Venice: Day 4- Free Day!

March 22nd 2012

I woke up when Freya’s alarm went off at 7:15 and laid in bed until my alarm went off at 8:15. Today was our free day and Freya had picked the trip out to the islands with Peter and Andrew. Isabel, Benedicte and I had decided to stay and see the sight around Venice that we hadn’t seen yet. I packed up all of my stuff, got ready and headed to breakfast. Benedicte and I ate together which was nice, and after we went back to our rooms to get our bags. We checked out and stored our bags at the hotel, and then we were off on our free day!

It was beautiful out! We didn’t need our coats at 9 in the morning and the sun was shining! We headed to San Marco’s Square and took pictures. We then went inside the Duomo of San Marcos…. It was impressive. The entire ceiling was gold mosaics. Very Byzantine, and very awesome! (see facebook for examples of the mosaics!) It reminded me of Hagia Sophia (haven’t been there but I have seen pictures of it in lecture at HWS!) After we wandered around the inside and avoided the tour groups, we headed back out into the bright sun and planned our next mission.

We decided to go across the lagoon to go up the belltower of San Giorgio’s. Rick Steves told us where to find the boat stop that we needed and we headed that way! We bought our tickets and waited for the number 2 boat across the lagoon. We didn’t have to wait long and the boat pulled up. We boarded along with a school group of children… We were hoping they weren’t going to San Giorgios! We rode across the lagoon, taking pictures and wishing that the ride would last longer than it did! The boat pulled up to the stop and all of the kids got off…. Awesome. We meandered into the church (it was free!) and wandered around in there. Then we went to the ticket counter, bought our tickets and waited for the elevator! I much rather would have walked up, but that wasn’t an option! Finally we got to the top and discovered that all the children were running around from window to window!

We found a window and looked out… it was stunning! Venice looked so little though!! It was neat to see Venice from across the lagoon, and to be able to see the lagoon beyond the tower. We spent awhile up there enjoying the views, taking pictures and listening to the kids getting yelled at by their teacher! Eventually we came back down and rested on the steps by the lagoon. There we got the Canaletto views of Venice (he is a painter who painted views of Venice. Google him!) We sat in the sun and watched the world go by on the lagoon before heading back across the water.

Our next mission… the Doge’s Palace. I don’t have much to say about it. I was and had seen a lot of older building by this point. It was impressive, but it seemed like it was never ending and it all started to look the same. Heavy gilding, paintings everywhere and dark wood. At one point I was standing near a tour group and I could understand the tour guide in Italian! She was talking to high school students, but still! I could listen! Towards the end of the journey through the palace you can walk over the Bridge of Sighs!! That was the coolest part. It wasn’t that awesome on the inside but it was still cool to think that I was on it!

We slowly headed back to the hotel after the palace. We had a pit stop for gelato! (Yum!) and got back to the hotel to rest some and get our last free food/drinks. At 4ish it was a potty break time and then we got our bags. Isabel and Benedicte were heading to the piazza to grab the bus to the airport, and I was heading to the train station to catch a train to Milan. We walked most of the way together, and then parted at the train station. From here on out I was on my own, which after 5 days of constantly being with some, it was nice!

I went to the ticket machine and saw that the train would leave at 5:05. It was already 4:30 so I thought that was good timing! I bought my ticket for 17.95 euro and went out to see what platform it was coming in on. I only had to wait 5 minutes or so when number 7 popped up next to my train so I headed that way, walked down the platform and boarded the train. What perfect timing!! The train left at 5:05 and 3 hours later I was in Milan! I had bought the ticket for the slow train, so we kept stopping to pick people up. It was annoying, but it wasn’t worth 20 more euro to get there in 2 hours instead of 3!

My train final arrived in Milan and my next stop was finding my hotel. It happened to be in the Rick Steves book, so I read the directions that he said. I was supposed to walk straight down the street and then take another street on the left. Well I missed the first street that was tucked behind a HIGE hotel, so I was lost for about 30 minutes. I decided to head back to the train station to ask a taxi driver for directions when I saw the street I was looking for and there my hotel was! Right next to the taxi parking lot. GAH! Oh well! At least I found it!

I went in to check in and the lady seemed annoyed that she had to get off the phone to help me. I checked in without any problems and headed up to my room. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t what the hotel in Venice was or what the pictures really looked like. It was clean and safe though, just very simple. I showered and unpacked my stuff and headed to bed. It had been another long day!