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Published: October 16th 2009
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Defintion of Vaporetti Style: Where you get liters of wine for 2 euros and drink them while you are waiting for the sllllooowww water bus to arrive, and because you can just do that kind of stuff in Italy 😊
Brrr Im freezing! It has been so cold here the last few days. The beginning of my trip was glorious- 75 and sunny everyday. Then all of the sudden it got down to like 45-50 and windy! We definately did not pack the right clothes, anticipating that it would only be like this near our end of our trip (thats what we were told anyway!) I didn bring many warm sweaters and none of us have winter coats! Oh well, Ill be racking up a decent Italian winter wardrobe by the end of this trip!
So it’s been an entertaining past few days. The week started with a visit to the Doge’s Palace- definitely our best class so far! The last few days we had just been sitting in lecture, but now we are finally out and about and actually exploring the city! We also got a sneak peek of St. Marks Basilica this week. Yesterday we visited Ca
dOro, which was the house of a wealthy family long ago and now houses an art collection. I have to say that one of my favorite parts of the trip is visiting musuems and other Venetian monuments. Its like everything Ive studied has now been brought to life! Today we visited the Biennale, which is a huge modern art exhibition in Venice every year. Countries compete with one another and all have their own pavillons built that houses the modern art of their new contemporary artists, and America won this year!
I had my first Italian conversation with a local yesterday, not counting the numerous Ciao’s and Grazie’s I throw around on a daily basis. We were looking for the wine shop and I asked a store keeper “Dove Campo Maria Formosa?” and she spoke back to me in Italian! It was exciting! I feel like we look more Venetian now (and there are blonde Venetians here, although you wouldn expect it!) because we are getting to that point where we stop constantly being in awe of the city and everything we see like tourists do. We ride the boats several times a day and there are tourists snapping
photos out the window and we are just sitting there zoning out like the locals. Its so funny how after only 2 weeks I already feel somewhat like a Venetian.
So I thought Id post my travel schedule for the weekend trips Im taking this semester so you can know what to expect in upcoming blogs and also be really jealous of all the awesome places Im visiting! Haha, just kidding. But really, you should be jealous 😊
This weekend: Verona: Rocking Italy Romeo and Juliet style
October 23-25: Milan: The Last Supper and our first big trip since Paris!
October 29-31: London: Halloween parties, haunted dungeons and people who speak English!
November 6-8: Florence: Art heaven 😊
November 13-15: Barcelona: Hola Espana! I can use my extensive Spanish skills to meet the natives!
November 20-22: Rome: Ummm the Vactian, Colleseum, Catacombs, Angels and Demons Tour, Rocking Roma pub crawl....enough said?
November 27-29: Prague: Eastern Europe, not quite Romania, but on my way 😊
So, thats it for now. Sorry this blog was kind of boring, not too much to report until my big Verona trip this weekend! I mostly just wanted to upload my new pictures!
So, Ill end with my usual newest words of wisdom about Venice:
1. Watch out for dog poop. Funniest story of the week: Elyse steps in a pile of dog poop in her tiny black flats. So, in the middle of a bustling Venetian street, shes trying to wipe dog poop over her shoe by rubbing it on buildings, using a feather and piece of trash she found. She ends up just getting it all over her hand. So I guess that could lead to another point- always have wet wipes handy! Haha
2. You can bring in old plastic water bottles and get them filled up with delicious wine at local wine stores for 2 euros a liter!
3. Venetian masks are kickass, and trying to find the perfect one to rock at your London Halloween party is stressful because theres only like 1000 mask stores in Venice. However, it is hard to find a store with a cute black dress you can work with your mask.
4. Venice postcards arent that great and don really show how beautiful the city is. I say this to prepare those of you Im sending postcards that I tried, but I
didn really find a lot of quality ones. Whats up with that?
5. Grappa is DISGUSTING.
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randy and Libby Strand
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Our First Look
WOW, Great stories and pix. We feel like we are there. xo