'There and Back Again'

“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.” - The Lord of the Rings

This September I stepped onto the road (er, plane) and was swept off to an adventure beyond belief.  I visited over 26 cities and towns in the United Kingdom as well as Paris, Milan, and Venice.  Though I did face some dangerous business, as Bilbo warned - recall Wales - any risk was well worth while.  When people have gone abroad and come back, they always seem to say it was "life changing."  Well, I don't know that I've changed, but rather become.  The study abroad experience, to me, is more a process of self-discovery and growth than absolute change.  But perhaps I'm drawing a fine line definition. Regardless, I feel this experience merits one of those hackneyed lists of "what I've learned about myself and the world" so here you go.  Most importantly, I learned:

• I can live in a city. And not get mugged and die.
• I'd prefer not to live in a city.  The country thrills me (or perhaps comforts me) much more.
• I love seeing the world and new places, but I want to spend time abroad outside of the confines of academia so I do not have to worry about classes and schoolwork.
• Day trips are a wonderful thing.  You can see great places yet sleep in your own bed at the end of the day.
• Trains are a brilliant creation. You see the countryside and are quite comfortable while doing it.
• I can spend a good deal of time by myself and be completely content.
• Planes aren't so bad afterall. (I had a terrible fear of them before this August.)
• I shouldn't buy bulk rice because I don't actually like rice and hated every time I had to eat it.
• Cooking for oneself is a little sad, not to mention portionally difficult.
• One can never have too much fish and chips.
• For any other brilliant discoveries I might have had along the way, read the previous posts! :)

While I'm on a roll of lists, here's a few more for good measure.

What I'll miss about London/England/Study Abroad:

• Traveling to new places and seeing new things all the time
• The convenient and well-run public transportation systems
• The accents
• The well-dressed men, especially the well-fitting jeans
• Westminster Cathedral
• Mushy peas
• My new friends!
• The sheep
• Easy access to shows, concerts, museums, and other exciting things
• The long history that exists in everything from roads to buildings to GRAVEYARDS
• The electric kettle in my flat kitchen

You may ask "What is there to look forward to back at home after so much excitement?" Well, I assure you there are many wonderful things, such as:

• AMERICAN GROCERY STORES
• Driving a car
• Living in a house
• Seeing family
• MUHLENBERG and my friends there
• English classes that don't have boring hour long lectures
• Decorating my room with all the things I bought abroad

And finally, the biggest lesson I learned by studying abroad which I am bringing home with me is to find excitement and interest in the little things, and more importantly, in the United States of America.  When studying abroad, or being in a foreign country in any context, one always finds places to be so interesting.  Every little thing must be documented on camera.  It isn't that the things you're seeing are necessarily unique, but that they're in a new place.  That beauty exists at home too, we just don't have our eyes wide open enough to see it.  Like those women in Matlock who asked "why are you visiting here?" we too don't see what is special about the places we call home.  But there IS something special, and something beautiful, and I'm determined to recognize that from this point onward.  We are all enchanted with Europe and all the diversity amongst nations so close to each other.  But as the Swedish woman I sat next to on the plane home pointed out, it's a situation rather like our states.  State to State, county to county, city to city, the United States is so diverse but we forget that sometimes, thinking it's just the U.S., it's just my own country.  There's so much to see in our 50 states, 3,000 miles, and I now more than ever want to see it.  My bank account needs to recover fast, because a road trip is in my very near future.  People worry about the lack of adventure waiting for them spring semester.  I'm not worried.  Sure, it will take a little more effort because our country isn't quite as well equipped in transportation as Europe. But we have cars and we have spirit! That's the recipe for excitement in the U.S.A.  Spring semester will not see a dearth of adventure in my life.  I will continue to step out my door and go wherever the path may lead.  Get ready, Pennsylvania!

Thank you so much for reading and joining me in this adventure.  I hope you enjoyed it in some way as much as I did.  Merry Christmas and Happy 2013. :)

"What are men to rocks and mountains?"

