The Rest of Semana Santa

Or Settimana Santa, as it's said in Italian. Let's see... the rest of the week was a little more action packed and with a lot more people around so I didn't really spend the time to write down things as they happened... but I'll try to recall as much as possible.

On Tuesday we walked around Venice basically all day. We didn't really have an itinerary so we wandered around basically the whole main island, visited Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square), saw the crazy pigeons (people buy bird seed and the birds just flock and land on them). It's actually pretty disgusting in my opinion, but fun to watch from a distance. Other than that I kept being unimpressed with the food and gelatto though, which was a bit disappointing. The day was very tiring with all the walking and the rainy/cold temperatures. That night we decided we needed more of a plan, so we looked some things up and on Wednesday we visited the Palazzo Ducale, which was a really interesting museum, and took a water taxi down the grand canal (in lieu of a gondola tour) and visited another museum that I cannot remember at the moment. We also went inside the basilica and wandered around even more. The whole time I just kept being upset with the gelatto (this was a big deal to me, you can see.) No one else that I was with understood my frustration, though, not having had proper gelatto, and they had no idea that it was different from the ice cream that we kept being served. (It's okay though, because I enlightened them when we arrived in Florence.)

Thursday morning we took a 9am train to Florence. By this time I was much more of a train aficionado, so it was much easier than my Monday experience! Unfortunately our tickets had non-guaranteed seats so we ended up sitting in the passageway for the entire three hours (so no sleeping!) but it was fine. We got to Florence a little after noon and I directed us all to our hostel (about a 15 minute walk). That afternoon we braved the line for the Accademia museum and saw Michelangelo's David. We also visited the Piazza Signoria, which was very close to our hostel, and has a lot of sculptures. It was also here where I got really excited because I had finally found real gelatto! That night we went to a restaurant (Il Teatro) right on the same street as our hostel on recommendation from my friend. It was pretty delicious (finally!) and the waitress was extremely nice and ended up cutting 15euro from our bill!

Friday morning we awoke bright and early to get to the Uffizi museum at 9am (we were apparently extremely ambitious when we pre-booked the tickets!) The Uffizi is overwhelming with the sheer amount of art it has, but I really enjoyed it, and ended up going through the whole thing in about two hours. After that we crossed the Ponte Vecchio (famous bridge with shops built right onto it) and headed up to Piazza Michelangelo, which is located on a hill overlooking the entire city. Sadly it started raining when we were up there, so we headed down to get some lunch and then head to the Duomo. We went inside the cathedral and the Baptistery, but unfortunately the actual dome was closed until today. We then headed back for a nap. After that we tried to visit the Bobali gardens, but it was already closed, but it made for a nice evening walk! Anna and her friend Julienne got in that night, so I moved my things over to the hotel (which was conveniently only five minutes away from my previous hostel) and then the eight of us went out to dinner at another recommended restaurant, El Gatto e Volpe. Also very delicious, and with an extremely friendly wait staff. They gave us all a free glass of wine(!) because we had to wait so long even when we had made a reservation. Only downside was that it seemed to be more frequented by American college students than actual Italians.

On Saturday, the group I'd been traveling with moved on to Roma and Julienne, Anna, and I went to Tuscany for the day! We started off with a horseback ride through the Tuscan fields, which were beautiful. I only wish I'd gotten to concentrate on the scenery a bit more; but my horse was not happy playing follow-the-leader and I ended up concentrating much more on him. We then had a delicious traditional Tuscan lunch/ wine tasting and ended by going to a small town in Sienna. We got back around 5:30 and wandered around the piazzas and bought some cheese and crackers to snack on. That night we went to ZaZas (a place that had been recommended by about 6 different people!). I had seafood pasta (with squid, clams, and mussels, yum!) that was absolutely amazing. I would definitely go back.

Sunday, Anna and Julienne got up early to go to 7:30 Easter mass in the Duomo and to go to the Uffizi. I chose to sleep in since I was feeling like I was getting a cold, and had already seen the Uffizi. We all met back at the hotel, and planned on seeing the procession and cart explosion (something involving fireworks that takes place in the Duomo Piazza), but we had been told the wrong time and arrived too late. We spent some time wandering around the outdoor markets/stalls and went to a late Easter lunch at a place called Nicoleto (or something close to that). I had pear-stuffed pasta with gorgonzola sauce (it sounds weird but it was delicious) and the best tiramisu ever. Afterward we went to the Pitti Palace (home of some of the gigantic Medici heirloom collection) and the Boboli gardens despite the torrential downpour and our superbly soaked feet/pants. That evening we bought some more cheese/wine/salami/ and pizza and had a little feast in our hotel, since the weather made it seem awful for venturing out. The pizzeria was delicious and they gave us free glasses of beer while we waited for our pizza!

This morning I got up bright and early to get a cab at 6:40... and catch a 7am train that connected to a shuttle bus that brought me to the airport. Luckily the connections went smoothly and I got to the gate with over an hour to spare. And I randomly saw a group of Colgate students on the train platform!

Now back and trying to organize and re-energize myself before an exciting week with Eric and Papa!!! And also to enjoy the gorgeous Madrid weather!