Budapest and Vienna

BUDAPEST

So what a wonderful city!! So far so good. Upon arrival, after my 14 hour train ride, I took the bus to my wonderful hostel. It sleeps like only 15 people and is run by this cool American/Hungarian/Italian/Spanish dude. Super cool and super nice. The first day I toured around Buda by myself and saw the city’s castle, St. Mathews Church, and the citadel on Gellit Hill. I don’t remember all the information about these places but that’s okay because we can discuss in more detail when I get home. The next day I went around to see some of the Pest side with some really nice people from the hostel. I saw the Parliament building, the Basilica, the Opera House – which I’m attending tonight – and Hero’s Square and the City Park. It’s a really beautiful city here… I wish I had more to say but I’m tired and lazy. Today I took it easy and went to a huge indoor market, 2 square acres, walked around and got a good feel for the local cuisine and lots of pickled stuff… pickled peppers! I had an amazing lunch of hummus and falafel with a huge salad and gigantic glass of lemonade. Unfortunately I ran out of Hungarian money ☹. I ended up paying in euros. FOOD IS SO CHEAP. It was 6.40 euros for a hell of a lot of food. Money in da bank! That’s it… I’m sorry for skimping on the blog but I hope it’s still enjoyable even if there are no more pictures or fun commentaries. Oh yeah… I also went to an awesome Hungarian punk rock concert. It was really funny because I read about this outdoor festival with concerts every night. When I walked by it, it was just a bunch of punk ass teenagers waiting to get frisked by security to get in. I was intrigued. I couldn’t help myself so I went in. The crowed ended up being mostly converse and studded belt clad teenagers but the was really cool.

VIENNA

It’s as if the hills are alive, with the sound of… music. The city so far has not proved itself öber exciting but its pretty and the museums are out of this world. Yesterday after I arrived I spent the afternoon at the Schonbrunn Castle that used to be the palace of Maria Teresa and is where Mozart when he was 6 years old. It was beautiful because the grounds had huge and incredibly well kept gardens. Today I did stuff around the center of town/ Ring Strasse. Kivanc references everywhere!! It’s nice. Tomorrow I’m finishing up some stuff in the city center and two more museums before I catch my overnight train to Berlin. I leave at 7:58 pm and arrive at 8:01 am. I’m excited because I will meet my friend from Venice, Imke, and then meet up with Alli. She and I will be traveling together for the rest of the time.

Peace.

Super Fast and Expensive Post

In a cafe. I leave Venice in 8 hours!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh it's terrible!! Last week was great. The fam (or at least some of it) was here in Venice and although their enthusiasm was difficult to detect, they had a good time and got to see a lot of stuff and eat some pretty decent food. Tom and Jess have now moved on to Israel while I got to spend my last 36 hours in Venice locked up in my apartment writing a paper. I now only have a few hours left before I leave.

First stop BUDAPEST. Write again soon.

Who's counting down my return!? Interobang

A Milano

Provo scrivere in italiano. Ti scherzo!

Much has happened since my last post. As you can imagine, my internet situation is lacking and certainly not favorable for someone as internet dependent as myself. I cannot wait to return to the United States and my unproductive days of sitting in front of the computer for hours. That sentence contains no sarcasm.

Upon my return to the wonderful city of Venice (from Dublin) I had two days of lessons and messing around town with my friends and my teachers. I am really going to miss this city in every way. The people I have met and the friends I’ve made, from the wonderful to the freighting, and the things I have scene, from the sparkling reflection of the canals on the undersides of bridges to the sunsets of endless beauty over the Giudecca Canal seen from the Zattere. I must return. Anyway, back to the interesting stuff.

On Friday, the influx of visitors began with the Florence crew. Alli and Megan, each visiting for their third time, and Kelly for her first. ß the previous sentence is terribly structured. I am so happy when Megan and Alli return because it means that they like Venice. I LOVE IT WHEN PEOPLE LOVE VENICE, and I love it even more when people can appreciate it for what it is, more that a stop on a European Cruise. It makes me so happy to see my friends enjoying the city the way I do. With Kelly, and the other first time visitors from Paris who arrived on Saturday, I tried to show them as much that I could in the short amounts of time that they were here. That’s a hard thing to do because all traveling is done on foot. We ran around the city all day Saturday from one sight to the next. What I really mean is I dragged them around the city… but it was worth it. On Saturday night, the Florence group left and the Paris group (Josh and his four friends Kim, Jess, and Lauren) and I went out to dinner with our mutual friend from the US of A Rachel. My fellow American in Venice. On Sunday we did some other touristy things and ate dinner in my apartment. I cooked for Paris almost the exact same thing I cooked for Florence two nights earlier. With the help of my guests, both home cooked meals went smoothly. On Monday the Paris crew left to meet up with the Florence peeps in Florence while I had my last history lesson (cry) and met up with some friends that I hadn’t seen in a few weeks. For most of the rest of the week I just tried to absorb as much as I could during my last few days in Venice, had one of my final art history classes, and began working on my papers (more crying).

Now I am in Milan awaiting the arrival of Dad and Jessica for our week together in Italy. I know that new photos are long past due but I’m doing my best.

