So, I didn't get to it when I said I would but I'm playing catch-up on posts now. The week after Oktoberfest I had an assignment in photo class to shoot 10 landscape photos, So I went to a few parks to try to get shots that I liked, yes parks can be landscapes too, and I ended up with a few, but what I was really looking forward to was the weekend trip I had planned to Verona and Venice. This was a trip that was planned through my program which meant that I went with all of my friends and had an amazing time without having to stress about planning, awesome.
I'll start with my park photos, and one replacement because I didn't like any of the photos I took that day.
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| Graffiti at a park on the other side of the river in florence 3.10.2011 |
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| Definitely not in florence, but I didn't like any of the photos I took that day so I replaced it with a photo of the anatomical theater in Bolognia 24.9.2011 replacement for 4.10.2011 |
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| Red stairs in a park when I was attempting to take landscape photos and got distracted 5.10.2011 |
And to be perfectly honest, I have been slacking on the photo taking (although you wouldn't believe it by looking at the amount of photos I have on my computer.) But there have been a few days that I didn't take any! What a shame. Lucky for you guys I am a total shutter bug the rest of the time, so there is no shortage of photos of beautiful things.
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| stainless steel wine vats at the winery in Verona Taken 8.10.2011 replacement for 6.10.2011 |
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| The view from the patio at the winery in Verona taken 8.10.2011 replacement for 7.10.2011 |
We left Florence for Verona on saturday morning, the weather has finally turned into fall and it was brisk and refreshing, but very very early... I have found though that I am excellent at sleeping on busses (city and greyhound alike), trains, and ferries. Pretty much any form of transportation with rocking, and I'm out like a light whether I like it or not. So this long bus ride was a cinch, I pretty much time travel through Europe. When we got to Verona we had a lovely walking tour through the city, and free time on our own to have lunch and kick around. Interestingly enough in some places the local cuisine often includes horse or mule meat. As I am not one to pass up any interesting foods I ordered the mule (because they didn't have horse) it was in my pasta and pretty much tasted like ground beef, but slightly different and I can't really place my finger on how it tasted different. It was in fact delicious and I can add it to my list of strange foods in Italy, next up - tripe...bleh.
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| a church in verona, Venice? I can't remember 8.10.2011 |
After exploring the town of verona, and seeing the supposed homes of the Capulet and Montague families (they actually existed!) we took off into the countryside to get a tour of a vineyard. The vineyard is called Gamba and we got to walk through their fields and see their whole production process then we topped the day off with a wine tasting of three of the wines that they produce there. The views from this vineyard on the hill were breathtaking and we got to watch the sunset and drink wine and eat cheeses.
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| extra goodies for you Aging grapes for their most expensive wine at the Gamba vineyard 8.10.2011 |
Off to Venice! The infamous city of canals and gondolas. The city is actually comprised of something like 130 little islands with a marsh type foundation - no wonder its sinking - and it really is as cool as everyone makes it out to be (I might sneak in an extra photo or two) the streets are very narrow, but they can be because they are only for foot traffic, while the canals are where all the boats go. I found Venice really interesting because even the smallest streets didn't feel sketchy at all, they were just normal because there is no need for them to be bigger than a small alley. There are some more main streets that are wide-ish, but they are few. We went on a guided tour here and got to see all of the cool nooks and crannies, as well as the main attractions, and got an insight into the lifestyle from our tour guide who was born and raised there. Venice is really a town for old people, over 50% of the population are over 70, and mostly everyone goes to bed around 9pm. We were allowed a lot of free time here and we wanted to go to Murano, an island nearby where they are known for their glass, but we missed the boat, and so we just stayed in venice and kicked around. We did go on a gondola ride, for 50 cents, it is a ferry across the grand canal to get to the other side, and takes only 4 minutes or so, but it was still pretty cool. It is pretty crazy how many gondolas are actually there, and out of the 480 or so Gondoliers only one is a woman, but we didn't see her, just lots of men in striped shirts and straw hats. Okay enough with the words, here are some photos:
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| Photo of the Day sunset from the bus on our way out of venice 9.10.2011 |
Here are some more extra goodies to replace some days that I missed, and to just show how beautiful of a place this really was, and I thought the pigeon was a bit of comic relief.
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| Sweet building in a piazza in Venice taken 9.10.2011 replacement for 10.10.2011 |
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| Pigeon on a table at our lunch restauraunt Taken 9.10.2011 replacement for 11.10.2011 |
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| Gondola traffic jam in Venice Taken 9.10.2011 replacement for 12.10.2011 |
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| Random canal in venice 9.10.2011 Extra |
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| Gondolier about to go under the bridge of sigh, Venice 9.10.2011 Extra |
That's it for now, more to come about my latest adventures soon, get excited! I'm almost caught up. But it's mid-terms week right now so I may not get to it.
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