I'm sure I've said the above quote at least 10 times in the last three months, and certainly mentioned it in a previous post somewhere, but now I can say it with complete accuracy to its context as I traveled to the Peak District of county Derbyshire where Elizabeth Bennet goes with her Aunt and Uncle Gardiner in Pride and Prejudice and this line is said. (Phew, was that a run-on sentence or what!) It was my last trip and my last literary pilgrimage across England, and it was a most wonderful three days indeed!

However, before I get to that, there were a few highlights amidst the last two hell weeks of paper writing and final exams.  I had 2 papers, 2 exams, and a group project that I was trying to finish up before my trip to the Peaks.  This proved to be awful but I got it done and that's what matters. My friend Sarah from Muhlenberg had finished her abroad studies in Italy and came to visit for a few days.  Although I was bogged down with work, we enjoyed dinner together every night which was quite a nice relief from the stress of papers.  When I at last finished my work, to celebrate and have a last get together with some of my Queen Mary friends, I threw a fried food party in hopes of clearing out all our unwanted food products and to blow off some steam.  We made beer batter and fried up onion rings, red peppers, chicken, brussel sprouts, oreos, snickers, potatoes, sweet potatoes, cheese balls and made a barley and peas dish, to have something green. :)  At the end we had excess batter, so we created a massive pancake and stuck snickers in it and topped it with chocolate ganache. That wasn't very good, but otherwise it was quite a delicious and successful evening!!

I was blessed with the company of one of my best friends, Emily, for the last week of my time in England.  It was quite a welcome gift after suffering through paper writing and finals the previous week.  Emily, too, is a fanatic Jane Austen lover, so we planned three days in London, 3 days in the Peaks, then one day to return and pack, and then we were traveling back home together on Wednesday.  We milked London for all its Christmastime worth, which was absolutely fabulous.  The first night we strolled around seeing all the Christmas lights strung on all the streets.  London knows how to do Christmas.  It was beautiful, festive, and authentic - everything actually said "Merry Christmas"!  We went to see a one-man show of A Christmas Carol, my favorite Christmas story, starring Simon Callow, which ended up being incredible, although when we bought the tickets we did not know it was a one-man show!  The program said that this staging is how Dickens wanted the story staged, which I found interesting.  It was a really touching performance and very well done.  Thursday we saw The Hobbit - not Christmas related but hey, it was the premiere IN LONDON.  We actually stumbled across the actual premiere Wednesday night and saw all the attendees in ball gowns and tuxedos and even saw the actor who played Thorin drive up and then be interviewed on the big screen!! Benefits of living in London, for sure.

 Thursday evening we went to A Celebration of Christmas at St. Paul's Cathedral.  We were one of the last few people to get in and originally had pretty bad seats, but then they promoted our whole section to a roped off area in the front so we had a great view of the choir, orchestra, readers, and the dome of the cathedral itself! It was awesome! The service consisted of readings and carols intermingled, performed by St. Paul's Men's choir, which had boys as the soprano and alto parts, who had the most beautiful voices I've ever heard.  It was a wonderful performance.  Afterward, we walked along South Bank and went to a Christmas market along the Thames by the London Eye and saw an ice skating rink, a great place for people watching.

At 10:30 pm we, along with Elly and Carolyn, had a reservation at the restaurant Duck and Waffle which is on the 40th floor of Heron Tower.  Unfortunately it was a foggy night and the awesome view of London it promises was completely obstructed, but the food was out of this world!! It's a sharing plate restaurant, much like St. John Bread and Wine, where you order a bunch of dishes for everyone to try.  We got the house bread, roasted root vegetable salad, roasted essex beetroot, octopus, duck and waffle (obviously), bacon wrapped dates, and jerusalem artichoke ravioli.  Then for dessert we had a brownie, torrejas, and macarons.  Everything was absolutely incredibly delicious.  I was particularly excited for the duck and waffle, as chicken and waffles is my favorite food as of this summer.  It was a winner combo.  I also had my first julep! (Okay, so the picture might not make it look appetizing, but seriously, best meal I've ever eaten.)

