First Stop: Venice!
Day 1
Benvenuti
After landing in Italy, Peter and I took a water taxi from the mainland to Venice. It was quite a unique experience!
Our hotel was located near the opera house named
La Fenice, which refers to the Phoenix rising from the ashes as there were three fires within the opera house company.
We met our group and trusty tour guide Donald and then walked to a jewelry shop ran by a woman named Luisa where we saw beautiful glass blown bead creations. We even watched her son Matteo torch the beads!
Then, we headed to Campo de le Beccarie for our first group dinner where we feasted on seafood, pasta, and tiramisu with white wine!
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Today's Takeaways:
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We learned that squares are called "campos" because there used to be grass and camps there instead of a plaza area.
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Wine is not considered an alcoholic drink in Italy! Aperol spritz is to be drank before a meal.
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Don't stop to take pictures on bridges to ensure traffic keeps moving!
Day 2
Hello backstreets of Venice walking tour (our feet already feel you!) A kind local guide led our group around Venice where we learned about Carnival, a huge party that lasted for 6 months where everyone wore masks and indulged in anonymity. Now, it spans 2 weeks before Easter and is more "sophisticated" where people dress up to "show off and feel like movie stars."
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Our guide informed us that Venice is comprised of 118 tiny islands connected by 420 bridges! If you flipped it over, it would look like a petrified forest since its foundation is built on trees densely packed together that turned to cement. On our walk, we saw trusses that held buildings together to prevent them from leaning over time as well as windows dating back to the 1300s!
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Peter and I went into St. Mark's Basilica and tried an Aperol spritz before meeting our group for a gondola ride! We had our first Italian espresso after dinner, which caused us to lie awake all night, but we had to experience true Italian dining!!
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Today's Takeaway:
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Our backstreets tour guide said that Venice was originally built on water for protection, but "the protection has turned into something we need protection from!" The MOSE Project was started in attempt to save Venice from slowly sinking by building up the city a few feet.
"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." -Virginia Woolf
Day 3
This morning was all about art! We walked with our group to The Accademia where we viewed beautiful frescos with our private tour guide Diana. We learned how symbolism can be seen throughout the art. It was interesting to hear how commissioners were often included in the paintings, and you can usually tell who the artist is because his self-portrait will be the one looking directly at the viewer, if he chose to include himself. We also learned that a lot of painters created landscapes that might not have existed at the time by combining places real or imagined and used techniques with 24k gold leaf around Saints and Jesus.
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Then, our group took a boat to the small islands of Burano and Torcello where we ventured into the fishing village and explored an ancient church. After we returned to Venice, Peter and I walked through Doge's Palace and viewed a ton of beautiful art in the ornate meeting rooms. We also went downstairs to where prisoners would walk past the Bridge of Sighs as they were led to serve their sentence before execution. This bridge is also referenced in movies as couples take a romantic gondola ride underneath it.
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"Maybe love and death
do co-exist."
-Tour Guide Donald
