Lost in Venezia

Well, I just got back a little bit ago from my weekend in Venice. It was full of adventures and absolutely amazing. I got to Venice on Friday. There are no cars or mopeds allowed in the city, so you have to go everywhere by foot. There were a ton of signs to find Piazza San Marco, the largest square of the city. Once we found our way there (I went with my roommate and another girl), we looked in my guidebook to see where our hotel was. After walking for about an hour and a half, we made one huge circle (John and Anne- remember Chicago?), and ended up back in San Marco. But we were sure that we had been right by our hotel (at least according to the travel guide). So, in the end, we called the hotel and long story short- the guidebook mixedup our hotel with another hotel. Needless to say, the first thing we got when we got to the hotel was a map. If you're wondering what it's like to be lost in Venice- here is what it looks like:

Anyway, the hotel we went to was great. The building it was in was 400 years old, but everything was very clean. When we got back from our second day out, they had changed the sheets and even folded my roommates dirty underwear for her (YIKES!)

We then left our hotel around 2:00 so we could get a good start to our first day in Venice. We walked back to Piazza San Marco (which was easy to get to with the map- Venice is actually pretty easy to get around if you just travel from square to square, i.e. campo to campo). On our way to the square we walked down a street that had Prada, Gucci, Versace, Valentino, Hermes, Louis Vuitton, and Chanel all on one street; Italians sure do love their fashion!

Once in Piazza San Marco we went to the Correr Museum which was one of the best museums I've ever been to. Some of my favorite works were neoclassical sculptures by Antonio Canova (especially his Euridice). The museum also had Venetian coins dating back to 800A.D., chandeliers made of Murano glass (more on that later), paintings of past Doges (the highest level of authority in ancient Venice), models of Venetian ships, and suits of armour from the 16th and 17th centuries. After the museum we went to La Basilica di San Marco, and this was nothing short of magnificent. There were beautiful mosaic floors that curved like waves from the Canal, the ceiling in walls were covered in gold-leaf mosaic and a mosaic of Christ was in the very center of the ceiling (in the heavens) and He was surrounded by the 12 Apostles. The last stop of the day was the Campenile, which took us up 60m so we could view all of Venice.

Piazza San Marco. The building you see houses the Correr Museum.

La Basilica di San Marco

The Campanile.

Me inside the Campanile

The next day we started of at the Palazzo Ducale (the Doges Palace), which was spectacular. My favorites inside were Antonio Rizzo's sculptures of Adam and Eve. Also, the Great Hall had beautiful frescoes covering all corners of the room. We also went down into the dungeons and were able to walk across the Bridge of Sighs. Next we went to Murano, the island famous for glass-blowing. There we went to the Basilica di San Donato and the Murano Glass Museum. The Basilica had tiles similar to those found in San Marco, and it also had a Crucifix blown entirely from one piece of glass. Once back in Venice, we made it to the Basilica Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari just as it was closing, so we got a quick glimpse inside.

Me in front of the Doges Palace

Murano glass artwork

More Murano glass

And more- I think it's so beautiful

This morning, we went to the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute (I didn't go to mass, but I did say a few prayers). After that was the Gallerie dell'Accademia (I enjoyed Tintoretto's Le tentazioni di Adamo ed Eva and his Caino e Abele, and also Titian's Pieta). We then had a change of pace by going to the Guggenheim. This was interesting. I much prefer more classical artwork, but I did enjoy some Pablo Picasso pieces and the works of John Pollock (very colorful and bright). There was also one painting there by an artist named Arthur Dove... maybe a relative? On our way out of Venice, we stopped by the Rialto Bridge for some fresh fruit.

All in all, I had a great weekend. I learned many about many things- from the historical aspects of Venice, to learning how to travel better in Europe, to finding out that Big Macs cost 7,50 euro (about 12 US dollars) in Venice (no, I definitely did not eat at McDonalds, nor was I planning on it). Also, San Marco Square is FULL of pigeons (see below). I know this was a long post, but I saw so much and I just wanted to share it with everyone because it was such a great experience. Hopefully you can google some of the artwork I enjoyed (or even come see it someday). I couldn't take pictures in any of the buildings, but I did get postcards with pictures of my favorite art. I'll end with a few more pictures of my trip- Buona Serra.

PIGEONS! in San Marco Square

The Square lit up at night

Typical Venice "street"

Gondolas. Although I didn't ride on one of these (too expensive), I did ride the traghetto, which is used to help cross the water when there aren't any bridges.

The Garden

I just had my third- and best so far- gelato. Un copetta piccolo da coco (a small cup of coconut). It was decious. Exactly how I would think gelato is supposed to be.

Anyway, I leave early tomorrow morning for Venizia (Venice) for the weekend. I'm very excited; we have many sights planned to visit. I plan on taking a lot pictures to share with everyone! We are also going to visit Murano, an island a little bit north of Venice. It is known for its glass-blowing techniques.

