End of Italy!

Hi all! I hope I can finish recapping Italy today!! I believe I left out with our Greek restaurant adventure on Wednesday night. Onto the next!

Thursday
With our unexpected Pisa detour taking up our morning on Wednesday, Thursday was our only full day in Florence, so we really wanted to make it count. We woke up bright and early and arrived at the Duomo at exactly 8:30 when it opened. Turns out the guy at the airport was right, Italy does not have time, and we actually had to wait a few minutes to get in. We made it in and immediately began the climb to the top. We have become experts at these climbs- St.Peters, Strasbourg- but let me tell you, this was the hardest yet. It was 414 steps, which I think is less than the other two, but it was quite steep and had few breaks. We did stop at one point right below the Dome and were able to admire the artwork. We have talked a lot about the painting’s portrayal of the Devil- there are a ton of depictions of him on the ceiling- in my witch hunts class, so it was really cool to see something we have seen slides of in person. Eventually though, we made it to the top with legs a bit shaky and hearts beating quite rapidly. It was absolutely beautiful and completely worth the challenge We had a great view of all of Florence and the surrouding Tuscan countryside that was lovely. It reminds me a lot of the movie “Under the Tuscan Sun” (not surprisingly) and I just lot the green hills of the landscape with all of the cream and red villas built on the sides. We stayed at the top for awhile and took many pictures before eventually descending. We were glad to have been some of the first people to the top because for awhile we had the whole view to ourselves with only one other guy. By the time we went down it was getting more crowded.

The next stop on our jam packed Florence day was to see Michelangelo’s David, probably the most famous sculpture in the world. Being the diligent planners we are, we had made a reservation to go in at 10 am so we could avoid the potentially huge line. Since it was not tourist season, it wasn’t too bad, but with our reservation we were able to go in pretty quickly. I feel like a lot of pieces of art like this really get built up and put on a pedestal, but then when you actually see them it is kind of a let down ( I have heard this about the Mona Lisa, I will see it this weekend so I will let you know if I have the same experience), but let me tell you, David was not like this at all. He really was amazing. The detail was incredible, every muscle, vein, shadow was perfect and he just looked absolutely lifelike. I read that Michelangelo purposefully put his weapon in an out of view position (in his hand sort of behind his back) in order to emphasize that it was David’s intellect and innocence rather than brute force that truly triumphed over Goliath. I think he really achieved this goal. It was really, really cool to see and we stayed for awhile and admired David from various angels (I feel like I am talking about some good looking boy we were creepily checking out and its awk haha). We also wandered through the other rooms in L’Acadmie, but there wasn’t a ton to see since the whole building was built to house David and he was obviously the main attraction.

After David we grabbed a slice of pizza (I had one with tuna on it and it was so good- I want to make this in the summer) and then we paid our respects to the attraction in Florence that had been calling our name since the previous day’s arrival- the markets! Florence has blocks and blocks of market stalls that are kind of like a higher class Chinatown in NYC (my mom, Dana, and Lisa’s favorite place)! They sell a ton of leather goods and also scarves, soccer jerseys, and various knick knacks. We all picked up some souvenirs that we had been looking for (I got a few gifts for people that I am excited about). I still was looking for my main goal though- the elusive perfect leather jacket. You could buy them on the street in the markets, but I was told by a lot of people that these were usually not real Italian leather (most likely some kind of import) and I wanted to get something that would be nice and hold up for a long time. We went to a few more stores and I found ones I liked, but nothing in my price range that I loved. I was getting ready to give up when I walked by a random store and there it was! Right on the front display. It was a camel color (similar to my brown boots that I have been living in over here) and exactly the style I like- shorter, fitted, with some zipper detailing. We went in and it turned out to be a perfect fit for my wallet and figure! I made the decision to get it relatively quickly for my standards (I can be a tad indecisive when I shop as I am sure my Mom and sisters can attest to) and I am so glad I got it! I love it and have worn it a lot already. I hope you like it in the pictures!

