Taking a vacation from our... vacation

Last Wednesday Grace and I decided to continue our 'We're in Europe so we're getting cultured' spree and go to the ballet. Get this: Romeo and Juliet (Giuletta e Romeo) was performed on an open air stage at Fort Belvedere, an old stronghold that looks over the city. The setting was spectacular and the dancers were amazing, so basically it was a perfect evening.

My class was cancelled on Thursday, and I took advantage of the unexpected free day and dragged myself out of bed at 5am to hop on a train to Venice. I had heard mixed reviews, but the city was well-worth the trip. Traveling down the Grand Canal is the perfect way to see the city - and the front door-steps opening directly out onto water, and the gondolas, and the eclectic mix of Byzantine and Renaissance architecture, and the romantic arched bridges, etc etc. Since my water bus (what a cumbersome sounding name) was super crowded going from the train station to the Piazza del San Marco the first time around, I stayed on it - to the amusement of the driver - and rode it all the way around, this time with a perfect front row seat.

In line to see the Basilica I fell into conversation with the two girls in front of me and ended up spending the rest of the day with them. We gaped at the stunningly intricate mosaics covering the Basilica's interior and then made our way to a tucked away glass shop where we were again impressed, this time by a glass-blowing exhibition. Those artists have only three, maybe four minutes to shape the glass into its intended shape, and apparently it takes a good fifteen or so years to truly master the art. Sorry guys, don't think I'll be returning to the states a glass-blower extraordinaire.

Venice is an interesting city beyond the obvious canal aspect: since tourism has kind of taken over the place (although with Venice's history of being a major trading city and all, I think that the tourism actually sort of fits) basically all there is to do is shop for clothes, carnival masks, Venetian glass, and food (I splurged on some delicious marzipan). Melissa and Gena had visited before, so they took me to their favorite cafe and we wandered the streets and window shopped and just generally enjoyed the atmosphere. I can't imagine the place on a weekend... the insanely narrow streets were challenging enough to navigate on a Thursday.

I bid farewell to my new friends and somehow managed to find my way back to the train station, where my train ride back to Florence was livened up by the addition of a Spanish guy in my compartment. We spent the whole way back each with a headphone in an ear, sharing our music with each other. Precious.

Friday morning was another travel day: Michelle and I boarded the train and got to Rome no problem. The train to Naples was another matter altogether. After heading out of the Rome train station, we slowed down and came to a stop, sitting there for almost an hour before pulling back in to the station because the train had mechanical problems. Just to clarify, when we were back in Roma Termini and everyone was de-boarding, a voice came on over the loudspeaker and announced in English, 'This train is broken. Please get off.' Hah.

We finally got to Naples and then Pompeii where we spent two hours walking around the eerie formerly buried city. How incredible to think that that place used to be full of people working and playing and loitering, until Mount Vesuvius sort of got in the way. Thanks to the train delays, our time in Pompeii was not nearly long enough (at least we got to walk through the brothel in, according to some overly stereotypical French guide passing by, 'ze Red Light district!') and we had to dash back to Naples and unfortunately walk all the way from the train station to the port. Naples is not an enticing place, but luckily we were soon sailing away from it all to the beautiful island of Capri.

For being told how much of a 'resort island' Capri is, it was pleasantly more down to earth than I was expecting (although that doesn't mean it was cheap). We stayed in a sweet little hostel up in Anacapri and Saturday morning took a chair lift up to the very top of the island to check out the gorgeous views (I realize that it sounds like everywhere I go is to check out the pretty scenery below... guess that's a default of being in Italy?). Back down at the Marina Grande, Michelle decided that her emergency/travel expenses credit card was appropriate to be used for renting a boat for a couple of hours to tool around the island. Best. decision. ever. The two of us went out in this little boat, got a twenty second tutorial along the lines of 'This is the steering wheel, this is neutral, this is go, this is reverse, here's the anchor and there are the life-jackets' and were off. Michelle's done some sailing before so she was in charge of the complicated stuff (because as long as you have a credit card you're golden - comforting, no?). I lounged in the sun and kept an eye on the map. We dropped the anchor a couple of times and at one point went swimming through the Green Grotto (so named for the way the water reflects off the cave ceiling). We even drove the boat a distance away from the island and swam around in what felt like the middle of the Mediterranean, and I tried my hand at driving it back towards the island.

Once we returned the boat, we grabbed some food and spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out on the beach. I couldn't get over how many people were crammed on this tiny strip of pebbles (nope, not even sand!), but the water was of course refreshing and salty enough that I was bobbing around like a cork.

After another decadent dinner on Saturday night - Capri is apparently known for its caprese and we took full advantage of its claim to fame - we had quite the eventful evening, ending up in an interesting night club and being treated to drinks by the Italian natives. We eventually made our escape, laughing about the characters at the bar the whole way home.

Sunday morning we took a bus down to the Blue Grotto (Grotta Azzura) and got there early enough that there were only a couple of us down there - basically me, Michelle and two other guys who happened to also be studying abroad in Florence. The water was extremely choppy so tour boats were hardly even around, but John convinced me to swim into the grotto. It was beautiful in there, and the waves were so intense that they kept covering the tiny cave opening to get back out. I was in there for a while by myself (incredible) just swimming around, and Tony and Michelle eventually decided to brave the water and check it out for themselves as well. Very cool. As we left we met a whole slew of tourists on their way down - again with the impeccable timing!

The four of us decided to go to this crepe place that Michelle and I had seen down the street from our hostel, but when we got to it (after running into Alexa and Cristy - need I say small world?) they informed us that they didn't start making crepes til 5pm. They must have seen the dejection on our faces because the woman looked around and then picked up a container of batter, saying, 'We made this last night - we can make them for you.' We got tailor-made crepes and the store-owner even brought out little chairs for us to sit on. It was fabulous. Interactions like that make me love this place even more.

Back in Florence this morning I went to a couple of churches that I hadn't seen before, Santa Maria Novella and Chiesa di Ognissanti. I continue to be awe-struck by how much talent and effort went into the creation of those buildings. (Although some tourists most definitely aren't: the other day, as I was walking past the Duomo I heard an American dad say to his two teenaged sons, 'I tell you what, there ain't nothin like America. Places like [Italy] have been around for a long time and they're doing something right, but America's got a lot that the rest of the world doesn't have.' Excuse me... You're standing in the shadow of the Florentine Duomo. Yeesh.)