Venezia

We arrived in Venice early in the afternoon. The bus dropped us off on the islands, and we made our way to the ticket counters to pick up our ferry passes for the week.  Then we ascended the Calatrava Bridge which connects Piazza Roma with Ferrovia.  Our hotel, Bella Epoque, was located just up the road from the Ferrovia Bridge which crosses the Grand Canal.  Once we got settled, which took forever, we walked around a little to find something to eat and see the city.  Venice is such a beautiful city! So many beautiful buildings and colors! The water is so magical. With so many canals and then the beautiful bridges so cross them, it is just a beauty to see.

The next morning we followed Marco to the Ferry stop and took the Ferry through town to the Rialto Bridge. From there we walked through the winding streets and tight alleyways all the way to Piazza San Marco.  It was so surreal standing in the square. It was like “Am I really here??” We stood in front of San Marco basilica while Marco talked about the square and the church. We had gone over the city in class already as well.  We walked through the square to the front of the Doge’s Palace and waited as the professors went inside to get our tickets. We wandered as they were inside we walked to the waters edge and took pictures with all the gondolas lined up next to the edge.

The Doge’s Palace has been home to some of the most powerful people in Venice.  We started in the center courtyard and then followed Marco up the Golden Stairs and into the apartments.  The ceilings in this place were amazing!! They were carved and golden and gorgeous! After the apartments, we went through the meeting rooms and moved into the largest which is where the public brought their concerns to the Doge.  There were gorgeous paintings and carvings and the fireplaces were amazing as well.

After the Palace, we crossed the square and ascended the tower that rises high above Venice and provides and excellent view of the entire city! I got panoramics from every side!

Following the terrific view, Berta, I and a few of our friends made our way back to the hotel to chill for a bit (maybe a short nap). From there we decided not to take a map with us and to just get lost in Venice. We found some pretty cool stuff, and some beautiful buildings.  Some of the streets we went down were just amazing. A lot of the streets end in water with no warning, and sometimes when you think you are just walking on the sidewalk, you are actually crossing a bridge over beautiful water.

When we finally figured out where we actually were, we decided to pick a direction and wander our way to a destination.  We worked our way towards La Salute, the only non-Catholic church on the islands.  It is a round church, all centered around the tall dome.  It has some beautiful gold work in it, with some amazing artifacts and details. 

From La Salute, we walked to the other side of the island and looked over the water.  The water is so blue and clear and amazing! We walked down the edge to the closest ferry stop and took the ferry to the very edge of Venice.  There is a park on the edge, so we walked through it, taking so many pictures as we went.  We walked all the way back to Piazza San Marco, passing the Danieli hotel on the way, and hopped on a ferry as the sun went down.  The cool part about taking the ferry through the canal at night is that you can see the ceilings in all of the palazzos on the canal through the lit windows. When we got back to the hotel we grabbed a piece of pizza right outside.  It was delicious!

The next morning, we again hopped on the ferry and departed at the Rialto Bridge.  The idea for the day was to follow Marco on a winding adventure through the street of Venice, with the eventual destination being San Giovanni a Paulo, a very large church with many funerary monuments, similar to Santa Croce in Florence.  Along the way we passed the cutest little book shop, that is known for being flooded on a regular basis. But because of this fact, most of the mooks are damaged but have a unique quality about them.  In the middle of the store is a gondola full of books and there are cats everywhere! It was such a cute little shop. Our destination was a beautiful and very large church. When we entered Marco started lecturing in the corner and we started roaming through thte church.  Because it was so large there were lots of echoes, but still a silence to it. I sat in the pews in the front and just listened to the silence. There was a quiet sound of a choir practicing in the background which only made the sound better.  Ever since I have gotten here I have tried to close my eyes and open my ears to the sounds around me. It is a new experience for me to not here cars outside my window or an ambulance every ten minutes. The sound of the churches here is so different then the churches back home. There is a profound presence of each of the churches here that is different than the modern churches I am used to.

After the Church, Berta, Aaron and I walked back to Piazza San Marco and grabbed a ferry to the islands which contain the 3 Palladio Churches.  The first 2 were incredibly boring and unadorned in every way (i.e. White Ceilings? Who does that?).  The last, San Georgio, was very pretty.  I particularly liked the choir stalls in the back of the church.  The view of San Marco from the island was so pretty over the blue water. 

From there we took the ferry to Lido and walked to the beach.  The beach in Lido is one of the prettiest beaches I have ever seen! The water was so blue and there were sea shells everywhere! It was just amazing! From Lido we took another ferry to Murano, which is where all of the glass blowing facories are located.  Everything was closing by the time we got there so we walked for a bit and then got on a boat hoping to make it to Burano in time before the sun went down.  But Burano is a long ways away…..We ended up getting off the boat on the island of Mozorbo.  We found this adorable little hotel there and we were just looking and we happened to bump into the owner who spoke English very well.  He started explaining the history of the building (old monastery) and then we told us how log he had been open etc etc.  Somewhere in there he told us about the food they made in hos restaurant and I got talked into eating a flower from an almond tree. Wasn’t bad, wasn’t bad.

Unfortunately our train did not leave until 12:30 in the morning so we hopped the ferry back to Venice and then continued walking through the beautiful city.  We had to catch a train to the mainland to find our train.  When we got there and got on our train, it was the most cramped train ride of my life. Six people in a very small cabin for 4 and a half hours. Not fun. We got back to Orvieto at about 5:30 in the morning. When we made it back to the apartment Berta and I just passed out.