Dublin Part 2: Blue Skies and Sunshine

If you couldn't tell by the title of this post, the weather has changed significantly here in Dublin... for the better! Beautiful some might say!! I will now fill you in on what I did here since my last post/ during the past two day. [pictures will come in 2 maybe 3 days time. PLEASE BE PATIENT! (random and unnecessary overreaction but at least Josh will appreciate the parenthetical abundance)] Today I visited Malahide Castle which is about 30 min outside the city center by train. It was very cool and because the weather was so nice, the gardens and parks were also very pleasant. Not to mention the beach! I was able to walk to the coast from the train station. It was gorgeous and I imagine that for about two months out of the year (when the weather is warm) it must be even nicer. The castle was really cool as well. On the same grounds, there was a model train exhibit that I couldn't resit visiting. At first it brought back good childhood memories. Everyone remember the pretty remarkable train set my dad set up? Then it brought back horrible childhood memories. Everyone remember when my mom destroyed years of hard work in a single afternoon? But the exhibit was really cool anyway. Now I'm writing this post, will try to do some schoolwork/ leisure reading, go eat dinner, and then get ready to leave really early tomorrow morning. But I also have to tell you about yesterday!! It was definitely the best day here. First thing I did was visit the National Gallery. What an awesome museum! And they had a great restaurant with great food and great prices. Great. They had quite a collection of art from all over the world, including the Venetian School, and of course a lot of great Irish art. For those who would like more information, I bought some postcards and we can discuss it when I get back. I also went to the Guinness Storehouse. The history of that is sorta interesting, especially the fact that Mr. Guinness #1 signed a 9000 year lease on the property, but overall it was lame and stupid compared to the Jameson Distillery. I also went the the Kilmainham Gaol (Jail). This is an old prison that was used for a few hundred years up until the 1920's or 30's... I don't remember. But it's history is amazing! The tour guide was unbelievably informative about the architectural significance (pan-opticon... KK shout out), as well as the social and political significance of the prison from its creation through the Potato Famine and the Irish struggles for independence. Amazing tour! I then saw my third movie, The Other Boleyn Girl. As I'm sure you can tell, I am taking full advantage of the fact that I am in an English speaking country. It was pretty good.

That's it I guess. Tomorrow I return home to Venice to a packed schedule and lots of work.

Wish me luck with my papers :(

Dublin Part 1/ Maybe the Only Dublin Post

So I'm currently in Dublin... have been for two days. I still have tomorrow and the following day to tour about before my 6:15 am flight back to Venice Wednesday morning! It was a bad decision I know. Anyway... the weather here is shit. Worse than Binghamton and Venice combined! If you can even imagine. Yesterday I went on a tour of Trinity College and the guide, who was a student, would say "in the winter.. and April" every time he explained the time of year that has bad weather. Nonetheless it is an interesting city!!! Pictures will have to wait I guess until i get back in Venice but I will at least describe what I have been up to so far. I arrived on Friday afternoon and spent the rest of the day walking around the city trying to get to know the layout a bit and find my way from the city center back to the hostel... First of all it took over an hour and a half to get from the airport to the hostel. The first city I have visited (other than cities in Italy because that country is... unique) where the public transportation sucks. I always write about it every time i go to a new city because it is important. Here, it is terrible. I think it is because they drive on the left side of the road. I know it's normal for them but I can't help but feel that it's really stupid. Also, the tourist office gives out this map that is almost worthless. I usually have decent map reading and navigational abilities but here the maps are terrible. Not just the free one but even the ones that cost 5 or 6 euros! They don't include all the streets!! I don't care how big a city is (which Dublin is not), or how complex the street layout is (which in Dublin it is not) a city should still be able to produce a decent map!!! I mean Venice is a city with a way more complex street system AND waterway system yet the maps are still readable, not to mention I have a pocket sized map of NYC that I can keep in my wallet that is more accurate than the maps here. They should just call some cartographer from the civilized world to come to the Isle and map it out!!!! Also food is way overpriced here. Other things like clothes and furniture and whatever are cheap but yesterday I payed almost 20 bucks for a bagel and a water. Okay, enough complaining... Trinity College was very interesting and took up most of my day on Saturday. I toured part of the campus and went to the library which is super impressive and houses the Book of Kells, and ancient copy of four gospels that is really cool because of the beautiful and precise artwork that adorns the pages. From there I did a little church hopping. I saw St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Christ Church. They were both shmeh. Nothing too impressive but pretty enough I guess. OH! I've also taken advantage of the fact that I am in an English speaking country and have seen two movies. Shine a Light, the Scorsese/ Stones collaboration, and Lars and the Real Girl, the Ryan Gosling indi. Both were great! The Rolling Stones documentary was visually stunning! See this movie! And they sounded pretty good too. Way better than they did at the Super Bowl x number of years ago. The other film was pretty good. The story was funny and uplifting yet really sad and sorta sappy. It was also poorly made with multiple goofs visible on screen. I recommend it anyway. Today I started out by visiting the Dublin Castle. It was interesting but not extraordinarily beautiful or even worthwhile. I may sound like I am bad talking the city but I'm not. In terms of architecture though, everything is boring and grey. From there, I went to the one cool church i have found, the church of St. Michan. It supposedly inspired Bran Stoker to write Dracula. He is one of the many famous authors from Dublin (also a graduate from Trinity College). I learned about him and the many others when I visited the Writers Museum. That was surprisingly interesting. I wanted to purchase every book mentioned that I haven't read yet but... I didn't. Interesting fact is that the museum is in the old home of George Jameson, of Jameson's Irish Whiskey. Especially interesting because just before I went to the museum, I visited the Old Jameson Distillery. That was a very fun and interesting attraction that I highly recommend. I learned a lot about the process as well as the qualities and differences of the world's many kinds of whiskey. I also have been visiting a few beautiful gardens in the city. Somehow there are many flowers in bloom despite the terrible weather. I'm also very pleased that there is a wide variety of ethnic food available in this city :). Another post soon about the rest of my time in Dublin.

Upcoming Events

Tomorrow morning I'm leaving for Dublin. I'm sad to leave Venice even for a second!!! Then after that I will have visitors in Venice. 