After our shopping spree, we decided we needed to see a bit more of Florence’s culture and we headed to its most famous museum The Uffizi. What began as the Medici’s personal collection has become essentially Italy’s National Gallery housing best collection of art in the country. I had heard a lot about this place from guide books and my museums class. (In my museum class we talk a lot about how places like the Uffizi and The Louvre represent Enlightenment ideas of humanism and individual genius as well as nation building in the 18th and 19th centuries). To be honest, I was slightly underwhelmed by it all. Maybe it was because I expected the displays to be more grand, more ornate and reminiscent of the Medici’s immense wealth, or that I am just not that knowlegable about art history (I need my friend Kthaxt to be here), but I didn’t love the collection. We did see The Birth of Venus by Botticelli and a couple of Divinci’s which was cool, but nothing really blew me away. I think I may have been getting a little museumed out at this point as well. I am glad we went though, it was an important thing to see, just not my favorite part of the trip! Its weird I actually feel bad admitting that I didn’t love this part, its interesting how you are expected to have a certain reaction to museums like this (another part of my museum class) and if you don’t you somehow feel like you are wrong. To each his own I suppose.

Next we headed to something that was one of my favorites- gelato. Two places in Florence had been recommended in all of our guidebooks and by literally everyone we talked to including the creator of our circle map- so we decided we had to at least try one. We went to the once place called Vivoli which was near the museum and my guidebook had called the kind of gelato you will be talking about in 50 years. We all splurged on a ridiculous 6 Euro cup so we could get three flavors- I had meringue, coffee moose, and chocolate hazelnut. It was very very good and you could just taste its authenticity (if that is even possible). I tried to savor my cup, but unfortunately I have inherited the Schmidt ice cream demolish gene, and I ate it right up! It was so good we actually had to leave so we would not be tempted to get more. If you can believe it though, we found even better gelato in Venice- but more on that later!

After the gelato, we decided to visit the Mona Lisa Hotel. Sounds random right? Well actually member that table of funny older people we sat next to in Viarregio at lunch – with the neon pink wings? Well when we told the guy we were going to Florence later in the week he gave us his card and said “I own this hotel- come have a drink if you want.” We looked it up and it was really close to Vivoli so we decided to try it out. Sadly, I had left the card he gave us in my other coat and didn’t have it with me. Turns out the hotel was super nice, and it was a very awk turtle experience. Without the card we didn’t really have any proof of our story and the somewhat snooty staff didn’t really know what to do with us. The owner wasn’t there (so they said) so wee ended up leaving pretty quickly. Oh well, we tried!

We then shopped at the markets a little more on our way back (my friend was on the hunt for a specific purse) and then we went to the hostel for a bit and enjoyed some wine and cheese before dinner. Then we had one of my favorite nights of the trip! One of my friends from UVA, who I do class council and the History Distinguished Majors Program with, was studying abroad in Florence and we were able to meet up for dinner! We went to a place called ZaZas that she had heard was great and our hostel man had recommended. It had a great atmosphere and even greater food, I got a sampling of Tuscan soups – one was red, one green, one like orangey, they were all really think and so delicious especially with fresh bread dipped in- that I devoured. It was so so so great to talk to someone from UVA, I love Miami people, but there are some things they just don’t understand. Jill and I just caught up and talked about UVA gossip but also about our experience studying abroad with a different program (hers is through NYU) and how hard it can be sometimes. After a long dinner, Jill took us to a big bar area and we had a low key drink. Florence has tons of American students- 20,000 a year the most popular study abroad destination- it is crazy! We sometimes felt like we were in an American college town when walking around which we didn’t really love, I feel like it makes Florence less Florentine somehow. But these bars were packed with American students too, we ended up at an Irish Pub that had college tee shirts from the US everywhere. Jill and and I caught up more, but we didn’t stay out too late, she had a field trip the next day and we were exhausted from our jam packed day. Slept well that night!

