We first went to Florence on a night train. The bed was not comfortable at all but I slept better than most of the other people in our group so I felt good about that. A few of us bought pasteries for breakfast and mine was absolutely delicious, it was way cheaper and better than all the pasteries I've had in Vienna. We went on a tour of the city and saw St. Lorenzo's, another church and the big bridge across the river. We had some free time so Claire and I bought a really cute scarf in the open market and then we a group of us went to a restaurant and I got some tasty lasagna. We also got gelato twice before we met up with the big group at the Uffizi museum. The second time Claire and I shared so we wouldn't feel too bad about it, but it was absolutely delicious (maybe the best I've ever had), we got raspberry and amaretto flavor. In the Uffizi museum we saw the Boticelli's 'Birth of Venus' and 'Spring' and a bunch of other masterpieces, but after such a long day it was really difficult to pay attention to them all.
St. Lorenzo's.
On the bridge across the river. (Melissa, Claire, me and Kristen)
The river was really dirty but the reflection of the bridges were beautiful.
Nick and I always have fun together on the tours.
Enjoying our gelato (Brad, Trevor, Claire, McKinlee, Kristen and I)
Thursday we woke up and a few of us went to the top of the dome on St. Lorenzo's, it was a breathtaking view of the city so we stayed there for a little while. We went to the Accademia that has Michael Angelo's 'David', it took us about 2 hours to get inside, but I definitely think I appreciated it more this time than I did when I came to Europe at the age of 13. It is incredible how detailed everything is, you could even see the veins on his hand. Claire and I went back to the market and bought a few gifts for some people back home and I bought myself a purse. It is super cute and the zipper broke on the one I brought from home so it was a necessity.
We took a 3 hour long train ride to Venice and had free time for the rest of the evening. We walked around the city and got some dinner and really enjoyed seeing all the canals and teeny alley ways in the city.
We took a 3 hour long train ride to Venice and had free time for the rest of the evening. We walked around the city and got some dinner and really enjoyed seeing all the canals and teeny alley ways in the city.
Enjoying the view from the top of the dome. We had to take stairs up and our legs were pretty tired. (Me, Claire, Jen and Rachel)
View of the city of Florence
Claire and I loving the view.
We are in Venice! Claire is styling the scarf she bought it Florence.
Friday we went on a tour of the city of Venice which started in St. Mark’s square. Being in Venice definitely reminded me of the movies ‘Italian Job’ and ‘James Bond - Casino Royale.’ On our tour we saw a seagull swoop down and attack a pigeon, it killed it, it was pretty grotesque. We ended our tour at the Market and I bought a peach that was so huge and juicy and delicious. I went with Mirielle and Tawny and Ali on a water bus to the island of Burano (where we thought the glass was blown, but really it is Murano.) It was great getting to know those girls better. Burano was the cutest little island ever. All of the houses and different buildings were painted different colors and most of them were really bright colors. Like there was a pink house next to a turquoise house and a yellow next to a red, etc.
Some gondolas on one of the canals in Venice.
Look how huge that peach was.
The girls are enjoying the sunshine (Danielle, Ali, Mirielle, Tawny, Kasia, Lisa and Cassandra)
We are on a "bus" on the water! (Mirielle and I)
So many different colors.
See a turquoise house next to a pink one - so adorable.
Making wonderful sillhoutte shapes. When I saw the picture I said "wow, I look hecka flexible" probably not one of my best moments (me, Miriella and Ali)
On Saturday, Mirielle, Ali and I rode another water bus to St. Giorgio and went up the bell tower of the church for a glorious view of the islands of Venice. Last time when I came to Venice we didn’t do a lot so I didn’t enjoy it a lot, but this time we went to so many of the other islands that I absolutely loved it. The 3 of us went to the island of Lido and found our way to the beach on the other side of the island. I loved feeling the sand on my feet and Mirielle and I went swimming! It was a little cold, but not too bad, it was really shallow too, though it was great. We made our way back to the hotel and on the way we rode a 50cent gondola across the river. Now I can say I have ridden a gondola, but thankfully didn’t pay so much. We barely made it to the train station 10 minutes before our train departed to Wien.
Ali and I on the island of St. Giorgio.
We are so happy to be at the beach. Mirielle forgot her swimsuit but still wanted to swim with me.
Yes! We went swimming in the Mediterranean Sea.
Mirielle, Ali, and I at the beach.
My gondola ride.
It was difficult because I don’t know any Italian, but maybe I can learn it some day and visit again. It was so funny because whenever we heard English we got excited, but I got excited when I heard German as well, though here in Austria it doesn’t really excite me. I even asked somebody to take a picture of us in German - I am so cool!
There are so many wonderful things to see in Italy, I wish we had gotten to go to Rome as well. But I am grateful I got to see a few things in Florence and Venice that I didn’t see before. I got to enjoy some good Italian pasta and pizza and I got gelato 5 times! (Don’t worry, we were walking around plenty that it burned off the calories.)
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