Venice is Shaped Like a Fish

Yesterday we spent the morning in Milan with our good friend from high school, Nino. He took us around to look at designer clothes and we stopped in H&M so that I could buy a couple cool, church appropriate shirts for the rest of Italy. (It’s a lot warmer in Italy than I planned for- not that that‘s a bad thing.) Nino took us to the train station and helped us figure out our tickets and we boarded our train to Venice.

We arrived outside of Venice around 5:15 PM and figured out how to get tickets in Italian to the correct train station on the actual island of Venice. Our hotel is just across the Grand Canal from the train station so it was pretty easy to find. We got settled in our room and then found a café close by to have dinner and drinks at. We had a really nice waiter who talked to us about California and complained to us when some girl came in off the street and asked him to open a bottle for her. We wanted to take a gondola ride so we asked him where we should go. He told us that gondola rides were really expensive, and even more so at night. For night he said they would start at 120 Euros and during the day it would probably only go down to 100, maybe 80, Euros. But he told us that he had friends who were gondoliers and he might be able to get us a discount. We decided that it was too expensive for us since we had only planned to spend 50 Euros on a gondola ride.

Today we spent the day exploring Venice. We started out kind of early in the morning to try and beat the crowds to Piazza San Marco. We took the Vaporetto, a large boat and the Venetian form of a city bus (since there are no cars in Venice), all the way along the Grand Canal to Piazza San Marco. It was so cool to ride down the canal and look at all the buildings lining it. We got there a little after ten and it was already busy. We got in line for St. Mark’s Basilica right away, but it didn’t take long to get in at all. The basilica was very impressive! It contains huge domes filled with Byzantine mosaics. Byzantines were highly praised for their skills in mosaics and seeing them up close I can see why! The backgrounds are all gold which shimmers with the light and gives it an other-worldly feeling and the artists were able to give the figures dimensions and shading by just using small tiles of various colors. We then paid a little money to go upstairs and actually be at the same level as some of the mosaics. We were also able to go outside on the balcony that overlooks Piazza San Marco. The view was amazing!

We then headed back to the Piazza and walked around the outside of the Doge’s Palace. It is a really pretty building, with its pink marble and ornate columns. We went in search of the Bridge of Sighs and found it to be encased in a giant advertisement. It was really weird.

The piazza has two famous cafes and we went to one, Caffe Florian, for a real Italian cappuccino. Claire tells me it was a very good cappuccino. We then walked around the Piazza. We had no idea there was so much shopping there! We looked in tons of glass shops full of amazing chandeliers and other glass sculptures. Venice is known for their glass. We also explored a little bit outside of the piazza where we found even more glass shops and tons of mask shops. Their masks are so ornate and beautiful! I could look at Venetian glass and masks all day! (Which we pretty much did.) We headed back to the piazza for a quick lunch before heading to the Academia, an art museum. On a side note, according to Nino, no margherita pizza should be over 4 Euros.

We decided to walk to the Academia and cross the foot bridge over there- the only wooden bridge that crosses the Grand Canal. On our way there a Gondolier approached us for a gondola ride. I was very proud of myself for asking how much it was in Italian, but then he started talking to me in Italian. All I got was “80 Euros” so I said no. He then said “60 Euros” in English and I said no again and he walked away. It was only then that I realized how close to our gondola ride budget that was and Claire and I decided to see if he would take 50 Euros. He did! We couldn’t believe it. He was really friendly and gave me his hat to wear and even proposed marriage because we were both 21. I turned him down gently and he gave us a nice tour around the canals. He told us all about what it takes to become a gondolier. It actually takes two years of school and they learn all about the history of Venice, languages, and marine biology. He also told us that gondolas are only made in Venice. We went down one of the smaller canals and he asked me if I wanted to try steering the gondola. I said yes and carefully climbed up to the back of the boat, afraid that I would fall into the water. I discovered that I’m not very good at steering a gondola ( I’m pretty sure I didn’t actually move it at all), but it was a lot of fun to try.