Prague

I should be having my art history class right now but my teacher is late so I figured I would write some stuff about the last few days while I wait. But first a little complaining about today. The internet at the school is being repaired so I can go online unless I go to an internet café which I might do because I have important things to do online today and tomorrow!! So Prague, or Praha in Czech, was quite a wonderful city. Meg and I stayed at the Boathouse Hostel, which was outside the city center but not hard to access because the public transportation is good, even at night. It was a very cool place but I had the same problem with it that I did with the whole country. You can still smoke indoors in the Czech Republic so not only is that always strange to see but fucks me all up especially when my allergies are bothering me, which they were. So basically there was no “fresh air” not even outside because half the places that I went to see were gardens. As “Lets Go: Europe on a Budget 2008” says, most things of interest to a tourist are conveniently located in a compact area. So to summarize the sights I saw… the Prague Castle, which has an AMAZING cathedral, other churches: Tyn Church, St. Nicholas, Old Town Square and clock tower, National Theatre, blah blah blah lists are boring. One evening Meg and I saw The Taming of the Shrew at the Estates Theatre, which is where Mozart played Don Giovanni when he was in Prague. We also ate at very nice restaurants each night. This cost both of us a lot of money. I also spent a lot of money on clothes, which was incredibly stupid of me but whatever. I’m still not 100% sure how much everything cost… From now on I plan to get ripped off only in my own currency. I have just completed my lesson with my teacher, ten hours after I began writing this. In other words I am exhausted. You can use your imagination to fill in the rest with the following visual aides which include a few pictures from Italy as well.

*** very sorry that the pictures had to be in a link. i will try to get it on the same page asap but my internet availability is becoming limited so in the coming weeks posts may be infrequent :(... also without photos because they are a pain to upload***

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2118902&l=c89ed&id=8115847

During the week before I went to Prague I went to the Armenian monastery here in Venice, which is on Isola di San Lazzero. It was very interesting. The monk/guide meets the visitors at the vaporetto stop. He gives one tour a day. The day I went there were Italians, Argentineans, French, Germans, English and Armenians. He gave the six languages! This sect of the Catholic Church is renowned for its intellectual practices. Therefore there were many cool and interesting artifacts on their libraries including what is said to be the best preserved mummy in Europe. Side note- Lord Byron stayed on this island with the monks for an extended period of time while he was visiting Venice. 

 

Rain Rain Rain

Last night after class, my teacher and I went to a gallery where a show was opening in which some of her friends are being featured. It was cool the only bad thing is that i had to leave early because I didn't have an umbrella or a jacket and it got cold and rainy. Because of the rain I slipped on the wet dock trying to catch the vap. I was warned not to run to catch the boat in the rain because you will fall... I didn't listen and I didn't catch the boat.

I did a lot of cool stuff today but I did it all in the rain so I'm not in the mood to talk about it. I took the Secret Tour of the Ducal Palace which was really cool. I got to see all the cool Casanova stuff... like where he was imprisoned, how he escaped... and so forth. I also did one and half of these cool itineraries from a guide book that I bought. Way to much information to discuss. I will finish the second one later today. I guess that's it. I leave for Prague in the morning. Tell you about it soon.

Update

So much has happened since my last post that I don’t think I can remember it all so post may be very scattered in terms of a timeline. It is currently Friday but I don’t think I will be able to upload this until Monday.

I have completed my studies in Italian. ☹ BIG SAD FACE!!!! I now have class only twice a week. These two classes are my independent study/ one-on-one with the professor classes. They are very amazing classes. It is like having personal guides to the entire city… except I have to write a paper for them. My History of Venice teacher just informed me that she and her fiancé will be getting married in St. Mark’s Basilica. If you have seen it, you know how remarkable such a wedding ceremony would be. If you haven’t seen it, COME TO VENICE (the most beautiful city in the world). Other than the fact that I don’t have to wake up at 7 every morning, finishing my Italian class is a big downer. Most of the friends I have made also finished therefore I basically have already had to say goodbye. I only have 5 weeks left in Venice and I’m already getting sad that I have to leave. Not only have I fallen slightly behind on my super-list of things to do, I love the city so much that I don’t want to leave. These five weeks will be cut a little bit short because I am going on two major long weekend trips. Next weekend I am going to Prague and the following weekend I am going to Ireland (Dublin and Belfast, hopefully with enough time to skip over to Liverpool and take a Beatles tour). Plus this weekend (tomorrow) Alli is coming to Venice with some of her family and the last weekend in April, I am expecting more visitors. Then it will be jut about time to start my European Grand Tour.

