G. Love

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7XmMfLutqk

North trip, part 2

For the second half of our north field trip we went to Venice and Verona.

In Verona we visited a few specific sites and then were free to roam on our own.  We all went to the Castelvecchio Museum, a castel containing a museum designed by Carlo Scarpa.  The building itself was a very cool mixture of old and new.  Carlo Scarpa did an excellent job of integrating the redesigned museum into the existing castle.

Stairway in the Castelvecchio Museum 

Stairway to the tower, which was sort of blocked off...

But we figured they wouldn't mind and went up for a look

We also climbed to the top of Torre dei Lamberti, which provided some cool views over the city.  We waited around at the top until the bells rang at noon, which was not at all quiet...

The stairs to the top of Torre dei Lamberti

A view from the tower, looking over the city

We hung out by the river, John got attacked by birds after some crazy Italian lady came and threw a bunch of bread by us...

Later in the day Mike and I met a friend of mine who is living near Verona and she showed us around the city.  We had some amazing gelato, wandered around the city streets and went up to a castle on the hill, the name escapes me, but the view was spectacular.

From Verona we headed to Venice.  Venice is a pretty cool city, with its maze of streets and canals.  I can't say I really enjoyed it too much despite it romanticism and beauty, it was just a little too touristy for my taste.

A view down one of the many canals of Venice

Part of the maze of narrow streets

A boat moves through one of the larger canals at night

A Venice street at night

Thats the quick rundown on our trip to the north.  We recently got back from a day trip to Villa d'este and Villa Adriana near Tivoli, expect that post sometime...

Its been a while

So it has been a long while since my last post.  I have been overwhelmingly busy with the typical end of the year business.  I've been busy with things pretty constantly since spring break.  The break was nice, especially since I got the chance to see my family and show them around Rome.  I had a great time with that, and actually surprised myself with how much I have learned about the city.  I just wish we would have had the weather we have now when they were here... For only a weeks time though, we still saw a ton of stuff!

We stumbled across a reenactment of the murder of Julius Caesar at the 'cat ruins'...

Morgan and I ordered cappuccino from a famous cappuccino artist at the Bar del Cappuccino..

I showed them around some of the highlights of Rome like the Theater of Marcellus...

The Circo Massimo...

St Peter's and the Vatican Museums...

We saw a lot of other things around Rome, most of which I don't have photos from, or at least not photos with my family or me in them.  Mom and Morgan were taking plenty of those...
Highlights from those other places include The Colosseum, Roman Forum, Pantheon, Palatine Hill, the Ara Pacis, the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the Maxxi Museum (sort of), had dinner in Piazza Navona, ate at a great restaurant called Jero after being invited by the owner while riding the bus, among other things!  I had a fantastic time pretending to be the knowledgeable tour guide.

We also took a day trip to Orvieto. There we saw an old castle/fort, an old well, the Duomo, and wandered around the town a bit.  We tried to make it back in time for Morgan to make it to the non-Catholic Cemetery in Ostiense, but apparently it closed at 5.00pm...

The view from the castle/fort in Orvieto

The Duomo (cathedral)

Inside the Duomo, photos weren't allowed but my camera 'accidentally' took a few...

Streets of Orvieto

These boar heads were all over town.  I have no idea why...

The view down into the well

Dad at the bottom

Spring break was a great time and I'm so glad that I got to see my family!  Thanks for coming over to see me guys!

I just realized that I forgot to post the other half of the North field trip. I'll do that in the next post.