I had the time of my life fighting dragons with you

Fall break was amazing!  The only way it could have been better is if my family was there.

Laura, Lexi, Conner, and I left early friday morning and took a bus from Florence to Venice.  For a bus it was pretty decent. We arrived in Venice the early afternoon and met up with our friend Harry. We spent most of the day wandering around, going to the rialto bridge and piazza san marco, and the touristy stuff.
Then we caught a boat to our camp grounds. Thats right. Camp grounds. We stayed in a tiny cabin on camping grounds about a 15 min boat ride from the venice city center. 12 Euros a night! what a deal. It was actually pretty cool.

On saturday we went to the BIENALLE! The biggest art event in Italy. Over 80 international artists and like 09`4727418937 Italian artist showed their work at venues all over the city.  They transformed old and abandoned building into gallery space. Each country represented had their own "pavilion" or building where they set up painting and installations and video art and sculptures.  My favorite was the Italian pavilion.  SO MUCH GOOD ART. I filled up a page in my sketchbook writing down names to look up later. It was kind of set up like artawake with art just everywhere. It was kind of overwhelming. 

a picture for mom: Thats right. Its ropes of licorice.

A pic for dad. Toast. Enough said

On Sunday Lexi and I went to Murano (a little island known for its amazing glass) for a fun time of glassblowing exhibitions and shopping.  Then Lexi, Conner, and I went off to their airport to fly to FRANCE. we kept singing that song "lets get rich and buy our parents houses in the south of france."  And I obviously listened to Absinthe Party by Minus the Bear.

Monday was a little stressful trying to find a way from the airport to the center of Paris.  We flew to a slightly inconvenient airport about an hour away from Paris.
After getting used to Italy, being in France was weird.  It was like starting all over again in a city we didnt know, with a language we couldnt understand. Fortunately God is good and provided this awesome english speaking French man immediately after we got off the bus.  He explained the metro and helped us get a metrocard and told us how to get to our hostel. 
Our Hostel was called Plant Blue Hostel and it was slightly ridiculous. We had a good time though.
The actual city of Paris is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen.  I'm quite partial to NYC, but Paris was a close second.
We went to the Louvre on Monday. AMAZING. We were only there for 3 hours and I barely saw anything so I have to go back!
Seeing the Mona Lisa was a weird experience.  It was so cool to see such a famous painting in real life. A painting by one of the most amazing artists.  But, it was funny because its quite small and there was this MASSIVE crowd around it all taking pictures instead of using their eyes.  And on the opposite wall, there is this enormous painting that takes up the entire wall, but nobody is looking at it. Its just weird. After the louvre we spend a couple hours viewing the eiffel tower and being entertained by a very unintelligent group of americans near-by who talked about everything from Matzo crackers to Magellan.

  Tuesday was our wondering day. We climbed up all the steps of Notre Dame, said a quick hello to Quasimodo (were actually facebook friends now) and got to see this amazing view of all of Paris. Then we hit up the moulin rouge because i just had to. Big disappointment, I dont want to talk about it.  In the evening we went to the artsy Montmartre district for dinner and some free music.  I will be living there someday.

Wednesday started off bad. I went to the wrong airport and missed my flight to Milan. Why do cities in Europe have to have like 3 airports each? Isnt one enough? But I was able to work it out and I met up with Massimo only a few hours later than planned. He took me to a pizzeria and a cafe to meet his cousin and friend who are awesome! I tried to practice my italian a little but I was embarrassed.
Thursday we hit up all the churches and museums in Milan! Milan is a beautiful city. I especially liked the Duomo and the modern art museum. And it was so good to see Massimo again. We had a great time talking about long ago and planning for future adventures!
Then I caught the bus back to Firenze.

                                                                        Trolley!


I felt like I was home when i got back. One of the best parts of traveling is coming home. I know i will really feel that way when i get home home.  But I still have a month and a half left in my adventure!