Adventures Overseas 12/16

These sixteen updates will be the condensed and often more erratic version of my adventures overseas, comprised of the updates that I sent home to my family at the time.

Author's Disclaimer: The following were written when I traveled overseas with my sister. They were the short and sweet version of what was going on in my daily journal. Often, I watered things down so that our parents wouldn't know how scared we really were or how bad a hostel really was. We didn't want to scare them. Also, I wrote these updates on my iPod, and in the interest of authenticity, I haven't edited or changed the formatting much. This may be less to do with authenticity and more to do with all those darn buttons I'd have to press if I edited it all. Anyway, there are plenty of little typos to go around I'm sure. I'm sorry. They bug me, too.

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Update 12: November 9, 2018 – FRIDAY

I did so well with the last update, but now I find that Venice has passed in a blur and I did not account for it at all in this form of writing.

I wish I wrote more neatly; then, I could just send you pictures of my journal. I also wish I was more careful about how much information I share, because even though I might take you aback with too much information in these updates, I assure you, there is more of it that needs some abridging in the paper version.

Anyway, here we go...

Saturday was the day we planned to take Venice by storm and see all the sites in our list.

We figured this would be a hectic day of speed-walking, since the sites were all over the city, but it really isn’t a big city, so we were able to see everything we wanted.

Mostly how the day went down was us walking down the streets, walking into any churches we happened past or that were on our map. Our bigger goals were to get to the Rialto Bridge (a big bridge that has vendors booths built in to it) and St Mark’s Square.

We also stopped to wander into any shops that caught our interest. On any typical Venetian block, there will be shops dedicated to: gelato, pizza, pasta, coffee, pastries, blown glass souvenirs, mask souvenirs, and general souvenirs. On the streets of these blocks there will be several vendors booths, all selling the same stuff as the souvenir shops.

Once you’ve wandered into a few shops, you’ve pretty much seen them all.

Except for the gelato shops. Those are always worth trying. We found one called Venchi. There, I got a dark chocolate as well as hazelnut scoops. It was scrumptious delight in a waffle cone, I tell you.

Later in the afternoon, we got to St Mark’s Square. Having seen a lot of churches up to this point, let me express how truly impressive this one is.

“It’s truly impressive.” -Me

There, now I’ve expressed it. Thanks.

No, really; it is pretty breathtaking, even from the outside. Looming domes, great statues high above, and smooth, tall, multicoloured pillars. There was a massive line up to get in, so we just admired it a while from the outside, then moved on. We decided to try to find a Mass that evening to take the stress off of getting to one in the morning. As we wandered into the multitude of churches in that area of Venice, we found a sign that informed us of a 6:45pm Mass at st Mark’s. We decided t look around a bit longer, head head back there. Among the multitude of churches that we found, one had an exhibition of musical instruments in it. Most of them were string instruments, and some were as old as 400 years! It was a really beautiful thing to see, and a nice little free tidbit to our day.

I’m so glad we decided to go to Mass at the basilica! The inside of the church is even more breathtaking than the outside. The entire top quarter of the interior is mosaic. Most of it is gold, as that s the backdrop, but bright, detailed, intricate scenes are depicted all around! It is a sight to see!

Sunday, we decided to go to Mass at St Mark’s basilica again, because it was just so gorgeous. As we arrived in the city, we noticed some signs of flooding, but we hadn’t yet been into Venice that early, so we weren’t too concerned.

As we made our way into the heart of the maze, where the cathedral is, we were able to skirt and dodge our way around any puddles that had formed across streets. On the final bridge to cross, which took us into St Mark’s Square, we noticed several buskers were there, selling the little plastic boots that slip on over one’s shoes.

“We don’t need those!” We thought. “We’re already here!”

And then we saw it.

The square was flooded.

We didn’t want to buy the darn boots for just our last little bit of walking, so I peeled off my socks so at least something could be dry, and just went for it.

There was about 6 inches of water across the huge square, so we sloshed our way through it to the church. Once we were by the church we realized that they’d set up a raised walkway on that end of the square. I kind of wish we’d known that, even though the water was warm and clean, and kind of felt nice.

After Mass, we planned to have a beach day, as there is a long beach on one of the islands outside of the city. We had to take a water boat to get there, but since it’s a flat rate for 75 minutes of travel in the boat, we wanted to board at its starting point so that we could see the city by boat. We wound our way back to the other end of the city, stopping for groceries and, of course, gelato.

Gelato are like Pokémon. You gotta catch ‘em all.

Though the forecast had predicted sunny weather, by the time we get to the beach in the mid-afternoon, it was quite cloudy and windy. The cold was unlikely to keep us from hoarding sea shells, though. We got a bunch of them. As with gelato, our approach is very much, ‘Gotta catch ‘em all!’

I think we showed remarkable restraint in only coming back with a smallish bag full. Parts of the beach were literally comprised of shells. There were whole stretches where we were walking across a thick bed of shells! Most fascinating were the mini conch shells that we found, though of course they are all beauteous. My dear family is so fortunate to have me to haul back shells for them. You’re welcome.

When we came back to the main island of Venice, we boarded a smaller and, in my opinion, too-full boat. I was dubious about getting on, but we actually found some prime seats in the back! There were four seats in the back of the boat that weren’t enclosed. It was raining slightly, so I thought that’s why people didn’t go out there. When we got out there, we discovered that there was a veranda overhead to keep us from the rain. “Well,” I thought, “maybe it’s just too cold for people.”

When the boat started to move, I began to see why no one sat back there. As the wake of another boat was clashing with our own unsteady waters, I was just beginning to form the words, “I think I know why no one sat back here,” when a wave sloshed over the low-riding side of the boat and soaked me.

I was pretty on edge for the rest of the ride, but only got splashed a few more times.

