I Know, I Know, I'm a horrible blogger....

Okay, so I admit, it's been over a month since my last blog post. I have a reason really! Well sort of. The last big thing I did was Venice and Florence and then classes started and I had work and lots of reading and now I have midterms and 4 4-page papers due etc. So I really do have an excuse for not writing. But now that midterms are here and I need an excuse to not study, I am back. Just kidding, sort of.

Okay, well I will start where I left off because there is some pretty cool stuff.

So that would mean I'm starting with Florence! What a beautiful city. I came back from Venice, spent three days in Rome, two of which were rainy and miserable and then took the train to Florence to visit my KKG travel buddy and little sis, Jasmine. She was an awesome tour guide!!! I arrived at night on Thursday, February 7th so we didn't get to do much on Thursday. On Friday, we went to see Basilica Di Santa Maria Del Fiore, also known as the Duomo. We then preseeded to climb to the cupola of the dome, Cupola del Brunelleschi. 463 steps!!! And some were verticle. At one point I was walking up and onto the inner dome to reach the outer dome. It was quite an experience. Despite the chilly weather, I was sweating by the time I reached the top, but the view was amazing!!!

This was the ceiling of the dome. Such ornate
paintings or angels and demons and
everything in between.

This was the view of Florence from the top of the
Cupola! You could see everything in every
direction! It was truly remarkable!

And then there is me... Proof that I actually made it
all the way to the top. I know that I would require proof
of such an accomplishment. 

 So after the Duomo and the cupola, we went over the the Galleria dell'Academia to see THE DAVID!!!!!!! What an incredible master piece. It's no wonder people travel from all over the world to see it. You technically aren't allowed to take picture of the David, but I wasn't going to leave without one so I snuck a couple with my phone. Not as good as with my camera, but my humongous camera is a little too obvious.

What a beautiful man... Am I right?

Okay, so after THE DAVID, sorry I just can't help myself, that's how great it is!!! Anyway, after seeing the David, we walked up to Piazzale Michelangelo where the 2nd of 3 David's in located. Before we went into the piazza, we decided to walk around one of the cemeteries that is up on the hill. I'm pretty sure we were there for at least an hour. It's amazing that some of the tomb stones date back to the 1600s and the most recent I saw was 2010. It's just insane! And some of the sculptures were just beautiful.

This is the Ponte Vecchio, which literally means the old bridge.
It is one of the major tourist sites in Florence! 

I thought this sculpture was beautiful. It
is extraordinary how natural decompisition
can change the look of something so
drastically but make it look even more beautiful. 

This sculpture just touched my heart. It is a
little girl trying to reach out to her departed mother.
It just made me think of my mom and how much I
love and miss her.

And then there was this treasure! I saw this from the other side of the cemetery and I just had to find out what it was. This was a sculpture to a couple who died only a few years apart. I have vowed to find out what happened to this couple. They both died in the 40s, so most likely a result of the war. This just made me think of my love and how I wouldn't want to live without him. 

This is the oh so wonderful Jasmine! Isn't she
gorgeous! You can take a beautiful picture
from pretty much every hill in Florence!

This was taken from Piazzale Michelangelo. The
sunset was just beautiful in contrast with the
city below!

Like I said, the second David of 3. On it's own,
 it is quite impressive, but comparatively speaking,
it is nothing!

And the Ponte Vecchio at night. Isn't it wonderful! The sunset just above the buildings and the reflection of the lights on the water. Nothing quite like simple peace.

Okay, so that was the first day in Florence. The second day consisted of a visit to the Boboli Gardens and seeing the 3rd David outside the Uffizi Gallery. I think the only way to describe these things is through my pictures, otherwise, this blog post will be so long you will need an entire day just to read it...

So this one is just sort of funny... I know everyone knows the story of the Trevi Fountain in Rome. If you toss a coin in, you are destined to come back to Rome. Well this is Florence's version of the Trevi Fountain. If you touch the boars nose, you will come back to Florence. So I touched the boars nose.

This was one of the fountain/lakes in the Boboli Gardens. It was quite a hike to get to, but completely worth it.

If you know me well, you know that I am adventurous, so naturally, when I saw this, I wanted to go running down it and just imagined all the adventures that awaited me at the end of the tunnel... and then I remembered that I wasn't 6 anymore, so I just walked to the end. Doesn't it kind of feel like Narnia though!!!!

This is the 3rd and final David that is displayed in front of the Uffizi Gallery. It has more of a resemblance to the original than the one on Piazzale Michelangelo, but it is still nothing in comparison. 

And here is a picture of the Duomo. It is just beautiful. No matter if it is day or night, rain or shine, it is always beautiful. 

Okay, so the last day, Jasmine and I went to a Chocolate Festival in a little town right outside of Florence called Fiescole. I had some awesome chocolate. Dark chocolate covered dried pineapple... Just think about that for a minute and your mouth will start watering... Mine is.

After the Chocolate Festival, we went back to Jasmine's apartment and cooked an authentic Italian dinner with tortelini, tomatoes, artichokes, and wine of course!

I have a wonderful little sis! Couldn't ask for anything better! Thanks for being a wonderful host and even better tour guide! 