Friday I took Emily to Fleet Street and we went to the Twinings Tea Factory, who gave us paper bags for our purchases, which became soaked in the pouring rain as we walked and mine fell apart in the middle of the sidewalk! It was so embarassing and awful!  We ducked into the Courtauld Art Gallery's gift shop to get plastic bags, and I ended up purchasing a print of one of my favorite paintings from my Impressionism class, Manet's 'Bar at the Folies-Bergere'.  I'm excited to hang it on my wall at home! We then wandered down The Strand, went in a few shops, and eventually made it to the London Coliseum where we were seeing The Nutcracker!! Our seats were the very last row of the highest balcony, but were quite satisfactory and it was a great performance, although they cut out Mother Ginger, who is my favorite!  After the show we went down to Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, St. James's Park, Buckingham Palace, Green Park, and finally ended up at a little Italian restaurant for dinner.  The food was yummy but the waiter was really awkward and wouldn't come over to the table but just linger near it waiting for me to force eye contact. Twas strange.

 Saturday saw us off to Derbyshire and the most perfect weekend ever, in all its imperfections. We took the train from St. Pancras - my first time actually making it on time to that station (recall Scotland and York) - and arrived in Matlock where we then had to navigate the bus system to get ourselves to Rowsley, where our Bed and Breakfast was. That's right - the bed and breakfast - pulling out all the stops, no hostels anymore.  Best. Decision. Ever.  We dumped our bags and then made our way on foot to Haddon Hall which is in the neighboring town of Bakewell. Of the Bakewell Tart. (Read the post about my trip to Brighton to learn about that!) 

We were going to Haddon Hall because it was featured as Thornfield in the movie Jane Eyre but we discovered it was actually in several (like, 30) various movies and BBC films.  It is still a private home, owned by Edward Manners.  The Christmas decorations inside were lovely - everything was covered in evergreens and holly as well as dried oranges.  We discovered that oranges were used as a sign of wealth because only the rich could afford them in the dead of winter.  That explains why in Little Women Amy is so excited about the orange on Christmas morning! Oh, epiphanies!  There were also carolers and musicians in the Great Room and a roaring fire in each fireplace which created a cozy atmosphere. It was really neat to enter the rooms and try to figure out how they were used in the movies.  For example, the great hall is the same as in this clip and we figured out which spire was used as Bertha's tower (the one in the picture!).  I only wish Mr. Rochester would have showed himself, or at least Pilot! After the tour we headed back down the road home to eat dinner at the one restaurant in town (or at least the only one in our price range) The Grouse and Claret.  It was a yummy meal, and we were knackered from the long day, so we turned in rather early, and by 9:45 were tucked into the most comfortable beds I've ever slept in. 

Sunday we woke up early to eat breakfast and grab the bus to Matlock to the nearest church for mass.  We got there a half hour early so we wandered around town, hiking up the steep streets.  When we finally went to church, we were greeted by the priest who immediately asked "Are you Polish?"  I'm not really sure why that was his first assumption, but I'm taking it as a compliment and yet another connection to my heritage.  He was very friendly and insisted we stay after mass for tea and biscuits, which we did.  The parishioners were incredibly friendly but just couldn't understand why two American girls were here in Matlock! We informed them of our Jane Austen pilgrimage, to which one woman responded "What did she write?"  We were SHOCKED. I mean, I thought everyone knew Jane Austen, especially British women! That just seems unfathomable.  But she proved me wrong. She was wonderful though, and drove us to nearby Matlock Bath, which to quote the bus advertisement, is on Sundays "a gathering place for friendly bikers" - the motorcycle variety.  Boy, was that an understatement! They were everywhere, and stores selling biker gear dotted the main street.  It was so random! We took a walk by the lake and then hiked up the hill, on the other side of which when we reached the top we laid eyes on beautiful farmland.  It was a delightfully pastoral and bucolic moment.  Emily and I both agreed that we are country folk at heart.  There is nothing as beautiful as land and nature.  Romantics, Transcendentalists, whatever you want to call us.  That's the truth. The trip was worth it, if only for that moment. 

