6-16-07
This weekend marked the very first travel weekend of our 6 week stay here in Italy. I decided to visit Venice, a city of romance, waterways, hungry pigeons, decorated masks, and gondola rides. All week I tried to convince people to come along and ended up traveling with about 20 Arcadia students. Out of those 20, only 5 of us really bonded with each other and have officially formed our own little clique. Jessie, Bryce, Mark, Julian, and I are a great traveling team. We purchased tickets together through a complicated machine at the train station the day before and managed to only screw up one ticket. Poor Bryce lost about 30 Euro at a malfunctioning machine and had to stand in another line for over an hour to retrieve the money. Keeping in mind our “traveling team” modo, Jessie and I left Bryce and the boys to figure out the dilemma on their own. We were hungry. The morning of the trip we reconvened at the station, grabbed our usual cappuccino and pastry, and headed off to Venice by 6:30 a.m. We switched trains in Bologna and tried to sneak into some first class seats. Traveling to Venice should be done in style, right? Well, apparently not because we got caught. Dang it! In Venice, we headed straight for San Marco, which is a huge plaza with museums, shopping, live music, cafes, and pigeons. Oh the pigeons. There were hundreds of pigeons hanging out in the plaza begging for food and well, tourists can pay to feed them. Being a tourist, I decided to pay the Euro and bravely walk toward the flapping, black mass. Instantly I was attacked! Pigeons flew in from all directions and latched on to every part of me they could. My hands, my arms, my head, my shoulders…the food was gone in milliseconds. It was the most terrifying thing I have ever done, but it was so worth it. Next on the itinerary was a gondola ride. Jessie and I were beyond excited about riding one, but the rest of our team was less than thrilled. They bought beverages to help them get through it. Seeing Venice from the water is definitely a memorable experience and one I will never forget. It was just like the movies with heart shaped seats and a real live gondola man. Our gondola man was pretty popular on the waterways and would yell “gobble, gobble” to every other gondola man we passed. They thought they were hilarious. We thought they were strange. Before we left Venice, we just had to stop and say hello to some very important people. Georgio Armani, Prada, and Gucci were all there and looking even more glamorous and expensive than ever. How I love them.
One more thing…our school took us on a day trip to Siena and San Gimignano this weekend as well. These medieval cities have lots of history and lots of character. We visited churches and museums in Siena, but loved just sitting in the plaza people watching and eating some of their famous treats. Yum! In San Gimignano we looked at old towers, watched two boys play soccer, and took scenic pictures. Although, I will say that Venice has been my favorite trip so far. Next weekend….Sicily.
This weekend marked the very first travel weekend of our 6 week stay here in Italy. I decided to visit Venice, a city of romance, waterways, hungry pigeons, decorated masks, and gondola rides. All week I tried to convince people to come along and ended up traveling with about 20 Arcadia students. Out of those 20, only 5 of us really bonded with each other and have officially formed our own little clique. Jessie, Bryce, Mark, Julian, and I are a great traveling team. We purchased tickets together through a complicated machine at the train station the day before and managed to only screw up one ticket. Poor Bryce lost about 30 Euro at a malfunctioning machine and had to stand in another line for over an hour to retrieve the money. Keeping in mind our “traveling team” modo, Jessie and I left Bryce and the boys to figure out the dilemma on their own. We were hungry. The morning of the trip we reconvened at the station, grabbed our usual cappuccino and pastry, and headed off to Venice by 6:30 a.m. We switched trains in Bologna and tried to sneak into some first class seats. Traveling to Venice should be done in style, right? Well, apparently not because we got caught. Dang it! In Venice, we headed straight for San Marco, which is a huge plaza with museums, shopping, live music, cafes, and pigeons. Oh the pigeons. There were hundreds of pigeons hanging out in the plaza begging for food and well, tourists can pay to feed them. Being a tourist, I decided to pay the Euro and bravely walk toward the flapping, black mass. Instantly I was attacked! Pigeons flew in from all directions and latched on to every part of me they could. My hands, my arms, my head, my shoulders…the food was gone in milliseconds. It was the most terrifying thing I have ever done, but it was so worth it. Next on the itinerary was a gondola ride. Jessie and I were beyond excited about riding one, but the rest of our team was less than thrilled. They bought beverages to help them get through it. Seeing Venice from the water is definitely a memorable experience and one I will never forget. It was just like the movies with heart shaped seats and a real live gondola man. Our gondola man was pretty popular on the waterways and would yell “gobble, gobble” to every other gondola man we passed. They thought they were hilarious. We thought they were strange. Before we left Venice, we just had to stop and say hello to some very important people. Georgio Armani, Prada, and Gucci were all there and looking even more glamorous and expensive than ever. How I love them.
One more thing…our school took us on a day trip to Siena and San Gimignano this weekend as well. These medieval cities have lots of history and lots of character. We visited churches and museums in Siena, but loved just sitting in the plaza people watching and eating some of their famous treats. Yum! In San Gimignano we looked at old towers, watched two boys play soccer, and took scenic pictures. Although, I will say that Venice has been my favorite trip so far. Next weekend….Sicily.
No comments:
Post a Comment