Venezia

Ah, the joys of Venice on a sunny day.
We went on a school trip on Saturday: all of Venice for 5 euros: good deal, except we had to get up at 6 am. And it was Saturday morning so we'd been partying all the night before. Life is so harsh sometimes... But we managed, and I spent the two hour ride sleeping on Eitan who was sleeping on Michael who was sleeping on the window.
We got to Venice and spent the boat ride there taking pictures of each other:

That's Jale, Leah, and Hanne.

Then we went into the real deal. First thing we did was look at the Basilica St. Marco and learn about its history, that it took 400 years to be fully decorated and that the Venetians stole St Marks body from the Muslims in Istanbul and smuggled it out by covering it with pork so the customs officials wouldn't look too closely. Then they brought it to Venice and made a mosaic about it:

I had been disappointed with the Basilica last time I went. It was darker out, and more people, so I didn't really get a good impression. But this time was amazing - the combination of light to make the golden ceiling sparkle and a fantabulous teacher to bring the art to life was enough to set the Basilica in my memory forever.

Then we had free time and went to have lunch. Picture this: A Ukrainian, a Guatemalan, 2 Russians, a Latvian, and an American sitting in a Cuban-themed pizzeria eating Italian pizza and listening to Salsa music. crazy.

This is us:

Iryana, Rinato, Anna, Bulat, Me, and Evita.

Then we went on another art/church tour. It was amazing. This is Henry Thomas talking about the bubonic plague and the church they built to commemorate the salvation of the city when only 1/3 of the city died of a disgusting and painful disease instead of all of them.

Can you see the passion and interest radiating off of him?

Then we went to a Scuola that had been decorated by one (very good) painter who worked on it for 25 years of his life. w.o.w. It was fantastically beautiful. I wanted to stay in there a month, but we only had a few hours.

I managed to sneak a picture of it before they told us cameras weren't allowed.

And that was about it, except that I managed to be exactly on time for the boat home (i.e. they were just leaving and saying, "we can't wait for the late people, we have to go. Peter, you stay behind and take them back on the train." but we squeaked in just in time) and if it weren't for me Michael and Eitan wouldn't have made it. yay.

I'll leave you with the last image I saw of Venice. No more need be said.