Thursday it was nice to come home and not have to rush to a bus for the weekend. After everyone left I made Shepard pie it was kinda easy and came out really good. I'm proud of finding good simple meals to make with the resources that we have. Then I did come laundry and chores around the apartment and went to bed early because I had a field trip the next morning that I had to be there by 8:45. The field trip was to two Medici villas on the outskirts of Florence. They were called Villa of La Petraia and Castello. They were very beautiful but we could only see the inside of La Petraia because Castello was privatized in the 17th century. We got to see the real statues of Venus and Hercules squeezing Antheus. They were bigger than I expected. The day was kind of groggy but it was nice to put a visual to what we talk about in class.
When I got back I wanted to go to the school library to get some school work done. I have two 8 page papers coming up and exams next week. I always forget I actually have school work here! But it was closed so instead I asked Christi if she wanted to go see the David. I felt weird I hadn't seen it yet and we've been here for a month and a half. It was amazing! It stood 510 cm tall and the pose was to show victory of Goliath. The sign said that Michelangelo started it in 1502 from a piece of marble he found in his backyard and didn't finish until 1504. I couldn't believe how big it was in person. My jaw dropped. Then we went to the chocolate fair that was being held until the 19th. I went with colleen on Valentine's day but in the day there were more vendors and a lot more people. We got delicious chocolate covered waffle sticks and I met the sweetest man. He kept telling me to come back later and he'd give me a deal.
We went home and made some fajitas! It was nice to have a change of cuisine and everyone knows I love my Mexican food. Then we ventured back out to the chocolate fair to see Micheal my cute Italian man. He gave us a deal on some chocolate bars and then told me "You broke my heart first time I see you, your smile is most beautiful thing I seen". He was so adorable to bad he was 35 and probably just wanted me to buy his chocolate. Once again we went to bed early because it was off to Venice on Saturday.
Venice was a day trip through bus2alps. They were bringing like 350 students. It was the last weekend for Carnivale. They suggested we go to Murano or Burano before heading to San Marco for the main attractions. We went to Murano because I was curious to see the glass blowing. My aunt and Nana have said that murano glass was very cool and I have a few necklaces at home made of it. The glass blowing show was amazing. The guy made a vase and a horse statue in about two minutes. It was kind of cool. They had a huge shop too with everything made of murano glass. Then when we walked around that town every shop on the sidewalk was made of murano glass too. We got a bunch of souvenirs.
Next we took a boat ride to San Marco. As we approached we could already see some pretty intense costumes. There was a giant guy dressed in a purple dress and he just trudged through everyone and people swarmed for pictures. That's basically how it was with all the major costumes. Everyone had a mask, face paint or little costume but than the big outrageous costumes had people running to take pictures and photographers pushing everyone out of the way. It was like a big competition who could out do the other. The costumes were so detailed and amazing I had no idea that carnivale was even like that. There were little stands throughout the street. We saw the cathedral from the outside and the wine fountain. Everyone was drinking straight out of wine bottles and throwing confetti. It was like a party for thousands of people. Music everywhere. Quite amazing if I do say so. The weekend before everyone said they were miserable because it was cold but we had a beautiful day. It started to get cold later in the night but it was doable.
We then stopped for some food. It all seemed so expensive but that's because there was seafood in a lot of it because we were right on the water. That was also hard to believe they traveled everywhere by boat because they had no streets and the boat rides were like 40 minutes. We met up with some of my other friends from a class and had a big dinner. After we headed back to the main piazza to watch the performers. Everyone was dancing in the street and singing in their costumes. The music was very good and I enjoyed listening and dancing with my friends.
The boat buses were packed on the way back and we were supposed to be back on our buses to Florence by 10:30 but we didn't get there until 11:15... good thing they waited. It wasn't our fault it was just a super slow bus ride with a lot of stops. We did;t get back to Florence until 2:30 and I was beat. I was happy to not have to set an alarm for anything in the morning.
I woke up at 11:30 which I was happy with so I didn't waste the day away. I cleaned, uploaded photos and now I'm going to make some biscotti's if I can find the ingredients at the grocery store! I'm glad it's raining here so I can just relax and catch up on everything before the rest of the crew comes back from Prague. Hopefully I do get to go to Prague though sometime before I leave. Until next time... Ciao.
Here are some cool pictures of costumes and our masks :)
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