After our gondola ride we went to the Academia. It was bigger than I expected. I was most excited to see Giorgione’s La Tempesta, a painting I have studied in multiple art history classes. It was really cool to see it up close. We strolled through the rest of the Academia and then headed outside to look for a patisserie that our guide book had recommended. It ended up not being anywhere near where it said it would be so we decided to just go to the Rialto Bridge instead. We walked to two different Vapporetto stops and neither had open ticket windows so we ended up having to walk all the way to the Rialto Bridge. By the time we got there our feet were killing us. We walked over the Rialto Bridge, which originally was the only bridge spanning the Grand Canal. It now has a bunch of shops on it which was kind of weird. We took a break from walking and sat on some stairs in a small piazza and pigeon-watched for a little while.

We decided to head back to our hotel and drop off the day’s purchases and then have some dinner. We picked a restaurant the was right on the canal. It was a bit pricey, but it had a great view. We had a really weird waiter, but the ravioli was good and it was fun to eat right on the water. After dinner we walked around hunting for a pastry shop. We didn’t find anything and on the way back we were accosted by a knock-off purse hustler. I liked a light purple Dolce & Gabbana purse so I let him tell me the price. He said 65 Euros. I told him all I had was 30. He kept asking me what I could give him over 50 and I kept saying 30. Eventually I said I could do 35 Euros and he threw out the paper stuffing and put it in a plastic bag, saying “Don’t tell anyone the price. You can’t tell anyone.” I didn’t feel right about buying it because I was kind of thinking I liked the yellow one better and I didn’t know how I would pack it in my suitcase so I told him I couldn’t do it. He was so desperate for a sale by that point that he told me he would give it to me for 30 Euros and then noticed I was looking at the yellow purse and said he would give that one to me for 30 Euros. I agreed and he again threw all the paper out and stuffed it in a plastic bag with the same warning to not tell anyone. It was such an intense experience. I couldn’t believe it had just happened. And then I couldn’t believe I had haggled it to half price!

Italia!

Hey everyone!

Just a quick update since we don't get internet in our hotel room and so I'm sitting down the hall and around the corner with really bad wi-fi to write this.

We were in Milan yesterday and this morning visiting our good friend Nino! It was a blast being with a friend from home. We also had our first Italian gelato and it was really delicious.

Right now we're in Venice and it's absolutely stunning.

Hopefully we'll be able to update more once we get to Florence where I believe the hostel will have better wi-fi.

Ciao!

Nvermind...Nice isn't nice anymore!

Today was a lazy, relaxing day. After a late breakfast we went to Nice's beach and just rested. I even took a nap. It was a tad painful though because the beach in Nice doesn't have sand. It has a bunch of rocks! Which we ended up playing with and attempted to make things out of like we would sand. Below is my attempt at a penguin, although you can't really tell from the picture!

It became way too hot, so we dipped our feet in the Mediterranian and then headed back to our hostel to take cool showers and change out of our bathing suits. We were heading back down to Nice for some shopping when it started raining!! Although I checked Nice's weather when we were in Paris and it said "light showers" for monday, the guy who drove us to the hostel said that there should be nice weather for the next 5 days so we were surprised when huge drops of water started landing on us.

Once we got down into the town, we found a little cafe to eat a snack at. Here we encountered two stereotypical French women. I tried my best to speak French to them. We weren't really sure what we were doing wrong and they were pissed that they couldn't understand us. Basically it didn't make sense why they got so frustrated and rude when they have to deal with tourists all the time. We were in a main area for pete's sake! Oh well, it makes for an interesting story, and it allows all the other nice French people we've encountered to be that more special!

We headed back up to our hostel around 6 because it started to get chilly and I still have a cold and didn't feel that great. We both took naps and we're going to bed early since we have to wake up early to pick up our laundry (our hostel is awesome and does our laundry for us) and leave for the train station to head to Milan to visit Nino!

Nice is well...nice!

We left Paris just as the sun was beginning to rise and we arrived in Nice just before noon. Figuring out our way to our hostel was a bit difficult. The only directions we had said to take a bus from Terminal 1 and get off at a stop and call them to come pick us up. We were in Terminal 2. After figuring out how to get to Terminal 1, we then had to find the right bus. The directions did not mention how long we would be on the bus for and finally I got up and asked the bus driver if our stop was coming up. He seemed confused at first about the stop but then said it was up ahead. So after sitting on the bus for a bit longer, we finally found our stop and got off. We then found a pay phone and I called our hostel. I was preparing myself to speak french when the person answered in English with an American accent! In fact everyone that works in our hostel are all native-English speakers so it's quite refreshing! The girl said someone would be down to pick us up in 2 minutes...well it was in fact a half hour until someone picked us up. We finally got to our hostel and the guy who drove us checked us in and then showed us around.

