Let the Travels Begin

Jan is gonna get mad at me for not staying completely true to my weekly posting but I am doing my very best! Things are starting to settle and plans to travel are being made and I also do the occasional thing called school.

To begin, I've already ventured out of my little safe-zone of Verona. Last Sunday we (my friends Madison, Elizabeth, Madison, Mary Beth, Andrew and I) paid the hefty 5 euros to take a bus (about three hours) to Florence. With it being our first trip anywhere we were definitely winging it but we lucked out with smooth travels. Our bus was quite early in the morning but I had difficulty sleeping on it because we were strolling through the dang TUSCAN HILLS. It was stunning.

So we hopped off the bus and simply followed everyone else and landed at the train station. From there we continued to follow the (quite large) crowd and found ourselves at The Duomo. You really do sort of stumble upon it but let me tell you that thing is overwhelming. It truly is a bit difficult to wrap your mind around the construction and up keeping of a building like that.

Makes you feel just a little small.

After that we decided it was absolutely necessary for us to find sustenance considering we were all rocking just a minor hangover and three hours on a bus was not helping anyone. We caved and went to a place that offered scrambled eggs, bacon and American coffee (for those of you that don't know, this is not something you would normally find in Italy). Of course, the Italians have some different ideas about what "scrambled eggs" and "bacon" are but we were so hungry it was just fine with us.

So we wandered around without direction and found ourselves walking Ponte Vecchio (a beautiful bridge crossing the Arno river with lots of jewelry shops), enjoying some street performers in Piazza de Repubblica (one of the squares-pictures mostly show the beautiful carousel here) and enjoying gelato while strolling through Piazza Della Signoria. It is in this piazza that we saw the fake David statue. Wanting to cross at least one museum off our list, we decided to look on our maps to find where the real David was held and were disappointed to find it was almost 3.5 miles away which we swiftly turned down. Unfortunately, sources now tell us that we were indeed a few meters from the real David. Map skills...D-.

Our bus to return back to Verona was not until 8:50 PM and around six we started to feel tired and worn. We couldn't think of where else to go and were really starting to need food but knew the Italians wouldn't be eating for a few more hours. Just as the defeat was settling, a large swarm of birds gathered eerily overhead and for some reason chose me as their target. I was tired, there were an unbelievable amount of people around me, my head hurt, and I now had bird poop on me. We decided that this called for Burger King. Not the best ending to Florence but we will definitely return because it is so beautiful and there is so much to see. Next time we'll be sure to read our maps correctly.

I then only had to wait three days for my next adventure, a school field trip to Venice. Venice has been on my wish list for years and years so Thursday could not have come soon enough for me. We hopped on a train (first in my life!) and took the quick hour ride to this magic island. Venice is everything you could ever picture and want from Italy. Immediately out of the train station is water and some great guys selling selfie sticks to you (whom I gladly showed that I was already a master of the selfie with my own arm, but thanks). 

Selfie-stick business men not pictured.

If you've never been to Venice, I really cannot describe this surreal city to you. It's better than the pictures and it's better than your dreams. The streets are narrow and winding and you can get lost so unbelievably easily but it's fine because you'll be continuously crossing these adorable little bridges which will most likely feature people on a gondola who, if you are really feeling like being a little tourist brat, you can yell "kiss! kiss!" at.

Jokes aside, Venice absolutely stole my heart. We began with a quick walking tour to St. Mark's Basilica which is unreal. Again with the overwhelming thing, us Catholics really know how to make a dang building. Gold ceilings and elaborate arches, altars and imagery. It was absolutely stunning. We then did what I thought would be a cute little ferry ride to Murano Island. It was not. It was a boat taxi and it was so ridiculously crowded and smelled, I thought we were going down. 

We thankfully made it to the island safe and sound and hopped off the boat to have lunch on our own time. Let me tell you about one of the best meals I've ever eaten. It's Venice so we went for the seafood vibes with mussels, pinot grigio and a shrimp pasta. Everything was absolutely delightful and the whole meal included a view of the quaint little river running through the center of the island. The island is where Venetian glass is made and we were lucky enough to attend a glass-blowing demonstration which was mind-blowing (ha, get it). 

We spent our remaining time in Venice wandering, eating and planning our trip to return for Mardi Gras which is celebrated elaborately there. I'm still trying to decide if only one more trip back there will be enough for me because I don't know if I will ever get enough of that place.

We had a relatively relaxing weekend in Verona except a few absolutely TENSE hours last night when we attended a Hellas Verona game. The Hellas are the Series B team here in Verona and play at a very cool stadium only a bus ride away.

Stadio Marc'Antonio Bentegodi.

We're thinking that their Series B team must be better in their division than the Series A team is in theirs because people were going absolutely WILD last night. Remember in high school when the seniors would yell at the freshmen at football games for not cheering enough? Well holy cow they should all attend an Italian soccer game. The singing and chanting never ended for a second. Somehow everyone knew all of the songs but us. We were not sure what they were saying but my spidey-senses tell me many swear words were involved. At one point the opposing fan section held up a sign that said "Verona" and then set it on fire. I went with Madison, Elizabeth and Madison and we were utterly confused why there was a "women" discount until we were in the stadium and were part of approximately 3% there as women. Don't worry, mom, no one bothered us and we were safe! It also surely helped that the Hellas won 2-0.

I have a pretty normal week ahead until a trip to Brussels on Thursday. If you have any suggestions on places we can't miss, please let me know! We heard it was famous for waffles, chocolate and french fries so it was an obvious go-ahead.

I continue to be happier than I knew possible every single day. I miss all of you back home!