Sorry for the second massive break in blogs, everyone. My life has been moving at a ridiculously high speed the last week and a half!! I can't remember every detail, and I'm definitely not doing another bullet pointed list of every. single. thing. I've done since the last blog. Also, I'm just kinda writing this down so please excuse any random topic shifts. Stream-Of-Consciousness blogging is my joint. I'll start with a list of pertinent details of my life in Milan so far:
- My computer is completely out of commission. It would cost 1370 Euro to fix; No thank you. I'm getting a new one instead! (the brand new MacBook Pro, that came out on Thursday. The MacBook Pro is Dead! Long Live the MacBook Pro!)
- My classes finally start tomorrow!! Of course, I had my schedule all figured out on my old computer, so I need to go find all my classes again, write down the days and times and figure out where they are...
- Finally, (I think), I had my orientation on Tuesday! While I have already been in Milan three weeks (woahh), my "Welcome Day" at Cattolica was scheduled for the 22nd. So I finally got my Student ID and met a bunch of internationals, including people from Australia, Greece, Poland and Hungary!
Trento is a city in the middle of a valley, about an hour from the Austrian border. What makes it interesting is that it has strong Italian and Austrian/German architectural influences, and so was much different looking than other Italian cities I have seen (Milan, Florence, Siena, Rome) and is also much less touristy. It was refreshing to see because its off the beaten tourist path, so to speak. While there is a definite tourist impact, it is nothing like Venice or Florence, which are pretty much inundated with all kinds of tourists (especially during Carnevale, which started the day I visited Venice. The crowds were ridiculous.) Furthermore, the city and the surrounding area were breathtakingly beautiful; you could see mountains everywhere you looked and it was just incredibly clean (by which I mean smog free, opposite of Milan). While I love living in Milan, the air can kind of choke you it's so thick with fumes (especially during rush hour). I can't really think of much else to say, it was just a pretty incredible place. (Though I'm probably gonna say that about EVERY city I visit, just letting all of you know. I'm easily impressed) I think what I really want to do is write about Venice, so I'm gonna start that RIGHT. NOW. First, though, find a good map of the city on Google Maps. This way you'll be able to follow my rambled recounting of my wandering easier!
Venice is truly incredible. The most beautiful city I have ever seen. And this was during Carnevale (Italian Mardi Gras. I hate having to explain this, but I'm not sure why. It might be because Carnevale started in Italy, was adopted by the rest of Europe and then came to New Orleans and became their Mardi Gras. I think in a way it cheapens the meaning of Carnevale (no offense to Mardi Gras) because it has such a rich history, which I will not get in to here. Read the wikipedia. Even though today it is mainly a tourist-infused dumbing down of the medieval, raunchy and rancorous festival of old) when the crowds are maddeningly huge and it's hard to escape all the tourists (I know I sound like a hypocrdrite when I talk about tourists condescendingly, but I'm elitist that way. At least I speak Italian ;) ). I went with ESEG, one of the International Student Orgs in Milan, along with about 80 other people from Cattolica. We were supposed to meet up with the group at 6:45 am Saturday morning. My roommate and I, in our infinite wisdom, stayed up until 3 am somehow. So we got around 3 hours of sleep and stumbled out of our apartment building just in time to miss the bus as it was pulling away from the bus stop. We immediately began running down the street, in the hopes of catching the bus before it got to the next stop (luckily the line recently had to begin going down a detour to avoid some construction) and we managed to sprint up to the stop right as the bus was pulling up. Our flatmate Benoit got on at the original stop, so he just smirked as we piled in to the bus, panting and wheezing and relieved. We got to the rendezvous around 10 minutes early too, because there is absolutely no traffic in Milan on Saturday mornings at 6:30 (imagine that). So with our early morning warm-up out of the way, we joined the massive crowd of foreigners waiting for the two double decker buses we were going to take to Venice. They arrived, we boarded, we finally left Milan around 7:30. The bus ride made me feel like I was in High School again, with our chaperones counting heads and telling us we had 15 minutes to take a quick bathroom break at the rest stop. We arrived in Venice around 11:30, boarded a shuttle boat and took a quick ride over to the city proper (as no cars are allowed on the island, unless you're Mark Wahlberg). The boat pulled up to its stop at San Zaccaria (down the street from Campo San Marco, the main square in Venice) and all the internationals rushed out in to the enormous crowds lining the street.
Just getting to Campo San Marco was an experience, as we all jostled our way through the previously mentioned disgustingly-large crowds of tourists. Along the way we saw our first Carnevale costumes, which throughout the day became progressively more intricate and beautiful. People were dressed in a multitude of ways, including in Halloween costumes (I saw a kid in a Mario outfit, a couple Spidermans, a Na'vi, etc) We got to Campo San Marco, were amazed by the Basilica, Clock Tower (Torre d'Orologio) and Belltower (Campanile) and a few of us (including me!) bought overpriced but amazing Carnevale masks! Jorge (my roommate) and I got, respectively, black and white beaked masks which are inspired by the Plague Doctors of the middle ages. After we took the requisite pictures with our masks on, we started wandering around the Campo some more, and I somehow got separated from everyone. I wasn't too worried however; I knew I would find them soon. Soon eventually became not within the next 10 minutes, so I left the square and started to wander around Venice on my own (Rick Steves told me to get lost! So I planned on exactly that. Its a lot easier to see a city on your own). I saw that I had a missed call from Jorge, tried calling him back and got no response (it was impossible to hear phones ringing with all the people) and so went on with my day. I sound callous right now. I promise I was just doing what Rick Steves told me to!