This past weekend, I spent Friday, Saturday, and part of Sunday in Milan with la famiglia. I was great as usual. They are so welcoming and wonderful. Before I left they gave me to take home 5 bags of pasta, 2 cakes, 2 jars of tomato sauce, apx 3 feet of sausage, and 1 bottle of olive oil. I don’t know what more to say about that. Hopefully I will find time to go back before I return to the states. After Milan, I went directly to Florence to arrive on Sunday night/ Betty’s birthday. **Everyone remember who Betty is?? If not you can look it up in an earlier post** She treated us to an amazing dinner. It was about 10 people I think. She’s too generous (I shake my head as I write this) but thanks again! Monday I did some touristy things including a visit to the synagogue. It’s really quite a magnificent building. I would say a must see during a visit to Florence. On Tuesday Meg and I had an adventure. We woke up pretty early and spent the day outside of Florence. We started in Assisi (apx 2.5 hrs from Florence). The city was nice but I wasn’t terribly impressed. Beautiful views of the mountains and some nice churches but nothing in the city had much of an effect on me, or Megan really. Sometimes you go to a church or an old city center or a castle and are just moved by it, but in Assisi we practically had to struggle to come up with any sort of reaction even to the church that has the tomb of and is dedicated to St. Francis (of Assisi). We did however see a lot of whacko Christian pilgrims. From there, on our way back to Florence, we stopped in Perugia. Unfortunately our time here was cut short by the fact that the city is geographically unique. Instead of taking a bus to the city center, we attempted to walk. After about 30-40 minutes of treacherous hiking up winding mountain roads and asking for directions, we were alerted to the fact that the city is on the top of a very high and steep mountain. We actually had to take escalators up the side of the mountain, through underground passages that passed ancient ruins, in order to reach the top. Once there, we visited the disappointing Perugina chocolate store. The company is from Perugia and the candy is incredible but I sort of expected a Charlie Bucket experience when really it was just a tiny candy store. We saw some pretty cool stuff but were unfortunately in a hurry. Unlike Assisi, I would give this city a positive rating and suggest checking it out to anyone interested in seeing one of Italy’s many truly unique cities… there’s more to Italy than Tuscany and beaches. We were so rushed that in order to catch our train we took a cab back to the station instead of waiting for the bus. It was definitely worth it because otherwise we wouldn’t have been back in Florence until around 8pm. But we got back with enough time to shower and change before dinner. We (me, Alli, Megan, Betty, Kelly, and one other girl) went out to dinner at Aquacotta. At this restaurant Rich (Freedman) did some culinary studies. The food was great, the wine was too, and the chef and his wife were very nice. After we almost instantaneously devoured the tiramisu, I was assured that Richard received the adequate instruction and is quite capable of preparing said dessert. So brush up Richard because I expect it to be just as good in New York as it was in Florence. After dinner we went out to a bar called Be Bop where the have a Beatles cover band every Tuesday night. I thought they were pretty darn good and that means a lot coming from a die hard Beatles fan, especially one as critical as me. I left for home the next morning. I arrived in Venice at around 1:30. Just enough time to drop off my bags and meet my teacher for my art history lesson that started at 2 and lasted over 5 hours. We visited one museum and didn’t even have enough time to finish so we are returning. I guess that’s all for now. Wish me luck in finishing my list of things to do because I will be very upset if I have to return to the US with unfinished business.

More soon on my upcoming excursions... 

Un Po di Aqua Alta

This weekend I did some interesting stuff but I'm going to be super lazy and summarize very briefly. On Friday after school I met Meg, her mom, and Wendy at the train station. The city was CRAZY packed with tourists which made me quite upset because in them I was able to see "man's" truly careless and destructive nature. Despite the overload of tourists, Wendy and Kelly got what I would consider a pretty good tour of the city. First thing first, we took the #1 vaporetto down the entire length of the Grand Canal to Piazza San Marco. It's actually a good way to see the city's "main street"... if you can find a seat on the boat. After checking into their hotel, we had lunch. After lunch we were able to get into the Basilica because the mass for Good Friday was just about to begin. This was great for two reasons. First, we didn't have to wait on line to get into the church, and second, the lights were not turned on until after we were inside. This always has a spectacular effect because the mosaics are gradually lit up, slowly revealing the intricacy and magnificence of what can barely be seen in the dark. After church we roamed around for a bit, chilled at the hotel, then went to dinner. On the walk to dinner the waters were rising and on the walk back from dinner, many places were significantly flooded. 

\/ High Waters \/

The next day we did sort of a rush around the city... walking over the Rialto and a quick trip to Murano where we saw the Glass Museum which was impressive but only for about the first 5 minutes. After Murano we can back to Venice, missed out on seeing a cool church, walked through a "street" fair, and ate some more food. By this time it was already time for Kelly, Wendy and Megan to end their short trip to Venice. 

On Sunday I went to a city called Bolzano. Although in Italy, this city retains the culture of Austria, of which it used to belong. Here people speak German and street names are in German and people eat Leberwurst... the whole thing. Anyway, this town is special not just for its bipolar-ness, but also because it is home to the South Tyrol Museum of Archeology. In this museum, I saw Otzi the Iceman. 

quote from museum website:

Over 5000 years ago, a man climbed up to the icy heights of the Schnalstal glacier and died. He was found by accident in 1991, with his clothes and equipment, mummified and frozen: an archaeological sensation and a unique snapshot of a Copper Age man.

For several years highly specialised research teams examined the mummy and the articles found with it. They have been on exhibit since March 1998 at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology.   

It was pretty remarkable. They even know how he died! They had his clothes and all this crazy 5.5 thousand year old stuff! Unbelievable. And luckily I came back alive. I was quite afraid that he would come back to like Encino Man and attack me but he couldn't even stand upright. Remarkable nonetheless. 

Monday I spent all day in Museums. The Jewish Museum in the Ghetto. Was really interesting and I was able to see the 3 of the 5 synagogues that you can visit. Just like most everything here, they were beautiful. I also went to the Museo Correr where I saw the exhibition by Lawrence Carrol and also the rest of the museum which has stuff about all aspects of Venetian History. 

Some cool stuff

This week I visited more churches. They were all beautiful. I only have around 5 more left on my list!! 