Friday

The night before we had decided we would take the 12:30 train that day to Venice, but we didn’t have a clear idea of what to do in the morning since we had seen most of the huge tourist attractions in Florence. We debated a bit and ended up deciding to go back to the Pitti Palace to see the Boboli Gardens that were behind them and potentially one of the museums inside the palace. It was a kind of random decision, I went through my guidebook and suggested it, but it turned out to be a really good idea. Even though it was a little rainy, it magically cleared up when we were in the gardens and it was gorgeous. You could walk around a lot and if you hiked up a bit of a hill, you saw tons of great views of the cities. The Medicis most definitely had an excellent gardener. I can imagine strolling through those gardens and having a picnic when it is a little warmer, it would be lovely. We also decided a garden party themed wedding would be perfect there, Jay and Tom, I think you should change locations to from St. Michaels to Florence although I’m not sure how Dad would feel about this…haha

With our admission to the gardens we had access to several museums inside the Pitti Palace but only really time for one. We ended up selecting the costume museum(if you have read this whole thing so far which is quite impressive you should realize me and the girls on the trip particularly the lovely Allie are slightly in love with Italian clothes and shopping) which was SO COOL! We saw some gorgeous dresses, coats, and accessories from as far back as the 18th century and as recent as 2001. It was so neat, they had it arranged by style and showed how certain trends have manifested themselves in various ways through time. My favorite pieces were this really cool cutout black coat and a couple of the draped dresses. We spent about an hour browsing through and then grabbed lunch and some Italian cookies for the train, grabbed our growing luggage from the hostel, and headed to the train station.

Here at the train station was the closest we came to getting robbed on our trip. We were kind of in a rush when we arrived, we had about 10-15 minutes to both buy our tickets and find the train to Venice. The line at the ticket counter was long, so while Kelly and Allie waited there, Margaret and I went to try one of the fast ticket machines which we had not yet used. We were clearly having trouble with it when this sketchy Indian gypsy women came over and started helping us. She just sort of stood in front of us and starting pushing the buttons to show us the way and although what she was doing was right (she was obviously smarter than us) Marg and I were getting uncomfortable, this sounded exactly like robbery schemes we had heard of. When the time to pay came up, she said we couldn’t use a credit card and we needed to insert cash. We had about 6 minutes at this time and the other girls had joined us, so we started frantically inserting random cash into the machine (it was like 40 euro a ticket and we were buying 4 so we had to come up with a lot of cash on the spot). Then, the women started getting pushy (its all a blur) and the transaction somehow got cancelled, we told her we wanted to do it on our own I think. Then the money we had put in started coming out, but we realized we were missing like 50 euro. We freaked out a little and Margaret (with her HUGE backpack that is quite scary actually) started speed walking to get someone to help, until I realized the 50 had just fallen on the floor. We grabbed it, managed to figure out the machine, shoo away the woman (who later became known as “lady thief”) who was now asking for money, grab our tickets and start running to the platform. It was a long train and we had to find our seats (we had so much stuff, we were a sweating, weighed down, hot mess) and eventually we figured it out. We all laughed when we eventually made it and sat down at last (after trying to figure out how to put all our bags in the right places for like 10 minutes and annoying our neighbors), but it was a tense 15 minutes. We were really glad to enjoy the cookies we had bought early and just veg on the train.

VENICE!

2 hours later we had arrive in Venice. When we walked out of the train station and saw the huge canal, Margaret, who had booked the hotel there and was looking at the directions said “it says to take the number 2 bus but I think it must be a boat.” We all laughed and said yes we think so. We bought the tickets for the water taxi and boarded. It was a tight squeeze and once again our baggage weighed us down, but luckily we didn’t sink the boat. At this horrible joke I would like to take a moment to interrupt myself and say this random digression. Most who know me know I am NOT A LIGHT PACKER. I generally bring a stuffed Vera Bradely Duffel on a weekend trip to the beach. Well you would be proud to know I only brought a small North Face backpack and my Longchamp tote on this trip!! That is impressive for a week you must admit. Ok now I did have to put some of my souvenirs in the Duffle my friend Allie bought in Florence (we all shared the extra space) but besides that I managed. All my other friends have pretty big actual backpacking backpacks, so I was proud. Anyway, we got off the bus boat thing and tried to find our hotel, appropriately named Hotel Scandanavia (Don’t worry, I made sure to make the obvious joke that I hoped Vikings would be working there). We got lost a lot and had to ask for directions many times, Venice is a super confusing place! Also as an added twist, it was flooded! They had planks up everywhere so people could walk above the foot of water that was in the streets! It was a crazy surprise, but cool to see. We had to balance on the planks with all our stuff but managed to avoid falling in and eventually reached our hotel which we found to be very nice but sadly lacking in Vikings.

