Venice Done the Right Way!

Saturday had an interesting start! We woke up early to get our day started and when I checked my email, I had one from Bank of America with “insufficient funds” in the subject line. Not something you want to have to deal with while you’re abroad! I immediately called the bank and filed a claim. I’m pretty sure I did not withdraw over $900 in two transactions in Rome the day before. BofA was great in handling the situation so it’ll all be just fine! Crazy thing is, the same thing happened to Anne, but she had 6 transactions in Rome yesterday! We have only used our debit cards to withdraw money, so one of the ATM’s must have been rigged! So glad my daddy’s credit card still works (Love ya Dad)!

Now for the fun part… Today we did a wine tasting in the Veneto region of Italy just outside of Venice! It was amazing! It has the highest rate of consumption of wine in Italy, and now I see why! We learned so much about how wine is made and what makes certain wines taste the way they do! There was an adorable couple on our tour from California that knew a lot about wine and helped fill in the blanks about American wine versus Italian wine. They were so interesting to talk to and learn from. They had been married for over 45 years and have moved over 20 times including France and London. At one point he worked for American Airlines and lived in Dallas, but he said he preferred Fort Worth to the Big D… smart man!

There are a few points I think y’all might find interesting about the wine tour. In the small towns in Italy, people bring their own containers to wineries and fill them from a massive wine “keg” (for lack of a better word). It’s great because it’s cheaper than buying the same wine in the bottle from the store; it only costs 1,50 euro per liter. One liter is about two bottles with 4-5 glasses in each. No wonder Italians drink so much wine!

There’s an even better option than this, though. Because the wine is briefly exposed to air when it is dispensed from the “keg” it begins oxidizing and doesn’t last as long. Instead, you can buy the same wine in an airtight bag in a box. Yes, Italy does have boxed wine, but I’m pretty sure it tastes better than Franzia! This is better because it doesn’t begin oxidizing until it leaves the box. It’s amazing how what I’ve learned in college can be applied to my experiences in Italy!

After the wine tour we took a siesta of our own and regrouped! We tried to put a little culture in our weekend by walking through St. Mark’s Basilica, or Basilica di San Marco in Italian, but they literally closed the doors right when we finally got to the front of the line! I guess that was our sign that we’ve seen enough! I guess we’ll just have to Google what it looks like on the inside, or go back!

Instead, we grabbed some gelato (BEFORE dinner) and walked around some more. We had a long, leisurely dinner to get the most of our sitting fee at the restaurant and ended our night with Bellini’s from Harry’s Bar, where the Bellini was created! It was delicious and totally worth the ridiculous amount we bought it for!

Venice was a great experience! I’ve heard it’s either a hit or miss and it was definitely a hit for us! It's not a place to spend a week, but a couple nights is just right! We definitely did Venice the right way! Even the train back was air-conditioned (last week’s wasn’t… ask me about it and I’ll fill you in)!

It’s hard to believe this adventure is almost over. It seems likes I just got here. We have 3 more days of class, one free day, and then it’s back to America! I’m ready to leave Genova, but I’m not ready to leave Italy! It’s been so great and, as I’ve mentioned a million times already, I can’t wait to come back! Hopefully it’ll be sooner rather than later! One or two more blogs to come!

Ain't Scared of No Strike!

Nothing in Europe is as easy as it is in America, that’s for sure! Italy is no exception! Fridays are a main travel day for many Italians and us. Last Friday, in particular, the train workers decided to go on strike.  The strange part of it all is that it was extremely organized, with a beginning and an ending time! Unfortunately, these times were not going to work for us!

Instead, we decided to FLY to Venice. We had already made plans to meet up with our friend Katie (the one we saw in Rome), so we couldn’t cancel our trip, nor did we want to! I’m so glad we didn’t, either! Venice is AMAZING! It truly is what it looks like in the pictures! There aren’t too many tourist attractions here and we are just about museum and churched out, so we are using this weekend to relax and unwind before our last week of class!

So with the railroad strike situation handled, it was time to hit Venice! We immediately started walking around and shopping in the great glass stores. Venice is known for its glass that is made on the island of Murano. It’s absolutely gorgeous and there are a great variety of glass things to buy! Let’s just hope it all makes it home in one piece!

We ended our first night with a Gondola ride and serenade through the canals! It was fun because the singer was in another gondola and we had a caravan of a few gondolas all together! People were stopping to take pictures of us! It was so relaxing and absolutely unreal! It’s definitely a once and a lifetime opportunity, but you really only need to do it once in a lifetime!

After the ride, we had a GREAT pasta dinner (imagine that!) and went to sleep very early and extremely exhausted! Ready for the next day! 

When in Rome!

We spent two days touring Rome. By touring, I mean the morning touring and the afternoon doing absolutely whatever we wanted to do! It was really weird, but cool being in ROME having no responsibility and doing whatever we wanted. I could definitely get used to that!

