Weekend/Venezia

Sorry for the lag in my blog posts, it's becoming harder and harder to get this done with schoolwork piling up and traveling almost every weekend. It's so busy here that the time just blazes by. We had a heck of a weekend here, though. Thursday night, we went out to try to find a club but nothing was really going on. Friday was a bit better. Pete and I woke up and walked into the center of Bologna searching for panini at around 1PM- I made him try the prosciutto since that's one of the things Bologna is really known for. Plus, the sandwich shop has great bread and its a huge sandwich for only 2 euros. We ended up getting lost in the city for about 3 hours in parts that I'd never been to before. Luckily, the city is laid out like one giant wagon wheel, so even if you're lost all you have to do is try to find the towers and head in that direction. It was a great day out. We ended up spotting these stupid/ridiculous tracksuits at the huge open air market that they have here every Friday and Saturday. For 15 euros, we got to walk around looking like jagaloons for about 4 hours...so even though I might be getting more independent over here, I'm still basically a child- No need to worry back home. At about 8 we headed to Beth's apartment because some of the girls were making dinner- pretty much in Pete's honor but it was great to have a well-planned meal...our meals in the apartment are usually slapped together based on whatever we pass in the grocery store that looks good at the time. We went out again on Friday, planning on waking up around 7 to head to Venice on Saturday. Well, my phone is broken and Pete's alarm was set to London time, so we didn't end up waking up until around 9:30. We rushed to the train station with Beth (we brought her so it didn't have to be a man-date in one of the supposedly most romantic cities on Earth...people would have looked at us funny), but ended up booking an 11 o'clock fast train for 30 euros that would get us into Venice much earlier than whatever regular train we could have caught at that time- in theory. It turned out that our train ended up being delayed for an exhausting hour, but then again we did have time to actually grab a coffee and some breakfast so it wasn't all bad. We ended up getting to Venice at about 1. I know I say this every other new post, but Venice was THE PLACE. It's amazing, and probably the most different way of life that I've been able to see so far here in Europe. I did my usual scheming to live there full-time as we walked around, but then I realized I've never operated a boat in my life, so I'd be screwed. It's an unbelievable place, and both Pete and I were surprised that so many people gave it such a bad rap. If you are ever in Italy, Venice is a MUST SEE. Granted, some of the sections are unbelievably crowded and touristy, even on a nice February weekend, but overall the experience was so worth it. There are literally no cars in the city, and no roads. They have some large and some small walkways, all separated by canals. Gondoliers are everywhere. Unfortunately a gondola ride is about 90 euros per hour, so we decided it wasn't worth it and took some pictures of gondolas instead. I immediately got us lost in the city, since that is my favorite way to "discover" any new place that I visit, but eventually we made our way to San Marco (St. Mark's) square, with St. Mark's Basilica, St Mark's belltower, and the Doge's palace- and also a ridiculous view of the lagoon and surrouding area (check out my pictures on Facebook, some of my best yet). Venice is actually constructed right on top of the lagoon, being supported by wooden beams, many of which are several hundred years old- and is sinking. Tourism is their major industry, and has been for a long time. It's pretty evident with all the shops and restaurants throughout the city. My roommate John probably described Venice the best, as one giant tourist trap, but one of the few that are actually worth it. Everything is expensive because it's such a hassle to get supplies to the city. I honestly can't figure out how a city built on the water can function, but historically Venice has been one of the most successful cities/regions in Italy. We were really hungry when we finally got to St. Mark's at around 2:30, so we decided to go get some pizza very quickly before heading back. Unfortunately, that plan backfired, as I took the bait of a waiter waiting outside a restaurant who said they had pizza. We ended up waiting inside for over an hour, and a 9 euro pizza for each of us ended up actually costing around 17. Live and learn I guess, but I got "Frutti di Mare" or seafood pizza with calamari, clams, mussels, and other seafood so it wasn't a complete loss (I felt like I had to get seafood somewhere in Venice). We headed back to the square, where thousands of people were just milling around. Everything in the square is really compact. We tried to go into the Basilica to see the tomb of Mark (yes, that Mark), but for some reason most areas of the basilica had closed at 2. We went into the Doge's palace instead, which was a home for "the Doge" or duke of Venice, who was a symbolic figurehead with no political power, and who was only allowed to go outside of the palace on certain occasions. To give you an idea of how big/fancy it was, there was a specific room designated for visiting philosophers to do their philosophizing in. It was unbelievably decorated, with gold plating almost everywhere, and was an homage to the days when Venice was an important trading center. These days, there is no true economic activity outside of tourism, as I understand it, but Venice was once one of the major powers in Italy, if not all of Europe, and was one of the only cities in Italy to largely remain autonomous in a time when foreign countries had divided up almost every other region (we are learning about this in history class). After the palace, we basically just walked around, taking in some of the sights of the beginning stages of Carnivale (which really starts to kick off this upcoming weekend, the amount of tourists will be insane). I couldn't get over all the boats and the spectacular views. It's the coolest place I've ever seen, and even better than I imagined. We hung out until the sun began to set eating gelatti, then decided to catch a waterbus down the Grand Canal, which is basically the "main street" of Venice. The waterbus was really crowded, but we ended up meeting some Americans from California. We decided to catch the 7 pm train back to Bologna, which of course ended up being a hassle when the ticketing machine ate our 20 euro bill. We eventually made it though, even though I was reluctant to go back. I came back and was so exhausted that I didn't even go out that night after our 2 hour train ride. Even though the day on paper was a disaster and I ended up spending massive amounts of money, I didn't even care because Venice is so amazing. My words will never do it justice, so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE look at my pictures...they might be able to give you a fraction of an idea of how amazing the city really is. I woke up on Sunday (Pete's last day) and made omelets for the two of us before we walked into the center of Bologna. I took Pete to the Archaeological museum and the Medieval museum, as well as the commune building and tried my best to pass on some of the info about Bologna that I learned on tours, but I'm sure I didn't do it justice. It was a miserable, cold, and semi-rainy day, but we still had a good time and accidentally went to about 15 minutes of a mass inside San Petronio. There was also some massive boy scout meeting in Piazza Maggiore, with thousands of kids chanting and singing...weird. Pete left at around 8:30 to hop on his 9:30 flight...cutting it a bit close. All in all, it was a great weekend, and I'm glad Pete came and got the chance to see a little bit of Italy. He said it was extremely different from London, and a nice break. I'm looking forward to seeing London through, from what he told me about it. This week, I'll just be doing the same old stuff...working out and trying to get work done before firming up weekend plans. I'll be traveling somewhere though...no wasted weekends here in Italy. I can't wait for the next city, because I have yet to be disappointed. There's no Cleveland here in Italy...every town has its own unique history and culture. Part of me wishes I had a whole year to see and do everything that I want while I'm here, but on the other hand I'd miss America too much.