Also on Wednesday I had my Art History class, L'arte Veneziana, with Elena... that's my professor. We had class at the school this week which is good because the school closes at 5 and the secretary kicks us out. If class is a field trip or something... Elena will jut talk for hours and hours. But its okay because she is really nice and interesting. She is also quite active in the contemporary art world here in Venice. On Wednesday after class she invited me to a beat poetry reading at the gallery of one of here friends. The artist/performer was from NY... I don't remember her name but she was sort of boring so it doesn't matter. At the gallery Elena introduced me to many of her friends, artists of all kinds working here in Venice. Glass artists, painters/sculptors, video artists... Also at the performance was Lawrence Carroll, a relatively established artist who currently is exhibiting something like 50 works at the Correr Museum (a huge museum in Piazza San Marco, Napoleons old private apartments). It was really cool because he explained to me his own work, some of which was at this gallery. He also knew of Rockland County because he once lived in norther NJ. After the (unimpressive) performance Elena and her friends invited me for drinks which was followed by dinner.... I didn't finish with my teacher until around midnight. It was really cool because I was able to speak Italian with these really cool people who do really cool work. 

That's about it... Meg, her mom, and Wendy are coming to Venice now... just for one day. 

Barack

"Did I strongly disagree with many of his political views? Absolutely -- just as I'm sure many of you have heard remarks from your pastors, priests or rabbis with which you strongly disagreed." Barack Obama... like 3 days ago.

An American politician admitting that religion is not always right. Right on.

Choppy Chopin

I think it has been over a week now since I have written anything so this post will be a review of whatever i can remember... I'll try to put everything in order as much as possible. I have been full force visiting museums and churches and have seen many beautiful and incredible things. So far i have been disappointed by only one church. Every other church, no matter how big or small, has in some way been unique and/or intriguing. One of my most recent visits (should i mention the name? I'm afraid to offend the saint) was pretty boring and even ugly. But whatevs. I also visited the ducal palace with my Venetian History teacher. It was the field trip for learning about the functions and organization of the government during the republic... what better place to learn about than in the actual halls in which it all took place. Speaking of the Palazzo Ducale, which is in St. Mark's Square, with the recent arrival of Spring weather, the orchestra's have started performing outside the cafe's in St. Mark's. Speaking of music... I went to two concerts this week at La Fenice. One was a performance of Beethoven's 5th and 6th symphonies. The 5th is of course fun to hear performed by an orchestra but the 6th, my favorite of LvB's symphonies, was incredible. I just got home from a piano concert of Chopin, Debussy, and Schuman by some German guy.  It was pretty good as well but i felt that there was something about his playing style or method than made all the music sound in-cohesive or choppy. The British lady who sat in my box for the first half seemed to like it. She said, and i quote, "It brought to mind young children (are there old children?) frolicking in a wood." I also went to a cooking class this week which was taught by one of the teachers from school. It was a great time because Rachel, from binghamton, and another friend... attended and also because the food was delicious and the other company, especially the teacher, was a whole lot of fun. 

I almost forgot. This saturday i did a few interesting things. I went to this small town called Civadale del Friulli. It's a medieval town, only 20 km from the border with Slovenia, with some really cool sights and churches. I also had a great meal that only cost 4 euro. Poor man's food: polenta, sausage, and this potato and cheese concoction. Unreal. That evening i met my friends Sara, Richard and Anna in Udine. That city is about 1.5 hours from Venice and only 15 min from Civadale where i spent the morning and afternoon. We walked around the city for a little, there was a chocolate  street fair. Oh god. One stand had all this chocolate molded into the shapes of different kinds of tools. I ate a wrench.

 

Then we went to a soccer game/ football match: Udinese vs. Lazio. It was quite an interesting experience, my first football game and all, but to fully enjoy it i think i need to know a bit more about the game. Thats about all for now. I will try not to slack off as much anymore especially since i have some pretty exciting stuff coming up. Ciao and peace.

\/ beautiful weather in perhaps the most beautiful city\/

Die Glasmenagerie

I only have 40 minutes remaining on my battery time because apparently this train doesn’t have outlets for such things as cell phone or laptops. This train, by the way, is the train from Milan to Venice. I am on my way home from my weekend trip to Zurich. It was quite an incredible weekend too. J But first thing is first… I don’t know if I told “you” but at the beginning of this month I moved up a level in my Italian class therefore I have a new teacher for one of the classes. Apparently, he has been to Binghamton but I didn’t inquire about why because I didn’t/don’t really want to discuss Binghamton while I’m in Venice.

So Zurich… It was a last minute decision but this time it worked out fine. I was a little nervous at first though because I wanted to call the hostel I was staying at to triple check the directions about how to get there from the main train station. Nobody was answering the phones but I figured it out by myself with the help of an old Bavarian man who I met on the tram. Speaking of the tram… Zurich has quite a remarkable public transportation system. Everything is super clean and super punctual. To the minute! I could literally talk for hours about how amazed I was at this public transportation system but that would certainly be less than interesting. So after all my traveling to and from, I ending up having all day Saturday and Sunday until 3pm to spend in the city and I loved it. Saturday I did most of the sightseeing that was suggested by the books and tourist offices and so forth. Including:

-The Botanical Gardens, which other than the greenhouses was pretty barren yet still beautiful.

-St. Peter’s Church, has Europe’s largest clock face, the Swiss boasting there clock making skills.

- The Grossmunster, where the Protestant Reformation began in Zurich, I climbed to the top of one of the church’s towers. For half the way up there was only a tiny spiral staircase on which people going up had to squeeze by people going down.

- The Zurich University and the Federal Institute of Technology, two learning institutions with beautiful buildings right next to each other and from where you can see a great view of the city.

- Some of the city’s theatres, Opernhaus Zurich (Opera House), Tonhalle (some concert hall), and Schauspielhaus Pflauen (apparently on of the most important German-speaking theaters… I saw The Glass Menagerie there IN GERMAN… thank god I’ve read/seen it many times before… it was awesome)

-Rapperswil, a nice small town about 40 min by train from the city center… some nice views of the lake and a cool Medieval castle.

