered in gold leaf. We took some time to wander though the church and take in its beauty. We went back into the square and took pictures by the gondolas and then decided we HAD TO ride one! We bargained with the gondola man and reduced the price 50 Euro (Kathie, I learned from you!). It was perfect! Our gondola man answered all of our questions about the floods, the lifestyle, the tourists…everything. We went through back canals, into neighborhoods, back to the Grand Canal, through more populated areas, everything! We were all on a high from the experience so we decided to wander around Venice and just go over all the bridges we could find. Our gondola man told us about an area where there were no tourist and that had shade to walk around, which ended up being really cool. It was the only part of Venice that we saw that was 100% Italian – no tourist, no street vendors, just everyday Italians walking their dogs and getting groceries! We then went to the Guggenheim Museum by ferry. I decided I want Peggy Guggenheim’s life from her 30s on. She decided one day to move to Venice, by a beautiful house on the Grand Canal, collect tons of famous art (Picasso, Dali, Kandinsky, Pollack..), and open her house up to guest and friends. Now it’s an amazing museum right on the water. We wandered through it and imagine her life, while hearing my friend Sarah (who is an Art History major and just took a course on modern art) guide us though each painting. We headed back to the hotel to shower and change for dinner. We found a great restaurant with a view of the canal that wasn’t too expensive. I had a great meal of crab spaghetti!! Then we walked though St. Mark’s square where there was a concert and hung out for a bit. Once we got annoyed with the crowds we moved on to find Harry’s Bar (where the Bellini originated) then got gelato and along a side canal! (Side note: the gelateria has smurf gelato – who knew!) The next morning we went shopping for Murano glass and looked at all the amazing masks in every window. I decided that I’m going back for Carnival before I die!
Sarah and I headed to Verona that afternoon! We meet up with our friends Maddy and Christa who had gotten in earlier that day. We went to our B&B then began wandering the streets of Verona. We went to the Juliet sector, where the wall of all the letters to Juliet are. We saw the balcony modeled after the play, as well as the statue of Juliet. We all rubbed the breasts of Juliet for good luck in love and then crafted a group letter to Juliet to put on the wall. We continued walking around the city into the main piazzas, churches, and sites before heading back to great ready for the night! We took a little rest and showered then headed out to dinner! We went to dinner and had one of those meals that you don’t want to end just because you are enjoying the conversation so much. After dinner we got a bottle of wine to share a we wandered the streets before the opera started. At 9 we headed to the Arena to find our seats for Madame Butterfly by Puccini! The arena is a roman amphitheater that seats thousands and is in the open air! It was beautiful. Although we didn’t quite understand the whole story line, we caught the main idea and enjoyed the beautiful language of Italian. Luckily, the rain held off until the middle of the night when we were sleeping. The next morning we woke up to much cooler weather and went to the medieval castle and bridge. After enjoying how beautiful everything in Verona was we went to the train station. On the way there, we all decided we were craving pasta Bolognese, and where better to find it then in Bologna. Hence, we decided that we would stop in Bologna for lunch on the way back and have the best tagliatelle alla Bolognese ever! We went to the oldest trattoria in Bologna which was a ten minute walk from the train station. The family that owned it was adorable and laughed at us/ with us when we took pictures eating the pasta! We were the only non-italians in the area so we definitely got some stares but the food was unbelievable! I don’t know how I’ll ever eat ragu sauce again! After an amazing lunch, we headed back to Florence! Now I’m back and getting all the little things done (like laundry, homework, unpacking..).
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