the travel bug

Florence Adventures

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Alright so I’m finally gonna tell you guys about Venice. First of all it was beautiful, as you can see. I loved all of the canals and bridges and I especially loved not almost getting hit by a car every time I walked in the street. Its so cool that all the people that live their walk and boat to everywhere the have to go. I’ve heard that Venice is dirty but I really didn’t think that was the case. Every once in a while youd get a whif of something that didnt smell to pretty but I think thats the case for any city you go to.  When we got to Venice the first thing we did was go to a glass blowing factory. According to Patricks Venetian friend Alberto, its the place glass in town. We watch a glass blowing master (which I believe it takes 14 years of experience to become a master) make a vase and a horse. It was sooo cool. Then our guide showed us some traditional venetian glass and explained to us how it is decorated. Traditional venetian glass usually has some type of gold design on it. All of the traditional glass they sold at this factory was decorated with 14k gold. No wonder it was so expensive. But anyways then we went to the shop and shopped for glass. Luca told me to look around before I bought anything cause there are other stores you can trust, but I ended up going back to the same place the next day after looking a few other places. I bought some wine glasses and drinking glasses. There were so many glasses I wanted to buy, but unfortunately its really expensive. On Friday we also got to tour the Doge Palace and we went into St. Marks. Both were beautiful. We went to a delicious dinner that Luca planned for us and then went out and wandered the streets of Venice.  The next day I woke up looking like I’d gotten into a bar fight. My left eye was so swollen for no apparent reason. But whatever, I went to the pharmacist and got so medicine and went on with my day…wearing sunglasses of course. Saturday morning we went on a walking tour of one of the districts of Venice. We got to see a nice church and art school and walk through the market, all that good stuff. Then we met up with Patricks Venetian friend, Alberto. First he took us to this amazinggg kabob place. I know you wouldn’t think that kabobs in Italy would be good but trust me, they’re delicious. Then he just took us all around Venice. It was so much fun to be shown around Venice by a local.  After a little rest I went with a few people to take a gondola ride. Its a bit pricey but lets face it, how often are you gonna be able to ride in a gondola in Venice. It was so fun and relaxing. Our guy had been rowing gondolas (not sure if thats the right way to put it?) for 30 years! His skills were pretty impressive. I was sure we’d run into either another gondola or a wall what with the narrow canals and hundreds of gondolas. It was awesome to see Venice from a different perspective riding in the gondola. We even saw newlyweds taking a gondola ride! After that we had a delicious dinner and went out and about in Venice. We went to a cool little music thing. It was art night (also called white night) so all of the galleries stayed open all night, which was awesome. After listening to a little music we went to a few galleries and saw some really cool art. Sunday we took another walking tour and ended up in the first Jewish Gheto. It wasn’t anything like you would think. It was actually pretty nice, but they had to fit a lot of people into a small square, so the buildings are really tall. Much taller than any other building in Venice, which is usually only about 4 floors at the most. Then we just walked around Venice and did some souvenir shopping before we left that afternoon.  All in all I absolutely loved Venice. It was so different than anywhere I’ve ever been.  Ciao!

Alright so I’m finally gonna tell you guys about Venice. First of all it was beautiful, as you can see. I loved all of the canals and bridges and I especially loved not almost getting hit by a car every time I walked in the street. Its so cool that all the people that live their walk and boat to everywhere the have to go. I’ve heard that Venice is dirty but I really didn’t think that was the case. Every once in a while youd get a whif of something that didnt smell to pretty but I think thats the case for any city you go to. 

When we got to Venice the first thing we did was go to a glass blowing factory. According to Patricks Venetian friend Alberto, its the place glass in town. We watch a glass blowing master (which I believe it takes 14 years of experience to become a master) make a vase and a horse. It was sooo cool. Then our guide showed us some traditional venetian glass and explained to us how it is decorated. Traditional venetian glass usually has some type of gold design on it. All of the traditional glass they sold at this factory was decorated with 14k gold. No wonder it was so expensive. But anyways then we went to the shop and shopped for glass. Luca told me to look around before I bought anything cause there are other stores you can trust, but I ended up going back to the same place the next day after looking a few other places. I bought some wine glasses and drinking glasses. There were so many glasses I wanted to buy, but unfortunately its really expensive. On Friday we also got to tour the Doge Palace and we went into St. Marks. Both were beautiful. We went to a delicious dinner that Luca planned for us and then went out and wandered the streets of Venice. 

The next day I woke up looking like I’d gotten into a bar fight. My left eye was so swollen for no apparent reason. But whatever, I went to the pharmacist and got so medicine and went on with my day…wearing sunglasses of course. Saturday morning we went on a walking tour of one of the districts of Venice. We got to see a nice church and art school and walk through the market, all that good stuff. Then we met up with Patricks Venetian friend, Alberto. First he took us to this amazinggg kabob place. I know you wouldn’t think that kabobs in Italy would be good but trust me, they’re delicious. Then he just took us all around Venice. It was so much fun to be shown around Venice by a local. 

After a little rest I went with a few people to take a gondola ride. Its a bit pricey but lets face it, how often are you gonna be able to ride in a gondola in Venice. It was so fun and relaxing. Our guy had been rowing gondolas (not sure if thats the right way to put it?) for 30 years! His skills were pretty impressive. I was sure we’d run into either another gondola or a wall what with the narrow canals and hundreds of gondolas. It was awesome to see Venice from a different perspective riding in the gondola. We even saw newlyweds taking a gondola ride! After that we had a delicious dinner and went out and about in Venice. We went to a cool little music thing. It was art night (also called white night) so all of the galleries stayed open all night, which was awesome. After listening to a little music we went to a few galleries and saw some really cool art.