We wandered back down the hillside and walked along the street and stopped in for some Fish n' Chips, for which they are well known. 
We stopped into the right place for sure because these fish and chips and mushy peas were the best I've ever had!! The fish was hardly breaded and the perfect level of fried.  The chips sopped up the vinegar well and the mushy peas were delectable (if such a word can be applied to them).  After the satisfying meal, we walked back to Matlock and were honked at and given the thumbs up on the way.  It was rather humorous.  We grabbed the bus from Matlock and were in for an early night once again, after watching a Hugh Grant film, of course.  We'd been watching one every night. :)

Monday we indulged and slept until 7:45 - whoa! - then had a lovely breakfast.  I formed a taste for Alpen cereal - fiber full and delicious!  Then we headed on a 3 mile walk to Chatsworth, the house used as Pemberley in the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice.   It had rained the previous night and was still sprinkling when we embarked so it was a very, VERY muddy path through pastures which seemed like they should be private property, but it was a public footpath.  Not to worry, I didn't break any laws in my desperation to be Elizabeth Bennet.  We were right in with the sheep at one point, who decided to run across our path right as we were about to walk forward.  Sheep are quite adorable, I must say. I just wanted to snuggle with them.  I had sneakers with mesh top so my feet were not enjoying this walk.  I kept hitting mud puddles that didn't look like they'd be deep but in fact were and I was soaked right through.  It was quite gross, not to mention cold.



Eventually we were onto Chatsworth Park where we must have been walking right in the valley area of the grass because we were literally walking through water and my shoes and feet were just getting worse.  But all this did not deter from the incredible joy upon laying eyes on Chatsworth House.  If you've seen the movie, you will recall Keira Knightley's reaction of tears and laughter when she first saw the house.  Well, that's incredibly accurate and exactly what Emily's and my reactions were.  It is a stunning house and perfectly situated on the land.  In my architecture class we discussed the idea of the picturesque - an indirect path that induces surprise and anticipation.  Chatsworth park and house is an excellent example of this.  You walk along the yard and suddenly turn a corner and lay eyes on the house in the distance, with sheep grazing in front of it.  It was a lovely sight indeed.  I took pictures at every angle and just couldn't get enough looking at it.  Before heading in, I had to make a pitstop to wring out my wet socks and brush off some mud.  I didn't want to offend Mr. Darcy after all!




Inside the house was decorated in the theme of Christmas Pantos.  You'll recall the Jack and the Beanstalk one I saw in Harrogate.  Here every room was a different story, such as Peter Pan featured in this photo.  I never thought I'd enter Pemberley to "Heigh Ho" from Snow White but I did! It was cute. The house has some incredibly painted ceilings and a private sculpture gallery, as seen in the movie!  I gazed just as Elizabeth Bennet did at Achilles's butt. ;)  In the gift shop was the bust of Mr. Darcy (aka Matthew MacFadyen) and it completed the experience. 

Outside we wandered the grounds, which included a cascade in which every step is a different size in order to create various sounds of flowing water.  It was really neat.  There was also an impressive rock garden.  I wondered if it was loved by the grandchildren or thought a hazard by the parents.  (The house is still owned and used by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire.)  I'm sure probably both :)  We ended the outing by purchasing some Mulled Wine (at last!) to warm us on our long journey back.  It was a beyond wonderful time, and like Lizzie, we fell deeper in love with Darcy because of his house.

 

We took a slightly different path back, which led us along the road instead of through pastures.  This was a little scary as the path was rather narrow and we were really close to the cars speeding by, in the dark.  But we survived and had practically dried out at last as we approached the Grouse and Claret for dinner, just when a truck drove by and hit a puddle in a pothole which sprayed all over us!!!! It was awful!! We stood there, soaked and stunned at what occurred.  We were in hysterics at the absurdity of the situation but felt like we should cry at the tragedy of it.  I even had tar pebbles stuck to my hood!  We sat through a 3 hour dinner quite wet, but at least we satisfied our hunger.  Afterward we turned in and finally put dry clothes on.  My feet were in disgusting condition so I cleaned them and then we settled in for one last Hugh Grant movie (About a Boy) and went to sleep. 

