Venezia

Finally I went to Venice! I've been wanting to go for so long and with the semester coming to an end, it's about time I went. We left early friday morning and stayed for only one night, to save money. The entire experience was amazing! One of the coolest and most picturesque cities I've ever been to. You don't get what it's all about by just looking at pictures. You have to see it for yourself. And I did! Finally! The train ride was about 3 hours, which I of course slept through all of. When we got there we jumped right on a water bus to find our cute little Bed and Breakfast! I found a place in the San Polo area and for one night and such a good location it was perfect. After we wandered the streets and found the B&B we went to get some food. One pizza and one stupidly slow waiter later we were finally ready to go out and see the city. First stop: St. Mark's Square. Such a cool place. The buildings are like nothing you've ever seen before. Incredible. We went into St. Mark's Basilica and it was gorgeous. The entire ceiling is COVERED in gold mosaics from all different artistic periods: Byzantine, Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque. I wish it was brighter there so I could've gotten some good photos. It was incredible.
After the Basilica we walked along the water stopping in some free exhibits for the Venice Biennale. We wanted to go all the way to the Garden to see the main exhibit but once we made it over there it started to rain so we decided to skip out on the outdoors stuff and find something to do inside. Our solution: The Peggy Guggenheim museum! I'm so glad we ended up going there. It was filled with Picasso, Klee, Miro, Dali, Koonings, and so much more. I LOVED it, which says a lot coming from a Renaissance obsessor. Modern art is really growing on me...
After the Guggenheim we wandered back to the B&B and grabbed dinner. Back in our room by 8 and in bed by 8 30. Beautiful. Of course, we didn't actually go to sleep until 11, which is still pretty early.
We got up at around 8 and were quickly welcomed by a quaint breakfast, which we ate quickly so we could get out and be productive. And productive we were. First stop, and the one I was the most excited about: Murano! I LOVED it. I read a book this summer called the Glassblower of Murano and it made me so excited to see it all. We took the water bus over and right when we got there went to see a glass blowing demonstration. SO cool. He made a horse out of a single piece of glass. Awesome. We got some stuff at the store and then went to wander around Murano. I never thought I'd like glass so much but I found myself wanting to stop in every store to look at all the crazy glass art. I'll have to go back there when I have the means to afford all the stuff. I did walk away with some jewelry so I can add it to my collection.
After Murano we made another attempt to go to the Biennale exhibit at the Garden, only to veto the idea when we found out that the entry fee was 8 euros, with student discount.
With about 3.5 hours until we had to get on a train back to Florence we walked on the water again to San Marco to go to the Palazzo Ducale. The Palazzo Ducale was the palace of the Doges of Venice. Pretty high class guys but apparently barely had any power. The Palazzo was beautiful. The rooms were ornate and massive, covered in paintings, fabric and wood carved ceilings. We even got the chance to walk through one of the biggest rooms in Europe. No kidding. We were trying to figure out how much it would cost to rent out for an event...but seeing as we couldn't afford entry into the Biennale exhibit we probably wouldn't be able to afford the room. After going through the Doge's apartment and all the government rooms we went across the Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs) over to the prisons. Can't help but love prisons. When we left the Palazzo, the Piazza was completely flooded and there were small boardwalks set up for people to get across. Shelly and I had our rainboots on, in true Venetian fashion, and waded through part of the water, until we decided it was getting too deep. Venice is basically one gigantic puddle. After the Palazzo Ducale we stopped somewhere quickly for lunch and then made our way across the Grand Canal to find the Sucola di San Rocco. True to tradition, once we found the place, we decided against going in because of the entry fee. Instead we went to the train station and were able to get on a train back to Florence much earlier than we thought. While we were sad to leave Venice when it seemed like we had so much more to explore, we were definitely happy to get back to our cold, yet suprisingly cozy, apartment. We finished our night with sweatpants and watching Clueless. Perfect end to a great weekend.