On Monday, I orchestrated a trip to Padua for the day. The trains between Venice and Padua are very accommodating, and I’m so glad we went! There were many churches that we went in to, but the highlights were the relics at St Anthony’s Basilica! There was a whole wall full of relics of such holy men and women!

Also of note in Padua was a small chapel we ducked into. There was a wooden crucifix inside that, in the 1500’s had miraculously bled out of the wound in Christ’s side.

Padua was a very beautiful old city that we had fun wandering around.

On Tuesday, Sister had booked a rowing lesson for us! The business we went to was started by three friends who started out by just restoring one of the traditional boats and giving lessons to some locals. To do it full time, they had to open it to tourists. It was really neat, but not just the strange and difficult art of rowing. Our guide was very passionate about preserving Venetian culture in getting more people to use traditional rowing boats rather than motor boats. A highlight was when we stopped for a bit for him to toss water out of another boat of his. That part wasn’t a highlight, but to thank us, he parked the boat beside a café, called for coffees, and we drank coffee in the boat. It felt very Venetian.

Other than the rowing, we wandered through some parks, got lost along some more streets, and made our way back to the hostel when it got dark.

Wednesday was a travel day, from Venice to Florence our bus didn’t leave until 10:30, and the station was only a 5-minute walk away, so we had a relaxed morning.

The drive wasn’t long, but between rest stops and getting from the bus station to somewhere closer to our hostel, it was about 4pm before we got our bags dropped off.

After that, we just did some wandering to get a grasp in where abouts we were. Where we’re staying is someone’s apartment ; they just rent the rooms out. There’s only a shared fridge, but it’s a private room, so we’re pretty happy with it. Right out the door is a little market with the famous boat statue in it, and just around the corner is the statue of David! A little down from that is the grand Duomo, the Florence Cathedral!

On Thursday, our plan was to get tickets to climb the Dome in the cathedral. They only sell all-inclusive tickets for the museum, Dome, bell tower, baptistery, and crypt. It’s good for 72 hours, so we got the ticket then were able to take our time going through the museum. Inside is a lot of marble art, and it’s really beautiful! It looks so realistic - like the figures could jump down from their pedestal, or like their clothes really are billowing in the wind (at least, the ones that are wearing clothes)!

That used up all of our morning and into the afternoon. We went for a late lunch at Mercato Centrale, a big indoor market area. There’s a huge food court in the upper floor, so we found ourselves some ravioli and sat down for a bit.

After lunch, we went back to the cathedral square and visited the Baptistry (we stopped for a bit to play ‘I Spy’ in the ceiling mosaic) before climbing the 414 steps up the bell tower. There, we watched the sun set over the Tuscany hills. The tower is high enough that it has nearly as good of a view as the Duomo. The dome does block the view a little, but allows you to see the dome as you can’t when you’re actually on the dome.

Also of note today: I had an encounter with a street vendor. I mean, that’s pretty common, but mine was a prolonged one.

I have been trying to find a bag that I like, so I picked up a bag at this one place, thinking the guy was over in the front and couldn’t see me. Maybe they can smell anxiety.

“You want this bag?” He asked pleasantly.

“Ummmm,” I said. I was looking for a bag, but I didn’t love the one I was caught poking around at. ‘Ummmm’ was the wrong way to express disinterest, though.

“Look! Is reversible!” He demonstrated. “And has long strap, too!” Again, he demonstrated.

“Well, how much are you asking?” I asked him. I thought I might as well come away from the interaction with an idea of what the going price was.

He smiled charmingly. “How much you pay?”

I didn’t want to answer that, but I kind of had to. I remembered one of the bags I’d seen being 20€, and this one was nicer.

“Ummmm... 25€?”

He looked tragically heartbroken. “Ooohhhh!” He exclaimed. “This one I sell for 60€!”

“Oh, that’s okay,” I said quickly, trying to hand the bag back.

He didn’t take it. “Okay, okay! For you, I do 40€! Have not made sale today; I give you for 40€!”

“No, that’s alright; I want to look around more. Thank you, though.”

“Tsk....” He shook his head, looking pained. “Okay, 35€, but I can go no lower!”

Sister began hissing in my ear at this point. “Just put it back. Put the bag back if you don’t want it. Just put it back.”

“I should go; thank you though.”

“You have cash? For cash I can go 30€.”

“No really,” I said, finally putting the bag back instead of trying to hand it to him, “I’m going to look around more. Maybe we’ll be back, though!”

He looked very disappointed as I walked away.

I try to avoid that street, now.

Friday was our Dome-climbing day. When we were here back in 2011, I remember the climb being horrendously long. Maybe doing 2000 meter races on rowing machines until we’ve nearly passed out has given Sister and myself some perspective, because the 436 stairs up were not that bad. It was beautiful and sunny out, and we got to admire the spectacular view before it was swarmed with people, as we’d booked the earliest slot.

After that, we went for lunch at the big market again. I got a pizza-crust triangle stuffed with chicken cacciatore. It was scrumptious. Sister had a deep-fried, cheese-stuffed ball of rice. I quite enjoy food courts.

After that, we went back to the Dome again, this time to view the cathedral and crypt. With that, we’d been to all the places on our ticket, so a new activity was in order.

We decided to grab some sketchbooks that we’d bought and try our hands at drawing something. We went to Ponte Vecchio, a big bridge just down the road from where we’re staying. After some gelato to fuel our creativity (gelato has many purposes; that is one of them), we stood on the bridge and sketched the next bridge down. It was really relaxing, yet stimulating.

Would it be easier to take a picture with the camera? Absolutely.

But if I was going to be that efficient, I would send you pictures instead of lovingly composing these updates, since pictures are worth 1000 words, anyway.