Venezia e Firenze

This time last week I was packing (my new backpack!) for my weekend adventure in Venezia e Firenze aka Venice and Florence in English. Overall it was an amazing weekend and I had the privilege of celebrating my birthday with my roommates in both cities!

I decided to go a day before my roommates so I left very early (5:30 am) on Thursday morning. My train left for Venice at 7 am and I was due to arrive at Sant Lucia Stazionne at noon. However my train broke down and we were stopped for almost 2 hours. The Conductor would continually make announcements in Italian (an English man across from me would translate for me and others): "Slight problem with the Locomotive...be moving shortly"; "Locomotive broken"; "Locomotive can not be fixed and the train will stop at the next station to drop everyone off...So you will have to find your own transportation to your final destination." Woah- when I heard the last one after already sitting for over an hour I was quite worried because I did not know any other way to Venice! However I did find some humor in it just in thinking that everything always has to be adventure! Thankfully though, once we started moving again the conductor announced "The problem fixed itself!" So I made it directly to Venice even though I was 2 hours delayed.

Once I got off the train station the Grand Canal was directly in front of me and despite the mass amounts of tourists I did feel as if though I was in a different world! My next task was to find my hotel: Locanda Silva and the directions that the hotel gave were very vague and they only told me which water bus line to take...nothing from there! So I started this next adventure by purchasing a water bus pass and a map. The water bus pass is quite expensive (6.50 for a one way ticket) but I was able to get a 24 hour pass for 16 euro. And the map is an absolute necessity in Venice! Anyways...I took the water bus to the stop right after St. Marks Square and just started walking! I really had no clue where I was going and I tried to follow the map but it didn't help much because the street that my hotel was on was NOT even shown on the map! I just kept reminding myself: "Kristin you're on an island...you can't get lost!" Haha! But after a half an hour I was getting a little frustrated so I stopped in at another hotel and asked where the Locanda Silva was...to my delight I only had to go down one street, over two bridges, and down another street! So from there I found it very easily and was able to settle into my lil' room and recharge before heading out around the island.

I first headed for St. Mark's Square...San Marco in Italian. I went into the Basilica and it was absolutely beautiful. My favorite part was the awesome mosaiced marble floor...it was so intricate and detailed. After heading out of the Basilica I went back to the water bus to take a 40 min ride to Murano which is another island off of Venice famous for their glass making. It was a beautiful island- very quaint but still touristy with a lot of little jewelry and glass shops/factories/galleries. I bought some gifts from some of the shops before heading back to Venice. I decided though to not waste my time on the water bus so I got off on the other side of the island from San Marco to walk around and 'get lost.' The once nice thing about Venice is that there are bright yellow signs on the corners of buildings that serve as direction markers for key places like 'San Marco' or "Ponte Rialto" So once I got into a more populated area I was able to follow these signs. But I did very much enjoy walking around through narrow streets and over bridges uninterrupted by anyone else. For the rest of the evening I just walked around...pretty much back and forth between San Marco and the Rialto- taking a different way each time! Then I got some gelato and sat at the base of a small canal and watched as gondola's passed through the moonlight before winding through the narrow canal. It was quite beautiful and ro-tic :) After a full and long day I was hungry and tired! So I found a pizzeria (which wasn't hard at all!), got some pizza, and went back to my hotel...which was much easier to find this time! So even though it was a long day- it was a wonderful and I enjoyed the time alone and being able to discover Venice at my own pace.

Friday morning began with a lovely hotel breakfast...I loved being able to stay right on the island in the center of everything. But of course all good things come to an end and I had to check out after breakfast and leave the island to meet up with my roommates at our hotel in Mestre. They arrived in Venice at 7am (overnight train from Rome!) and I was meeting them so we could check in together at Hotel Giovanna. Once we settled though we all headed back to the island to go to La Biennale! La Biennale is an bi-annual architecture exhibition throughout the island of Venice. It was so incredible!!! At the one location there were 26 countries with their own pavilions...Each pavilion was a mini-museum in itself. We only had 6 hours before it closed for the night so in it was definitely not enough time to see everything. But plenty of time to be completely overwhelmed and overjoyed by the sheer amount of information, drawings, concepts, and models! I saw so many things that it is hard for me to comprehend and apply it all. I could however go into much much more detail about things I saw, concepts I enjoyed, models I loved but I wouldn't want to bore you all ;) So I really wish I would have had a few more days to devote to La Biennale itself!

