Leaving Venice

I am now in hotel number four, in Ravenna. We left Venice bright an early this morning on a water taxi just like the ones we rode in on. Sunny, perfect weather didn’t make it any easier to leave this crazy sinking water city.

           

Highlights of Venice:

1)    My roommate Jackie. What an amazing, caring, wonderful person in my life! Of all the reasons why I came to Italy, I think the top is to meet and form relationships with new people, people I normally wouldn’t hang out with because of differing majors/friend groups/living situations. Jackie was a quality roomie, especially when she was convinced, in her sleep, that I was her mom.

2)    Our tour guide Guido. The patience and unassuming nature that man has is something I strive for every day! And he was hilarious. When the group took a boat to the small island of Torcello, we visited a stone “throne” that was supposedly Attila the Hun’s. There is a legend that if you sit on that chair, you will be married to the love of your life in a year. So Guido took it upon himself to sit in the chair, surrounded by all the girls on the trip.

3)    The roof of San Giorgio Maggiore. The quiet, simple, and stoic nature of the inside of this church was something I already liked when I walked inside, but I fell in love with this building the moment I we were able to walk on the roof. It was a perfect late afternoon, and the views were indescribable. On one side you could see nearly all of Venice, and on the other was a pure expanse of blue ocean.

4)    The Church of Saint Mark. The gold mosaics of the walls and ceiling of this structure are everywhere and overwhelming.

5)    People dressing up in masks and costumes to get ready for Carnival. Carnival is actually going on next week I believe, but a lot of people were already wearing their masks and capes (think Casanovas everywhere) to get ready for it.

6)    Running to bakeries, gelato shops, or coffee shops with people after dinner and tasting other people’s goodies.

7)    Taking walks with people like my Katie Love down the main canal and talking about life.

8)    The fact that Venice floods. The high tide occurs twice a day, and that doesn’t necessarily mean that Venice floods twice a day, but it does affect the water levels significantly. I only saw water bubbling up late at night, but what a strange sight it was. Instead of the water spilling over the sides of the canals, it actually bubbles up all over the city from vents that are specifically designed for that purpose. You can sit close to Saint Mark’s Square and watch the water slowly cover it. The water then goes back into the canals through the same holes.

9)    All the hundreds (well, it seemed as though there were hundreds) of all the little bridges going over every tiny canal. Looking down every canal from these bridges gets you a perfect picture every time.

10) The bells coming through our windows in our rooms. There is just something about ringing church bells...

After we left Venice we made a quick pit stop to Padua, the home of Europe’s second oldest university. I really loved the little bit of Padua we saw, and I wish we could have stayed longer. It is much less touristy than Venice, with cobblestone streets, residents on bikes, and Padua University students walking around everywhere. The highlights of this day trip were touring the world’s first operation theater (med school students who watched their teacher operate on a dead body), and the Scrovegni Chapel. The chapel is small and simple, but covered from floor to ceiling with frescoes by the famous Italian artists Giotto. My favorite part is the ceiling: bright blue and covered with stars.

It’s nearly midnight and we have a full day touring Ravenna tomorrow. We’ll be here for two nights, then it is off to Assisi, then Siena! I miss you all bunches. Let me know about any updates with you guys.

Much love to you all!

Out of the countryside, into Venice

A full week has yet to go by since we landed in Milan, but it feels like I have been here for so much longer.  We are already in our third hotel (Hotel Firenze) in Venice, our third major destination, at which we arrived last night! My new roommate Jackie (we get new roommates every time we move) and I are sitting in our room, working on our winery tour reports. Well, at least she is :) Our room is small and beautiful. This building is very old, nestled in between all the other buildings, so you can't even tell it is here from the front. The sounds of Venice are coming through our window...voices, bells, clicking boots...but I am getting distracted. I will go back a little to catch everyone up.

After we finished touring Fontanaferra and eating a wonderful dinner on Monday, we woke up early on Tuesday to visit two more wineries: La Corte (which is owned by the same family that owned our hotel) and Contratto. Obviously La Corte was very close to our hotel, and afterwards we had a wine tasting of five different wines. On our way to Contratto, we stopped at a beautiful little town, Acqui Terme, to have lunch. Know for their natural hot springs, Acqui Terme is probably one of my favorite places so far. It has cute colorful shops, some cobblestone streets, and good food. A group of us ate lunch at a pizzeria and then went right down the street to the most amazing gelato place I have seen yet. The coffee gelato was delicious!! 

