check yes juliet!

this last weekend, has been one of the best weekends of my life!

thursday, we left bright and early for sirmione, which is a peninsula on lake garda. the famous ancient roman poet, Catullus was rumored to have had a villa there, and since we have read some of his poems, we had to go there! i was surprised at how beautiful it was. we had clear skies, blue water, and nice warm weather. it was the perfect day! we wandered around and took pictures, enjoying the view, (we could see the alps in the distance)! we were walking by the water and found some hot pots.and well... of course... i had to take off my boots and put my feet in! and it was really really hot! there was a cute old italian man there telling me that it was really hot, and i was like "e vero!!" but it was soo worth it... =) after that, we took a ferry ride from sirmione back to the main land. the view of the city from the water was amazing, all of the bright vibrant colors of the buildings... i loved it!!

we got into venice that night, and checked in at our hotel. only a 2 minute walk from san marcos... yeah, thats right! we went to a vivaldi concerto at a chiesa. it was beautiful to hear. some of us dressed up for the occasion, and while people back at byu at that time were in regular classes, our "class" that night was listening to vivaldi, the four seasons. awesome!

the next day, a group of us got up early and saw venice without all of the tourists. you get a totally different feel when the piazza and the pier is empty and quite. and seeing the sky all lit up with pinks, oranges and blues from the sunrise. in the morning, the water rises, and so there was water in certain areas in san marcos piazza, and there was boardwalks put up for people to walk in to get into the church. we went to the accedemia after that and saw many venetian medieval paintings. not my favorite though, they use darker colors and they aren't quite as focused, but it was still fun to see. somers and i left the group after that and went exploring on our own. we got lost several times and had to ask people for directions, every one we talked to were all really nice and helpful. we took a vaporetto (water taxi) out to murano island and followed a group of people and ended up going into a building and watching men create things with glass. my favorite was watching a guy make a horse, they make it look so easy!

when we finally got back to the main island, we decided to just explore. we made it into some really cute residential areas, where there were no tourists (except us - but i dont think we count at this point) =) one area that we were in, we saw about 4 or 5 policemen armed with guns, not just pistols and looking at us suspiciously. that kinda made us nervous, and so we took some pictures and left. we thought it was just because the terrorist alert is so high right now, and so they were just being alert and ready. but we talked to talbot that night at dinner and found out that there had been several student strikes, and so of course thats why they looked at us suspiciously, two college age kids walking around... of course we looked very threatening! haha we had an amazing dinner that night, grilled salmon, pasta with a clam sauce and capers, salad, gelato... delicious!! we took a vaporetto ride to get back to our hotel afterwards and saw the city at night, that was fun! i definatly love venice a lot more this time around. i was able to experience more of the culture, talk to some of the locals, and explore back streets. and i love the architecture, it has a strong middle eastern influence, so different from anything that we have seen in italy. it just might possibly be my favorite place i've been to so far... (did i mention that we had perfect weather? sunny and warm - rare for venice in the fall!)

saturday, we went to verona. the city of love! i wandered around again with somers, which i love just walking around just the two of us. we blend in more with the people, and can observe more that way. first, we went to la casa di giulietta. and dont worry, its nothing like how its portrayed in letters to juliet. well, there is a balcony, and a statue of juliet, and tons of tourists there. but no writing letters and leaving them in the wall... but what i loved about it was that the walls were covered in love graffiti. if i had had a sharpie pen on me, i so would have signed the wall. after that, we went to a little open air market and bought some souvenirs. we went to a church and ran into our professor and a group and decided to hang out with them for a while. we hiked a hill through a residential area and found a beautiful view of the city. i love verona! i kinda wish that i lived there... thats how much i liked it. somers and i did have a pen on us and decided to sign the wall... so we have left our mark in verona!

it was definatly an amazing weekend! i think i have found three of my new favorite cities in italy! i definatly recommend going to all of them...