However, I didn't want to leave for the weekend without posting any pictures. So below you will find pictures of the Garden here at the Villa. I took them after dinner tonight and I think the lighting was pretty good. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

View from the east side of the garden.

One of the many statues found in the garden.

This bridge is behind the garden on the east side. It makes me think I'm walking into the Secret Garden every time I cross it.

This table is also behind the east side of the garden. It is from the 17th century.

View from the south side of the garden. The part of the Villa that you see is off limits to us. This is where the Count resides (but he apparently only comes here about once a month).

Lily pad gardens. At one time this pond stretched for a mile.

The south wall enclosing the garden. There are many statues on top of the wall, and up close they look like figures of servants.

View from the west side of the garden.

Firenze

Last night I went to Firenze (Florence) for the Festival of San Giovanni. The city is absolutely amazing. And although at first it seems like it would be huge, it's actually enclosed and this makes it seem much smaller. We had a quick tour from our Art History professor on a few highlights, the most magnificent of all being the Duomo. Because of the time of day, I didn't get a very good picture of it. But I'm not sure I could fit the cathedral in just one picture- it's HUGE! So at least check out Wikipedia for a full picture of it and I'll try to get better ones on another visit. We then watched a fireworks show over the Arno river. The streets were crowded with people and mopeds. After the celebration we headed back to the Villa for the night.

I also had my first gelato yesterday- twice. I had limone (lemon) in the afternoon and then fragole (strawberry) at night. It was delicious. Any gelato I've had back home is much creamier and more like ice cream. The gelato here is very light and almost more like sorbet. It's delicious.

Today I had my first Italian class. It went really well. I feel so lucky to be able to be learning Italian in Italy- what better place to do so? Tomorrow I will have my first Art History lecture as well, which I am looking forward to.

These past few days have been so crazy, adjusting to my new "home." I think I'm now starting to get the hang of it. The Villa truly is an amazing place to live. We all leave our doors open and everyone is very trusting. Everyone helps to keep everything clean. Living here is such a privilege, and I will not take any second of it for granted.

Jet Lag

Well, I made it. All of my flights were on time, no luggage lost, and here I am! What a long blur of a day it's been. Mopmop will be happy to know that we flew right over Cape Breton on the way to Paris. And even though I didn't have a window seat, I still got a birds eye view of everything because the plane had moniters displaying the landscapes it passed. The biggest difference I noticed once in Europe was that it is much greener and there really aren't any highways.

From Paris to Florence I had a window seat and we passed over the Soutern Alps (pictured below). All of the land was so green and beautiful (also pictured below) during the flight, and even though I felt exhausted, I couldn't help but keep my eyes wide open so I didn't miss a thing. Rivers coiled through the landscape and towns were spread far apart from one another.

Once I arrived, Rose and her son Lorenzo were there to greet me. There were also a few other students in the program that I met on the plane ride. So we fit one extra student in with us and the other three took a taxi. Driving in Italy is crazy. The roads are so narrow and the cars drive so fast.

When I got to the Villa I checked in and was assigned to a room. The Villa is absolutely gorgeous. The pictures on the website don't do it justice. Hopefully I'll be able to take some that capture its essence. Anyway, my room is pictured below. There is a bathroom and a closet right outside the door. My roommate is a really nice girl from University of Wisconsin. Pictured below my bedroom is the view outside of my bedroom window.

Dinner was served promptly at 7p.m. and was- as you might have guessed- pasta, salad, and bread- delicious. After dinner I walked around the garden with a few of the other students and took pictures. However, by the time I did this it was getting dark. I want to try to capture how beautiful it really is so I'm going to have to wait to post pictures of that- except for one that turned out pretty well; but remember, this is only part of the garden (my backyard).

Tomorrow is Orientation all day and then we are going into Florence at night. It also happens to be the Festival of San Giovanni, the Patron Saint of Florence, tomorrow and so there should be fireworks and big crowd for the event.

Wow! What a long day it has been. Florence is in the Central European time zone which means that it's 6 hours ahead of Michigan. This leaves an awfully tired Caroline. So, arrivederci for now, and hopefully I'll have time to post again soon!

From the Mitten to the Boot

Well, my stomach is full of butterflies because my flight leaves today for my trip! I'm so excited and can't wait to see what's in store for my study abroad experience. I will be flying into Paris first, with a 3-hour layover until I head to Florence. I'll be flying almost 4500 miles to reach my destination. Then, once I arrive, my mom's friend Rose, who lives just outside of Florence, is going to pick me up from the airport to take me to Sesto Fiorentino.

I'm not sure how many opportunities I will have to write on my post and upload pictures, but I'm going to do my best. And I would love to hear from all of you so feel free to leave comments whenever you like! I wrote out instructions on the left to help you if you aren't sure how to do it.

Ciao!