Sunday we took another walking tour and ended up in the first Jewish Gheto. It wasn’t anything like you would think. It was actually pretty nice, but they had to fit a lot of people into a small square, so the buildings are really tall. Much taller than any other building in Venice, which is usually only about 4 floors at the most. Then we just walked around Venice and did some souvenir shopping before we left that afternoon. 

All in all I absolutely loved Venice. It was so different than anywhere I’ve ever been. 

Ciao!

Filed under venice italy photography

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So we had a portrait assignment in photography and these are my lovely models :) I’m loving my photography class so far, its making me really want to buy photoshop though. This week we took pictures on an analog camera and got to develop the film and handprint a picture. It was super time consuming but really fun. 

Anyways this week has been pretty busy. We had a test in history which wasn’t fun :( We also finally went to the secret bakery the other night! Id love to tell you more butttt its a secret. Its actually Fashion Week here in Florence so theres lots of fun stuff to do. Last night we participated in a flash flash mob. Its a flash mob where everyone takes a picture at the same time. It wasnt very successful but thats ok, it was still a lot of fun. Tonight is one of my friends birthday so we’re all going out, I think we mayyy hit up the secret bakery again later :)

I can’t believe I’ll only be updating this blog for 10 more days :(

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This is the entrance of Pompeii. We went to Pompeii Saturday and got to tour the whole city. Thats a lot, seeing as its the largest archaeological site in the world, and about a third of it hasnt been uncovered yet! Luca gave us a tour, I’m always impressed how much he knows about everythinggg. The tour was a little long though, after about an hour most of the ruins seem to look the same..the tour was 3 hours long. It was all really cool though. Seeing the casts of the bodies made it seem so real, which it obviously is but its hard to imagine. Its so crazy how after Pompei was buried it was just forgotten.  One thing I did love was all of the dogs that were there! It was so strange, we saw at least 5 or 10 dogs. One of them I was petting I read the color and it said “property of Pompeii”. Turns out they are all stray dogs that the park takes care of, and you can actually adopt them! There were definitely a few I wanted to adopt….ok who am I kidding I wanted to adopt all of them. 

This is the entrance of Pompeii. We went to Pompeii Saturday and got to tour the whole city. Thats a lot, seeing as its the largest archaeological site in the world, and about a third of it hasnt been uncovered yet! Luca gave us a tour, I’m always impressed how much he knows about everythinggg. The tour was a little long though, after about an hour most of the ruins seem to look the same..the tour was 3 hours long. It was all really cool though. Seeing the casts of the bodies made it seem so real, which it obviously is but its hard to imagine. Its so crazy how after Pompei was buried it was just forgotten. 

One thing I did love was all of the dogs that were there! It was so strange, we saw at least 5 or 10 dogs. One of them I was petting I read the color and it said “property of Pompeii”. Turns out they are all stray dogs that the park takes care of, and you can actually adopt them! There were definitely a few I wanted to adopt….ok who am I kidding I wanted to adopt all of them. 

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This is the Isle of Capri. Its probably one of the most gorgeous places we’ve been so far. Unfortunatley it was rainy in the morning, but it cleared up quickly! The rain did cause a very bumpy ferry ride a lot of motion sickness though haha It also prevented us from going to the Blue Gratto. The Blue Gratto is a beautiful cave, but it has a really tiny entrance. My dad said that you have to lay down in your canoe in order to get in. So as you can imagine, the waves were hitting the top of the entrace, which is not too safe haha. When we got to Capri we took a boat around the island and Luca told us about all of the caves and the different parts of the island. After that Nhi, Stacy, Patrick, and I wandered around a little. We got gelato, went to the gardens, and got some delicious sandwiches for lunch. After that Nhi, Stacy and I started the journey to find the ancient ruins. We didn’t realize it would be such a treck, but it ended up being a longer hike than the hike up vesuvius! It was cool though because we got to see the little neighborhoods of Capri and found some amazing views. Once we got to the top we wandered around the ruins and got to pet some goats haha After that we sat on the beach for a few minutes and did some shopping. Most people sat on the beach all day, so we were feeling really good that we got so much done. All in all it was a great day in a beautiful place. Ciao!

This is the Isle of Capri. Its probably one of the most gorgeous places we’ve been so far. Unfortunatley it was rainy in the morning, but it cleared up quickly! The rain did cause a very bumpy ferry ride a lot of motion sickness though haha It also prevented us from going to the Blue Gratto. The Blue Gratto is a beautiful cave, but it has a really tiny entrance. My dad said that you have to lay down in your canoe in order to get in. So as you can imagine, the waves were hitting the top of the entrace, which is not too safe haha.

When we got to Capri we took a boat around the island and Luca told us about all of the caves and the different parts of the island. After that Nhi, Stacy, Patrick, and I wandered around a little. We got gelato, went to the gardens, and got some delicious sandwiches for lunch. After that Nhi, Stacy and I started the journey to find the ancient ruins. We didn’t realize it would be such a treck, but it ended up being a longer hike than the hike up vesuvius! It was cool though because we got to see the little neighborhoods of Capri and found some amazing views. Once we got to the top we wandered around the ruins and got to pet some goats haha

After that we sat on the beach for a few minutes and did some shopping. Most people sat on the beach all day, so we were feeling really good that we got so much done. All in all it was a great day in a beautiful place.

Ciao!

Filed under Isle of Capri Italy