Finishing up Florence and on to Venice!

I updated this blog with a lengthy entry and all of a sudden... the site decided to refresh and I lost all my writing, because I was writing on my iPad.  Boo.  This entry is finally dedicated to the rest of my trip to Florence and finishing up with our day in Venice.  I have done a lot of traveling since this trip, but it is time to complete Italy and move on to New Mexico!  This entry may be long so bare with me... (it's been a while too.  If you are curious about anything in any photos, just ask)

Our full day in Florence started with a tour.  I don't remember our guides name, but she was lovely and I adored the way she was dressed.  She was very informative and had great English.  

We walked over from the Piazza de Signoria to this bridge, the Ponte Vecchio, which was the only bridge Hitler didn't destroy. 

View from the bridge

This is a map of Florence for the blind.  I suppose you would really have to know where this map was if you were blind, but hey once you are there, it has braille for each part of the city.  It's very cool!

Since I had been so fascinated with the outside of Florence Cathedral, I was very excited to finally get inside to see the interior and the Duomo itself.  Well, to be quite honest, the interior did not live up to the grandiose beauty of the exterior.  In Italy, many buildings are unattractive on the outside, but are gorgeous on the inside.  

Now, of course, Brunelleschi's dome was one of the most stunning and visually intriguing things I have ever seen in person.  The sheer perspective of the paintings and thinking about the difficulty of actually doing the work was fascinating.  

We walked around, explored a few more parts of the city, and before leaving I had to get a photo of the fountain of Neptune.  I love the sassiness and drama of their movement, but the patina is my favorite part of course. 

After leaving Florence we headed to our next hotel, which was outside of Venice in a very quiet, Italian countryside neighborhood. 

There were lovely details everywhere alluding to the Lion of St. Mark, even out here in the countryside outside of Venice.

We took a bus out to take a water taxi to get to Venice, which is honestly a pretty long trek for folks that have to do that daily.  We were put with a bigger EF tour group when we loaded the taxi, but they got all the good seats on top, but it was still a nice view and boat ride.

Our first stop was for the Vecchia Murano Glass Factory tour.  We were not allowed to take photos inside the factory, but let me tell you, the things these glass blowers create will blow your mind.  Here is a video of a guy creating a glass horse.

I bought a necklace, which is one of the most beautiful pieces of jewelry I could ever afford, but I haven't take a proper photo of it.  Soon.  I plan to wear it as my "something blue" when I get married one day...  After the tour, we got back on the boat and went to the mainland.  

This is the famous Bridge of Sighs.  As they say, this is where one could hear the sighs of the condemned heading into prison (which I toured as well)

Known as the "Columns of Justice", a place where horrific public executions were held right off the Piazza San Marco, it is said to be bad luck to stand between them.  I avoided them at all costs.

The next few photos are just details I saw as I stood really looking around the Piazza San Marco.  It is truly breathtaking and intricate.  

Seeing gondolas in person was really exciting.  Hearing our guide discuss their significance and symbolism right down to the details on the boats was very cool.

Check out this alleyway.  It was SO tiny and we had to maneveur through several of these walking around.  Two things about Venice, VERY hard to walk around and VERY expensive.  Of course the history and beauty of it outweigh them both.

One of the bigger canals

Seeing stores that sold REAL Venetian masks that are meant to be worn was elating.  I went in several and found the real deal, which are masks made with a paper mache underpart which allows the mask to be worn.  I didn't buy one, but they were very neat.

Next was our gondola ride!  It was myself, Nancy, Natalie, Rachel, and Derek.  Our guide didn't sing to us, but he did whistle randomly and give little bits of information every now and then.  Thankfully he was one of better looking ones. :)

Our view was spectacular and very relaxing.  The only thing I couldn't ignore was the Bourbon Street smell (you know what I'm talking about).  It was really cool to float past someone's doorstep or a restaurant of laughing Italians. 

We made our way out into the grand canal, which is where we came into on the water taxi.  It was a super cool experience and the surroundings are something you can only experience from a gondola ride, I swear. 

Of course there were selfies

Back on shore, Donovan was becoming "one" with the pigeons... (the cape was courtesy of a random lady in line for the Basilica of St. Mark)

I took the tour of the Doge's Palace by myself.  I won't add to many photos from it, just know it is huge and contains some of the largest paintings I have ever seen in my life.  It also contained the prison and a room of armor and weapons that were very interesting.

A really nice view from the upper level of the palace.  These were the "not-so-fancy" places in Venice.

On the way back, Stack and I were able to sit with some of our students up top.  The breeze was awesome and the weather was great. 

 Next day we had to say goodbye to our new friend, Antonia.  

Casey power on the plane ride home

Well that was our trip to Italy!  There are SO many more photos where that came from.  There were ups and downs during this trip, but what do you expect with 28 people?!  I think we all bonded and genuinely had an overall good time.  I would love to go back someday.