Firenze, Venezia e Murano

 

The last three days I spent in two amazing cities, Florence and Venice and also visited Murano where all that glass jewelry and figurines you see in Italy shops is made. It was sad to only be in these cities for a short amount of time, we really rushed through and didn't get to explore as much as I would like, but the chance to go back to Florence and finally see Venice was still amazing. I would definitely revisit each city again, and stay for at least three days each, but I had to get back to Rome to begin my internship next week, plus these places are EXPENSIVE. Both cities are huge tourist attractions, making you pay to walk into churches, well known or not. If you like to wander around and see as much as you can, which is what I do, it can become too expensive. Nevertheless, we managed to see some things in our short visit. In Florence we had to see the David and Uffizi Gallery as well as the Boboli Gardens in Palazzo Pitti. I would have liked to go into Santa Maria Dei Fiori, but most of it was covered in scaffolding and the lines were too great when we only had a day to spend in Florence. At the end of the day, before the leather market closed, I was able to lay down some more money to buy two, yes two, leather jackets. I believe I have maxed out on leather, having purchased two purses last year and two jackets this year. Of course I was looking at a pretty suede and leather backpack in Venice, but that's a different story!  After Florence, we arrived in Venice to spend about a day and a half in the city. Getting off the train we saw that in first class Conan was with his family for vacation too. He is super tall, but unfortunately we didn't get to see his crazy red hair since it was under a hat, bummer. In Venice we saw the major things, the Academia, Bridge of Sighs, Realto, San Marco Square etc. Again, we didn't go into San Marco because of lines, plus more scaffolding! The second day we made out way to Murano to see a couple more glass shops and a presentation of glass making. After this we wandered around Venice, taking hundreds of pictures, before having to get on a train back home, well back to Rome. These cities are simply beautiful, and I cannot wait to go back, but I would definitely spend more time in both to see as much as possible, and probably go in a low tourist month to beat the crowds.

 

 

After spending so little time away from Rome, we are planning to go to Pisa and then Tivoli this weekend to do more Italian sight seeing before my mother heads back to the US. I cannot believe that I am almost done with my trip too. I only will be working with the American Institute of Roman Culture for three weeks total in Rome due to scheduling. But still three weeks will be worth it on an archeological dig site! This internship will be much different than my desk and travel internship in London, but it will still allow me to understand more about historic preservation. I am still trying to get into contact with agencies, I tried in Florence and Venice, but those who are preserving these cities, and Rome too, are mainly American or English, therefore have offices in either the two countries. Well at least I am able to see Italy while I am here!