5 Cities in 4 Days: Venice and Tuscany! Part 1

Ok! We have a lot to catch up on! And because I'm covering several trips I'm going to break it up into two parts. First up: Venice.

Two weekends ago was THE craziest, most exilerating weekend of my life. On Saturday morning, we woke up at 6 am and headed to Termini to catch our 8:30 train to Venice. It was uber cold and there was snow on the ground but the trains were still running so we all decided to be troopers and treck north to Venice. The trip was organized by our Italian school so it was really nice to have a guide with us. We arrived around 12:30 and it was FRIGID! Not just cold, but it was "piercing your skin" cold. Since Venice is settled right next to the ocean and has many canals, the winds were fast as well. But, hey, we hadn't traveled 3 hours for nothing, so we out mind over matter and headed into town.

Here are some shoots from my first views of Venice:

The classic Italian gondola!

So, the reason we went to Venice on this specific weekend was to join in Carnivale. Carnivale is an annual festival held in Venice which starts 58 days before Easter and ends on Marti Gras, the day before Ash Wednesday. The celebration includes tons of costumes, parades, yummy food and contests.

  Now, I don't get scared easily (or so I'd like to think) but, as many of you know (yes I mean you Trisha, Kerry, Sarah, Teresea and Ashley), one of the things that I am TERRIFIED of are masks. Yes, masks. I just don't like the whole concealment of identity- it freaks me out. Anyway, if you know anything about Carnivale you know that there are TONS of people walking around in masks. Somehow, I forgot this tiny detail but soon realized what I had gotten myself in to as soon as I walked into Venice.

masks, masks and more masks!

Anyway, after much coxing from my good friend Lauren [which went something like: "Okay Elise, on the count of three you're going to put ON the mask. Breathe. Nope! Pick the mask back up young lady! It's going to be ok honey... On the count of three.. one.. two.." I actually] I actually put on the mask. It was a small one, but still, it was a big step.

mask: ON!

Carnivale was by far the craziest experience of my life. There were people walking around with costumes of every kind and the wine was flowing [literally. there was a wine fountain.] We had so much fun walking aorund taking everything in. We stopped for a warm lunch, purchased some brule [hot, spiced wine] went into Basilica di San Marco and got to take in beautiful Venice! Even in the cold it was beautiful!

outside of Basilica si San Marco

so many people!

the port of Venice

I am so happy I got to see Venice. It was really a dream come true. Through out my trip, I have grown to love traveling more and more. 

After a yummy apperitvio and a great dinner, our group of 50 students hopped aboard a a sleep train [thank God!] and took the 7 hour train ride back to Rome. It was my first time sleeping on a train and I loved it. Although I didn't actually get a lot of sleep, I loved the new experience.

Then around 6:30 am our train pulled into Termni... 

check out my next post! the adventure continues!

Snow in Rome and a Trip to the Top of the World!

So I thought that I would be escaping the whole bitter-cold-weather-thing this winter by moving to Rome, where I was told it never reached below 7 degrees Celcius (about 45 degrees Fahrenheit). Well, I guess Mother Nature had other plans because last weekend, it snowed here in Rome for the first time in 27 years!

Given, it was only 4 inches of snow, but you would have thought the world was ending the way the Romans reacted to it. Given, since it NEVER snows here, the city owns approxiamately one snow plow and no salt. 

Our program had originally scheduled a 3 day trip to Tuscany for the weekend but because the bus couldn't leave the parking lot [still not sure how true this statment is...] we never left Rome. But, Nora and I made the best out of it! We couldn't leave our neighborhood because the buses weren't running but we thoroughly enjoyed our time exploring, cooking our own fresh-made pasta for the first time, getting a lot of homework done, watching movies and eating LOTS and LOTS of nutella [ok, I might have eaten a little more than Nora, like half of the jar more...]

My New Friend!

Notice the doubled-up wool socks. It was FREEZING!

Finally on Monday, public transportation was up and running and we were able to do some stretching. So we decided to meet up with our friend Lauren and climb to the top of St. Peter's dome! I still need to upload pictures from the trip but here is one Lauren look...

Rome covered in snow! It was a little windy...

Needless to say, the view was BREATH-TAKING! I feel so blessed to be here while it snowed. Although it might have been a little inconvenient witht he Tuscany trip, I am so happy I was able to see Rome in a way that most never get to!

This weekend we are going to try to make up our trip to Tuscany. But here's the catcher- it's suppose to snow AGAIN! ahhh! We'll see if we make it out of the parking lot this time...

The other day after Adoration at the North American College my good friend Deacon Mario took Lauren, Reagan and me up to the roof! Here's what we saw:

Just the Vatican lit up at night!

I've heard that the weather at home is acting just as strange- snowing one day and 60 the next. I wouldn't expect anything less of D.C./Maryland weather! Hope everyone is hanging in there!