Blogs from Venice, Veneto, Italy, Europe - page 147

Buon giorno! I survived the ropes course. Although I do have a few nasty bruises as momentos. Asolo is beautiful! For my class Tuesday afternoon, the professor walked us around the town to learn about the culture and the history. A few famous people, including the writer Robert Browning and Napolean, have frequented the town. We checked out the local castle and fort which was pretty interesting. My favorite part was the villa on the hill across the village. From where we stood, it looked like two beautiful villas, one on each side of the hill. BUT in fact, it was actually one villa that went through the giant hill! How cool is that? Apparently a lot of the residents here are well off. Many corporate CEO's live in the area--the owner of AplineStars (a Formula ... read more

Ok, so technically I'm not in Venice (I'm in Asolo), but I did depart a plane, ride a bus and catch a train there. It was beautiful to see the mountains as I flew in. I could even see the Alps from the Milan aeroport (oops, Italian is already rubbing off)! Lots of water and people out on boats from what I could see. Didn't see any of the famed gondolas, but there were lots of motor boats just like in the states (reminded me of going out on Cheat Lake with my WV friends!). The castle in which I am staying is beautiful and modernized (minus A/C). I'll send pictures when I have time. Right now we are off to an orientation meeting and then a dinner in the village. Here's some funny news: tomorrow ... read more

Erin and I have successfully met in Venice. It is so great to see a familiar face. We have had a fantastic time. We got an all-day pass for the ferries and saw so much of Venice today (so what if we can't afford gondolas). We went to Murano and saw the glass blowers. It was fantastic fun. Tomorrow we will hit the Bascillica di San Marco, some cemetary and the beaches at Lido. We are just dying to swim. Today we got creative and made bruchette for dinner. And of course the cheapest wine on the shelf was better than anything in the States. I'm pretty sure that I'll never camp again after this trip. We are at another camp ground and just booked another for Florence. One night we are going to stay in ... read more

Had a bit of a late start this morning. Living out of a tent makes getting ready much more complicated (starting with the fact that you actually have to walk a fair distance to the sinks, toilets, showers, etc.). Ended up taking the 10:30 bus into the lagoon. The late start was kind of good in a way - I was up late last night doing laundry. I wanted to hold out, but one of the disadvantages of packing light (3 pairs of underwear/socks/shirts, etc.) is that laundry duty sometimes calls at unfortunate times. Anyways, had a full day in Venice. All I'll say is that Piazza San Marco is one of the busiest places I've ever seen. We headed for it right away after we got into Venice (well, as fast as you can get ... read more

Ciao to you all! I cannot believe that it is already time to say "arrivederchi" to Asolo. I'm definitely having some mixed emotions about the good-bye. On the one hand, I can't wait to be done with studying (one final down, one to go this morn!) and I'm very, very excited to get on with my travels. However, I'm also going to miss this little town so much! When most people think of Italy, they think of Rome or Florence or Venice. Now ... I will always think of Asolo. :) We all made our way down to Epoca last night for some final memories. The owner of the bar gave us all free t-shirts! My Service Marketing classmates and I have decided that he is the epitome of quality service and relationship marketing that we ... read more