Our hostel is pretty cool. It used to be a monastery. He took us to the chapel which is now the hostel's bar, which we think is pretty funny. Our room wasn't quite ready yet so we stored our luggage and he drove us back down to Nice and recommended that we eat at this place called Pasta Bosta for lunch. On the way down, we met a girl from our hostel who's from Main but lives in northern Ireland for grad school. We invited her to have lunch with us. It was fun meeting a new friend!

After lunch, we walked around old town Nice for a bit until we found where the old castle used to be. The castle itself is no longer there, but you can still climb the hillside to see breakthtaking views of Nice. Our new friend wanted to hike up the hill, but Brittany and I were hot and tired so we took the cheap elevator. Unfortunatetly, we didn't realize how big the top of the hill was! So we never met up with our new friend at the top. But we enjoyed the views and had tea and coffee at a cafe on top. It was a fun place for people and dog watching!

We took the elevator back down and came back to our hostel. I took a nap because unfortunately I'm now sick! Our hostel has pretty cheap dinners so we went down to the chapel and got a huge pizza each. We also had their "famous" brownies. Which are also huge and we still have it to snack on later!

Last Day in Paris

Our last day in Paris was not terribly exciting. It was just easy and simple. We tried to do things that we didn’t have time to do during the week. So we basically went from one end of Paris to the next. We spent a lot of time underground in the metro. And pretty much every time we rode the metro today we also got some performers who either sang to a boom box or played an instrument in our car. We even had an entire band!!

This morning we went to a well-known flea market called Marché aux Puces that was recommended by Brittany’s guide book. It fun just browsing the items. I ended up buying a really pretty purple scarf and Brittany got a pair of grey flats and two scarves. I always wanted a French scarf, so now I have one from a Parisian flea market!

After our morning shopping excursion, we wanted to go to this fashion museum that I’ve read a lot about. However, once we got there, we saw that it was closed. So instead we headed to the Champs-Élysée and ate lunch at a French fast food chain called “Quick.” It just tasted like your standard fast-food. And unfortunately we didn’t realize that you had to ask for ketchup so our fries were rather bland. But it was still fun having a meal for only 4 euros which is quite rare in Paris.

We hopped back on the metro once again and headed to Cimetiè re du Père-Lachaise which is the famous cemetery that is the burial place of many famous people, including Jim Morrison. It’s also huge! We walked around a bit until we finally found the burial place of Oscar Wilde. His grave has hundreds of lipstick marks all over it from women kissing it. We looked online later to figure out why people are kissing his grave and the only answer we could come up with is that Oscar Wilde was jailed for homosexuality and could not openly love. Also another theory was that women just really liked his wit and writings, and his rebellion personality. Either way it was neat reading what people graffitied onto his grave and notes that were left around it as well. We also paid respect to Edith Piaf’s burial place as well. We didn’t get to Jim Morrison’s grave for the cemetery was just too big and we didn’t have a map.


We once again went back on the metro and headed to the Eiffel Tower to visit it once more before we leave Paris tomorrow. Then we walked over to Rue Cler, a cute little street with tons of shops that open onto the cobblestone street. We had a cappacino and café au lait at Café au Marche where Rick Steves often frequents when he’s in Paris. Unfortunately, we didn’t not see him, but it was still fun ‘squandering’ our afternoon in a sidewalk café. We then bought some brie cheese at a nearby fromagerie and hopped on the metro again back towards our hotel.

There is this patisserie by our hotel that we pass every day when we’re heading to the metro stop. We finally decided to go into it tonight. Brittany got a chocolate opera cake and I got a chocolate éclair. We also got croissants to have tomorrow morning for breakfast. The pastries were, of course, divine! We also visited our favorite little grocery/liquor store and said “Bonjour!” for a final time to the owner.