I'm almost done, I promise!!! So like I said, after I got back from Florence, life as a student started... I haven't been anywhere since then but I have seen some pretty cool sites for my Ancient Roman Civilization class. I visited the ruins of the Porta Maggiore, The Tomb of Eurysaces, The Arch of Argentarii, The Mausoleum of Augustus, and The Mausoleum of Hadrian. If any of you are interested in learning about these ancient ruins, let me know and I will send you my papers. They are actually quite fascinating to learn about.

These are the ancient ruins of the Porta Maggiore and The Tomb of Eurysaces. 

This is the ancient Arch of Argentarii. 

So that is it! I told you, after Florence, less than entertaining! Well readers anyway, not for me. But I do have good news! I'M GOING TO LONDON AND IRELAND NEXT WEEK!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!
I promise that I will devote time, right after I get home, to writing a blog and posting all the pictures! Look forward to pictures! I know for sure that I am going to see Stonehenge in England and I am going to travel to Cork in southern Ireland where my grandmother was born and raised. We'll see if I can find some long lost family! Wish me luck!

Carnevale 2013!!!

I had the best experience this past weekend. An experience of a life time! I went to Venice, Italy during it's annual Carnevale festival. I arrived very early on Sunday morning and left late Monday night and saw so many wonderful things in the time I was there. I'm not going to say a lot because I have a lot of pictures, so you should read the captions and they will explain. And for those of you that have been trying to comment, I figured out the problem so your comments should save now. This was the first day, February 3rd.

This was one of the first churches I saw in Venice.
I was so lucky because the weather was perfect. A
little cold, but absolutely beautiful.

It seemed to me that pretty much all the
canals looked fake. Like we were on a set
for a movie. 

The architecture is also quite beautiful. There is no where else in the world
that you can find a place like this! 

For those of you that don't know,
one of things that Venice is known
for is their glass. Well to be more specific, they are known for the island just off Venice Island, called Murano Island. They make such beautiful glass. I saw these while walking along the grand canal. Just decorations outside
a restaurant. Hand blown decorations. 

I came across this bridge while wandering around.
It was filled with locks. It only took a second to
realize that is was a bridge of love locks. They were
all specially made by people in love with names and
dates, etc. I can't wait to return one day with my own
love and put a lock on the bridge. 

There is one main canal that runs through Venice. Give you
one guess as to it's name. The GRAND CANAL! Who'd a
thunk it. Anyway, it really is quite large. It pretty much zig
zags through the entire city. 

This was one lock in particular that I liked. Simple yet full of love. It is things like these that reassure me that there is happiness in this world. 

And then there was this one. The piazza was so jam packed
full of people, you could hardly move. It was insane!!!

This was a view of the Piazza San Marco. The first
view anyway. 

There were even people on the balconies of the Basilica of San Marco.

There will be many more to come, but
this was one of the first photos that I
took of someone in costume. The
costumes were just out of this world!

Even the babies had costumes! I love the face of the one in the
pink. She was really unhappy. 

After all our walking and what not, Rose and I went to our hotel, which was on an island just next to Venice, Venice Lido, because it was much less expensive. If only I had known that the hotel was about 1.5 miles from the waterbus stop. We walked all the way there before we realized there was a bus. We got up the next day, had breakfast at the hotel and then took the waterbus to Murano Island to watch the glass blowing. I warned you there were a lot of pictures. 

On the way back from Murano, we basically got a tour of all of
Venice. On the map, this part is considered the "ghetto". I
want to live in this ghetto for sure. Please can I live in this
ghetto. 

So this was probably my favorite sculpture from
Murano. I'm not sure if you can see it well, but
it's two bodies together as one. It's beautiful. 

And then there was the couple taking their wedding pictures along the canal. It was pretty funny, I was on one side of the boat and all of a sudden I hear, "WEDDING PICTURES" and I went running to the other side where Rose was to see this couple!
SO PRECIOUS!!!

It just amazes me that through all these
 years, such beauty still remains. 

And then there's me on the waterbus on the grand canal. 

We had seen this church from a long ways away the day before but it wasn't until we took the waterbus that we were able to get close enough to get a good picture. How beautiful is this!

I just had to get a picture of myself with some of the
ornate costumes.

 And so the costumes begin!!!

This guy was just hanging out along the water,
waiting for people to take his picture. It really was
an extraordinary costume. 

 

This guy was just awesome! I couldn't tell it was a man from the back, that's how well dressed/skinny/gay he was. 

 And then Rose and I stumbled upon the courtyard with the photographers and all the professionals. And by professionals, I mean the professionals in costume. I think we just happened to walk in on the shooting of next years ads and postcards and calendars. It was AMAZING!!!

A picture with the grand canal in the background. It's
 kind of funny, the last time I was in Venice with my
mom in 2010, I was wearing the exact same jacket.
Sometimes, I love the fact that I never grow!

I just thought this was a great place to take a picture. It was beautiful lighting and the bridge, I mean come on, how can you beat that. 

And one last picture of the grand canal as the sun was setting. What a beautiful city! 

My next adventure is... FLORENCE!!!

I leave on Thursday night. Expect to see some pictures when I get back on Sunday. I can't wait to see Michelangelo's David!