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[preganziolitaly2017]

6/30/17 - 7/01/17

6/30/17

This weekend was my first weekend off! For my first free, full, two days I decided to finally check out Venice!! What an incredible experience. Venice is absolutely beautiful and I want to go back now, every day (somewhat possible, as I usually am off around two and it only takes about 30 minutes to get there). I don’t want to have this be too long, so I will only recount the main activities. I got a pretty late start— by the time I was done getting ready, it was 10:30 and the next train out to Venice wasn’t until 11:45. So I did what I normally do and had a bite to eat and coffee at Giornale & Caffe until it was time to walk to the station. The ride was only 30 minutes to Venice so I got there in no time! During the train ride I decided to book a walking/gondola ride tour so I could learn a bit about the city. I ended up getting to that just in time, because it took a while to find where I was staying! 

So first impressions of Venice: Absolutely beautiful, VERY narrow alleyways, more tourists than I expected, lots of hidden areas, people are generally very nice. 

So I got to the square where we were supposed to meet early, so I decided to go to a bar called “Black Jack” that seemed pretty inviting. I ordered a glass of red wine and sat next to this woman from Texas. I told her that I was staying by myself as an au pair and she applauded me for being so brave. Again, it doesn’t feel as if I’m being brave, but I took the compliment! Soon it was time to go on the tour so I said bye and went to the area I saw filled with Americans. I ended up meeting and talking to a guy from Tarzana! Small world. The tour was nice, and I took some notes so here are the most interesting facts: 

-Venice is made up of 118 little islands and rests on mineralized wood 

-Venice was it’s own republic until 1861, when it became a part of Italy 

-Venice has it’s own specific dialect, because of this 

- The end of the Venice flag is cut into 6 pieces, to represent the 6 districts 

After the walking portion, we got in line to ride on the Gondala! I was with 5 other people for that— a mom, dad, and daughter trio from Australia and a couple from Puerto Rico. I loved the sensation of being on the gondola and just relaxing while taking time to appreciate the city. It was over far too soon. Unfortunately I was not able to do something directly after, since I used up 95 percent of my phone battery. :( I rushed back to the hotel room before I lost my map capability, but before I went to my room I decided to check out the spiraling staircase next to the hotel. A rich family wanted to show off their wealth by creating this marvelous staircase called, “Scala Contarini del Bovolo” and at the top was a beautiful view of Venice rooftops and the bell tower. 

Then I went back to my room to relax for a little while I charged my phone. I set out to go to a nice place for dinner, but instead ended up going to a nearby opera house to see a performance of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. I guess Vivaldi was Venetian (?) so they liked to perform his compositions often. I wasn’t complaining, and the performance was wonderful. I have never seen musicians play it live before, so it really blew me away with how furiously fast they could pay the notes. While I was in line, I met some people studying at Cambridge University, along with the guy Davids’ two cousins from Luisiana, so we hung out after the concert. We had fun bar-hopping and exploring the many paths and ancient buildings of Venice. At about 1:00, I walked home! It was slightly sketch to me, but I ended up being fine, obviously. 

7/01/17

I woke up and wasn’t feeling 100 percent, so I didn't fully get up until I had to check out at 10:00. I left my backpack at the hotel, however, because I still wanted to check out Venice before coming home. I first walked to a nearby cafe to have breakfast. I picked an open area to have breakfast at so I could soak in the sight of the city. It was short, but sweet. Then I walked to finally see St. Mark’s Basilica! It was honestly one of the best, most impressive works I have every seen. When I got inside I just stood in awe at the intricacies of the design, biblical artwork, size, and gold and marble material everywhere. I enjoyed just walking, but I really wished I could have known the history more before I came inside the cathedral. At the end of the tour there was a gift shop and I actually bought a book about the history and went back inside to gain the contextual understanding I craved. 

Then after I finally felt finished (which is not really true, since I could probably spend hours in there) I decided to head to the Peggy Guggenheim museum. She was an English (I think) artist who did a lot of sculptures and later on discovered a passion for collecting other artists’ works. Her museum incorporated her favorite pieces from other artists. I love art museums so I really enjoyed taking my time walking around before I had to leave to go to the train station to go home. 

Right now it’s 11:15 pm and I can barely type anymore so I am going to leave it at that! 

-Tess 

P.S. The kids made all of the hashtags when they saw I was writing something :)