Sorry it has been a while since my last post. I have been busy roaming through Italy, and a little bit of Austria, on a 10 day school led field trip! Life is tough, I know! Now, I thought about giving a run down of every city we visited but that could take me days to write about. So, I am going to give a brief run down of everything, highlighting my favorite places. So...
The trip started two Fridays ago. All 20 of us loaded up on a coach Friday night and had an overnight ride to the city of Graz, Austria. It was a beautiful European city! Lots of charm, very historic, and a definite sense of culture- something I have found in nearly all the countries and cities I have visited in my various travels. If only the U.S. had such a rich and deep root in its history and culture!
From Graz we loaded back onto the bus and headed for Vicenza, Italy! The ride there was beautiful as we drove through the alps, which were still capped with snow! When we reach the Italian boarder we were stopped and had our passports checked. We were all cleared to enter the country! We arrived in Vicenza around 9 and after sorting out rooms we headed out to find some dinner. Vicenza is known for being the home of Palladio, and thus many of the best examples of his work. As a result, our visit there focused primarily on his works which were pretty interesting to see in person, especially since we studied them in our architecture history classes. While in Vicenza we took a day trip to Verona. Home of Juliet Capulet- to which we of course went to her house and saw her balcony and made a wish! Verona itself was a beautiful city and one of my favorites. It was bustling with activity, the main street was packed- it took some maneuvering for everyone to stay together. The main city square was much smaller than Krakow's but was also teeming with activity as tons of vendors were set up in the center selling all sorts of things - masks, scarves, jewelry, you name it!
From Vicenza we headed towards Venice stopping in Padova along the way. Padova is most known for its university. The first female to ever receive her undergraduate degree went to the university. It was also well known for its science/doctoral program.
After an afternoon in Padova we ventured on to our hotel outside of Venice. We arrived around 8 or so and once again went out in search of food around 9. We found a very delicious restaurant with amazing pizza. I had half of a Viennese and half of a Hawaiian. Both were delicious. We all also indulged in some vino de la casa - house wine- which was also amazing! And since Amelia already started blabbering about it, this place also won the award for best looking Italian server! The guy even told us to come back the next night, which I gladly would have done had we not been celebrating Carnival in Venice the next night! Oh well... After dinner we all headed to the beach, which was only 2 streets down from our hotel, for a night walk.
In case you hadn't guessed it the next day was spent in Venice. This was the first city we stopped in that I had previously been to and I was looking forward to being back and experiencing the city again- this time through my own eyes and not through a camera screen! The city was more amazing than I remembered, although that may have had something to do with it being the last day of Carnival- its a giant celebration that lasts several days with lots of festivals and wearing masks and throwing confetti all in celebration of the upcoming Lent. It was pretty cool to experience as we all bought and wore our masks around, fitting in perfectly! It was a lot of fun! The other thing I did, which I didn't do last time, was a gondola ride. Myself and 3 others split the cost for a 45 minute cruise around the various canals. It was a really neat way to experience the city, especially since boat was meant to be the primary means of travel.
Man, this is getting long... From Venice we went to Pisa, which was another repeat place for me. We toured around and of course did the cheesy Pisa pics. We actually met a few fellow Americans while taking pictures. One was an OSU alum- blehh. And another was a Florida fan! Small world! After Pisa we continued on to Florence! It was fun to be back in Florence and see all the sites again, even went to the top of the Duomo for the second time! I will admit that of all the Italian cities Florence is not one of my top cities. Its much busier than all the others and has a slightly different feel to it. Not to say it isn't an amazing city, just not one of my favorites.
After Florence we headed for Siena. The city actually surprised me with its charm and character. At first it seemed like many of the smaller cities we had seen, but there was a certain boldness to it that seperated it from the others. It may have been partly due to the fact that it contained the only church/cathedral that really caught my attention. The cathedral was a complete contrast to all the buildings around it and really had a presence. The city square area was also unique- it was a semi-circle rather than the typical rectangle/square shape in every other city.
From there we headed to our final Italian city- Rome. It was just as impressive as I remembered! It was fun being back in Rome too, because despite having seen nearly every place we went to on our tour of the city, I got to experience them at a different time of day. For instance, the last time I went to the Pantheon was in the middle of the day and this time we went later in the evening so the whole experience was different! I also went into the Colosseum and explored the ancient ruins of the roman forum, which I didn't do last time. And as I said earlier, this time I got to experience the city more with my eyes than through the lens of a camera!
The final stop on our way home was Vienna, Austria. It was a very charming city and an interesting contrast to the Italian cities we had been seeing! It probably would have been one of my favorite cities had I not been so tired from the previous 9 days! But despite being exhausted I did my best to enjoy the city. It was lively like many of the others- which actually impresses me since we were there on a Sunday and other than the fact that all the stores were closed I never would have thought a place would be that active on a Sunday. There were people/families everywhere!
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