Venice

This begins the posts about my amazing, will probably never be topped weekend that I had last week.  Unfortunately the internet is on the fritz at home so I don't know if I will be able to blog this weekend but if I can come to the library, I definitely will.

Step One of Amazing Weekend:

Go to Venice

And go to Venice I did.

Boy was it beautiful.  It is definitely a city that exceeds expectations.  Every picture you have ever seen and every thing you have ever heard about Venice is definitely true.  Venice is definitely one of my favorite places that I have been and I have to go back because I didn't go on a gondola ride (more about that later).  Would you also like to know why Venice is so wonderful?  Because it is a Florida State gator hating city!  Yep, you hear me right.  What does the statue of their patron saint show but the saint killing a gator with a spear!  Oh, and what are Venice's colors- garnet and gold.  BAM.  Take that UF.  Even Italy doesn't like you.

On my first day in Venice I wondered around a took a plethora of pretty pictures.  We ate lunch and then met up for our tour and lecture about St. Marks.  Quick lesson time: Other then the whole FSU thing, we also learned that the Venetians were a bunch of thieves and every time they would conquer a place, they would steal valuable stuff off their churches, government buildings, and whatnot.  They took all this and put in on or in St. Marks.  That's why the church is like a huge treasure chest of amazing things including over a 1 1/2 acres of gold mosaics, colored marble, statues, and these 4 bronze horses that were created somewhere between 3 BC and 3 AD. They are beautiful and life sized.  Also in the church is a beautiful monstrance made of complete gold and hundreds of precious gems.  

Unfortunately when we were in St. Marks, it rained and was thundering so they put away the gondolas and then I didn't have time the next day to go on one but I am okay with that because it gives me a reason to go back.

After St. Marks we went to another church to look at some famous painting and then had free time where I just wondered around the city some more.  

We went to dinner and had a huge, tasty meal.  We ate risotto with red cabbage, fresh pasta with salt ricotta, eggplant, olives, and tomatoes, a caprese salad with grilled veggies, and chocolate molten lava cake.  So good.

 The next day we woke up and I skipped some museum to go to Murano with Sara, Carolyn, Michael's mom, and Julie's parents and brother.  Murano was beautiful!  We saw a man blow glass and I bought a bunch of trinkets.  I could have looked at the glass all day. It was amazing.

After Murano, we took the boat back to main Venice and went to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum which has modern type art- Picasso, Dali, surrealists, and others.  Her house had a beautiful garden with a wishing tree and was along the Grand Cannel so we took some pretty pictures.  After this, it was time to return home to Florence.  I absolutely loved Venice. 

 

Up Next: Amazing Weekend Part 2