Venice and Florence

We've had a very busy past few days, doing successive day trips to Venice and Florence. Neither of my parents had ever been to Venice, so that was a necessary trip. I went to Venice for a weekend last summer ('07) during the five weeks that I studied in Siena on a Vassar program, and it was just as beautiful in the winter as it was in the summer. It was also the first time in at least a month that I'd been in a very touristy city - on the water taxi from the train station alone I heard English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Chinese and Japanese! That said, I was pleasantly surprised with how many people were willing to speak in Italian with me, in Florence as well, despite all of the Americans and other foreigners they encounter daily.

Even though I took many pictures in Venice last summer, I couldn't help taking more. It's just too beautiful not to try to capture on film.



The first thing we saw in Venice was the Basilica di San Marco (St. Mark). It's a gorgeous Byzantine church from the 11th century, and the inside is completely covered in gold mosaics. Its nickname is actually Chiesa d'Oro - Church of Gold. We climbed to the balcony on the outside of the church that overlooks the Piazza of San Marco and the Clock Tower.

On the balcony of San Marco, in front of the Clock Tower

Mom and Dad in front of the Basilica di San Marco

View of the Royal Palace and Grand Canal from the balcony of San Marco

Photo courtesy of Mom

We also visited the Rialto Bridge and the Bridge of Sighs. But the best part of Venice, really, is just walking around. Winding through the tiny streets, crossing narrow bridges over canals, and yes, getting lost, is an experience in itself. Venice is actually made up of 118 small islands that sit in a lagoon, so there are many bridges, many canals, and many opportunities to get lost and discover the city.

I also managed to find a copy of The Little Prince in Venetian dialect - El Principe Picinin. It's particularly interesting to me because one of the scenes we performed in my theater class this semester was in Venetian dialect, so when flipping through the book, I can recognize many of the words in dialect that we learned in theater class.

Sunset on the Grand Canal, viewed from the Rialto Bridge

The next day (yesterday), we went to Florence. We unfortunately did not make reservations in time for the Uffizi Galleries, arguably one of the best art collections in Italy and the world, featuring masterpieces from Michelangelo, Leonardo, Botticelli...you get the idea. Therefore, it wasn't exactly an option to just skip it. My father had to go, being an artist, and even though I'd visited last summer, that was before I'd studied art history, so I really wanted to go again. We knew the lines would be long, but the wait exceeded our expectations. After 3 1/2 hours out in the cold (that's dedication), we had enough time to rush through the galleries and see everything before running off to the Galleria dell'Accademia to see Michelangelo's David, for which we actually did have reservations! The wait for the Uffizzi was certainly worth it, and I managed to get free admission because I'm an art history student, even though I just had my University of Bologna ID to try to prove it, which doesn't list a course of study.

Here are two pictures of the Arno River viewed from the Uffizi, the second showing the Ponte Vecchio, or Old Bridge, on which there are many jewelry and souvenir shops.

After the two museums, we were burnt out, but couldn't leave Florence without seeing the Duomo, the church of Santa Maria del Fiore. The following three photos were also taken by my mother:



Now we're staying in Bologna until we fly back home on January 3rd. The traveling was wonderful, but we're all glad to stay in one place for a few days and relax before heading home.

Buone Feste - Happy Holidays!