After lunch we headed to Contratto, in a town which I can't remember. It is an amazing winery with huge underground cellars, all dug out by hand. After the tour of the winery, the second wine tasting of the day was underway. I have never had so much wine in my entire life as I have had these past five days...and I am slowly getting used to it. 

The next day, it was time to head to Venice. I was sad to be leaving the La Corte Hotel and the Piedmont region in general. It really is one of the most beautiful areas, and it was cold and rainy the whole time we were there. I can't imagine how breathtaking that area is during the summertime. 

The three and a half hour drive to Venice wasn't bad (we stopped for lunch and a tour of ANOTHER winery..Valpolicella) but once we arrived, it got crazzzzehhh.

First of all, it was completely dark, and completely pouring. To get to Venice, you have to pull up to this docking area, and split the group up into smaller groups, and get into these covered motor-powered boats. Once nine of us were in a boat (who knew where all our luggage was at this point), we were wisked away down the main canal. We couldn't see anything because it was dark and stormy...we knew we had arrived when the boat drivers started yelling at us to get off. So we did. Fortunately, after some asking around, we found Hotel Firenze! (It is literally just a door in a narrow alley way, so I am so surprised we made it.)

After we all arrived from out boats, we headed to dinner. Walking to dinner wasn't a problem...walking BACK was. By the time we had finished dinner, the high tide had come in. I don't know why I didn't know this before, but the lovely town of Venice is submerged twice a day, and unfortunately, we didn't  ride canoes to dinner. My poor Toms are still airing out in the bathroom. 

Today consisted of a full day of touring Venice (I was in the Piazza de San Marco, mom!) We visited the Doge’s Palace, the Basilica San Marco (gorgeous!!), the Museo Marciano, the Camponile, and the Museo Correr. We have a new tour guide for Venice, named Guido (I know, Jersey Shore, anyone?) and he is PRECIOUS. He's been a tour guide for nearly 30 years, and his attitude and upbeat personality kept us going through the day. Tomorrow will be an equally busy touring day, and I can't wait to hang out with him again!

Ok, we're supposed to meet in the lobby to head to dinner soon. I probably won't be posting so often in the future, but I am taking advantage of our free working internet here in the hotel while I can. 

Much love to you all!

                                                                   

                                                                             

                                                                        

Milano and FontanaFredda

Finally! Working internet, an outlet for my computer charger, and time.

I am sitting in the beautiful lobby area of our second hotel already, called La Corte, with Jackie, Megan, and Dr. Hestermann. It is a small, rustic hotel on a hill in the small town of Calamandrana (I hope I spelled that right.) We left Milan this morning and drove three hours to Alba to tour our first vineyard and winery, Fontanafredda.

The flight to Italy went amazingly well. I sat with my plane buddy Liz Barfield, and slept most of the time. We flew on Lufthansa, a German airline, so all of our stewardesses were German and spreken de deutsch! We landed ahead of schedule in the Frankfurt airport, and sat down in the waiting area for our connecting flight to Milan. The first thing we figured out was that Europeans don’t really use water fountains as much as Americans do. Everyone stared at a group of seven or eight of us as we aimlessly wandered around the airport with our empty Nalgenes, looking for water like we were going to die. We finally found the single water fountain later on... After a very quick connecting flight, we landed in Milan in the early afternoon on Saturday. Our lovely tour guide, Andrea (he’s a boy) was there waiting to meet us. He has green eyes and walks verrrrrry slooowly :) We loaded up into our bus, and it took about an hour to get to our first sightseeing destination – the Duomo di Milano! It was a beautiful, clear day when we stepped out of the bus and saw this enormous cathedral, which began being built in 1386. The white marble practically glistened against the bright blue sky. There were thousands of people walking around the square in front on the Duomo. It was so surreal to be there surrounded by so many Italian voices and noise and movement right after stepping off the plane. We toured the inside of the cathedral, and then walked around the surrounding area briefly before heading back to our hotel.