We awoke early the next morning to head home to London, sad to be leaving the Peaks but happy with the prospect of being home in America in a little over 24 hours!  I spent the afternoon packing and then went with a few friends to The Greedy Cow for the last time, feasting on a reindeer burger, which was quite delicious!  I am really going to miss that place.  The next morning saw a 6 am wake up call, 7:30 tube call, a 12:00 flight, and a 3:20 arrival in Dulles Airport.  I have to say it was one of the happiest moments ever, flying home.  I was ready and excited.  Sitting next to a Swedish family on the plane who were heading to Florida, I was all too enthusiastic to discuss America with them. I couldn't help but sing patriotic songs to myself as we flew in.  I was greeted by my family at the airport and headed off to a delicious dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.  It was a long night - by the time I went to bed I'd been up 22.5 hours - but it was nice to be settled in and looking at a decorated Christmas tree. Truly, there's no place like home, and God bless America.

"We were under the Bridge of Sighs...Under Italian Skies"

Buongiorno readers!! Actually, as I'm writing this at 6:30 pm I should say, Buonasera!  I have returned from a trip to Milan and Venice, all in one piece, and lived to tell the tale! Does that sound a bit dramatic? Well, going into the trip I was a tad concerned for my well being, seeing as all people say about Italy nowadays is "beware the gypsies!" and "beware the men!" However, the worst things I came across were hagglers, solicitors, and the Venetian transportation police, which were all quite terrible actually but I managed to handle them. Am I getting ahead of myself and confusing you? Sincerest apologies.  Let me back track a little and regale you with my story in full: Two girls on a mission to experience Milan and Venice on as cheap a budget as possible, and almost succeeding.

Wednesday night Lydia and I took our first Ryanair flight to Milan, and other than its 45 minute delay, we had no problems and arrived safely in Bergamo at about 11 pm, from which we took a bus to Milan City Centre and then navigated our way through the city at one in the morning to our hostel.  After a few wrong turns here and there, we finally found The Monastery Hostel and retrieved our bed sheets (yes, they needed to be given to us) and settled in for the night to catch some sleep before a big day of touring. Or so we thought.  Unfortunately, two of the men with whom we were sharing a room had the loudest and most awful snores I have ever heard.  I might have gotten 20 minutes of undisturbed sleep, at best.  It was atrocious.  We awoke completely unrefreshed and dehydrated but determined to enjoy our day in Milan.  After having some croissants, tea, and buying water bottles from the hostel vending machine, as there was no water provided at breakfast (?) we embarked out into the city to see it by daylight.  I have to say, Italy just made me smile.  The bright colors of the buildings, with wrought iron balconies and plants in the windows, were endearing.  We stumbled across a street market and wandered around with all the locals buying fish and fresh meat, flowers, clothes, fruit, and everything in between.

 We wandered the streets of Milan and finally found our way to Piazza alla Scala, where the Teatro alla Scala is, the Opera House.  We couldn't go in, but it was neat to see regardless. In the center of the piazza is a large statue of Leonardo DaVinci, who had quite an impressive beard!

We wandered further and eventually stumbled onto the Duomo, quite unintentionally but what we wanted to find! It was STUNNING. Oh my goodness, it really is a sight to behold.  My pictures will not do it any justice.  The details in this building are just incredible.  Milan isn't really that exciting, and doesn't have much to see as it's really just a city for shopping and banking, but this Duomo is well worth the trip.  Inside is just as incredible.  Each stained glass windows tells parts of the Bible.  I couldn't take any photos inside but the details of these windows were beyond astounding.  Lydia and I were having fun playing "Name that Bible Story" as we walked down each aisle. 






Outside the Duomo is a large piazza where people try to sell you bird seed for the pigeons and string bracelets and umbrellas and stupid glowing bouncy balls.  It really is detracting from the experience to be harassed while your trying to take in a gorgeous church.  I had to wander out, take this picture as fast as I could, and get back to the entrance so I could avoid the hagglers.  The police need to cut down on this more efficiently because it's really aggravating and honestly leaves a negative haze over the whole experience of the city and country, as we would see this again and again.

After the Duomo we headed off in the direction of Castello Sforzesco, the old castle of Milan which is now museums.  We paid a total of 1.50 euro for this museum, which is pretty darn cheap, and our first spending of the day!  They had an excellent exhibit on ancient Roman artifacts, medieval tapestries, furniture, and musical instruments, which as a musician was especially interesting.  But, again, upon entering the castle area, we were approached by hagglers.  Now, I must put on a pretty mean face, and I ignore them completely, which helps, as they didn't really bother me, but Lydia just attracts them and they harassed her much more.  We rushed on through though, and soon were safe in the museum.