- Fraumnster, another church with 6 stained glass windows by Marc Chagall. These windows were just as impressive as the ones he did in Jerusalem.

- The Kunsthaus, a modern art museum. They had a lot of cool stuff by some really big names which is always interesting to see (Meg and Alli- lots of stuff from Aruna). They also had two really cool special exhibits. The first was called Europop. It was an attempt to prove that Europe had important pop artists before or at the same time that pop art was making it big in the states. I think the exhibit failed at this stupid-to-begin-with goal because the exhibit feature work by Warhol and Lichtenstein (Americans) and because the subject of a lot of the European pop was whining and annoying complaining that America stole the idea from Europe. It was annoying but there was still some cool stuff and I always love seeing Lichtenstein pieces… my fave. The other interesting exhibit was photos by Edward Steichen, a photographer who in the 20’s and 30’s did a lot of work for Vogue and Vanity Fair, called In High Fashion. It was really cool to see because it features photos of some of my favorite Old Hollywood starts as well as other celebrities of the time (Gloria Swanson, Al Jolsen, Fred and Adele Astaire, Joan Crawford and her husband Douglass Fairbanks Jr. on and on goes the list… President Hoover, Amelia Earhart, George Gershwin). It was a remarkable exhibit. It was also really cool because I read about so many of these celebrities in the biography of Cary Grant that I just finished. Unfortunately he was not featured in and of the photos.

I don’t know what more to say… I had a great time. I feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface of Venice yet and I’m already leaving to go see other places… I have some heavy-duty sight seeing planned for the next few weeks within Venice. It will be interested because I can accomplish some of it in my one-on-one Art History and Venetian History lessons/excursions. The teachers for these classes are really cool and I enjoy their courses so much. I feel very lucky to have this unusual and incredible opportunity that these classes offer.

 

Peace. 

\/ the lake from Rapperswil \/

\/ at the top of the Grossmunster \/

\/ at the bottom of the Grossmunster \/

What is New York thinking?

Some upsetting news...

Nina, Michael, I have lost faith.

Slater is not Zach. 

Dove Elettra

Yesterday I went to see Elektra at La Fenice, a theatre here in Venice. It was amazing. The Opera House was beautiful... I did not take this picture. 

La Fenice means "The Phoenix" because the theatre has a history of "fiery destruction and miraculous rebirth." It last burned down in 1996 therefor the rebuilt theatre is super state of the art and is on constant fire patrol. I have tickets to two other upcoming events.

Verona

So this past weekend I went to Verona and met up with Megan and Alli. In retrospect, it was a very nice weekend, but until it was over, the trip seemed as tragic the scene set there by Shakespeare... Blah blah blah.. I thought of all these puns to use relating "Romeo and Juliet" to our experiences but I have since decided that they are stupid and will try my best not to use them. Anyway, upon arrival, I had to find a place for us to stay because Megan and Alli, who were supposed to arrive before me, were stranded in Bologna. The Italians seem to think that they can sell train tickets with a connection that leaves at exactly the same time... So after we all finally arrived in Verona and found a suitable hotel, it was just about time to go for dinner. We walked around the city for a while then found a pretty decent restaurant to eat at. I enjoyed the food but it was unfortunately a little expensive. The next day, Saturday, we went around Verona to see all the sights. It not much and can be done in one day. Still, it was nice weather and a pretty city so all in all it was a good day of sightseeing. Sunday we went to a small town called Bardolina on Lake Garda. It was a tiny town with just a few restaurants and shops but an incredible view of the lake and the surrounding mountains. It was a nice day there too but things fell apart when it came time to return to Verona to catch our trains home... It all ended up okay therefore I wont bore you with the details but we did determine that it is better to be lost in Italy than anywhere else.

\/ Lake Garda \/

Finally

I've been without internet for days because something was messed up at the school. I would have went to an internet cafe but its soo expensive here. 4 euros for an hour was the cheapest I could find. I still have a cold but the medicine I bought is amazing (I even went back to the pharmacist and told her how great it was... she laughed in my face). The weather here is still foggy and cold but slowly getting better. I visited the church Santa Maria della Salutle. It was gigantic and beautiful with ostentatious/Venetian mosaic floors that were magnificent. It was built to celebrate the end of the plague in Venice in the 1600's and the main alter has three statues depicting the Madonna with "Venice" on the left (represented by a beautiful, ornately dressed woman) and "The Plague" on the right (represented by an old ugly hag) with an angel chasing her away from Venice with a stake. I also went to the Peggy Guggenheim collection. It's not huge but contains some great pieces and some so-so pieces that I really like anyway... For instance Mondrian's "The Sea", Brancusi's "Bird in Space", and Magritte's "Empire of Light". She is also buried there beside her beloved babies.... apx 15 of her dead dogs.

Caution: listen to at low volume because my voice is horrendous and whinny. 

Update

The weather here is crazy cold. :( ... and foggy. The fog does make Venice look very erie and cool though...

I just finished my book... \/

...and started a new one\/

Weekend in Florence

This weekend I went to Florence and discovered that it is a city to which I MUST return. Firstly, I was only able to see a limited amount of sights because of my time constraints and because Meg and Alli have a great social life and great friends that I enjoyed spending my time with J. Let me introduce you to them. Betty, who I had met before in Venice during Carnevale, is Megan’s apartment mate from Panama. She’ super sweet and enthusiastic about seeing sights, absorbing culture, and food. It was great to see her again. Meg’s roommate Kelly is an American who’s sarcasm is so sharp that even I have a hard time deciphering truth from joke. She was also a gracious host (I shared her room while Megan slept on the coach) and blast to be around. Jimmy, I’d mention you but this blog is quite popular and I wouldn’t want Kelly’s parents to realize you are where you should not be. Their other friend Emily, was also super nice and beautiful and welcoming…. I loved them all and the whole weekend.  

