If a few days late....

First and foremost, I know it is a few days late, but HAPPY BIRTHDAY BURAH!
There are so many dogs here. I keep imagining what Beulah would do if she got to talk to all the puppies on the street, or got to chase down the pigeons. I have my suspicions that Beulah is not nearly as behaved as the dogs here. There is a pug that walks with an old man almost every day as I am on my way to class. This dog walks right beside him no matter how quickly or slowly he may be going. There are some dogs here that don’t even need leashes but just stay near their mamma or daddy. Beulah should learn that trick.

But alas,

Happy Birthday Beulah! Sorry I missed the party.

As for this weekend...
Friday the three of us hopped on a train to Siena and it was quite delightful! We started off our adventure with bruschetta in the piazza aka my new favorite, or if we are being serious…. ANYTHING in a piazza is my new favorite. Perfect people watching, I tell you. Afterwards we walked to the Sienese duomo. It’s really pretty, but the Florentine duomo would knock its socks off. Of that, I am sure.

Next, we strolled on over to a market where we discovered this cute little man’s sauce stand. I could have loaded up right then and there, but my wallet had something to say about it. Serendipitously, the market had a lookout over the hills of Siena, so we had ourselves a little photo shoot. There was a perfect brick wall on which a person could sit and have their picture taken with the rolling hills. I had different plans. True to form, I tried to get up on the wall but just wasn’t coordinated enough. DON’T BE SO SHOCKED RIGHT NOW!!! I know what you are saying “Meredith, WHAT! YOU! UNCOORDINATED!?!?!? Have you uncharacteristically fallen on your head dancing in a piazza and lost your mind???” Calm yourself. The answer is no, I am in fact quite clumsy. SO, I settled for standing next to the brick wall. Bummer.

Then, we were getting pretty hungry, so after lots of uphill walking, we found a place Cailin’s travel guide recommended. It was very much a hole in the wall, but the little Italian man who worked there looked like the actor Bob Hoskins, so I knew we would be ok. The food was out of this world! I had something that I don’t remember the name of. Sorry guys. But Cailin had risotto with basil and mint. It was as if she had seen the second coming. The restaurant was really good, and the prices were not terrible, so PLUS!

Afterwards, we waltzed back to the piazza and found ourselves eating gelato and watching the world go by. When we reached the point where we were all pondering how weird it would be to lie down and take a nap in the square, we realized it might be time to go back.

We called a taxi, and it whisked us off to the train station. When we arrived, we were able to hop right on the train. Perfect timing.

Not so much with Venice.

Venice was a lesson learning experience. We got to the train station, ready to go, and the first two trains of the day were full. We ended up finding a café near by and waiting for two hours. Bummer #1

Once we got in the area we got off the train at Venice Mestre station. Even though we had to wait and get off at the St Lucia train station. Bummer #2

We got to Venice, and it was beautiful. The vaporetto (water bus) ride went off semi-hitchless. And checking into our hotel was pretty easy too.
We got to St. Mark’s square, and that place was just magical. It made me feel like dancing.

Then came dinner time. All the restaurants on the square were too expensive, and we have a vegetarian in our midst, so that made things difficult too. We ended up eating at a restaurant that cost 95 Euro for three people. Admittedly, my share was only 20 Euro, but still Bummer #3

After dinner we strolled around town, and I did a lot of wistful sighing. It’s such a wonderful place. I kept imagining mamma and daddy eating on the square, and wishing that they could be on this wonderful adventure to share it with me.
The night ended with a gelato in the square to feed the pigeons our cones. Wonderful.

The next morning, we were off to the Rialto Bridge. I officially hate tourists, and I AM one! WHAAA? But the rialto bridge was lovely if a little bit crowded. On our way to find a spot for lunch, we got to wander through a Thai festival. It was a random thing for Venice, but it was cool to see!

Lunch time! We found a restaurant in the square that has what we thought were reasonable prices, but upon closer examination, we would b paying 6 Euro for the orchestra to play. We promptly found another restaurant. After lunchtime we tracked down the Biennale Art Exhibit on recommendation of Emily. I thought it was really cool. They had little exhibits spread throughout the city, but we found one of the main ones in the Arsenale on the island. It was a modern art exhibit, so it was interesting seeing all these pieces that were so contemporary compared to the pieces I have been seeing for art class. Good job Emily!

Afterwards, seeing as we were taking the last train of the day, headed out two hours in advance as to save us from missing the train and being forced to stay another night.
Weekend Summary:
-Italy is so beautiful that I feel like more people should break out into song than already do. (A man started singing opera into his cell phone as I walked by him on the way to class).
-I’m very tired. We have walked a lot. My feet are sore, but considering I have only worn my Tevas on this entire trip, my feet are still doing well!
-Siena reminds me of Asheville, except, you know, in Italy.
-I miss you guys! Have fun in Seattle/Alaska!