Tomorrow we’re flying to Nice for some relaxation! It's supposed to rain a little on Monday, so let's hope it doesn't!

Water Lilies

Today we spent the day in Giverny, the location of Monet’s house and gardens where he painted his famous Water Lilies and other paintings. We had to take a train out to a small town called Vernon. We quickly learned that when taking a train out of Paris you should check train times ahead of time, if not book your tickets in advanced, and get there early. Today was Labor Day in Europe and a lot of people seemed to be traveling. We got to the station about 20 minutes before the train we wanted was going to leave and we had to wait in a huge line to get our tickets. We made it on the train with only minutes to spare. There were no seats left, however, and we had to stand crammed next to a ton of other people.

Eventually we made it to Vernon and rented bicycles from a café outside the train station. It was highly recommended to ride a bicycle the three miles to Giverny. We found it a bit frustrating at first, though. We got kind of lost in the beginning and it was really hot. But it was pretty to look at the scenery.

By the time we reached Giverny we were starving and very thirsty so we had lunch and then got in the long line to see Monet’s house and gardens. After an hour wait we finally got in. It was definitely worth the wait. The garden was amazing. It was full of beautiful blooming flowers (a large number of which were tulips, my favorite flower) in a variety of colors. My favorite part was being able to walk on the green, arched bridge that he painted. I love his paintings of that bridge and the surrounding willows so it was incredible to see them in person.

We then visited Monet’s house. We were incredibly lucky because today was the opening day of an exhibit of Monet’s paintings of his gardens in his own house. This is the first time since they were painted that they can be seen in the same garden that they depict. It was really neat to see the paintings first hand after having just seen the actual setting.

After that we decided to head back to the train station. Our ride back was much more enjoyable. It had cooled off a bit and we weren’t stressed because we already knew where to go. We rode leisurely back, taking in all the scenery and enjoying the nice people of the French countryside who all said “bonjour” to us as we passed.

Pyramids, Islands, and Ice Cream.

Today we went to the Louvre. We set out to find the Mona Lisa first in hopes that it wouldn’t be too crowded. No such luck. The painting seems to have been moved to a very large room in which there was a huge crowed gathered to see it. It was really funny to see this small painting in comparison the massive gathering of people there to see it. We then made our way to the ancient Egyptian sections, one of my favorite periods of art. We explored grave stelai, hieroglyphics, sarcophagi, papyrus scrolls, and canopic jars. It was really cool and interesting to see. However, the Louvre has such a large collection that it all started to look the same. After this we looked at the Venus de Milo and other Greek and Roman Sculpture and I gave Claire a mini lesson on dating figures by female hair styles. We finished off our trip by viewing Napoleon’s Apartments. They were even more gilded than Versailles…



We then made our way over to the Ile de la Cite to visit Saint Chapelle and Notre Dame. Sainte Chapelle is the royal chapel that was built by King Louis IX in his “Court Style” Gothic architecture which influenced Gothic architecture throughout Europe, including Westminster Abbey. We had to wait for almost an hour just to get into the chapel because it is in the same complex as the Court of Justice. So we had to go through security more strict than the airport. I don’t know if it was worth the wait, but the stained glass that covers every wall of the chapel was magnificent.

Notre Dame was incredible too. It is so massive. Thankfully there was no wait here and the entrance was free! We walked around inside admiring the impressive Gothic architecture and stained glass.

After this we walked across the bridge to Ile St-Louis to have ice cream at Bertillon, a famous ice cream shop. A lot of the flavors were French words that we didn’t know so we ended up getting chocolate. It was really good. Their ice cream is very rich and creamy. We sat on a wall over looking the Seine to eat our ice cream and enjoy the nice weather. As we were finishing up our ice cream an interesting old French man started to sing, Louis Armstrong style, on the street corner across from us.

After all the walking we did the past couple days we decided call it a day and head back to our hotel early. On our way back we stopped at this little shop that we’ve gone to the past couple days to get some food for dinner. The nice old man who is always there recognized us and was excited to see us again. He doesn’t seem to speak English and we don’t really speak French so we just end up saying “bonjour” and “Merci” to each other. Its kind of funny and nice to have this routine.