 After the castle we headed off, through the Chinatown of Milan, to the Cimitero Monumentale, an enormous cemetery with the most incredible headstones I have ever seen - and you know I've been seeing many!  I totally went crazy here, and I just have to put up these pictures for you to see.  They are insane.  A bit gaudy, some were incredibly creepy, but on the whole, just awesome artistic pieces. Enjoy!

After getting our fair share of morbid thoughts, we left the cemetery, grabbed a snack from a cute little Italian woman's store, and headed back to the hostel to get some work done for a while, as it was between the hours of 5 and 7, aka the stores and museums have all closed and the restaurants haven't opened, so there was nothing for us to do.  Later we grabbed pizza and fried rice, cheese, and ham balls for dinner - cheap but tasty! Then we were in for the night, watched two movies, and then were off to bed for another unsatisfying but thankfully snore-free night.  We awoke in the morning and headed to the train station to embark onto Venice!

I was wary going into Venice.  Not because of any negative stereotypes I'd heard of, but merely because Venice is a place to which I've always wanted to go and have always expected to absolutely love, and I was worried that for some reason it would disappoint me and my hopes would be dashed. However, I can with immense joy tell you that my hopes were not dashed, but fulfilled and exceeded in every way.  I found a quote that quite describes it by Fran Lebowitz: "If you read a lot, nothing is as great as you've imagined. Venice is -- Venice is better.”   Honestly.  I walked out of the train station and my breath was taken away, despite the freezing temperature and light, windy rain.  I was giddy with excitement that I'd finally made it to this incredible city.  ...And then hagglers appeared on the steps, which dampened my spirits only slightly, and I quickly rushed past them. THEY NEED TO DISAPPEAR.  I was determined they would not ruin Venice for me, and they mainly stayed at bay the rest of the trip, thank goodness!

 We hopped our first waterboat taxi to our hotel - yes, HOTEL - Hotel Tre Archi, which was actually perfect.  The decorations were all gilded-style and pink and floral and girly and wonderful.  We stepped into our room (after having a little trouble opening the door; apparently you have to pull THEN push...what?) and burst into happy laughter at what we beheld: a sofa, a desk and mirrow, a cabinet with a minifridge inside, a tv, a private wonderfully equipped bathroom, and a STAIRCASE because yes, our bed was on a loft - our KINGSIZE bed!!

After staying in hostels and communal rooms so much, this was palatial living, and it was incredible, and for a steal of 18 pounds a night! I don't know how that is possible but it is.

And out our wood shuttered windows was an absolutely wonderful view. Why, hello Venezia!







We ditched our stuff, put on a few more layers since it was horrid weather, and headed off on the boat to San Marco Piazza.  Since we got there late afternoon, we were riding down the canal at dusk and soon into the dark, which was really pretty to see all the lights along the canal. San Marco was quite a sight, and we were excited to get back to it the next day so we could actually go inside.  We spent the evening shopping and finally settled on a restaurant for dinner.  I had lasagne as my first real Italian meal, and it was quite yummy!  We split a bottle of red wine and had a long evening dining.  I got tiramisu for dessert, which was great as well.  Living was good in Venice on our first night! We went back to our hotel and had an actually good sleep for the first time in days and woke up refreshed and ready to see the city by daylight.

Saturday began with wandering around our area, going into a few shops, and as what would prove to be the pattern of the day, churches.  Our first stop was St. Lucia's, where her relics are, which were really impressive and a little disconcerting.  It was a really lovely church overall with some gorgeous paintings, which would also prove to be the pattern - lots of paintings but not much stained glass, or even windows.  I didn't take any pictures of the interiors of the churches we saw, sometimes because it wasn't allowed, but mostly because I was enjoying looking too much and didn't want to disturb the sacred space, so now you'll just have to go to Venice and see the insides for yourself!!

