Venice!

Here are the pictures from Venice!! We had such a great time in Venice as I am sure you will be able to tell!

Here we are on the overnight train from Florence to Venice. This is me, trying to show you how small this cabin is (I am touching both walls) that we are all suppose to sleep in. Oh and did I mention, my feet are up because there is no legroom due to the luggage being in front of us.

Here is Britt trying to stretch :)
Here is a picture from the top bunk. We tried to show how they are stacked on top of each other. It was pretty comfy. Britt and I slept ok. Mom couldn't sleep all night. It also didnt help that the train stopped in the middle of the night and went completely dark. Mom was awake and said that the conductor came on the speaker and talked for a while in Italian. Mom didnt know what was going on. She said about 15 minutes later we started up again. Pretty scary. Glad it wasnt an emergency :).
Here we all are at dinner on the train. It was pretty amusing eating on the train. The cars would move as the waitres was trying to serve. Nothing spilled thank goodness. The train did move around a lot. It made it difficult to do a lot of things like walk down the hall.

Here is the last we will see of Paris for a while. Beautiful sunset. I think it was the only one we saw. We tend to go to bed early.
The next day we arrived in Venice around 9 am.
Here are some pictures from the bridges and boats.

By the time we got to our taxi and found our hotel it was around 10am. We then found out that we could not check in to our hotel until eleven.
Here is a picture of us in our hotel in Venice. It was nice. We thought it was weird because the elevator took us to our 3rd floor room but then we had to climb stairs... so were does the second floor button take you to? We definitely tried to figure that out... it takes you to a whole different level. I think there was a level 0 floor, level 1, level 2, level 2A and a level 3 that could only be reached via stairs. Anyways, it was small but nice.
Here we are clean and headed to Padua to see the Scrovegni Chapel.
Here Mom and I are at in front of the Scrovegni Chapel. I guess I should explain a little more about why this was so special. Well first of all, I have taken quite a few Art History courses in the span of my art degree and art history minor. I have always loved and appreciated art and art history. So back when I was a freshman in college, I took a survey of western art. During that survey, we learned about every major piece of western art. I loved everything I saw but most of all I loved the Renaissance art. Hence my fascination with the Scrovegni Chapel. This chapel was built around 1300 by Enrico Scrovegni. His family was the richest family in Padua. He left this behind as a part of his legacy. The chapel is so beautiful. The inside is covered with frescoes by Giotto who is called the father of the renaissance. He was called this because he is the first to paint in such a way, that you feel you are looking at real life. The figures look like they have form. This was a new concept when he was a painter. He is also known for the atmospheric depth that you will see in his paintings. He creates a lot of depth through overlapping images in his work. Here, he has painted a narrative series of scenes from Mary and Jesus' life and ministry. My favorite are detailed below. Walking in here was truly remarkable. I have studied these paintings for a while and seen many reproductions via slide and textbook but nothing could ever be as magical as seeing it all put together in person. It was overwhelming.
Here is a view from the front of the chapel. The back wall has a scene of the Last Judgement. The walls are split into levels. The top row depicts Mary's life (entirely biblical). The next two rows are images from Jesus life (very biblical :)). The bottom row is depicting the virtues and vices. And in the very back you can see the doors. That should give you an idea of scale.
These are two of my favorite of Giotto's frescoes here. The top one is depicting Judas bargaining and betraying Jesus. The black image is portraying the devil or a demon. The bottom image is of Jesus off the cross. I did not take these pictures (because I was not allowed) and I wish i could find a better picture of this fresco that includes the angels at the top. Each of there faces shows true sadness and pain. It is really moving. Each scene is about 4ft by 5ft. They are larger than I ever imagined. So beautiful.
Here is Mom and Britt... they like the flowers outside of the Chapel.
So on our way back to Venice, our train stopped and the conductor spoke in Italian for a little while. Everyone on board flipped out and got off the train. It turns out that train had switched its destination and was now headed to Bologna. Good thing we followed suit and got off the train. We then hoped another train back to Venice. But we did have time for a photo op with Ronald.
Back in Venice, we walked around the shops and had a great time. Venice is known for their handmade masquerade masks.
I love how everything is so beautiful in Europe. This is a part of St. Marks square.
Here is St. Marks. So pretty!!

The next day, we went to Murano to see the glassblowing. It was one of Mom's number one things to do. Glass was very popular in Venice and it seemed all the best glass came from Murano. Luckily, the hotel had a taxi that took us straight there.
This was outside the glassblowing shop and gallery.We really wanted a piece of glass from here but we were on a bridge and very scared we wouldnt be able to get down and back up. So we took this picture instead.
Here is the master showing off his clear vase that he made. It was fun to watch him. He then made this horse. That was really impressive.
This is actually a picture of a glass gallery back in Venice but I wanted to give you an idea of what it was like in their gallery. We werent allowed to take pictures. Mom did get a vase though. I will take a picture of it when it arrives soon.
After Murano, we went to Burano, another island off of Venice. Burano was known for their handmade lace.
Here we are at Burano's lace museum. This woman was making lace while a tour guide was telling us all about it. This place was covered in lace, it was really beautiful.
Then, before we went back to Venice, we had some pizza. This was the best pizza of the trip. It was SO GOOD!
After we returned to Venice, we went shopping again. I bought Caleb a soccer jersey (which he collects from a bunch of different countries).
Then we had dinner (and drinks) and went to bed early. The next day, we left bright and early for Florence.
Here I am after Britt decides I am not in enough pictures.
Here we are on the train to Florence.
Our Venice trip was great. Venice (and Padua, Murano, and Burano) ended up being my favorite of all the stops we made. The atmosphere was so unique and beautiful. The food was delicious. And the prices were good. Don't worry, I will be going back to Venice!