The Sinking City

Buonasera!

I have decided to try to blog just once a week because I have class Monday-Thursday and the really exciting stuff pretty much happens on the weekends.

During the school week, I had two outings.  For my photography class we went to Piazza Navona, the Pantheon and Campo di Fiori.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day, except for the five minutes where it hailed.... I have learned that this is what January is like here; it will be sunny and there will be a patch of rain like five feet away.  My camera died halfway through the class, but it did not matter because I had taken many photos at these places before.  Instead, my teacher was super interested in that I was an Art History major.  We were walking to the next spot and he asked me if I liked Caravaggio.  OF COURSE, he is my absolute favorite.  He said, "well lets walk into this church right here....".  It was San Luigi dei Francesi!  This is where my favorite painting, the Calling of St. Matthew is!!! I was definitely not prepared to stumble upon it..... It was kind of embarrassing, my entire class just kept asking me if I was dying... and yes I was.  Its crazy to study a painting for an entire semester and then finally see it in person.  My professor is so nice and laid back.  He also told me all the best churches to go to; what to see when I am in Paris; and all of the best caffes to try.  Half-way through the class he told us to take a Cappuccino break, so I went to Tazza D'Oro by the Pantheon.  INCREDIBLE.

Our second outing of the week was with my Theology class.  We went to San Clemente, a church I have been dying to see since freshman year.  I even wrote an essay about it for one of my finals.  We then went underneath the Church where the original ancient Christian church and a Pagan temple to Mithras was originally.

Friday morning we left bright and early for Venezia.  Wow. This was one of the coolest cities I have ever been to.  I have never seen a sky so blue and intense and could not believe how turquoise the water was.  Every building was its own unique color and the extremely bright sun made everything dazzle.  I have never seen streets as clean as the white stone one in Venice.  I was expecting a very touristy city, with brown murky channels, and dirty, busy streets.  It was the opposite.  This may be because it was the off-season there, if so, it is a wonderful time to explore this floating city.



We had a scheduled tour with our program.  First, we went to Saint Marks.  This was the most beautiful church I have ever been in.  It definitely surpassed my expectations.  Pictures definitely do not do it any justice.  Nothing compares to the sparkling gold mosaics covering ever inch of the ceiling.  I absolutely love mosaics in the first place, so any church that is completely covered in them blows my mind.  I also got the chance to go there for mass on Sunday which was an incredible opportunity.  St. Mark is also buried under the main altar which was so cool to experience.

St. Mark's Tomb 

That night, we decided to explore.  Two of our guy friends tagged along as well.  The streets were absolutely silent! We could not believe it.  So many restaurants were closed as well.  We just wanted to find a place for wine and dessert and it took us so long.  We didn't mind though because it was incredible to explore the alley ways and canals.  I kept on forgetting we were in Venice, it seemed like disney world or something... it did not feel real at all, especially when there was barely anyone on the streets.  Ive never experienced a quiet like this, but I think it was because there were absolutely no cars! While we explored we stumbled upon the opera house and a model doing a photo shoot.  We finally found a restaurant that warmly welcomed us, Da Roberto.  The waiters were the cutest things and absolutely loved us.  Danielle and I split the Creme Caramel, while the others got Tiramisu.  The boys and Christine and Anna split a bottle of wine and then Danielle, Katherine, and I got Caffe' con Amaretto.  The waiter then brought over his special Carnevale cakes for us to try as well since the next night was the start of the celebration.



On our walk back home we finally realized why there was no one walking the streets....... THE CITY FLOODED.  Saint Mark's square now looked like a lake.  Apparently there were sirens that alarmed the city, but we definitely did not hear those..... It was so fun though! None of us have ever experienced something like that before.  It was so surreal.  The water was up to my calves.  The benches we sat on during the day were actually temporary bridges so people can cross the square when it floods.  Our professor told us that the city is slowly sinking but we thought nothing of it.  We had no idea that we would actually experience it while we were there!!

The next day, we did our own thing and just explored once again.  We were so impressed with ourselves because we already knew our way around the city!  We knew we could not leave the city without taking a gondola ride, so of course we did.  We were told to bargain with the Gondaleers.  Initially the man told us it was going to be 80 euros, but we were tough and used our charm and got the price down to only 50 euros for the 5 of us.  Our Gondaleer was named Philippo and the other Gondolas that passed us gave him such a hard time for having five girls in his boat.  All the others had massive groups of Asians... of course.  They seriously are the perfect tourists. Every group that passed us Video recorded us and waved and snapped pics, it got to the point where we started to pose.  We passed one group that was playing Gagnam Style... 

For dessert I had a hazelnut and an Amaretto Macaroon.... So incredible 

We then got a Pizza and wine at a small restaurant and bought a bottle of limoncello to try.  That night was the start of Carnevale so we put on our masks that we bought in the famous Rialto Market the day before and headed to San Marco square.  We met a group of Brazilian students who taught us their favorite song and dance: Ai Se Eu Te Pego and we all split a bottle of wine out in the square.  (We still have this song stuck in our head and are trying to perfect it).  There was a parade but it was only the first night of Carnevale so there were not that many festivities.  We asked a few people in the stores that day who told us next weekend is when the Venitians really celebrate.

Our New Brazilian Friends 

The next day, we hopped on the train to Verona.  It was such a pretty little city! It was pretty much how I imagined it but it is actually a very wealthy place.  It reminded me of Venice without the canals and a lot more people.  Verona is known for their meats, so for lunch I ordered tortellini with prosciutto.  After lunch we headed to the Casa di Giulietta ( Juliette's house).  We signed our names on the wall and took a picture with the statue for good luck... She is supposed to help you find true love. Fingers crossed it works for me!!! Afterwards we shopped for a bit but the weekend absolutely exhausted us.  I don't think I have ever walked so much in my entire life.... The train ride home we were all completely silent.  Its so funny all of us could not wait to go "home".  Its crazy when we think of "going home" we think of Roma... We all had a sense of relief when we walked down our street in Piazza Bologna and into our cozy apartment and then all slept like babies.

Bacioni xxxx