The weekend started off as a bus tour of multiple cities before we actually reached Venice or as the Italians call it.. Venezia. We left at 7:15 am to go to the train station to meet the group to take a private coach to Verona. Verona is a fairly small city with lot of character and important pieces of history. We started by visiting Castelvecchio which is a Museum created by Carlos Scarpa.
It is made to look like a set for a play in the background but is located inside of a fortress that was used to block out enemies way before the museum was created.
One of the most famous elements is sculpture of the knight on his horse which is outside in an exterior courtyard hidden from the main entrance.
From some of the fortress you could see the gorgeous river that runs through the city of Verona. It was quite a beautiful day so the scenery was magnificent.
We moved forward from Castelvecchio to Piazza delle Erbe. On the way we passed the Verona Arena which is similar to the Colosseum besides missing its exterior facade completely. We did not enter this building but it is quite a sight from the exterior.
On our way to the piazza as well we happened to run into mom's favorite jeweler. Marco Bicego. (He sells his stuff at Zachary's, but those of you who know mom pretty well know that anything Zachary's sells is her favorite). I was excited to find the store and it made my trip that much better :)
In Piazza delle Erbe we ate at a restaurant called Ai Lamberti. It was located in the center of the town of Verona and had delicious pizza. There was also a flea market going on in the center of the piazza, similar to San Lorenzo.
Now entering Vicenza.
Our main sight to see is the Teatro Olimpico created by Andrea Palladio. A VERY famous architect and designer who designed the theater in 1580. It is the most ancient theater in the world.
Inside the gate to the theater is a gorgeous courtyard housing many ancient statues that lend themselves to what the interior looks to be.
Entering the theater was surreal. We had studied this in History of Interiors and Art History so many months and years ago. It felt like it was a dream. The interior is the most detailed, gorgeous place I have ever been in. They had us sit in the stands and watch a light show that shows how they would actually do a play and how they light up the stage and the various elements that are a part of the theater. The individual doorways are created as sight lines for the audience to see the streets. It is supposed to be streets of classical antiquity and they are actually rather short but the stretching of the street and illusion makes them look longer.
Still in Vicenza, we walked past another of Palladio's buildings. This one is under construction and does not have much to offer at the moment. The only thing that did have to offer something to us was a small food fair.
The street was lined with various venders who sold cheese, and baked goods. And the one that caught my interest was the one that sold soft pretzels. Except that they do not use any salt on their bread so I was not too tempted to eat a pretzel that had zero salt.
But they look delicious don't they!?
So instead we voted on gelato!
Now we are entering Venice... all of this happened on Friday, April 1st. It was a long and tiring day but completely worth it. In Venice, you cannot drive anywhere. So the bus dropped us off at the parking lot that is the last point where a vehicle can drive into. We then walked with our luggage to the hotel which was on the other side of Venice. It was about a 20-25 minute walk and I never pack lightly so it was a bit of a struggle for me.
Looking into the city is quite a sight, especially for the first time.
The streets, well they are canals and the mode of transportation is either by foot along the foot bridges or via boat, water taxi or waterbus. It is quite a different world.
There are literally bridges everywhere leading you across the mini canals to the other side.
So beautiful, some things are hard to say anything about because they are breathtaking.
The famous gondolas. They are more beautiful in real life than they are in the movies!
Our first night we decided to try a restaurant near by the hotel since we had done so much that day. I had a salmon pasta with cream sauce. It was fantastic, how could it not be? The pasta was fresh and made specifically for me and the salmon was caught right out in the Adriatic sea not far from Venice.
A waterbus leading people to the destination of choice.
The first museum we went to in Venice on Saturday morning. Palazzo Grassi which is a contemporary arts museum. Usually this is not my choice of museums to visit but it was actually really cool. Palazzo Grassi was created by Giorgio Massari who created the museum we went to on Sunday as well. It was bought by a group that transformed it into a museum. The original structure is very typical of an Italian building but what is housed inside is nothing close to Italian.
No photographs allowed inside! These are my new friends. The one whose butt is sticking out on the top is Bianco. She is the mother of the two little guys. Their names.. the white one is Butter and the brown one is Nutella. They were catching the waterbus! They were the cutest happiest dogs!
On Saturday we also headed to Saint Mark's Square. This is where Museo Correr is which is an archeological museum along with a glass museum. We went specifically for the glass. The exhibit being called the Adventure of Glass houses a millenium of Venetian art. It is the largest exhibit collecting many pieces from the glass museum on the island of Murano. The ancient glass is fascinating to look at and you can see how so many pieces today are derived from the past.
And here we are! St. Mark's Cathedral. We did not go inside because the queue was unbelievable. But who needs to go inside when you can sit outside and gander at this beautiful structure that is SOOOO famous.
Inside the square is a bell tower, not to be confused with the clock tower which is a different tower across the square from this.
We decided, or rather I decided it was necessary to take a picture in front of St. Mark's because how many times can you say that you have a picture in front of it, for most people its a once in a lifetime opportunity so I took it!
You can't forget about the masses of pigeons that are in this square and to say the least, people LOVE to feed them and have them walk all over their arms. I think that is absolutely repulsive and wanted nothing to do with them. I walked around covering my head hoping that one wouldn't poop on me.
This is Doge's Palace also called The Palazzo Ducale. It was the Doge's residence and also housed many political and social institutions. We visited this Palace on Sunday. Doge's palace is located in St. Mark's right next to the cathedral.
Just a beautiful day, could not help but to photograph everything I saw.
On Saturday after we had been freed from the museum, Emily, Alyssa and I decided to go to the island of Murano. We took waterbus #5 to get there. It took about 30 minutes.
Being on the water is so beautiful and serene.
Another photograph I insisted for memories.
And we made it! Entering the island and getting so excited to see all of the glass.
The island is so peaceful and so much quieter than Venice. It is not crowded and allows you to look through the stores without being pushed around or not able to see anything because of the masses.
The glass is just unbelievable. I could have bought something in every store. Although after a while it all starts to look the same.
On our way pack it was imperative that we tried a Bellini. It was SOOO worth it. Another photograph to document this!
After a busy day we decided it was necessary to find the Hard Rock Cafe and have dinner there. It was a great decision.
I managed to eat a ton of fajitas, both chick and steak for the same price as chicken. Which is so strange because usually 'beef' is way more money. As you can also tell there is a fresh iced tea.. not the canned ice tea that you get everywhere else in Italy. Don't let me forget to say that it was free refills.
Later that night we went for a walk around the pier that leads to a point on the island. There is this beautiful cathedral. It is hard to get the entire structure in one photograph because it is so large.
We fell upon this beautiful hotel that was all lit up.. too bad it was too late to ask for a tour.
On Sunday we went to Ca'Rezzonico which is a museum about 18th century Venice. Very interesting but more or less I enjoyed the outdoor features the most.
The girls just hanging in the garden.
Inside of Doge's Palace from the loggia on the second floor looking into the courtyard.
AT LAST, our gondola ride! This is our gondola driver if you want to call him that. He did not sign which was a huge disappointment! Nevertheless it was worth it for the experience.
Venice was by far one of my favorite places that I have ever visited. Now for this weekend-- the French Riviera, visiting Nice, Eze, Monaco & Antibes. I will blog sometime next week, I am sure that I will have a thousand photographs so make sure to look sometime mid week.