 

In terms of sightseeing, I saw the following churches: San Lorenzo, Santa Croce, and Santa Maria del Fiore, aka the Duomo. We attended mass on Sunday at the duomo. In San Lorenzo, the most memorable things for me were two pulpits by Donatello, his last works before he died. Santa Croce was just increadible because of its arcitechutarl beauty, the wealth of art that it houses, as well as the many notable people buried there. I saw the tombs of Galileo, Michelangelo, Machiavelli and Dante Alighieri. I also roamed around and saw the Ponte Vecchio, viewed the city from Piazziale Michelangelo and from Fiesole. When I say that I saw/did all these things I really mean that I did them in the company of Megan and Alli and their friends. I almost forgot!!! We also had some great food!!! The first night Alli cooked Indian food for all of us (it was great), and the second night we all went out to this crazy amazing restaurant where we spent a fortune on an incredible meal. I’m so happy I went because I had a great time J J J. 

\/ The hotel we stayed in 6 years ago... \/

\/ Santa Croce \/

\/ Meg and Machiavelli \/

\/ Duomo \/

Update

This week has been a very good one… basically because I’ve been eating out a lot, which means good food, great company, lots of money, and obesity. But it’s worth it. J I went on one great walking tour this week but missed out on some of the others because I wasn’t feeling 100% so I took many (too many) afternoon naps. Tuesday night I went out to watch the Liverpool-Inter[nazionale Milan] football (soccer) match (game). It was fun because the people here are great. I have some really bad pictures of people that I won’t put up because it would upset the people in the photos but I’ll try and get some better ones soon and then tell ya’ll who everyone is. Anyfoof, today (Thursday February 21, 2008) I had my first session of my Venetian history class. In my opinion, secondo me, this program just keeps proving itself better and better than the traditional study abroad program. This class meets once a week for 1.5-2 hours. It is a one-on-one session with the professor where we just discuss the course material. Half of the “classes” are going to be “on-site instruction” where we (me and my personal professor) discuss the lesson at a museum, at the Palazzo Ducale, walking near the Rialto, etc. Next week I begin my 3^rd class, an art history class, which is conducted in the same format as this one. After I finished at school, I met Signora Crill at the Rialto. She arrived in Venice yesterday with a group of students for the trip she does with the school almost every year. For those of you who don’t know, Mrs. Crill was my Italian teacher for 4 years in High School. Rockwell, my former HS principal, is the other chaperone. After Mrs. Crill instructed Rockwell on how to get back to their hotel, she and I walked around a bit and then she treated me to a cappuccino. It was a very nice afternoon and I wouldn’t pass up any opportunity to see her. She was a great teacher and will always be wonderful lady!

P.S. My German friend, Friedrich has been calling me G.I. Joe for a week now because in class I attempted to talk about what kind of toys I played with as a child. I mentioned G.I. Joe because I thought it was well known but apparently I assumed wrong. He’s also giving me a lot of sit for accidentally referring to Cappucceto Rosso (Little Red Riding Hood) as Cappuccino Rosso. As you can see he’s a very funny man. J

Changed my mind. Here are some pictures. 

\/ Mrs Crill \/

\/ what I cooked the other night... mid-devouring \/

\/ a drawing on the street outside my window \/

\/ hilarious \/

\/ Erin and me... a terrible picture \/

\/ Friedrich, Jana, and Sara \/

Padova and Island Hopping

Pictures from the weekend and other stuff I came across on my computer...

\/ Basilica in Padova \/

\/ Burano \/

\/ Burano \/

\/ Murano \/

\/ Old Pics \/

This past Saturday I visited Padova. It's only about a 30 min train ride from Venice. It is a very nice town but I wasn't able to see all of it because a lot of time immediately after arrival was spent roaming around/figuring out where we were... but its okay because it allows you to see things in passing that you otherwise wouldn't have seen. The highlight of this day trip was by far the city's basilica, Basilica of Saint Anthony. It is HUGE! It houses many relics which is definitely the most amazing thing about the Roman Catholic Church. It is a popular destination for pilgrims because some of the relics include Saint Anthony's tongue and jaws, as well as the rest of his body which is in his tomb. The church has an alter with reliefs by Donatello and another Donatello statue out front. Both were pretty amazing but i have to admit that I didn't know the statue was a Donatello until after the visit. We also visited the Scrovegni Chapel which is decorated completely with fresco's by Giotto. It was beautiful. Both the Basilica and Giotto's fresco's are must see's!! Sunday I went to Torcello, Burano, and Murano in that order. Torcello was very interesting. It was so nice to see grass and open space because both are pretty limited in Venice. Torcello was one of the first islands inhabited in the lagoon when people were driven from the mainland by Barbarian invasions in the 5th century. In the 14th century, Torcello was the dominant island of the lagoon and was inhabited by more than 20 thousand people. Today that number is less than 20. People left Torcello for the other islands because they were more easily defendable and because of an outbreak of malaria. Today you can see/ Sunday I saw the campanile and the two churches on the island, Santa Maria Assunta and Santa Fosca. I only entered the later because you have to pay to go inside Assunta. It was yet another incredible church. The island of Burano is know for two things, its lace and its colored houses. The lace museum didn't sound too interesting and because of the time of year and day of the week I didn't get to see any old ladies making the lace but thats okay because I was so amazed at the beautiful houses that all Erin and I did for hours was gasp at one house after the next. Not only were the houses beautifully painted but they also had beautiful front doors, most of which are one of a kind. Most people who know me understand how much I love unique front doors! The third and final island of the day was Murano, know throughout the world for its glass. The glass furnaces were all moved to the islands of Murano in 1291 because of fear of fire in the city center. The one disappointment of the day occurred when we discovered over lunch at 4:30 that the Museum of Glass closes at 4. BUT, lunch was very good and the two churches we saw on the island, San Piertro Martire and Basilica Santi Maria e Donato were both remarkable. Once back at home I did a lot of cooking then a lot of eating. Monday afternoon I went on another interesting and informative walk with the school and friends. Attending another today...

