Venice

I've been meaning to write for some time, but my access to the computer is limited and there's been so much to do.

Friday night after class we took a cab over to Tarquinia (the nearest train station) where we caught a train to Rome and connected via subway to Tiburtina station where we caught the overnight train to Venice. This was the first time I traveled first class anything and it was a pretty cool experience. We were in a room with three levels of bunk beds. I slept in the middle bunk which was sort of terrifying since I kept having visions of the top bunk falling onto me (hey, it was my first time sleeping in a bunk). It was hard to fall asleep but the next thing we knew it was 5:00AM and the conductor was knocking on our door to wake us up.

We took our time at the station getting cappucinno and waiting for the first signs of light to show up so we could jump onto a water taxi. By 7:00AM we were coasting down the Grand Canal, freezing, but too eager to stay in the inner part of the boat and miss all of the amazing scenery we were passing. Venice is breathtaking. The novelty of the city itself makes virtually every corner worth a second look. There's really no comparing it to London, Paris or Rome. We got off the water taxi around the Accademia museum since it opened the earliest. Once we got off the ferry we lost our place on the map and ended up wandering toward another canal where we got an amazing view of the sunrise. This was totally unplanned and for once I was grateful for my inconsistent sense of direction. After taking the sunrise in for a while we visited the Accademia Museum and the Peggy Guggenheim collection. The Accademia was a good way to start the day, but if I had less time I definitely would have skipped it. Let's just say I've seen more Madonna and Child portraits then I ever would have wanted to see in my lifetime, let alone in a weekend. The Guggenheim was small but a few really amazing pieces made it worth it, especially the section of surreal paintings by Max Ernst. The Robing of the Bride and another one of his Drawings are my favorites.

After an overpriced and crappy lunch (this is the downside of the big cities if you are a tourist and don't know where you're going) we jumped back on the water taxi to San Marco and saw St. Mark's Square, St. Mark's Basilica and Palazzo Ducale. Climbing to the top of the Basilica and looking over the square felt like being in a movie. The highlight of San Marco though was definitely Palazzo Ducale. Its hard to comprehend the level of wealth that the aristocracy had when the palace was constructed. The ceilings alone were insanely painted and carved in every single room. Within the palace is a bridge known as the Bridge of Sighs that leads to a prison. It was sort of eerie to look out at the water from the bridge since this was the last view that criminals had before they were imprisoned.

By the time we finished our tour of the Palazzo we still had several hours before we had to catch the overnight back to Rome, so we head over to Ponte Rialto--a huge bridge that is filled with cute shops. Then we wandered through the narrow streets of San Polo before heading back to the station. The overnight back to Rome was easier this time since we were so exhausted from walking. We arrived around 6:00AM and had another capucinno in the station before heading to Termini to catch the Eurostar to Florence.