Saturday morning we toured The Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica. It was one of the most amazing tours I’ve been on! If you ever go, book a tour, DON’T do it on your own. By booking a tour, we got to skip all the lines and have someone telling us what everything was! It was awesome! The coolest part for me was seeing artwork I had studied in art history in person. I had forgotten that Raphael’s School of Athens was in the Vatican and literally stood in front of it with my mouth open. I don’t think I heard a word our guide said while standing there.

The Sistine Chapel was jaw dropping. Pictures weren’t allowed, but that’s just another reason you should all go see it in person. Our guide really pumped us up for it by telling us everything about it before going in (also because you’re not allowed to talk in there), and then pointing out a few things while in there. It really in one of the most incredible rooms I’ve ever been in and I would love to go back (mom and dad???).

St. Peter’s Basilica was also an amazing sight to see. It is so large and intricately decorated that it’s hard to take in all at once. The canopy was quite a site to see in the center of the room and the inside of the dome was so beautiful.

  

St. Peter’s Square was also really cool to see. We saw it at the very end so I kept thinking “where’s the big area I always see on TV?” Well, here it is! We found it! Obviously, there’s the balcony the Pope blesses the world from, but our guide also pointed out where the Pope’s living quarters are. It’s the last picture, second story, second window from the right, in case you were wondering.

After our tour, we grabbed a quick lunch and took the Subway to the Trevi Fountain. It was SO COOL! I wish there hadn’t been that many people there and I could just sit on the steps and enjoy the fountain, but I guess I can’t really control that. It is definitely a must-see when going to Rome. A must-do at the fountain is gelato, in addition to making a wish! I think we had about ten different people tell us to get gelato at the Trevi Fountain. Obviously we did and I would have to agree it’s some of the best we’ve had.

After seeing enough sites for the day, we decided to SHOP! Rome has a lot of the same stores that Florence has, so we did more walking than shopping, but it was still fun to explore the city that way. We went back to the hotel just absolutely exhausted and in pain from walking so much. We knew it would take every ounce of energy possible to go somewhere for dinner. Then, like it was a message from above, someone thought of The Hard Rock Café! We’d had enough pasta and tomatoes… we needed some American food! So we made our way to the Hard Rock where every other American in Rome had decided to go. It was great to hear other English-speaking people in a restaurant where we didn’t have to pay to sit and our water would be refilled! I’m sure the people around us were appalled at the amount of food we ate and the speed we ate it at, but it was worth it! Lily Beth put it perfectly when she said, “The Hard Rock Café is like the American embassy of wherever you are!” and it’s so true!

The next day, we woke up for our tour of Ancient Rome. Our tour guide was young and bubbly and we had a great time hearing all the information from her. We started in the Piazza Novona, which used to be an arena for chariot races, but it is now a hot spot for restaurants and street artists. We started our tour at the Fountain of Four Rivers and continued to the Pantheon, Capitoline Hill, The Forum, and ending with the Colosseum.  All of these sights were incredible to see! The Pantheon was closed for Mass, but we were still able to see inside it.  It was beautiful and I actually remembered some key facts from art history when looking at it.

The Forum was very interesting to see. Our guide studied archaeology and actually helped excavate part of The Forum. In telling us about it. She would show us a picture from the point of view where we were standing, and then show us the same picture of what they though it looked like in its prime. We also got to see where Julius Caesar was cremated. There is an altar that was built for him that people still come and put flowers at!

The Colosseum at the end was amazing. Again, because we were with a tour, we got to skip the lines and go right in! As we walked in, we went to the top level and soaked in the view from inside the top level. After that, we walked down around the bottom and got a great look at underneath the stage. Now that I’ve seen the Colosseum in person and seen where the gladiators fought, I am going to re-watch The Gladiator movie, it only seems fitting.

  

After our tour, we back tracked to this incredible building that Mussolini had built in the late 1920’s. We still aren’t sure exactly what it was used for, someone said it might have been where he lived, but I’m not sure. I’ll look it up eventually. We hiked tons of stairs to an upper level of this building where we got an awesome view of the city!

  

In front of that building is where he headquarters were and the balcony where he declared war on the other countries. Even though it wasn’t Ancient Rome, it was cool to see those things.

After that, we made our way to a small little piazza where I finally got to meet up with Ms. Springer and Mrs. Ludke, two teachers from my high school that I went to London with four years ago. It was great to catch up with them and see the Byrd kids that were on the trip. It was really weird because I didn’t know any of them, but I knew their older siblings. It made me feel kind of old! I’m so sad I didn’t get a picture with them, but it was so hot and we were all disgusting so it probably wouldn’t have turned out that great anyway!  We ended the day with a yummy dinner and Nutella crepes (finally) on the Spanish steps. Definitely not going to complain about that!

Rome was great, but it is so big that I don’t feel like I saw all of it! I guess I’ll just have to go back! Now it’s back to class and then Venice next weekend! Glad I know how to swim! I’ll try and blog a little more this week, mom! Ciao!