**** Project Runway ****

Christian can suck it! He is a pompous, self-cherishing, little twit who, when not plagiarizing, is boring and unoriginal.  "Anyone who quotes Tyra Banks is not cool!" AD. I agree!!!

UPDATE

These past few days have been business as usual. Class, walk/tour with classmates, so forth. I came across a store with magic lanterns, my most recent unnecessarily expensive obsession. I gave in and bought one that projects scenes of Venice. Bellissima. Last night I went to see Across the Universe, in Italian. It was better that I expected. The whole movie plan was organized by this girl Rachel, the only other American college student here. My friend Erin and I were supposed to meet her at the theater at 7 and meet our other friend Loris for drinks before hand. He ended up changing his plans and we couldn't find Rachel at our meeting place. So basically it was a date with Erin. A classmate of mine, whose last day is today :(, gave me a few recommendations for restaurants. Exciting because I'm planning on indulging for the first time this weekend. This weekend I'm also planning on going to Murano, Burano and Torcello (some islands of the lagoon), and maybe Padova. 

***Presidential Candidates***

I'm trying not to hate on Barack too much because he may end up being the Democratic candidate but Hillary is right on... This is a race about answers not promises. 

If I were John McCain, I would reject that endorsement from jerk-face Mitt Romney.

*** Beyonce vs Aretha***

In my opinion Beyonce will never have as much talent as Aretha Franklin of Tina Turner. The fact that Turner even participated in that duet with Beyonce was a disappointment for me. They don't belong on the same stage together and although Tina rocked as she has for like 50 years, I think that performing with such a mediocre artist such as Beyonce was a step down for Tina. Also, I don't want to her Beyonce or any other Knowles "fire back" at Aretha. Franklin's comment was towards the writers of the award show who proved themselves once again ignorant and worthless.

Ghetto And My Apartment, some might consider them synonymous...

disclaimer: for some reason the font and stuff is all messed up and i couldn't figure out/ didn't want to deal with fixing it

I am writing this before I do my homework because it takes so much out of me… the coursework… and I want to be able to blog and do my homework.

Today after school I hung around to go on the internet, checked my email and so forth, wrote some pretentious stuff on the blog and then went home to have lunch before going on the walking tour of the old Jewish Ghetto. BTW there have been some major change ups in terms of my classmates. The amount of people in my level almost doubled this week!! It is bitter sweet. Anyway, a Japanese lady sat next to me today and I noticed/snooped in one of her notebooks in which she makes beautiful drawings and sketches of all sorts of cool yet strange stuff. For instance today I viewed a watercolor painting of her imaginary encounter with 90’s “super star” Coolio.

 

The tour was good and informative as usual and very helpful for improving my listening skills in Italian. I think the girl who gave this tour is going to be my Art History instructor. Many students went on this tour but luckily I was accompanied by some of my favorite peeps/new friends. Names and such will be included when I eventually upload a photo of everyone.

 

It’s not a lot of info but this is my recap of the Ghetto tour ***I came across the office for Chabbad, soon I will return. I also plan on going back to the ghetto for a full-blown tour of all the synagogues, there are 7, and the Hebrew Museum *** The word “ghetto” is actually of Venetian origin as Venice was the home to the first ghetto in Europe. Although throughout its history Venice has been rather accepting and even welcoming to many cultures, due to uneasy political situations and wartime craziness, in 1516, the doge forced Venice’s Jewish population onto this group of islands that was the old iron foundry… a place where iron was cast/gettato. Other than the unfortunate cramped conditions of a ghetto, Venetian treatment of Jews was not as harsh as in many other countries. Perhaps a reflection of Venice’s diversity and the fact that it was always a safe haven for those seeking safety. Jewish artists confined to the ghetto produced much of Venice’s greatest art. Secular art, certainly something fresh in Italy. Confusingly, the community started in the Ghetto Nuovo (new ghetto), then spread to the Ghetto Vechio (old ghetto), and then some more into the Ghetto Nuovissimo. Despite the expansion of the ghetto, living space was still tight. This lead to vertical expansion of buildings creating the first high-rise blocks in Europe. If I understood correctly, existing inhabitants would sell the space above their homes before anything was even built their… essentially selling the air to people who would then build on top. This architectural aspect was prominent but not easy to see or capture on camera L. Also the Jewish community is no longer thriving, rather it is very small. Much of the old ghetto is currently inhabited by the general population. The restrictions placed on Jews, which forced them to live in the ghetto, ended with the arrival of Napoleon in 1797 when Jews were granted full citizenship. During the Nazi occupation in 1943, 202 Venetian Jews were killed at concentration camps.

\/\/Some pictures from the ghetto \/\/

\/"Eggplants Ghetto Style" I thought it was funny\/

\/\/\/\/\/ from my apartment \/\/\/\/\/\/

\/\/\/my bathroom \/\/\/\/

\/ the washing machine and kitchen sink\/

\/\/\/\/\/ the kitchen \/\/\/\/\/\/

\/\/\/\/\/ the dryer \/\/\/\/\/

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ by bedroom \/\/\/\/\/\/\/