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Published: June 12th 2011
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Beautiful picture of a Venetian church
I'm not sure which of the four-billion churches this is, but it is one of my favorite pictures of Venezia I took today. So before I say anything about today, I want to let you all know that you are lucky I am going to post a blog today at all. Why? Well because I just spent the last 45 minutes typing this entry, and all of a sudden, when I went to save, the internet here stopped working and anything it had automatically saved had been lost. So yeah. Just sayin that you're lucky I want you to have something to read about today 😊
Well today was a long day. You may be asking, why, Stan, why was it a long day?
Because we had to get up early.
But Stan?!?!?! It's a Sunday with no school! and you can sleep in!
Well no, my dear friends. Today was no ordinary day. We all got up bright and early this morning because we were on a mission: we were going to the beach in Lido.
Now Lido is a sandbar island that is literally just meters outside of the city limits of Venezia (Venice). The Sasso family that I am living with not only has an apartment here in Rovigo, but they also have one on the
My pastry
Delicious and Sicilian-looking island of Lido. I'm to lazy after the whole internet issue to post a map of it on here, but with the magic of Google, you can have your very own in just 2 seconds! 😊
So we drove from Rovigo to Venezia (we left at 8:45 or so) in order to catch a traghetto (ferry) from Venezia to Lido. The place where the ferry launches is on one side of Venezia, and UNFORTUNATELY (note the use of sarcasm here) we had to traverse the Giudecca Canal, which is one of the main arteries (metaphorically) of Venezia, in order to reach Lido on the other side. So I took a ton of pictures (because I could hardly resist). Since I have so many pictures, I made another slideshow video of Venezia and Lido, put to the song "Romeo and Juliet" by Dire Straits (I listened to this song all day today... I don't know why but it was really catchy. So this is what I was singing the whole time I was taking these pictures!)
Once we got to Lido, the first thing we did was drive to a pastry shop where we each bought a pastry .
The Cabana
Not to be mistaken as the Copacabana, this place where we stationed our beach-relaxation activities did not include a brawl between two men over a showgirl named Lola. I had a special pastry that was from Sicily (either it was actually made there or the type of pastry itself was from Sicily... I'm banking on Choice B). There were so many other delicious looking pastries as well! So I took a picture of them and put them in the slideshow video!
We then drove to the apartment, which was actually pretty nice. Although there wasn't a ton of space in it, Elena told me that, through the magic of the invention of the pull-out bed, you can sleep comfortably 8 to 9 people. One thing I notices was the apartment building's fetish for keys. From the gate to the beach to operating the elevator to the apartment doors to opening the kitchen cabinets, there were SO MANY KEYS. I just thought the cabinets were frustrating because it's not like someone was going to put all of these on one key-chain, so the keys just sit there on the locks and it totally defeats the purpose.
Anyways, here are some things we did to pass the time in Lido:
---Went to the beach (well, everyone but Paolo, who stayed up in the apartment. He apparently doesn't enjoy
Elena, Claudia and I in Venezia
I like this photo! Once again, proof that I am still alive. the beach way too much) The Sasso's have their own little cabana there on the beach... there is a picture of it in the video slideshow.
---Swam in the Adriatic Sea with Claudia (I accidentally lost my Young RYLA bracelet in there 😞. At least I can say I lost it somewhere in Europe!)
---Had a water-splashing-fight with Claudia (She was brave to go against a seasoned veteran like me, who has been splashing water since I was a kiddo. My sister and I got plenty of practice in the Buffalo Ridge pool)
---Played a paddle-ball type game with a rubber ball.
---Ate lunch and pastries
---Tracked sand everywhere
---Struggled to open some doors and cupboards (dang keys)
---Helped Paolo work on the hand-rails of the balcony (he had to sand them down and re-paint them!)
---Soaked up some rays (don't worry parents, I applied plenty of sunscreen)
---Played Solo with Claudia (Solo was a crappy Uno knock-off. practically the same)
---Tried solving some Italian cross-word puzzles and word games (I was doing ok...)
---Took tons of pictures 😊 (I made a panorama, but I can't figure out how to get it on here! If I do, I will post
Nico Sasso and Elena Miotto
One of the pictures I at last got to take of my host parents! it randomly in a future day. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Finally, we were ready to go home, so we packed up and drove to the ferry (which, by the way, we could load the car onto) and started our cruise through the Giudecca Canal back to the ferry docks. It was here when I FINALLY got some pictures of Nico and Elena--my host parents here in Italy. I also got some more pictures of Venice for the slideshow.
Once we got back to Venezia, we drove to Padova--a decent-sized town near Rovigo--where we had pizza (again, for the 5th day in a row!) at a fancy place called "Stecca". I ordered a pizza called "Pizza la sai tu" which had some little tomatoes, some herbs, cheese, artichoke (actually pretty delicious on a pizza) and prosciutto (a type of thinly-sliced ham). It wasn't until I got my pizza that I knew how bizarre the pizza at this place looked (see the picture?!?!). But boy, it was delicious!
We then drove to the Basilica di sant'Antonio in Padova--and extremely old building (no surprise in Europe) that is one of the most famous basilica's in Europe. (This sant'Antonio was an
Pizza la sai tu
Ironically translating into "You know the pizza", I have never seen or eaten a pizza like this in my life. But it was amazing. important guy--even San Antonio, Texas is named after him). Another sidenote--did you know that basilicas are technically property of the Vatican? So if you walk into a basilica you are technically in foreign ground. This would be why it would be an awesome (but somewhat ironic) place for a fugitive to run from the law! 😊. Anyway, also nearby is the humongous Prato della Valle-- one of the largest piazza's in Europe. (It was too dark to take a picture while moving in a car, so if you want to see it, it's best to look it up. It's spectacular!
By the time we were done sight-seeing we all were tired and wanted to go home. So we did. And here we are, all in bed, and probably me the only one still being awake. All because the internet suddenly went wacky. Ugh.
Oh well. I've re-typed it. Now "sono stanco" (I'm tired) and I want to go to bed. So buonanotte!
P.S. If there is an error saying you need the latest flash player to play the video, either (a) you really do need to download it or (b) ignore it and click the blue link
Basililca di sant'Antonio
The enormous church where sant'Antonio is laid to rest and you can confess your sins in about 25 languages. (According to Nico in the top right corner that is the title of the video, and it should download and you should be able to play it! Enjoy!
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