Submitted by Bridget Hartigan on the 2017 winter session study abroad program in Florence, Italy sponsored by the Department of Art…
This weekend, we traveled to Venice. The train station was about a 30 minute walk from our apartment. Since it was our first time using the train since we’ve been in Italy, we got there way too early. But once we were on the train, it wasn’t long until we saw water and the gorgeous view of Venice on the horizon. When we got out of the train station, we immediately were stunned by the beautiful view of the Grand Canal. As we walked toward our B & B, the roads began to narrow and the path got very hard to determine. The streets were narrow and it felt as if we were walking in circles. Finally, we found the building we were staying in and the view was breathtaking. Our house was right on a canal, which overlooked a small piazza. After we got settled in, we wandered around and found a small authentic Italian restaurant. The servers spoke very broken English, which allowed us to practice the little bit of Italian we knew. We spent the evening wandering around San Marco and exploring the various streets and piazzas of Venice. In the morning, there was a fresh blanket of snow on the ground which made the city seem peaceful and beautiful. However, we were nervous it would jeopardize our chance to get a gondola ride on the canal before we had to leave that evening. Luckily, we were still able to find a gondolier that would take us out on the canal on the brisk, windy morning. Since it was so cold, there were not many other boats on the water, which added a serene feeling to the experience. Our gondolier gave us brief descriptions of some of the major churches and bridges in Venice, and informed us that there were over 300 bridges and 150 churches just in Venice alone. Although it was absolutely freezing, the gondola ride was an amazing experience that I’ll never forget.
