Venezia!

Wow, what a great day yesterday! Ashley, Emily, Janani, Maroo and myself decided to try our luck at the bus/train system again and take a day trip to Italy...we are really becoming pros at public transportation. Once again, no hiccups! We left Paderno around 8 and arrived in Venice by 10:15am. Already it was warm, and it kept getting hotter (the high was 82). As I took a billion and a half pictures, I'll go through picture by picture again to tell the stories of the day ( I took close to 100, but I'll only bore you with 30ish)....

 We walked out of the Venezia Saint Lucia train station and wew literally thrown head first into Venice. In the background you can see the Grand Canal, many water taxi's and gondolas. The impressive building with the dome behind us is the the church of San Simeon Piccolo in Santa Croce. It's almost 80 degrees at 10 in the morning and I am going to majorly regret wearing a long, hot cotton maxi skirt in a couple of hours...

 If anyone has seen the movie the Tourist with Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, you will recognize this hotel! This is just to the right of the church.

 Because I hadn't gotten up until 7:30 to take a shower and catch the 8 am bus (hey I'm still trying to figure out my sleep schedule) I hadn't eaten breakfast yet. As soon as we got there there were gelatto and crepe places EVERYWHERE. I had a nutella crepe, it was oh so good.

 One of many bridges we went over, and I believe this one is over the Grand Canal. You will see many more canal pictures, as I was in love with them!

 Our first marketplace! It was closer to 11 at this point, and my goodness everyone and their brother was in Venice that day. We loved looking at all the fresh fruits and veggies though :)

 Ashley and Maroo...Ashley is a vegetarian so she was loving the selection of local produce.

 I was SO confused by what these were for a minute. After poking them with my finger a few times I finally came to the conclusion that they were mushrooms. Sure don't look like the ones I have in my woods back home!

 So, the streets of Venice are  small, confusing, and very winding...there are worse places to get lost in though :) These were literally the street signs- you had to be very, very aware. We were looking for the Realto Bridge, and we were excited to finally see a sign that showed that we had been going the right way!

 Good group photo of us RAs! Abbey decided not to join us today as she has been studying here since January (she was an RA spring semester too) and had been to Venice multiple times! She has been to 15 countries in 4 months- I am SO jealous.

 On the train on the way to Venice, I bought a 1.5 L water bottle to drink. I knew we would be walking around alot, and I didn't want to get dehydrated...with drinking that much water (I almost finished the bottle before we got there) I needed a bathroom ASAP. In Italy, and often in Europe, you have to pay to use the bathroom. I hadn't seen any signs for a toilet (marked by a blue sign with a capital WC in white letters) and I didn't really want to pay, but I was getting desperate. We finally spotted a McDonalds (I swear they are everywhere) and I ran inside to pee. The rest of the gang enjoyed the air conditioning before we continued our adventure.

 This is quite possibly my favorite picture of the canals in Venice- the perfect depiction of the sleepy life that Venice has when it isn't overrun by tourists. I checked it out, and only a few thousand people live on the island throughout the year.

 This is the Realto bridge, over the Great Canal. It was PACKED with tourists!

                                   The view from the top of the Realto bridge...its so Italy!

 We had to literally stalk people as they were taking pictures to steal their spot after they were done. Finally got one!

 This is the Realto Market (I think). This is standing in the middle of the bridge looking down to the market below...I got a couple souvenirs while I was there!

 With the bridge in the background on the right, this was a small square that was in that market...I don't know what this building/possible church is called, but I want to find out! Also, it's hard to see, but the middle of the clock is a sun...we saw them ALL over Venice, very cool.

 After the Realto bridge, we were on a quest to find San Marco...After many small winding streets and poorly displayed street signs (another example in this pic), we found it!

                                                                           WOW!

