Florence

Hello all!!

It's been awhile, I know. Internet was just SO expensive in Venice that it didn't seem worth it. But now we're in Florence and so I have a little bit of time! Venice was absolutely amazing. I don't even think we really did THAT many touristy things. It was just fun to wander around the city (usually get lost) and see all the tiny streets and canals everywhere. That's pretty much all we did for a whole day. During that day we also went to a few beautiful churches. One of the churches we went to was kind of on the tip of a peninsula where you could see across the opening of the Grand Canal to the rest of Venice. It was the coolest view ever :-) On the way back from there (if it weren't for the lack of a bridge we probably could have made it in about 10 minutes, but instead it took about half an hour), we found a museum that was pretty cool. I still don't particularly 'get' a lot of art. Like I see the paintings and I think that the person who painted them is very talented but I don't usually understand the whole significance of it all and what makes it a masterpiece and worth being displayed in a museum. But it's still fun to see paintings by people that I've actually heard of like Picasso and Dali and so on.

Our last day in Venice we bought a 'bus' pass (which are actually boats, but look a lot like busses) and went exploring the islands. Murano is famous for the glass blowing. Apparently all the glass makers got kicked off the mainland because their furnaces would blow up or something? The things they can make out of that glass is spectacular!! At some places you can actually watch them making stuff, and it's so cool!!! We mostly saw them making horses (which must be the famous thing to make because they are EVERYWHERE) and it's the coolest thing ever! I would love to be able to see someone making one of the spectacular pieces of art, but I suppose it makes sense that they wouldn't let hoards of tourists watch when they're making something that difficult. The other island we went to was Burano which is known for it's lace. For those of you that know me (which is hopefully everyone) you know that I'm definately not a lace person, so I didn't get anything (although the little baby clothes WERE really cute), but once again I think it's amazing that it's all handmade. I can't even start to imagine how they make it! The islands themselves are also really cute because they're old fishing villages with super bright houses. It's like from a painting (and I'm sure there are probably lots of paintings of it).

So between the glass, that would for sure get broken along the way, and the lace I didn't end up getting anything for myself, but it was still a really cool day. Justine actually bought a little glass cat, but broke it before we even left Venice.

Yesterday we left Venice and came to Florence. It would have been a pretty laid back day, just sort of hanging out in the hostel, but when I walked into the hostel, my friend Sarah was actually there!!! I knew she was visiting Italy, but had no idea when she was going to be where, so it was a complete coincidence that we ran into each other and SO nice!! She was meeting her friend for supper, so Justine and Graham had supper on their own and I went back into Florence for supper with Sarah and her friend Mahmed (I really don't know how to spell it). It was awesome to catch up with her and spend some time with someone from home. She just spent 10 days in Parma with her orchestra and is now travelling around Italy for about 2 weeks.

Today is our only full day in Florence. First thing this morning we went to the Duomo, which is spectacular, and climbed the stairs of the tower (414 of them) to see a spectacular view of Florence and surrounding areas. I love the mountains and green that surrounds Florence, it definately makes for a nice view. Since then we sort of have wandered around the city and checked out a few places, but haven't really gone into much of anything. We're all pretty content just sort of experiencing the city. I don't know what we'll do this afternoon. You'll have to wait until my next post to find out :-) Tomorrow we leave for Rome and after a couple days there it's off to Greece!! I'm so excited for the islands!! :-)

Anyways, that's all for today! Talk to you soon!
Kaila