After we finished at the exhibition we watched the sunset and then walked back to San Marco. In the square they have orchestra's that play throughout the square in front of cafes...it was beautiful! We just walked around and got some dinner (pizza of course!) before taking the train back to Mestre.

Saturday...October 11th...my birthday :) In the morning we went back to Venice in search of Carlo Scarpa's Querini Stampalia, an art museum that he restored. It was so cool to be there after just learning about it in Hist. of Arch IV! He raised the new floors up off of the existing floor in order to create 'canal's throughout the lower level...to invite the flooding into the building and making a seamless connection from the canals throughout the city into the museum. It was such a neat experience and the amazing thing about Scarpa's work is the amount of detail he uses throughout. Absolutely incredible! What a great birthday present ;) After seeing that we were on a bit of a time crunch to get back to Mestre and grab our luggage to catch our 1:30 train to Firenze!

Once in Florence we broke off again- Leah and I had a hostel for one night and Sarah and Lindsay had one for two nights...so we said 'goodbye' with plans to meet in the evening for dinner. Leah booked a hostel for us called Leonardo House it was much different (in a negative way) than the Welcome Inn in Naples. When we rang the doorbell for the address that was given a younger man came out and just said "follow me." Ha! So we followed him a few blocks and he just started to explain what all of the keys were for. One to get into the building, another for the gate, another for the hostel, another for our room. It was quite sketchy! As for the hostel there wasn't any common area or lobby- just a long hallway with rooms and one bathroom. It was very basic but at least we had a cheap place to crash for the night!

So after dropping our stuff off we went and walked around the city. First off Florence is beautiful and it is very easy to walk everywhere since it is so condensed. We first walk along the Arno River to Ponte Vecchio...the bridge with all of the famous jewelers...we saw lots of very expensive bling! From the bridge we walked to the Duomo...aka the Basilica with Brunelleschi's dome :) Plus we found the best gelato place one street up from the Duomo- it's called Grom and it's all organic, fresh ingredients, amazing gelato! It is true that quality is better than quantity. I had peach and yogurt flavors...and we ate our gelato in front of the Duomo...as the sun set (of course!) From there we went back to our hostel to change and get ready to go out for dinner! I chose a Trattoria which is more of a family owned type of restaurant and my roommates treated me to a birthday dinner :) At a Trattoria style restaurant they brought us complimentary champagne and appetizers...it was very nice. We all shared an antipasto- it was a meat platter. And then my first course was spinach ravioli with fresh tomatoes and lettuce...delicious! My second course was a tuna salad which was also very tasty! After dinner we went to an Irish Pub where they treated me to some birthday drinks ;) It was such a great birthday and the fact that I spent half in Venice and the other half in Florence is just too awesome!

Sunday morning Leah and I went to a bar for breakfast aka cappuccino and a cornetto. From there we split up and did our own thing for the day till 5pm when we met to pick up our luggage at the hostel and head to the train station. I decided to go to the Uffizi Gallery (w/o reservations) so I waited an hour and a half in line but it was worth it! I got to see the Birth of Venus by Botticelli (!!), some da Vinci, Caravaggio, Raphael, Lippi...it was wonderful. After the Uffizi I really wanted to do the Academia (where the statue of David is) but it was a 2 hour wait...so I decided I didn't want to spend my whole day in a line. I walked around through the big market (but not as big as Porta Portese)...did some Christmas shopping ;) I also got myself some sweet leather gloves, and since Florence is famous for their leather it is a souvenir as well as an investment! After a quick lunch break I went back to the Duomo and went inside this time...sadly the dome is closed on Sunday's so I just walked through the nave. And I just happened to exit out the side of the church near Grom! ha! So of course I got more gelato...coffee and stracciatella (like chocolate chip). I walked back toward Ponte Vecchio to go to the Pitti Palace Gardens, where I spent the rest of my afternoon relaxing in the sun :) Ahhh...another day well spent! Before I knew it I had to head back to meet Leah and get our luggage. We went to the train station and had to take different trains back to Rome. Hers left an hour after mine but it was a faster train and ironically we ended up at the Trastevere tram stop at the exact time! That was strange!

So I had a great weekend and I am planning on going to back to Florence if at all possible. I have another day to use my eurail pass so I need to go somewhere with it! I would just love to spend more time there and go to the Academia and the top of the Dome.

So that was my weekend in a nutshell! Now I am looking forward to this upcoming weekend in Rome and having the time to do more things around my 'home' city :)

Birthday Weekend!

