Weekend Travels

Ciao ciao!

So last week was my first week of classes, but I don't wanna talk about that.
This past weekend, I went to Pisa and Venice for the Carnevale!

-Pisa: I, along with my roommates and a couple of friends, took the short train ride over to the famous city of Pisa. It's really nice just how easy it is to get around Italy. They have a fantastic train system and the tickets are pretty cheap. Our tickets to Pisa were 7€ each way, which is great!

So we arrived in Pisa at about 11am or a little after. We weren't really sure where to go, but the city is pretty small, so we just started walking down the street in front of us.


The streets are a lot like the ones I walk down everyday in Florence- gorgeous. I am just in love with the Italian architecture. I think the buildings in Pisa though, had a lot more color and variety. You'll see that in another picture. OH- and by the tower were these buildings painted- the only way I can describe it- tuscany. Literally that is the only way I can describe that color. It's in its own color world it's so fantastic.

We just kept walking down the street until we came to a set of old ruins. Now earlier when we looked at the map of Pisa at the train station, we could see that there are remains of the old walls surrounding the city. These ruins that we came upon were right next to part of that wall, and the ruins were one of the old commune buildings.

Here you can kinda see the wall in the background.









So as we walked around these ruins, we turned left and what did we see- the Duomo and Leaning Tower of Pisa!

dun da da daaa!

It was seriously one of the most surreal moments. We were looking at THE Leaning Tower of Pisa. What? This is one of the most widely known buildings in the world, and we were right at the base of it. I could not wrap my mind around it. That's actually how I've felt about a lot that we've seen in Italy. It is just so unbelievable that I am actually in this gorgeous country, looking at these world famous buildings and sights…

Anyway, the closer we got, the more beautiful it was. The green of the grass [and I think it was extra green or something because I have never seen grass that green], made the white marble of the tower and Duomo stick out even more so.

This picture hardly does it justice.
The funny thing about the day was no matter how many pictures we took of the Tower, it just didn't look crooked in the picture! But in reality, it felt like my eyes were playing tricks on me.

This one you can tell better:

That's me!

Here is a panorama of the entrance to the place. [and you can see the amazing tuscan color of the buildings!!]

It's fantastic!!

And of course we had to do the cliche tourist picture of pushing the tower. It's just a necessity. It was really hard though because we had the idea of standing on these rocks/pole things, but the tops were rounded, so you felt like you were gonna fall off the entire time! Here's that picture:

It's not very good, but eh.

It was hilarious because there was just a long line of people "pushing" the tower.


Hee hee….










Sorry one last picture- this one is of the buildings so you can see the colors.

It's a little hard to see, but the colors were fantastic!! Just trust me.

-Now Venice: I took a train out to Venice on Saturday morning to meet two of my good friends from Creighton, and for the Carnevale! 

For those of you who don't know, Carnevale is a two week long festival in Venice leading up to Lent during which people dress up with masks and pretty much party. There are events that go on all day and night like tours of Casanova's house (ahh wish I got to do this) and fancy balls in palaces. This festival has been going on for centuries, and is really one of the coolest things I've seen. Those who have seen "Casanova" know what I'm talkin about. And if you haven't go watch it.

The masks are very common, but those people who get all dressed up like you're supposed to steal the show. The costumes are amazing! Here's kind of an example. I couldn't really get any good pictures.

I mean these costumes were legit.
Absolutely amazing! And in San Marco Square, where all the main events were held, there was a costume contest going on.

Venice really was one of the coolest, strangest, most fascinating places I've ever seen. Although I felt like I couldn't see too much because there were so many people and we had time constraints, it was still a great experience.

The city is gorgeous, and the water is crystal blue. I was actually really surprised to see just how blue and clean it was!

Sadly we weren't able to take a gondola ride, just cause they were too expensive, but I will return and do it! I'm determined! The gondolas too are so nice- they are so sleek and dressed up. I think I would've felt like royalty if we did ride in one. It was funny, because we were looking at these gondolas and canals, and just kept talking about what would happen if the water froze or if something else happened that would prevent them from using the canals. It is just so fascinating that a city is built the way Venice is.

Anywho, sorry I keep going off track. Saturday night we had dinner at a restaurant of pizza and wine. I tell ya, nothing is more perfect than that. And it was delicious of course. As we were finishing and talking we noticed that it started raining outside. Not too much, but a steady sprinkle. By this time it was already 10ish, so we just decided to go back to our hotel, which was outside of the city. As we walk down the confusing streets of Venice, trying to follow the signs to the bus stop, the rain turns to snow. Yes. It snowed. In Venice. I didn't even think it could snow in Venice!! And it was the strangest snow too- they were like tiny balls, almost like hail, but still soft like snowflakes. It was so weird.

But anyway, Venice was beautiful. Sunday afternoon Rachel and I left to come back to Florence (she was staying the night). I showed her around a bit, then we went to a restaurant that I think I might become a regular at [I use that term loosely- I don't eat there every night mama and daddy]. It is fantastic. I just can't even express how amazing it is.

So all in all, the weekend was great! This upcoming weekend my program is taking us on a three day trip to Rome! I'm excited for that- it's going to be beautiful!!

So that's all for now. I might write again soon before Rome to talk about the food, because oi…

Arrivederci!!

ps- sorry for the abundance of pictures, t just think it is the best way to show you what is happening. :)