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Day 27 (7/1/11):
Liz walked me to school in the morning since she had plans to go see the Spanish Steps and Pantheon while I was at class. I introduced her to Gio, a bar/restaurant around the corner from school, and we had our morning coffees there.
In class today we did more with the form of Cortesia. It's pretty simple - just use the 3rd person singular or plural depending on who you're talking to. Easy! We also went over the Italian holidays and did a fun exercise of writing about a particular holiday in our home countries.
After class, Liz met me outside school and we headed to Termini to catch our train to Venezia! We were early so we had a train station lunch, but it was actually very good! We each had an artichoke risotto and split a salad.
The train ride to Venice was long, but it went by just fine. We had a few conversations with neighboring train-takers, and it was again hilarious to me that they thought we were about 18 years old! Once we got off the train in Venice we had a super short cab ride, and then were at our hotel! We dropped our stuff and figured out the short bus trip to the main island, and went on our way to go sightsee.
We arrived at the island around 6:30 p.m., figured out the vaporetto "water taxi" system and went straight to Saint Marc's Square! The weather was absolutely perfect! It was definitely cooler here than it has been in Rome, and the water made everything look so much more beautiful. When we arrived at Saint Marc's, we were surprised to see that a graduation ceremony had just finished. Several graduates were walking around with large wreaths around their necks - I'm not sure of the significance, but I am sure that it could not have been very comfortable!
We walked around the square a bit and took some pictures of the scenery. Then we started wandering a bit outside the main area and window shopped since several places were already closed for the evening. We decided to get some dinner at a restaurant called La Nuova Grotta. Dinner was delicious, but the waitstaff were very unfriendly, so I don't recommend going there. For dinner I experimented and got spaghetti with cuddle fish in a black sauce. It looked like tar, but tasted delicious! For the second course, Liz and I both got clams/mussels marinara and then a mixed salad. Everything was delicious, and went well with our little bottle of Ruffino Chianti.
After dinner we walked around the streets a bit more until we randomly bumped into a small enoteca that looked adorable and delicious. We decided to stop in and get some dessert! The place is called Osteria Enoteca San Marco, and everything we had was more than delicious. We ordered a tiramisu and a chocolate cake to share, and Liz got a glass of moscato (it was red and sweet! I was surprised) and I got a glass of a tawny port wine. With every sip and bite we couldn't help but say "mmm"…:o)
After dessert we were full and exhausted, so took the vaporetto back to the bus, and the bus back to Hotel Ambasciatori. We definitely loved Venice so far!
Day 28 (7/2/11):
We woke up at 6:30 a.m. to get a good start to the day. We had planned to get to Saint Marc's Square early to avoid standing in line for the cathedral for too long. After an awesome hotel breakfast, we were on our way!
It was really smart of us to get up early. The line was already forming when we arrived! Luckily, we only had to wait maybe 20 minutes for the church to open, and we got in very quickly. The whole inside of the church is SO sparkly! Gold and mosaic tiles glitter from everywhere. It's incredibly ornate. We walked around inside a little, then went to one of the side chapels to sit for a bit. Afterwards, we walked towards the altar to see the mosaic and jewel-encrusted Pala d'Oro. It was really cool looking, and I could not believe the amount of precious stones on it!
From there we went into the treasury to see what was there. A lot of it was bones and teeth of important people, then some glass bowls/plates/challises. After the Treasury, we went to the upstairs balcony to see a different view of the church and look out over the Square.
From the church, we went around the corner to the Palazzo Ducale. It is HUGE! We went through each room slowly, as there was so much to see in all of them! Everything was so ornate - except, of course, the prisons. We were also able to walk over the Bridge of Sighs on our way to view the prison cells!
We needed to rest a bit after so much walking, so went to a small bar and ordered some panini and aperol spritz (my new favorite drink) and sat for a bit to plan out the rest of our day. Our panini were delicious!
After lunch, we wandered through the narrow streets, popping in and out of shops, on our way to the Accademia art museum. The rooms in the museum were so large, we almost had to sit for a bit and stare at everything while we were there. Luckily for us, they also had information sheets on the exhibits in each room so we could learn more about what we were seeing.
From there, we went back to Saint Marc's Square to take the elevator to the top of the Campanile. The views from the top were great - you could see the whole island!
When we had exited the museum, we were handed a flier advertising an opera for that night! The prices weren't too high, so we made a quick decision and bought tickets! We were so excited :o) We decided to get some dinner near the Rialto Bridge since that was the area the opera was located in. We found a cute little restaurant called "Da Mamo Trattoria Pizzeria" and sat down. Before we received our meals, the waiter dropped off a small aperitivo size pastry with mint cream. It had a very slight cooling effect, and was the perfect bite-size piece! For dinner, Liz ordered gnocchi with scallops and porcini mushrooms, and I ordered the "special" which turned out to be wide fettuccine-like pasta with tomatoes, shrimp, and feta cheese bits. It was so delicious! As another special treat at the end of our meal, the waiter brought over melon-flavored limoncello (another new favorite of mine)!
After dinner we had a brief walk down the street to get to the opera, put on by the Scuola Grande di San Teodoro. The room was small, which was perfect because you could see and hear from every seat. The whole show was amazing! The orchestra sounded beautiful, and I was surprised by the actor's talent. The show was "La Traviata", and it was a really wonderful experience to see an opera, and see it in Venezia!
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