Ciao Ciao...well I am back from my lovely extended weekend in Venice and Florence! It was such a great weekend and considering I just got back tonight I will not go into details just tidbits. So expect another long entry soon explaining everything more ;)

• Traveling to Venice by myself and the train breaking down
• Arriving in Venice :)
• Water bus and finding my hotel...Locanda Silva
• Murano
• St. Mark's Square
• Rialto Bridge
• Architect 'friend'
• Meeting up with my roomies in Mestre
• La Biennale (!!!)
• 10/11 :)
• Querini Stampalia (Carlo Scarpa's Museo!)
• Off to Florence
• Leonardo House Hostel with Leah
• Grom gelato :)
• L'Duomo
• B-day dinner at a Trattoria
• Irish Pub
• L'Uffizi Gallery
• Market
• Grom gelato!!
• Pitti Palace
• Train to Roma!

Well that should whet your appetite some :)

Porta Portese n' more

So on Sunday I went to the largest outdoor market in Rome, Porta Portese. And it was huge! We walked around for two hours...weaving through crowds and hundreds of tents with enthusiastic vendors! It was a lot to take in but I did make some good purchases! Christmas presents for the lil' bro and sis :) I also bought a spoon! Ha- this was my only attempt at bartering and I thought I had succeeded....I commented to Sarah on how well it went. Then after I had walked I heard..."Signorita!! Signorita!! NO!" and the woman vendor running towards me! She wanted €2 instead of €1! You see...I thought I had lowered the price to €1 and I so gave her a €1 coin, which she assumed was a €2 coin. But it wasn't till I was gone that she realized I 'gipped' her...Oops! But other than that one instance of poor communication it was a great morning! Later on Sunday I went to Pamphili Park to walk around and have some God time. It was such a relaxing afternoon. I even took a nap on a bench- I felt so Italian!

This weeks classes were pretty normal. I really enjoy my on-site classes...I feel so spoiled to be able to learn about Trajan's column and Forum while standing right in front of it :) Oh and I had my first test today...it was for Itineraries of Contem. Architecture. Our teacher actually forgot we had a test today so she gave us a 30 minute break to go get coffee while she made it halfway through our 3 hour long class! That was pretty funny! But compared to the History of Architecture classes at Philly U this test was "like a spelling test" (Chris). We just had to list the name of the building and architect!

Oh my and tonight Lindsay made the most amazing dinner...I can only attempt to describe it! There was a piece of toast topped with apricot jelly, fontina (cheese), grilled chicken breast, and proscuitto atop a bed of 'Lindsay's couscous'. Her couscous included an ecletic mix of apricots, sun-dried tomatoes, pistachios, scallions, BACON!!, pears, 'special onions', and sage. It was like a party in my mouth!

Well I am actually skipping my class tommorrow (shocker!) to go to Venice early! My train leaves at 6:50 in the morning and its a high speed train so it will only take 4 hours! I will be traveling by myself and everyone else is going to join my on Friday morning. I went to make a reservation for my train before dinner and I was nervous because of my poor italian so I had my dictionary and I was practicing what to say in my head. Well I started off by saying (in Italian) "I'm sorry but I don't speak Italian.." and the guy at the window says: "That's ok I speak English!" Of course! I am staying in a 'cheap' hotel, single room in Venice tommorrow night and it's only a four minute walk from St. Marks Square :) So it was a lil' splurge but I guess it will just be a birthday present to myself! But when everyone else comes on Friday we are staying in the same hostel which will be off of the island. So it will be really nice to stay on the island for one night!

I don't really have any set plans except that on Friday we are going to an international architecture exhibit that only takes place every two years! I would also like to go to the glass museum and wander around the streets and canals!! On Saturday we are going to Florence which means I will be celebrating my birthday there! So I'm sure that it will be a fun weekend!

So I was thinking today...I have been here for a month now! I am amazed at how much I have learned and been exposed to...and yet how much more there is to see and do! Also just in little ways that I have changed, either in adapting to the culture or just new routines and habits. One way I have changed is just how quiet I am here! For one, I don't know that language so that prevents me from talking. And I guess I am just soaking in everything around me too. Another thing that is hard for me to get used to is 'no eye contact'...So it may be hard for you to believe a 'quiet Kristin'...but it's true!

Well I must go and pack my sweet new backpack with everything that I will need for this weekend...and this time I am taking a towel :)