Venezia!!

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I finally made it to Venice!

I took the train up with my roomate Megan and her parents. The train ride was really nice. We got to see a lot of the countryside in Lazio, Toscana, and parts of Emilio-Romagna and Veneto. It took about four and a half hours.

When we arrived, we walked to our hotel in Piazza San Stefano, which is close to Piazza San Marco. We wandered around for a little while. There were a lot of shops to look at. Most of them were selling glass stuff or venetian carnivale masks. Some of them were really elaborate. They were all really beautiful.

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After wandering, we visited Piazza San marco, and the bridge of sighs. Piazza San Marco was the biggest piazza I have seen in Italy. There were pigeons everywhere. They had vendors selling bird seed to tourists. All the pigeons flocked around the cart and whenever someone bought the seed, they attacked. Megan bought some seed and the birds were all over her. Off of piazza San Marco in a smaller piazza, there are these two pillars where they used to hang people. They were really into torture in Venice back in the day. The bridge of sighs (ponte sospiri) is this bridge next to the Doge's palace (Plazzo Ducale). There were prison cells in the basment next to the bridge, and when people walked across the bridge, they could here the condemed prisoners crying.... thus the name bridge of sighs. The Doge's palace is full of prison cells.

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That night we went out to a really delicious dinner. I had some amazing Minestrone soup and some lasagna bolognese style. It was really good. We washed it down with a really good bottle of wine (of course). Then we had some coffee at a little cafe.

Saturday we got up early and went to Saint Mark's basilica (La Basilica di San Marco).  It was different from most of the churches I have visited. It was really dark inside and a lot less ornate. There were huge mosaics all over the walls. Inside the church they have this altar piece (la pala d'oro) made of gold. It has a bunch of different gemstones on it. It was beautiful. It depicts the life of Saint Mark and Jesus, and then there are a bunch of angels and stuff on it. They also have the four bronze horses in the basilica, but we didn't see them.

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After Saint Mark's, we took a motor boat taxi to Murano. Murano is the island where they have a lot of the glass factories. We watched a glas blowing demonstration. The "master" made a little vase, and then he made a horse. We had a tour around the store room. There were some amazing pieces in there! Megan and I finished in the storeroom early, so we went back to the furnace to watch the glass blowers work. They were making arms to a chandelier. Their jobs must be really boring because they made the same piece over and over again the whole time we were sitting there. It is amazing how they make the glass though.

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After the glass factory, we headed back to the venice "mainland" and had lunch. They have deep dish pizza in venice, so we had pizza for lunch. It was really good, but I still prefer my pizza place by my apartment. We shopped for a little while and then got on the train to head home. All in all, it was a great weekend trip!