Sunday, March 6, 2011

Venezia, Padova, and Verona!

About a week ago all the International Students and myself took a weekend trip to Venice, Padova, and Verona with ESN!  We started out early Saturday morning by taking a bus to Venice where as a group we had to pay 300 Euro to get the bus close to Venice.  After the bus went as far as it could we then got on a boat which brought us to an island that was famous for glass making.  Upon arrival we got a demonstration on how glass was made which was actually really interesting and neat to see. We then left the glass making island and headed to Venice! After arriving we realized that since it was the second day of Carnevale it would be extremely crowded and everyone would be dressed up.  When we arrived we first went to Burger King (which might I mention took probably an hour to order), we then spent our remaining time enjoying Venice by walking around and seeing everyone who was participating in Carnevale. After spending around 4 hours in Venice we took the boat back to the bus and began driving to Padova where we spent the night.
The next day we got a tour of Padova from a local ESN member who showed us the third oldest University in the world; one of the rare churches that when in the vicinity of the church you are considered to be in Vatican City; and the amazing architecture of an old Italian city.
Later on Sunday we departed Padova and headed to Verona the city of Romeo and Juliet.  While in Padova everyone touched Juliet's breast for good luck and saw the balcony from Romeo and Juliet.  It was later interesting to find out that the statue and the balcony were in fact not that old and were just created as a tourist attraction to showcase that Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet in Verona.  Since it was lightly raining we chose to spend only a couple of hours in Verona before we decided to head back to Castellanza.
Even though everyone, including myself, was sick on this trip it was still a lot of fun and one that I will never forget!

Click here for all of my pictures from Venice, Padova, and Verona!