Europe

Hello again,

I'm writing (at the moment) from the orienteering event center in Folgarìa, about 50 minutes' bus ride from Verona, in the mountains. As Eileen checked us in, I noticed the computers with big signs saying FREE INTERNET, so this is good. I probably won't finish this email today, though.
The nice thing about this computer is that the keyboard types exactly what it says it will, unlike most foreign computers I've had experience. Howerver, I'm still prone to typing 'à' instead of ', and this is not the only character that's been moved from our American settrings, although I'm happt to report that most of the essential ones remain the smae or similar.

Journal time!
6/28/07 (Sweet sixteen..)
We toured galleries today. After a hostel breakfast (this hostel, by the way, tries to cater to a variety of foreign tastes, so we got eggs and toast, as well as the European bread roll and hot drink), we set out to claim our reserved tickets at the Uffizzi Gallery. After some confusing lines, we entered to view famous works, mostly depicting Christian religious figures, including Botticcellis (or however that's spelled), da Vincis, works of El Greco, etc. The halls, too, were lined with lovely sculpture of Classic gods. After many, many rooms, we grew numb, but did traverse the entire gallery. Upon our exit, we elected to try a different sort of museum, this one focused on science, particularly Galileo, with famous scientists' tools, old globes, and really interesting machines. Unfiortunately, the machines all had signs on them saying, 'no tocare,' meaning, as I'm sure you can discern, 'don't touch'. Really. There was a miniature pendulum, which I blew on, and a woman came into the room, gave me a stern look, and halted its swinging progress. It was almost depressing, to see the beautiful mechanics of the machines, and inclined planes with bells to show acceleration of motion, and the mechanically implausible object that rolled up a ramp and not be allowed to see how they worked. Fortunately, later on, we stumbled across a tiny da Vinci machines museum, advertising its hands-on exhibits of the constructions from da Vinci's journal, so that particular urge was eventually sated.
That night, we ate in a little restaurant, and ordered deserts with interesting names in honor of my birthday.

6/29/07
13:13
In the morning, after breakfast, we caught the train to Venice. We had been required to reserve seats on the EuroStar train, but the woman at the counter had crossed out the seat numbers on the ticket, telling Eileen that it was open seating. Unfortunately, it was open seating only for us, and everyone else's seats were reserved. After moving a few times, we found ourselves in the space between cars, where the train doors opened and closed and people left their excess luggage. While there, we met two girls, one going into her senior year and the other just graduated, traveling from Miami to all over Europe. They were good company for the several-hour trip.
21:57 Venizia
I float in a trance
Through a labyrinth of beauty
And drift on the breeze,
My shawl a sail:
Music and romance-
A Venice night.

I know it's cliched to get all romantic about Venice, and I was dubious as the hot sun struck the cobblestones when we disembarked from the train, but we walked out this afternoon to explore and lay on the steps of a church for half an hour, lulled into calm by the breeze and lapping water (also, our feet hurt from walking).
Later, we made pilgrimage to Saint Marc's Square, where we tried to catch pigeons, with little to no success. On our way there, we came across hordes of people (well, a number of them) in very fancy dress and followed them to the Doge's palace, to what appeared to be a fancy dress party. There were reporters and people who were probably famous, but none of us quite had the courage (or words) to ask what it was, so we carried on.
We walked home in the dark, over lit canals, through winding cobbled streets, and all around us, couples smiled, talked, and held hands (thus my poem).

6/29/07 21:59 Venice
We bought a 24-hour water subway pass and went out to neighboring islands. First we went to Murano, of the Venitian glas, saw a glassblowing demonstration, and poked through gaudy, pricey glass shops. Turning into backroads, we saw picnickers in a park (we saw ginkgo, pomegranates, and chestnuts growing) and sat on swings, then got up and walked a small road to the other, residential side of the island, where we sat with our feet in the water, caught crabs, and watched garbage thrown from a boat, picked apart by seagulls, and left to float by us in the time we were there.
Walking back to the peopled (touristy) area of the island, we caught a boat to San Michele, Venice's cemetery island. It was made up of nwested courtyards, centered around a church, with sections portioned off for nuns an mausoleums in the walls for old Venetian families.
Riding back to Venice mainland, we fed pigeons in Saint Mark's Square, holding our arms out, sometimes with breadcrumbs (but not always) for the trusting birds to land on. My record was sixon my arms at one time, some on my head, and some on each others' backs. Ryan caught a dove.

Remarkable and Interesting Facts and Observations
-Somehow, they managed to fit a heater, bidet, stool, trash can, and shower into our tiny hotel bathroom along with the usual toilet, sink, and mirror.
-The shower (very European) is a handheld, on a sliding holder. Also in the shower is an inexplicable cord hanging on the wall. There was one in the Florenine hostel, too. I pulled it, but nothing happened. I was somewhat disappointed.
-I had always been under the impression that all of Venice's streets were canals. This is not the case. Venice is more like several small islands, separated by canals, which are, in turn, bridged. The land is covered in buildings, between which wind labyrinthine, narrow, cobblestone streets and alleys. The canals are used mostly as a tourist attraction (expensive gondola rides) and in the larger ones, in a system similar to a subway, with little ferries as trains, and docks as stations.
-Doorknobs are generally located in the center of the door. I have no idea why, but I'd like to imagine some historical reason.
-The cheaper food is often tastier. The expense of food is sometimes deterined by whether you get to sit down or not to eat, and the places Venitians eat are smaller, efficient places. I had an excellent spinach-cheese sandwich on foccacia at one such location.
-Courtyards and churches are everywhere.
-Each restaurant hass its own oorchestra or musicians, especially after sundown.
-People dress up here for everyday wear. I almost fit in!
-Tides rise and lower the canals.
-Door open onto water. Along streets, stairs lead down into the dirty canal depths.
-Breakfast: little rolls, butter, jam, and choice of hot drink.
-Saint Marc's Square floods 250 times a year through drains in the bricks.

Well, there's all sorts of adventures to recount, and we're no longer in Venice, but someone's waiting for the computer, so I'll just leave it at that. Buono?