My Roman Holiday

Rome was absolutely amazing!!! The city has over 5 million people in it and is always crowded. It reminds me of a really crowded Chicago with people everywhere and always somewhere to be. This trip was planned through Accent, the program I came here with, and we had the opportunity to have a tour guide the entire weekend. Her name was Fraia. She was great. She told us so many great stories about pieces of art or buildings that you would never hear in a history book. We got to walk around with earpieces and Fraia was constantly telling us interesting stuff about Rome. In 3 days we went the Parthenon, Trevi Fountain, Campo de Fiori, Vatican, Saint Peter's Basilica, Colosseum, Roman Forum, Spanish Steps, and many other places that are less well known. Every night when I got to the hotel I was exhausted from all of the walking. Roman cobblestones are very different than Florence ones. They are much smaller and awkward, so your foot is wobbly in between them. We walked around 15 miles the whole weekend and I was very happy to get on the train. It was also a lot warmer in Rome and the flowers and trees were so pretty and very different than anything we have in the States. I didn't take as many good pictures this weekend but I hope you still like them.

the school of Athens in the Vatican museum

the Colosseum

me in front of St. Peter's basilica

the Parthenon

A Night At The Opera

Last Thursday evening we had the opportunity to go to the opera in Florence. We went to a opera called Pagliacci. I think it means clown in english. The play was about a woman who had a love affair with someone while she was traveling in a circus with her husband. She ended up getting stabbed at the end by her lover. So dramatic. It kind of reminded me of a soap opera. haha. It was all in Italian and a little hard to understand but the english synopsis helped. It was fun to get all dressed up for a night and go to the theatre.

Carnivale

This past weekend was Carnivale celebration in Venice. I spent 3 days there in a little apartment that was a great location right between the Rialto bridge and San Marco Square. The first day we came in it was not that crowded at all but by the time we left last night there were about 5 times as many people in the city. On Saturday we took water taxi's to Murano and Burano. Murano was really cool with all the glass everywhere and we even got to watch a demonstration. For lunch on Burano island, a little lace making fishing village, I had an amazing kuttlefish risotto. On the way back from both islands was sunset on valentine's day and that was fun to spend with my girlfriends. Sunday was the 'big' carnivale day. I was one of the 80,000 people that went to San Marco square to watch the parade and angel drop from the sky. It took us 45 minutes to maneuver our way out of the square once it was over. I have never been that close to so many strangers before. haha. It was kind of gross. The weekend ended with a wonderful (romantic) gondola ride. haha.

glass blowing demonstration in Murano


the cute colorful houses in Burano


part of the parade in San Marco square


Venice at sunset



gondola ride