I wandered in to Venetian back streets in order to find a bookstore to buy a map, and found a place with a pretty good one for just two euro! I bought it and proceeded to get lost immediately. I wandered around some more and saw signs pointing to "Rialto", the famous Grand Canal-spanning bridge, and followed them through fairly empty streets to another incredibly packed tourism cesspool, took a few pictures and left in order to get away from the crowds. I looked at my map and decided to walk north: It seemed like there was little to no touristy stuff that way so I went. I think this was my favorite part of the whole day. Walking around a city with absolutely no cars with little to no people around was incredibly calming coming from Milan and the crazy-packed Campo San Marco and Ponte di Rialto. I just walked, gaped and couldn't stop smiling because I was just so at ease and infatuated with the city of Venice. Every once in a while I would wander down an alleyway and come out on the Grand Canal, which never failed to have a breathtaking view 360 degrees around. I kept walking until I stumbled upon the Ferrovia, aka Train Station. I had made it to the complete opposite side of the city from Campo San Marco! Snapped a few pics, crossed the Grand Canal.
I wanted to get to go through the rest of the districts of the City. Quick Venetian geography lesson: There are six Districts in Venice: San Marco (with the Basilica and Rialto Bridge), Castello (right behind San Marco, includes the Public Gardens at the extreme edge of the island and San Zaccaria, where we got dropped off), Cannareggio (where the first Jewish Ghetto was (also where the word ghetto comes from. Back in the day, there was a factory in the district and ghet is the Venetian word for slag. So the Jewish district became known as the Ghetto) and where the Ferrovia is), San Croce (with Piazzale Roma and the Ponte della Constitutione, the newest bridge spanning the Grand Canal (the 4th); apparently contentious among Venetians because of its more modern architectural style), San Polo (with the Archivio de Stato, Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, Campo San Polo and the other half of the Ponte di Rialto (including the Rialto Markets)) and Dorsoduro (with the Accademia and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection). My goal for the day was to walk through each of these districts. I accomplished that goal (I only had 5 hours after all).
So at this point I had been in Castello (the only district I didn't really tour, just walked through), San Marco and Canareggio. Crossing the bridge I came to San Croce and visited the Giardino Papadopoli, then proceeded to walk through the blissfully quiet district and eventually crossed over in to San Polo. I walked by the Archivio di Stato and Santa Maria Gloriosa etc. and crossed over in to Dorsoduro, where over text Jorge and I had decided to meet (at the Accademia). I wandered around the area for while until I got a call from Jorge saying he and four other people (Melinda, Allie, Sarah and Ines) were trying to get a Gondola and for me to hurry my ass over to the Rialto Bridge to finally see people I knew again. I booked it across the Ponte della Accademia and through the San Marco district (where I ran in to Benoit at a market in Campo San Stefano) and got to Rialto in about 10 minutes (while taking pictures along the way!). I'd say that was pretty quick. By this time it was 3:45 and we had to be back at the dock at 5. Gondola rides take around 40 minutes, so we were cutting it kinda close considering the crowds and the fact that we weren't sure where we would get dropped off. Jorge and them hadn't gotten to the bridge yet so I started waiting in line for a gondola. Finally, Jorge called to say they had arrived at a Gondola Station, but they were nowhere in sight for me. Of course, there are two gondola stations at the Rialto, one on the San Marco side and the other on San Polo. I was at San Marco, they were at San Polo. Now it was 3:50 and I needed to get to the other side of the bridge. Remember that this is one of the most touristy bridges in the world, it is Carnevale and tourists love Venice and you'll see the problem. That bridge was packed to the BRIM with people, but thanks to my unmatchable crowd-traversing skills I made it over in three minutes. Probably broke a few ribs with my elbows, but it was almost worth it. I say almost because we decided, after waiting another 20 minutes for a free Gondola (free as in open, because Gondola rides are not cheap. Flat rate of 100 euro; we were splitting among the 6 of us (max amt you can take in a gondola) so it was only ~17 euro apiece but still. Damn. You can also add music for and extra 110 euro, but that means you can only take four people max because you need to seats for the musicians!), we decided that the Gondola ride would be cutting it too close. Which means I have to go back to Venice to finish the whole venetian experience. So inconvenient.
So after that unfortunately failed venture, we decided to get some gelato to drown our sorrows and to find some wine to drink on the bus ride back. We found the gelato (thankfully) but all the wine was way overpriced, seeing as we were looking in the most touisty areas possible. We moseyed on over to the dock, and got there right as the boat was about to shove off. At least it was poetic; I had to sprint once again to get to my desired form of public transportation. The ride back to Tronchetto (where our buses were parked) was pretty beautiful too, as the sun set on the horizon and we sailed towards it. Got on our buses and said goodbye, reluctantly, to this amazing city. Took the 3 hour bus ride home. Got off and once again had to spring to get to my bus home, got home and finally uploaded all my 1000 pictures to facebook (from Feb 4th to now) and slept deeply. Up next: First week of classes and a 5 day, 4 night trip to the Italian alps to ski!! See you next time!
P.S. The only food I ate in Venice was that gelato. I completely forgot to even eat anything else. Whoops.
P.P.P.S. Completely forgot to mention this when I was writing about my Venetian wanderings, but I found this incredible mask shop in I think San Polo. Took a few pictures of the masks, they're in the facebook album I linked to above.