We walked all the way from our Northwest corner of the city to the Southeast corner of San Marco Piazza, following the signs throughout the city.  Walking around Venice is why you go there.  Around every corner, down every block is a cute building, an amazing church, a shop, and the smell of pasta sauce wafting through the air.  I was in Heaven.  Really, a day could not be spent any better.  I love water, I love boats, so this city was really perfection for me.  The houses and buildings of Venice appear to be almost in a state of disrepair, but that's what makes it charming.  It's old and well used.  Very well used. Venice was bustling!  I never felt unsafe or lost or at risk at all - and I never felt rushed, which was really nice.  We could walk along at our own pace, take in the surroundings, and enjoy the city, as everyone else was doing the same thing. 

We did finally make it to San Marco at around 3 in the afternoon, and the inside proved to be as amazing as the outside - every inch covered in mosaics.  After seeing San Marco we stopped into a cafe and I got a cannoli and calzone, both delicious!

Then we went off to admire the famous Bridge of Sighs, which Lydia and I had been singing about all weekend from a song in Little Women the Musical, which is what the title of this post is.  It was a lovely view, both into the city and all the bridges lined up, and out of the city toward the open water. 

Then we went to see Santa Maria della Salute, the giant domed church on the canal of which Monet did a painting that I looked at in my Impressionism class so I was really excited to see this.  The inside had some lovely paintings, but the outside I personally liked better, and preferred the insides of some other churches we had seen that day more.

Now, everyone we had talked to said they didn't pay for transportation in Venice.  The first day we paid for tickets for the water taxis, but after noticing many people not swiping on, we decided to try and ride the boat without a ticket.  So we got on the taxi and headed in the wrong direction toward Lido, a different island and final stop and a place where you have to buzz in and pass through a gate to get on to a boat!! It totally ruined our plan, and I had to buy a one way pass so we could get back to Venice.  A one way (one hour) boat ticket is SEVEN EURO!!! How absurd is that?!  A DAY pass for London transportation is 7 pounds - how is one hour remotely ok?! Since we were trying to be cheap this trip, we tried to avoid this as much as possible, but alas, Lido caught us.

Anyway, we got back to our hotel, and did some work, then ventured out for a nice dinner on our end of town.  I got gnocchi in cheese sauce as my first course and grilled monkfish as my second course.  Both were delicious, as well as the white wine we shared.  After another nice, long, leisurely dinner, we headed back to the hotel and were in for the night.

Sunday morning we wanted to go to Murano, as the tides the previous day prevented us from going to any of the other islands.  We found a church which had an 11 o'clock mass on the island, so we got on a water boat at about 10 to try to head off.  Without tickets. AND GOT CAUGHT.  It was actually the worst moment of my life and I've never felt so scared/awful.  The pit in my stomach was unprecedented.  We presented our old tickets and he told us they were invalid and that we had to pay a 59 euro fine. !!!!!!! Neither of us had that cash on us, as we hadn't been spending hardly anything at all except on food and a few gifts, so we had to wait a few stops and have him ESCORT us to a nearby atm, retrieve the cash, and pay him, getting slips in return that deemed us "transgressors."  The fine provided us an hour's travel, so we eventually got to Murano, went to mass, repented heartily, and settled in for an hour of not understanding anything, but hey, first mass of Advent in Italy? I can't really complain.

The church was lovely and the priest seemed great - very animated and charismatic - I wish I could have understood him.  We headed off into Murano and browsed the island, looking in some shops and seeing the big glass art pieces scattered about, which were really impressive.  We finally had gelato, and then as our final meal got really good eggplant parmesan pizza.

Then, after buying another taxi ticket - no chances this time - we were headed back to Venice, passing the cemetery island on the way!! So of course I snatched a picture, even though I didn't stop for a visit. Soon we were on our way to the airport, and then before we knew it were home safely in London, where public transportation makes sense!

It's funny what a difference a day makes.  Saturday I never wanted to leave Venice; by Sunday, especially after our ticket incident, I was ready to go.  I think it's just the hassle of traveling and knowing you have to go that makes the last day so antsy.  But overall, I loved loved loved (can't say it enough) Venice and would certainly go back.  And this time be sure to always pay for every overly expensive taxi ticket because the fine costs more than the plane ticket.  I have learned my lesson.  My first and only time trying to cheat the system and I failed.  I shall never try it again.  My conscience won't allow it and my wallet can't afford it.  Ah well, here's to you, Venice! Enjoy my donation!