Venice

My favorite place in Italy so far! It was beautiful! The buildings, the water, the gondolas, the gondola drivers, everything was just beautiful.

Day 1: Our day began with a tour around the city. After staring at the same building for 45 minutes we decided we were going to leave the tour and go explore the city ourselves. After walking into many pretty stores, which we could not afford, we crossed the bridge and stumbled upon an outdoor festival. Immediately our eyes landed on a cart that was filled with fresh fruit. We each got a cup of cherries and a slice of coconut. We walked down a little road and found the Grand Canal. We literally sat on the edge of the canal, put our feet in the water, and ate delicious fruit for 2 hours. We had a photo shoot, made friends with gondola drivers, and enjoyed the wonderful weather.

Day 2: Went to breakfast in our hotel and had the best hot chocolate! It was called "cioccolato con cioccolato strong" enough said.  We began our day with a ferry ride to an Island of Murano.

My day started off a little rough. The first couple minutes of walking onto the ferry I broke one of my shoes. It was a little annoying walking around with a broken sandal, but at least it was an excuse to buy a new pair of shoes.

 Murano is a Venetian Island famous for the art of glassblowing. We watched a demonstration on glassblowing. We were first introduced to "The Master". He is the main creator of the glass products in the factory. In order to become a master you have to learn and work under an older master for at least 20 years. How cool would that be to have your job title on your resume be "The Master"? Within 10 minutes we watched the master make a vase and a horse. It was actually very intriguing. Both pieces were made so fast, with such detail. I wish I could make something like that.

After Murano we went back to Venice for a couple of hours. I thought I would immediately find a new pair of shoes, but instead the first hour in Venice was spent looking for the Jewish Ghetto. The word Ghetto originated in Venice and after 1390 it became used for all Jewish communities in Italy. We got a little lost while looking for the ghetto and we were a little nervous to ask people on the street where it was.  We finally came across a sign in Hebrew pointing to where the synagogue was, we then knew we were heading in the right direction. It was very quiet and free of tourists, which was nice. There are only about 500 Jewish people in Venice, and about 30 of the actually live in the ex ghetto.

After leaving the ex ghetto we had about an hour left in Venice which consisted of finding a pair of shoes, getting lunch, and finding a restroom. Oh I think I forgot to add this earlier…most public restrooms in Italy charge an entrance fee, so every time we use the bathroom outside of school, our apartment, or a restaurant costs 1.5 euros (that is the equivalent of a small gelato).

Unfortunately, the only thing I was not able to do in Venice was go on a gondola ride…oh well that just means i'll have to come back.

Food, Food, & More Food

Yes, this post is only dedicated to food.

The Secret Bakery:
One night on our way home we noticed a smell that could not be ignored. It actually smelt like heaven. We followed the smell down a random, sketchy road and saw a group of people lined up outside of what looked like an apartment building. We watched a guy knock on the door and a woman opened it. She whispered that he wanted a nutella croissant, handed the woman a euro, and the door shut. A couple minutes later the woman came back out and handed the guy a freshly baked croissant.  Of course we hopped in line and got a delicious baked good. This "secret bakery" opens at 2 am every morning and sells the fresh baked goods that they are preparing for the day. There is a sign that says "be quiet" and we were told that if you are too loud the people living in the apartment across the street open the window and pour water on the people talking.

The Diner:
We were exploring the city when we came across a little restaurant that said "American coffee served here" this caught our attention very fast. Don't get me wrong I've yet to have a bad Italian meal, but sometimes we are just in the mood for some regular American food. 

The Gelato Festival: 
Here in Italy they take gelato very seriously. On Wednesday we did not have class due to the gelato festival that was coming to town. There were tents of different gelato vendors in a couple of the main plazas there were even gelato cocktails. One of my roommates had to go to the festival to taste different gelato flavors in order to write her paper for class. We finally found a little gelateria that serves the best homemade gelato in Florence. A gelato a day keeps the doctor away?

Piazzale Michelangelo

Across the river is Piazzale Michelangelo. which is a famous square with a magnificent panoramic view of Florence. On our hike up to the piazza we grabbed 2 bottles of wine and 2 pizza pies. I'm pretty sure we burned enough calories on the walk up to piazza to make up for the extra calories. After about 20 minutes of walking up the very steep hill we arrived to the most beautiful view of Florence I could ever imagine. We sat on the steps and got there right in time for the sunset. I could honestly sit there for hours every night and not get tired of the view.

While sitting on the steps we started talking to the girls next to us and soon found out that they were Pi Phis from CU Boulder. Obviously we all got very excited and had to take a picture.