Here (finally) is my entry about Venice! Hands down, favorite city. I think it was partly getting away from the obnoxious noise of cars and motorbikes, and partly being surrounded by those beautiful canals.

A lot of the time, I was just walking around. On our free day I walked from one end of the island to the other, going through all the little alleys. For class, we went to San Marco to study the building and look at all the mosaics inside. The piazza outside the church is the most crowded, touristy place in the whole city. There are lots of cafes and orchestras playing, and a ton of Murano glass shops. We also went to the Accademia to see paintings by Bellini and Titian and took a day trip to Ravenna to see more mosaics.

One day, Stevens bought us vaporetto tickets. They allow you to use the water buses as much as you want, so Ali, Cristina, Max, and I rode up and down the Grand Canal.

Writing everything down, it sounds like it was an uneventful week, but it really wasn't. It was nice only having a few academic things to do, and the rest of the time was just spent exploring Venice.

This morning we left Venice and took the bus to Vicenza where we looked at some of the architecture of Andrea Palladio. His Villa Rotunda inspired Thomas Jefferson in the design of UVA and Monticello. After that, we continued on into the Alps until we came to the village of Cortina d'Ampezzo. We are spending a day here to rest before we move on for the last 10 days of our trip. It feels strange to have it ending because we have been here so long. I am excited about Germany and Belgium and our last few days in London, but I will also be excited to finally get back home.