This is the Basilica di San Marco- at the eastern end of Piazza San Marco, the final resting place of St. Mark. One of the world's most richly embellished and distinctive Roman Catholic Churches, dating back to 11th century.  Behind the alter is the Pala d'Oro alter screen, one of the basilica's greatest treasures, comprised of more than 2000 precious stones and enameled panels. (Thanks mom for the info!) Later we come back to San Marco, and I have one picture from the inside (definitely illegal to take pics) and a couple of the Piazza de San Marco. It was breathtaking.

 We walked out from the square towards the water, which we mistakingly thought was the Mediterranean Sea...thanks Ashley for looking it up! It is actually the Adriatic sea. I have pictures of me with my toes in the Adriatic Sea, just to say I did! My camera actually started to die at this point in time, so Ashley took some pictures for me the rest of the day. Anyone know what that structure is?? I'm still trying to figure it out!

 After being pretty wilty from the sun, Maroo Emily Janani and myself decided to sit down in this little sandwhich shop and eat lunch. I had to get a glass of wine, of course.

 After lunch we decided to just wander aimlessly, with our goal to get back to San Marco. We saw pasta in the windows of many shops!

                                                 yet another example of vague street signs....

 IT'S AN ITALIAN LITTLE BUDDY! This little guy reminded me of my dog Simon :)

 We wandered around the streets of Venice for a bit, then ended up back at San Marco's. We saw a gigantic line and thought that we would have to pay to do a tour, but we hopped in line and found out it was free! The line went quickly, and 5 minutes later we were inside. They were adamant about the rule of covering your shoulders in the church, so I took off my scarf and used it as a wrap. This picture is of the alter- so so ornate.

                 These two women had 5 little Yorkies! We saw dogs EVERYWHERE in Venice.

 We were all pretty tired, and decided to sit by the docks and just enjoy the scenery. Emily and I's toes :)

 Ashley, Emily and Janani in front of the unknown structure...gotta figure out what it is! You could only get to it by water taxi...

Looking from the dock down the coast. Pretty funny story, the unknown structure that has been in a couple pictures we swore was a place called Doge's Palace. We knew you had to pay to take a tour, so we hadn't planned on going inside. In all actuality, the first building on the far left of this picture is Doge's Palace. We were sitting in front of it for an hour and had NO clue! It is right next to San Marco on the Piazza de San Marco. Boy we were clueless.

Mom has always said that pigeons are flying rats- I completely agree. Some woman was letting her child sit on the ground and hand feed and play with the pigeons- YUCK.

This is me in the Piazza de San Marco standing in front of a beautiful clock. We actually went under that where the big opening is to find our way back to the train station...The first time we made it to San Marco we were on some little side street that spat us out in front of it. No clue how we got there the first time.

Post card worthy!

After seeing gelatto everywhere, we finally got some! My first flavor was banana, and it was DELICIOUS. I guess fruit flavors are less creamy and more have the consistency of sorbet, but I still loved it.

In fact, I loved gelatto so much that I decided to stop at another place right outside of the train station and help myself to one more! Despite the massive nutella container in the background, my flavor was actually Snickers (my favorite candy). It was super creamy and delicious!

We took the 6:30 train back to Bassano to get a taxi to Paderno, and made it home around 8:30. We were all POOPED. I got major tan lines from all the sun, and poor Emily went off in search of aloe vera for her very pink skin. Because Paderno has only 1 restaurant (pizzeria) and the sports bar was closed, I opted for a very healthy dinner of crackers, a granola bar, and a fruit roll up. Oh well, I'm on vacation lol. I was in bed by 10, and could only stay awake long enough to post about the night before. Today is a lazy day, and I have taken multiple naps to try to prepare for my first week of classes. The RAs are going over to the graduate campus tonight for a BBQ and to meet the faculty. I'm excited to meet my professors! Tomorrow is checkin day, when all the 186 students arrive. My job is to be at the airport all day and to greet and check off people as they arrive. I shuffle them onto their buses, and wait for the next group. I will be a walking billboard with a CIMBA shirt on and I will holding a sign in case the shirt isn't obvious enough. It will be a fun and tiring day for sure! Classes start Tuesday! Ciao :)