Venice, Milan, Florence

We got to Venice on Friday early afternoon and it was a beautiful day. We got some lunch and then layed by the sea. Then Lauren, Laurie, Sarah and I decided to go on a gondola ride through the canals. It was so fun. That night was our provided dinner at a seafood restaurant. We got to try a lot of different seafood.
Then Lauren, Laurie Sarah and I decided to go to the Rialto Bridge. We saw a bunch of people sitting on this dock by the water so we decided we would too. We were down by the end of the dock so you could either walk all the way around to get on the dock or step from these steps onto the dock. Of course the adventurous one, Lauren, was going to try to step from the steps onto the dock. It all happened really fast. As soon as she stepped down to the second step she slipped down to the third and into the water. Panic set in as I watched her sink underwater into the Adriatic Sea. I started to go in after her when she came to the surface screaming. We pulled her out and she got an applause from everyone who had seen. We realized that her shoe was no longer on her foot but floating downstream. Sarah ran across a plank and into someone’s boat where she leaned over and grabbed Lauren’s shoe. We all sat there for a second to stop laughing and recover and then we walked Lauren home. I’m not sure if I have ever laughed that hard.
Saturday we took a ferry to Murano and Burano. Murano is famous for glass blowing and Burano is famous for lace. They are the cutest little places with colorful houses. We walked around Venice all day and didn’t really do anything that night because it was raining.
Sunday we shopped around a little more and then went to St. Mark’s Square and layed out by the water. (Don’t worry this time we kept our distance from the water.) We got persuaded to go on another gondola ride in the main canal because a cute gondelier gave us a special price. Then we had dinner at Da Roberto where we had some delicious pasta. We went back to the Rialto Bridge area to reminisce on our funny night and play some cards on the dock.
Monday morning we made our way to Milan. We had this great tour guide named Max who took us to see lots of design show rooms. It was really neat to see some really cool furniture. We also visited Corso Como, a really unique fashion store and the diesel showroom. We had apperitivos with the program. This is a really common afterwork tradition in Milan. You pay something like 7 euros for one drink and all the food you can eat. The food is like appetizers. We also had a Japanese meal on the program. It was fun to have something different.
From Milan, Ginny. Lauren, Sarah, Colette and I went to Florence. I was so happy to be back here. Florence is still my favorite Italian city. We had fun walking around the indoor and outdoor markets. I had bought a small purse in the market the last time we were here and the zipper broke because I tried to zip it with too much stuff in it. I took it back to where I bought it from this man named Aldo. Aldo tried to fix my purse for me and since he couldn’t he gave me a new one for free. This is highly rare in a market like this. It was so sweet. In the indoor market we had made this friend at a sandwich/butcher stand. He makes us special sandwiches and loves when we come to see him. Of course we got some coffee crunch gelato, ate Mexican and at Gato e Volpe where the tortelloni with truffle sauce is one of the best meals I have ever had. We had a great time in Florence and made our way home on Sunday. Unfortunately I got the flu but luckily we have a few days off to recover.
This week we have our 10 page capstone paper due and our final exam. I can’t believe how fast the last 10 weeks have gone by and I don’t want it to end.