This whole post-something-every-day shenanigans it getting a little tiring. I know my future self will resent my present self for combining the next two days, but that’s what I’m going to do. Hey, at least it’s still documented.
We woke up early on Saturday to bask in the last couple of hours we had left in Venice. After taking the bus back into the city (without getting lost) we found a gondolier and took a ride. I know it’s super touristy/cheesy, but it was just the coolest thing. Claudio (yes, that was his real name) took us around the city for about a half hour, telling us historical tidbits and facts about the city.
Fun fact: Venice has about 300,000 tourists every day. That’s a lot of excess people, given that the population is about 40,000. If you want to know the exact population of people living in the city, the ever-changing number is posted one of the bridges in the city.
After the gondola ride, we did a little shopping and toured more plazas. Before we knew it, it was time for us to depart Venice and move on to Florence. That train ride was much more enjoyable, as it was during the day and a lot less creepy.
We made our way to our hotel, which was surprisingly close to the train station. We unloaded our bags and then headed off to catch dinner with my other roomies (Kristin, Jen, Eileen and Brooke) at a British restaurant. It seemed like I hadn’t seen them in weeks, when the reality was that I hadn’t seen them for all of 24 hours.
At this point, we were all a little sick of Italian food, but that doesn’t stop me from ordering yet another pizza. After dinner, Laura and I toured some of the plazas on our way back to the hotel. It was a glorious evening: the weather was perfect, the plazas were all lit up, and live music played in the background.
We got back to the hotel and I stuck the key in the door to open it (we had three keys to get into our room). Using the rationale of the keys at our apartment, I put one key in the key hole and turned it. Wrong move. While the key fit in the hole, it did not mean that it was the proper key. The key broke and the nice bartender across the street took out his spare key at let us in the building (at least that means I’m not the only idiot this hotel’s ever seen).
We crashed yet again, still tired and worn out after another long day.
In the morning, I told the desk about the key and they were very nice about it. I honestly think my Italian-sounding last name helped me out. Anyways, they served us a nice breakfast of….cereal! Yes, the perfect grain to wake up to in the morning. As much as I love Nutella-filled croissants, it was nice to eat something remotely healthy to start my day.
We then made our way over to the Statue of David. The museum was gorgeous and I even read a majority of the plaques to see what the hubbub was all about. I didn’t let my eyes cheat on the way to the statue, so when I finally turned around, I was in awe. The statue was made from unwanted marble, which Michelangelo turned into arguably one of the most important pieces of art this species has ever seen. A hoard of Asian embassy members (at least that’s what they looked like) stormed into the building with cameras and video cameras, so naturally, we joined in on the taking-pictures-even-though-you-shouldn’t mess. Just call me a rebel child.
The rest of our day in Florence was primarily spent shopping. We dropped off our backpacks at the train terminal so as not to carry them all day. That’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Most people were looking for something made of leather, so I figured I might was well look for my cowboy boots. I was unsuccessful (which was probably best for my wallet) but I did end up getting another scarf.
Midday, we were looking at one of Florence’s famous bridges when we got the call that we had to climb to the top of the Duomo de Santa Maria. Jane and I were ΓΌber hungry and thirsty (unlike Rome and Venice, there are no water fountains in Florence) so we found a neat-o looking gelato place. It looked amazing, and Florence is known for their gelato, so we each got a cone. The woman gave us Oberweis-sided cones and filled them all the way (unlike any other cone we’ve had in Italy). My Nutella cone was literally covered in Nutella. Pure heaven—until we went to pay. The cashier knew we were tourists and we didn’t know that she had purposely given us the largest cone they had. Therefore, she charged us 15 euro--each. I’m still very disappointed in her conniver-y. Don’t ask me how, but I’ve been able to rationalize this purchase in the back of my mind.
Anyway, we sped walked through the city consuming our cones as fast as we could before climbing four hundred and some odd stairs to the top of the tower. Huffing and puffing (quite loudly, at that), we made it to the top of the Opera de Santa Maria del Fiore. Once again, I was just amazed. Not only did we get a great view of Florence, but I felt as if I could see the entire country from the top. The sky was clear, so we could see the mountains surrounding us far out in the distance. The gelato didn’t feel too good by then, but the view was most definitely worth it.
Our day concluded in a small church somewhere in Florence (possibly called the Opera di Santa Croce). The church was gorgeous, but the treasures it kept were much more scintillating. (That’s not the best adjective for that sentence, but I feel like the sound the word makes gets my point across.) This church housed the bodies (among others) of Machiavelli, Galileo, da Vinci, and Marconi. I stood in the same exact room in which these brilliant men. I have no idea why, but I was genuinely touched just staring at Marconi’s grave marker. I might have been the only person in our group who knew that he invented the radio, but just knowing that I was in his presence was somehow fulfilling.
The moment was lost when we realized we should probably head back to the train station so as not to miss our four-hour long ride back to home sweet Rome. Of course, this train was by far, the most comfortable train we had ridden all trip.
You may be wondering why this post (and the previous one) is titled The Series of Unfortunate Events. It’s a reasonable question with no reasonable answer. It was just one frustrating thing after another. We didn’t get any sleep, we got lost (on more than one occasion), the hotel key broke, I paid a ridiculous amount of money for gelato, and the list goes on. As irritated as I was at the end of the day, I can honestly tell you that this was one of the best, if not the best weekend I have ever had. I saw sites I never thought I’d see and had “moments” every hour, shocked that I was standing where I was standing.
As sappy as this will seem (and that’s because it is), I’m so thankful that I was able to share this weekend with the people I did. This weekend would not have been the same if it weren’t for Team Awesome, consisting of--you guessed it—some of the most awesome people ever: Laura, Becky, Eric, Jane, Kristie, Jordan and Dave.
No comments:
Post a Comment