Warning: LONG ENTRY. But I had a jam packed few days staying with my family in Italy!
Arrived in Udine (about 90 mins West of Venice) on Saturday to visit family: my Aunt Catherine (dadd’s sister), Uncle Ugow(ho ended up being away for work) and my cousin James. It was a no-brainer that I’d try and get here while I was in Italy…why pass up the opportunity for a free bed and HOT MEALS?
Got picked up at the train station and arrived “home” to a meal of FISH (like, real fish…she took fish out of the oven and cut it up!), potatoes, green beans, and roasted red peppers. I could have died from happiness. And then there was cake! Daddy could NOT deal. And THEN I got to talk to my grandparents and my mom on the phone, and they were all so thrilled to speak to me. It was great.
We were going to go out and explore Udine on bikes but it started to rain. Went to explore anyway, but with umbrellas. It’s such a nice little town…I mean, I’D move here. Got GELATO…my first in Italy! Got a scoop of cookies gelato (it looked to good) and a scoop of nutella. I died.
Udine
Went to mass (in Italian!) the next morning which was quite an experience…at least there was a booklet to follow along with almost word for word! Met some friends, one of whom works for an American company and speaks English so that was nice and friendly!
Explored Udine on bikes during the day/NOT in the rain after mass. Can’t remember the last time I rode a bike, but I kind of want to get one for school next year. I’ll think about it…but it was great. Saw the entire town on the bikes…plazas, churches, schools, etc. and then went up to this castle where they have a panoramic view of the whole city. Quickly falling in love with Italy.
Headed to Jesolo for the evening/overnight, which is a nice little beach town across from Venice. Too bad it was cloudy! But we walked around the beach and the main street of town, went out to dinner and got the calamari that I’ve been craving after seeing it all over Spain, and of course GELATO (best part of Italy). Spent the night there in a family member’s apartment so that I could take the FERRY into Venice! TOO COOL.
Beach at Jesolo
Woke up around 6:45 to say goodbye to Aunt Catherine and James (they drove home to get him to school) and they left me the keys so that I could get ready and leave whenever. Just decided to stay up instead of going back to bed, went to get some bread from the bakery to make my sandwich, and hopped on the bus to the ferry. WHAT A GREAT FERRY RIDE! Rushed on to get a window seat so I could see…the ride too about half an hour and it was beautiful to come into Venice through the water instead of on a train.
Main street in Jesolo (in the A.M.)
Waited in Piazza San Marco for Gab and Mary to chill with them during their last few hours in Venice. Went into San Marco’s Church (beautiful!) and saw the Doge’s Palace and bridge of sighs right in the piazza…didn’t go into the palace—trying to save money for places like the duomo in Florence and the Vatican! But it looked just lovely on the outside.
Doge's Palace & St.Mark's Campanille
Basically got lost in the streets of Venice after that, which is great by itself. So many people say how gross it is and how smelly it is and it really wasn’t either of those things. I mean, I was only there a day. But still, it was great.
Venice
Watched Gab and Mary each eat massive pizzas at a nice little restaurant, and then it started to RAIN. Faaaantastic. Got wet, it was not cool. They decided to head to the station early for their train and get out of the rain, but I didn’t want to leave early so I went back and explored. It stopped raining for a while which was nice but then it picked right back up again after about an hour. Craaaap. Saved the day by buying gelato and standing under the buildings in the piazza…cool!
Piazza San Marco...in the rain. UGH
Definitely did not see everything there is to see in Venice but saw enough for one day…it’ll be one of the easiest places for me to get back to (hopefully I’ll always have a free place to stay up in Northern Italy!) so I’ll be back. Would have liked to go to one of the islands and watch them blow glass or something like that but the rain kind of turned me off and it was too wet to try and find the right boat to take me. Still a great day!
Nobody likes to ride gondolas in the rain....
Tuesday morning I woke up bright and early and headed to Padua. Got there around 11, and the rain held off until 1, and then it started POURING RAIN for the rest of the day. Came prepared with an umbrella, but that did not help the lost cause that is my shoes…I’ve worn them out so much and they”re getting a pretty large hole on the side. Debating if I should buy a new pair, wear my flip-flops the rest of the time and dread it walking around the hills of Pompeii and Rome for three days, or suck it up and pray for no more rain for my last 8 days. I may just suck it up and then toss them once I go to the Vatican…I don’t think flip-flops will slide there. So I’ll do that hopefully early on in my trip to Rome and then peace out shoes. That’s a whole other story.
By the time it started raining, I had walked around the city and through a park, sat outside and ate my packed lunch (Get this: my aunt packed me: fresh bread and a container of meatballs and roasted red peppers to make a sandwich, a slice of cake, peanut m&ms, a bag of peanuts, grapes, cookies, and a massive water bottle. Let’s talk about how much I’m going to miss her and my lunches…lol).
Basilica of Saint Anthony
I had also made it to the Basilica of St. Anthony, which was SUCH a nice place. The outside was so pretty, and the inside was beautiful with the hand painted murals on the walls and the ceilings and all that stuff. They have St. Anthony’s tomb in there which was wild and you can leave pictures in a box there to put on a board for prayers…would have brought some if I had known! Then they have this whole room behind the altar with relics like St. Anthony’s old robes that were full of holes and slowly deteriorating (from the 1200s!), and they have organs on display behind glass inside these beautiful gold display boxes…like his tongue, vocal cords…don’t remember what else there was. It was weird. But really cool.
While I was in the courtyard, it started raining. Luckily there was a roof around the perimeter, and benches, so I sat and read my book hoping that the storm would pass. Well, I finished the last 100 pages and it hadn’t passed…great. Decided to suck it up and walk around with my umbrella. Stopped along the way for gelato (when in Italy…) and just went right to the train station…saw enough of the town for a rainy morning and afternoon and like I said, I have a good chance of getting back there.
It had stopped raining when I got back around 6. No sun, but no rain. Got picked up at the station and took a ride to Cividale (a tiny little town 20 mins from Udine) and Castelmonte, which is this monastery and even smaller town on top of a mountain near the border of Slovenia. Everything was closed when we got there but it was still such a great view, especially being up in the clouds…it was so nice and quiet and peaceful up there. Good place for a monastery, I’d say. Then went down to Cividale which is the town at the bottom of the hill, and walked around for a few minutes, got gelato again (I love Italy) and headed home for my last hot home cooked meal.
Monastery at Castelmonte
I had SUCH A GREAT 4 DAYS. It was so cool to finally see Udine and to know what my aunt and cousin talk about when I see them. It was amazing getting meals and feeling full (not that I’ve been starving myself…but a lot of times bread alone just doesn’t cut it!). And having a room to myself and without strangers was also awesome. Now Florence! I only have 8 full days left in Europe…I cannot believe I’m going home soon. I’m ready, but I’m not. It’s a strange feeling. Oh well.
PEACE.
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