We met for dinner at a restaurant around seven, and we were the very first people there. Everyone eats so late here! And it’s not just that they eat later (people started to show up around 8) it is that they eat slower. A meal could easily last up to two and a half or three hours, but there is so much time between courses to talk, digest, and sip your wine that you don’t feel like it has been that long.

The next day was an early start with breakfast at the hotel, followed by a full day of touring. We visited the Brera Museum (FILLED with paintings...one of my favorites was Francesco Hayer’s The Kiss), the famous Scala opera house, a quick lunch break (a cheap cafeteria-style place called Ciao) the Sforzesco Castel, and the Basilica of Saint Ambrose. We went back to the hotel for a quick break before it was dinnertime again at a different restaurant. (I wish I could remember all the different restaurant’s names to make any recommendations...I’ll try to write them down from now on.) Dinner the second night was even better than the first. I had the best tiramisu in the world! The time after dinner was spent trying to find free internet in Milan, which a group of us found right by our hotel outside of a small club, but it was expected that you bought drinks if you wanted to use their internet...so we did...Unfortunately my battery died soon afterwards, so I spent the rest of the time sadly telling the flower guy I didn’t need a rose and observing Italian nightlife.

The next morning we loaded up on the bus again, left the city of Milan, and drove to the countryside of Alba, in the Piedmont region of Italy, to visit Fontanafredda.

The area this winery covers is enormous. It is more like a small community than a winery, with countless buildings, gardens, a pond, old cellars, a church, small areas of woods, and a huge gift shop. We spent a long time wandering the gardens and taking pictures before our tour of the winery began. My only regret was that it wasn’t summertime. The grape vines have to be beautiful in the summer.

Our tour was very interesting, and the oak barrels were huge! So much work and tradition and time goes into making the wine. After the tour, which was an all-day event, we headed to our hotel that I am in now. I wish we were here for more than two nights! The view outside my bedroom window is perfect, filled with old buildings and trees and green and fog...I will try to take more pictures of the area tomorrow morning.

I keep telling myself that even though I will be exploring this country until April, I need to appreciate every little stop along the way. So I will try to keep that up.

Much love to you all!

We have arrived!

Hey everyone!

We have arrived in Italy!!!

I am sitting in my room with my new roomie for a few days, Hannah, in Milan. The traveling part went fine. We just got back from eating dinner together with the whole group. I can't believe I am here! We have already seen the Cathedral of Milan. So beautiful it was beyond words. 

I am so tired I can hardly type, so I will try to give a more comprehensive update later!

Almost There

I am writing this from the same spot I have been in all week: the basement of the library, at more or less the same computer, usually with my trusty study buddy Megan.
If you have seen me or talked to me at any point since I've been back at Furman, you probably heard me say the same thing over and over again..I just want to get to Italy. Everyone going on this trip knew that pre-Italy schoolwork was going to be tough, and everyone also knew that it was going to be worth it. Once we land in Italy the majority of our time will be taken up by traveling and sight-seeing, and it simply won't be conducive to hold normal classes. So, though we will constantly be learning, we won't have as much work. To make up for this, our lovely professors (who really are lovely when they're not asking you to ditch sleep, social life, and sanity) have opened the floodgates of Furman hell.
So...through bloodshot eyes and fried brains, we are still reasurring ourselves that Italy IS worth it, and that we are halfway through our last week of classes. After Friday, on which we have two exams, things will get much easier, and I will finally have time to do some major shopping and packing.

There HAVE been some positives this week:
On Tuesday we had our first little field trip to a vineyard and winery in North Carolina, about 45 minutes from Furman. Green Creek Winery is a small, recently opened, precious little place. Owned by Alvin Pack (awesome name), Dr. Hestermann and the whole group were treated to a tour of the winery and a wine-tasting session. I am no wine connoisseur (yet!), but I thought their wine (which they grow, process, bottle, and sell right there) was very good.
Our class finally finished all our presentations for both biology and history class. Yay!
I am getting better acquainted with a lot of people going on the trip, and am learning that I am so blessed to be able to meet so many hilarious and supportive people.

That's all for now. Almost there...cue The Princess and the Frog :)