After resting for a little and getting organized, we headed out to see more of Venice. We went to St. Mark’s square, but it was flooded pretty bad and there was not a lot of room on the planks so we didn’t stay very long and made plans to come back and go inside the church in the morning. We just wandered around for a few hours exploring all the sidestreets, canals, and shops. Venice is famous for its Murano glass and there is an abundance of glass goods of all types available to eager tourists, we browsed a ton and saw a lot of really pretty stuff. It was so fun to just get a feel for the city and wander, but then it started raining pretty hard. We ducked a little bar and tried the special Italian drinks- bellinis- that by some fluke we had not yet sampled! They were fizzy and delicious. We sat and recapped in our journals for a little and then walked towards Santa Margarita, the nightlife center of Florence, and looked for a restaurant. We ended up at a place that was probably a tourist trap but nonetheless yummy. We had soup, wine, and pasta to celebrate our last night and it was fun to talk about all our adventures so far and debate our favorite parts of the trip. After dinner we walked to the little nightlife square which really wasn’t huge – Venice is not known for its nightlife- and found a few cute bars. We actually ran into a few girls from MUDEC who were in Venice too and it was nice to catch up with them. Unfortunately, we were still out at 1am when the tide came in, and they did not have the planks up late at night. It was a funny walk home to say the least, and I ended up taking off my shoes to walk through the 6-12 inch high water. I made the now famous comment, “my feet smell like corpses,” and I stand by it today, that water was gross!! Haha it was so fun though.

In the morning, we ate our last hotel breakfast and washed our feet off some more in the bathtub. I sort of took a half bath/half shower which was exciting for me since everyone knows my obsession for baths. After we got ready, we walked to St. Marc’s Square and got to see it sans floods! It was cool to see all of the pigeons and be in such a historic landmark. We went in the church which was absolutely stunning. It was a lot different than other Basilica’s I have visited and featured a lot of mosaics (which my Uncle Tom had told me about) that I really liked. We saw the alter where St. Marc’s remains lay and the Palais d’Or, a huge collection of jewels that sits on top of it. It was pretty amazing.

Next we did something that was no big deal, ok no actually it fulfilled A LIFELONG DREAM!! I went on a gondola in Venice. My family knows how obsessed I became with gondolas on our trip to Las Vegas back in 7th grade, and I have been waiting since my first ride at the Venetian Hotel to do it at the real deal. We went on a really pretty black and gold old fashioned one with a guy named Lucca. He sang a little but said too much singing would bring on the rain! It was really cool to see the city from the view of the canals and we floated down the Grand Canal and saw the Rialto Bridge as well as Marco Polo’s old house! It was fun and I was giddy with excitement the whole time.

The rest of the day we spent shopping (we had to get some glass, I found lovely earrings that our my favorite color-teal) and exploring Venice more. We just tried to walk along as many streets as possible and see as much of the city as we could. We walked along the Rialto Bride towards the end of the day and got some great pics from the top. We also found the best gelato of our lives in a sort of off the beaten path area that we stumbled on. I got a mix of: white chocolate coconut, vanilla cherry almond, and crème chocolate. It was TO DIE FOR. I am not kidding, most original flavors and most creamy texture. It was a great end to the day and to the trip! After hours of exploring, it was time to head back to our hotel and pack up. After a long many hours of traveling later including 2 buses, a boat, a plane, and a taxi, I arrived back at my door in Bettembourg, Luxembourg. I was exhausted and carrying significantly more than I had brought with me. I had lost an umbrella and perhaps gained a pound of two (gelator adds it to you), but it was completely worth it!! I gained so many experiences and had an absolute blast! I am so thankful to everyone who made it possible for me to be here and take such a lovely trip- especially my Mom, Dad, and Nana. You guys are the best!! Ciao!!

Care