Field Trip! (Part 2)

To continue where I left off in the last post...we arrived in Verona on Tuesday night. My hotel room there was amazing--I was in a quad with 3 other girls, and we had a small kitchen, a small but nice dining room table, 2 big rooms, and a bathroom with a jacuzzi in it, no joke. After we got excited about it and had practically all of the other archies come in to see it, we went to find dinner. We went to a pretty typical on-the-cheap-side restaurant, and most of us got pizza. On the way, we saw a building lit up on a hill a little ways away, and I decided I would try to run there in the morning. I went the wrong way a few times, but eventually found my way up that hill in time to see the sunrise over the city...it was absolutely gorgeous. Verona has a river running through it and is surrounded by a few green hills with trees on them, so it is very beautiful, especially from up above. Also, when I got up the hill I learned that it wasn't just any building up there, it was a church dedicated to Our Lady of Lourdes. She has a special significance to me, because the grotto at Notre Dame is a small scale replica of the one at Lourdes (which I will be seeing this Saturday!!). At first I couldn't actually get into the church, or anywhere near it, because there was a gate leading up to it that was closed. There was also a sign that said it didn't open til 9. However, at about 7:15 a guy came and unlocked the gate, and then went up to unlock the church. I wasn't sure if I was allowed to go in, because of the time and because I was wearing my running clothes, but I figured I couldn't come all that way and then not try, so I waited til the man was out of sight and then went for it. The church was dark inside, so I couldn't see very much of it, but outside behind the church there was a statue of Mary and a sort of mini grotto. I stayed there and prayed for a little while. It was awesome and totally unexpected, sort of like finding out about St. Dominic's tomb and then being able to visit it. Another small gift from Jesus and Mary:-) That was probably the highlight of Verona for me. Oh, and there was another tower to climb after lunch, and I took a picture of that church from the top...


it's in the furthest-back-and-up center, with a green roof

We left Verona earlier than usual, because we had an afternoon visit to Villa Rotonda, near Vicenza! Villa Rotondo consumed many many hours of our lives as freshman archies, because we drew it several times as we were learning how to draft: in plan, in elevation, in both 1 and 2 point perspective....and, these were the first drawings that we ever watercolored. So it has a very special significance to our class. Also, last year was the 500th birthday of Palladio, the architect who designed it, and we had a big celebration at Notre Dame that involved a cake in the shape of Villa Rotonda. So it was pretty incredible to finally see it with our very own eyes. Here it is!


all 4 sides are symmetrical, you can see 2 of them here

Besides Villa Rotonda though, Vicenza was only so-so...our hotel was sort of on the outskirts of town, so we had to take the bus in to get dinner that night, and then it took us quite a while to wander around and find a place to eat. When we finally did, it turned out to be a pretty local sort of hole in the wall place, so the food was good. I had pizza again:-) My run in the morning was alright, nothing special though--it was through busy streets with sidewalks just like the ones in cities in the U.S, so I almost could have been back there. I also have a small confession to make--for lunch in Vicenza, we went to McDonalds. They had a euro menu! So it was pretty cheap, and everything tasted the same as at home...my strawberry milkshake was quite good, in fact. We left Vicenza that evening by train, instead of bus, and arrived in Venezia (aka Venice). We had to take a vaporetto from the train station to our hotel. A vaporetto is Venice's form of public transportation--it's a boat bus, I guess. Anyway, it's pretty cool. Here's a picture of one that I took the next day (or possibly the day after, I can't remember--we were in Venice for 3 days).


the yellow one is where you stand to wait, and then the boat that says "Actv" on the side is the actual vaporetto

Part 3 will be my adventures in Venezia! A presto!