fotografie!

venezia:

lone gondola guy






friendly pidgeons...


there is a lot of political grafitti here, discussing not only bush, but communism, fascism, etc.










gondolas under il ponte dei sospiri (the bridge of sighs)!


you know what's fun? ATTRACTING PIDGEONS


the twin astrological clock to the one here in padova


saint mark's basilica!


pidgeons cuddling up to art








the discoteca i went to


somebody's fruit and vegetable stand ON A BOAT




here there is always a little wind
for all the hours of every season
a puff at least a breath
for all the years i've been living here
and day after day i write
my name on the wind
(my liberal translation)


the glass bridge




the beloved train station, venezia santa lucia






look it's me! in this photo i'm waiting for my dinner at a restaurant



other non-venice photos:

GASP. UNLUCKY. and very affectionate.


il prato della valle


saint justine's? i think?


saint anthony with the baby jesus


how undignified haha


there will be a second installation of photos tomorrow!

also, the hotel does our laundry for us, and the iron EVERYthing. even underwear. it's pretty awesome.

rovigo!

today after my petrarch class, one of the professors took a bunch of us to a cute, quiet little town called rovigo. we passed a lot of breathtaking countryside views with little mountains and such on the train ride over. we went to an art museum with an enormous collection of paintings of women in the beginning of the 20th century, and it seemed like they were all portrayed as beautiful, elegant, and bored out of their minds. some of the paintings looked like photographs, they were amazing. after that we got some lunch and headed back.

did i mention i'm going to ROME this weekend? we've got the hostel booked, and i've bought my train ticket there. i still need to get a train ticket for the way back, but i think i'll do that tomorrow. in any case, i'm painfully excited to see the whole roman deal and the vatican and everything else that goes along with rome.

i'm reading natalia ginzburg, italo calvino, and petrarch in the original italian by the way. intense.

hooray relaxation

i had a fantastic weekend in which i followed my own itinerary and took lots of pictures.

on friday i went to venice and walked around for hours. i was lost more often than not, but that just meant i happened upon cool things i wasn't looking for. i went to the basilica of saint mark but didn't go inside because it was so crowded, i went into a little music museum, i went into a little museum of da vinci's inventions, i saw the glass bridge and walked by the galleria accademica (wanted to go inside, but again too crowded), and went to about a billion souvenir kiosks just to look. i ducked into a gucci store briefly, but felt so intimidated that i left. at one point i walked by the discoteca i had gone to, and i was like oh cool it's il piccolo mondo! wait...how did i get to the OTHER side of the main canal without crossing it...
fear not, eventually i figured out where i was, stopped for a bite to eat at a really nice restaurant with extremely polite and fun waiters.

on saturday i stayed in padova. i went to the basilica of saint anthony again, and took more time to look around and pray and whatnot. then i went to the botanical garden, which is the oldest in all of europe! it was GORGEOUS and i found an extremely affectionate black cat, which is incredibly unlucky in italy, but oh well he was cute. there were a lot of nifty plants and flowers, and a huge collection of cacti. there were also a lot of secluded areas with benches and fountains, so i may go back with a book later. after that i wandered through the markets in the piazzas and ate a lot. in the evening, la notte dei saldi (the night of sales!) officially began! there were people EVERYwhere and music was blasting from all the open stores, and around 9:30pm the miss italia contest for padova was going on. it was pretty intense.

on sunday my friends got back from their various excursions, so a couple of us went out for lunch and got AMAZING ravioli. then we got the supposed best gelato in padova at grom. i finished up my homework in the afternoon and even got a little ahead, and then got dinner and MORE gelato. i took a twenty minute run after that. :P it was weird though. i'm pretty sure people don't run in the streets here...

photobucket is acting strangely today, so i'm afraid the pictures are going to have to wait.

today i WOULD be going to venice to meet friends for dinner, but the various modes of transportation are on strike (sciopero).

i think tomorrow i'm going on some sort of optional field trip after my petrarch class, but i didn't fully understand what my teacher was saying so we'll see.

a domani!

buon week-end!

evviva! school is over for the week. just had a quiz and did well, turned in a monstrous amount of homework. now i've got a couple hours to myself and the internet before i meet morena, one of my italian teachers from mount holyoke, for a coffee. :)

did i mention that italians think my last name is HILARIOUS? my friend antonio also knows a little german, and knows that morgan means morning. ha ha. :P

i think i am the only redhead in padova. possibly in the whole veneto region. i saw one redhead in verona and that's been IT. in theory there are redheads in northern italy, but where are they?

this weekend everybody's going everywhere. one girl is going to paris to meet a friend, a big group of girls are going to amalfi/pompeii/naples, some are going to verona and bologna. i decided to stay in padova, because i haven't really sat still for a second yet. i've either been working my bum off or exploring and having fun.

while i do intend to spend most of my time reading outside a cafe or taking walks while listening to my music, i think i might head to venice for an afternoon by myself. this way, i can take plenty of time to set up the pictures i take, instead of snapping them as my group walks away, i can take longer to wander around the places that particularly interest me (san marco :D), and i can go into all the museums the other girls would find boring. i'll eat a nice lunch by the main canal, and buy some super touristy souvenirs. well gee i'm getting pretty excited about this actually, maybe i'll do this tomorrow!

god i love italy. i love italy. even the more boring places like verona are magical towns like no other i've ever experienced. the overall carbon footprint here seems to be a lot less, architecture is considered an art form, history is venerated, people are naturally polite, naps, coffee breaks, and wine are insisted upon, there's a strong sense of community, religion is still alive, fashion is imperative and fantastic, grown men compliment your blue satin ballet flat shoes and wear gucci sunglasses, guys in general are intensely flattering, chivalrous, and respectful (not anywhere near as sketchy as i was led to believe), and most nights there are people dancing/singing/talking/playing instruments in the piazzas. oh yeah, and the food.

verona!

guess who found fanta zero at the train station :D


the arena


inside the arena


an original archway (a lot stones in the original arena got stolen to build other things)


verona!




i was up SO high to take this photo


hello ladies!




from the top of the battlements in the castelvecchio




picchioni


look up in the hills at that awesome house/building/thing









from the second trip to the beach:

ahaha, teenager chips


beautiful venice!