Sunday, November 16, 2008

Day 76: Venice

I woke up at 7:45 am. I showered, packed my bags and headed to the hotel for breakfast. I had the same as yesterday but made a little ham sandwich for lunch.

First stop: The accademia gallery. We spent a while here and saw quite a few frescoes. One that I really enjoyed was the last Supper in the House of Levi because it was orginally painted as a Last Supper but was later changed to a supper in the house of Levis because the artist was challenged that his Last Supper had inappropriate figures.

Second stop: Peggy Guggenheim Collection of Modern Art. At last, modern art! It was so nice seeing all of the cubist and surrealist work that was housed here, including my boy Dali.

Third stop: Museo del Settecento Veneziano. There were a lot of famous ceiling frescoes here as well as some paintings that depict that carnivale that takes place in Venice each year.

[Lunch - Slice of Pizza and a hot dog that was baked into dough, haha]

Fourth stop: Scuola Grande di S. Rocco and Frari Church. The Scuola had Some really nice frescoes were also here and have been compared to Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel. The church included some of the coolest wood carvings I've ever seen.

Heather, Jane, Kathryn, Melissa, Michelle and I all rode a Gondola! The gondolier sang and whistled throughout and pointed out some buildings of interest. We went just as the sun was setting and it was a beautiful thing. The way the sun sets on the water in Venice is simply awe-inspiring.

We headed to the hotel, picked up our bags and took a long crowded boat back towards the train station. There train departed at 6:30 so I waved goodbye and waited a bit for my train. At 6:57 I departed Venice for Bologna. During the train ride I read more of A Kiss Before Dying and then had an hour layover in Bologna. While there I had a hot chocolate. I finally made it back to florence at about 11 pm. I waited for 40 minutes for a bus to come to Campo di Marte so that I could get to Santa Maria Novella. I finally made it home by 12:15 am.

Sleep.