Friday morning bright and early we left for our third Rutgers excursion to Veneto, the Northern Region of Italy. First we were headed to the city of Verona which is about 2 hours away from Florence. Yes…it is where Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet takes place. One of the walls of the house is called the "Wall of Love" and all visitors are encouraged to profess their love on the wall with a sharpie. Every year they make a copy and put it in a museum. It was cool to look at. A fun fact I learned was that Shakespeare never actually visited Verona. He wrote about it from what he had learned from reading books. Verona was a lovely city. We had a walking tour through the city and then some free time for lunch. On our tour we saw the Capitulates house where Juliet supposedly lived. Verona also has a smaller version of the Coliseum which they call the “Arena”. It originally had 3 stories but after an earthquake the 3rd story was destroyed and only 2 floors remain. After getting some lunch and a spritzer (a typical Veronean drink which is white wine, an orange soda type drink and seltzer…it was very good!) and walking around for a little bit we were off to the town of Valpolicella.
Valpolicella literally means “Valley of many cellers” in Italian. This could only mean one thing…we were off to a wine tasting at Serego Alighieri Winery! The family that owns and runs this winery are direct descendants of Dante Alighieri and have owned the winery for centuries. The winery was so beautiful! We took a tour of the winery which was very interesting. They store tons of grapes on bamboo racks in a dry room for several months while the sugar turns into alcohol. The whole process of making the wine is done completely naturally. There are no computer systems monitoring the temperatures in the rooms unlike most winery’s have today. We also saw the large barrels where the wine is stored for several more months before it is bottled. Then it was off to the wine tasting. It was a nice room all set up for all 50 of us to try 3 different kinds of wine. I am not a huge wine fan myself, but, I will say this wine was pretty good! One of the ladies working at the winery explained the three different wines to us and then we all tasted them. It was definitely a good time! Then it was back on the bus as the sun was setting on Serego Alighieri Winery. It was so pretty to see!
Next we were off to the tiny town called Bardolino which is on Lake Garda which boarders the pre-Alps (the mountains that come before the Alps…incase you were wondering). Team Rutgers filled the tiny hotel in town that we stayed in. The town was so cute! Once we checked into the hotel Nick took us down to the lake. It was so pretty! This was the first time I’ve seen water since I’ve been here! It was a really big lake with tons of sail boats and docks. It seems like a great shore town that must be hopping once the warmer weather hits. The majority of tourists that go there are German so a lot of the signs were in German which I thought was interesting. We walked around the town for a little bit which was pretty dead but still fun to see and then it was time for dinner at the hotel.
Saturday morning I got really early start with a few others to check out the sunrise on Lake Garda. It was freezing!!! But to see the colors on the lake were so worth it!! I got some really nice pictures but then went back to sleep before breakfast and boarding the bus at 8:30. It was about another 2 hour drive to Venice from Bardolino so I got to go back to sleep for a little. Once we were close to Venice we hopped off the bus and took the train into Venice. Now…I had heard a lot of negative things about Venice. Just that it was only a day trip kind of place and that it wasn’t really worth seeing. I must say…I was completely surprised! I thought it was a really awesome city. When I first walked out of the train station I couldn’t believe there was a canal right there! It was so cool! Venice is a very marshy land with several canals running though the city. There are no cars in Venice, to get around you have to either walk, take a water taxi, or a gondola! We had a walking tour of the city where we saw the grand canal, San Marco Square which as a beautiful church in the center that was built over 1000’s years ago. Inside San Marco Church literally the entire thing is covered in mosaic tile! It was truly unbelievable! We also saw the Bell Tower that fully collapsed in 1902. It was since been rebuilt but it still, to this day, has structural issues and soon will be wrapped in titanium to keep it from collapsing again! After our walking tour, Nick took us out to lunch at this delicious restaurant where I had the greatest lasagna ever (Sorry Mom, yours is still good too!) along with pork, which was a welcomed change, French fires (they must have known we were American) and tiramisu! After lunch we had some free time to wonder around the city. Venice is much bigger than Florence and none of us had a map so it was definitely an adventure! At first I was nervous about not knowing where to go and wanted Nick to tell us directions but then I realized that this is all part of our learning experience. We had wanted to go to San Marco Square and go in some shops but by the time we found our way back, we had to be back to meet Nick at the train station. After getting a little lost we finally found our way back but unfortunately I didn’t have too much time to shop in the stores which I was disappointed about.
Once back it was a 3 hour bus ride back to Florence and then it was bed time for me as I was exhausted from my busy busy week and weekend! It was such a great time! I really enjoy our excursions! They are always such a good time and also a really great bonding experience with everyone on the trip! I also think that Nick takes us to places that I don’t know that I would have gone to on my own. He knows all the great places to go and its great to have a guided tour of the cities because I learn things I wouldn’t on my own. Sadly, we only have one more excursion left and its not until May .
Sunday was homework and catch up day. Tomorrow I am supposed to be going to an authentic Italian dinner. This weekend is shaping up to look like I am going to a little town called Lucca which is about a hour and a half train ride from Florence. According to my history teacher “it’s a jewel of a town” and a “must see!” So its off to Lucca I go!
Updates to come!
Weekend Pictures
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| Verona & Venice March 20-21 2009 |
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