The Rest of Italy and The Day that Lasted All Day and All Night and All Day

We arrived in Venezia on Sunday evening and took a water bus (it’s actually a bus boat!!) to our “tourist house.” The tourist house is a unique lodging feature without a person at a desk on the ground floor. We picked up our keys and paid about a five minute walk from the house itself and then we let ourselves in and locked up behind us. Supposedly there are other guests here; there are about six rooms and there is evidence of a daily maid.

After getting set up in our little house, we sought out dinner. We aimed to find a place that would be discounted because of this little pass we bought, but we were so cold and hungry that we gave up and ended up sitting down somewhere with heat and margherita pizzas...story of my life.

We ended up having a very nice dinner and we walked a little bit outside around the bridges and canals. Venice is everything I dreamed it would look like and more. I’m glad we came during an off-season because there are no lines and no crowds, but I can see this city being so incredible and vibrant during warmer months. For climatical reasons, Adina, Rachel, and I retired early to our tourist house, showered, and snuggled up for The Hangover. Joshy surprised us too!

Speaking of Group #2, there have been some shifts in groups. Saturday was our last night in Florence and we had planned to hang out with the group previously known as Group #1 as well as Meir and Jacob. Once we met up with the boys, the group previously known as Group #1 told us straight out that they didn’t want to hang out with us! We were surprised and despondent. In our moment of sadness, Meir and Jacob came up with a brilliant plan, promoting themselves to the Group #1 spot and subsequently demoting the group formerly known as Group #1 to Group #3. The brilliant plan involved hanging out in the beautiful Monna Lisa Hotel lobby for about an hour and visiting with the mothers who were both entertaining and endearing.

This morning we rose at a responsible hour, thanks to everyone else in the group. We took a water bus to the Jewish Ghetto where we toured three synagogues (German, French, and Spanish origins) with a non-Jewish tour guide who was actually great. We learned so much about the history of the Jewish community in Venice, which started around 1516 when Jews were invited to the city from Germany to be money lenders. The Jews were kept in a small square, which we saw, and they were locked on the little island at night. The only professions open to them were money lending and medicine, and doctors were not locked in at night, nor did they have to wear a distinguishing garment when they exited the ghetto during the day. The name “ghetto” actually comes from Venice, because “jetto” is the Venician word for “foundry,” which is where the Jews were placed, but they couldn’t say the “j” so it became “ghetto.” The three synagogues were all unique, but the Spanish one is still in use and much larger and richer than the other two we saw. I learned about the French “Canton” synagogue in Art History at Hebrew U so that was actually so exciting to see the twisted columns reminiscent of the columns in Solomon’s temple.

After the synagogue tours, we boarded another water bus and went to Murano Island to see the glass museum. It was a really, really freezing cold and windy day. We found warmth in a cafeteria near the museum, got lunch, and braved the cold to return to the museum. The museum had some beautiful pieces of glass art and I enjoyed the walk around. We continued on our tour by reboarding a water bus and going home to the Rialto Bridge.

We had a quiet evening in Venice at a diner-like restaurant. We didn’t want to pay for the supid “aqcua minerale” so we brought our own plastic water bottles and refilled in the bathroom and drank it sketchily behind the waiter’s back. It was very high school house party, but funny at the same time. The night ended with Miss Congeniality and a much needed shower.

The next morning we set out to find the San Marco Palace. We asked countless people for directions and couldn’t find it, and Adina even got yelled at for not saying “bonjourno” and “scusi” first. In our moment of despair, two gondola rowers found us and offered us a deal we could not resist: just 10 Euro each! The cold was not unbearable at that point, so we embarked on a gentle journey around the picturesque Venice canalways. Our gondola man was really nice and informative and the ride was just perfect, and not even cold! Definitely a highlight of the trip.

Our nice gondola man even took our group picture and pointed us in the right direction of San Marco when the ride was over. Instead of going into the palace though, we just toured the free church, which was gorgeous and elaborate of course, and saw the palace from the outside. It started snowing while we walked out to the open waterway and the whole scene was one hundred percent beautiful. We took a water bus from San Marco to McDonald’s Island, a much needed stop. Once on McDonald’s Island, we located the mothership easily and dined like kings. McDonald’s Island is not actually called that, for future Venice travelers, I just don’t remember what it is really named and that’s what we were calling it the whole time anyway.

We picked up our bags from the tourist house after McDonald’s and took our last water bus to the train station. The train took us to Bologna, and we enjoyed a snowy rural landscape on our way from the comfort of our warm compartment. In Bologna, we located the proper bus, boarded, rode, and landed at our Imperial Hotel. The hotel was perfect. We gave up immediately on going out somewhere for dinner because of the wintery weather and dined instead in the hotel, and it was very good. Then we played with each other and enjoyed the free wifi. In the morning, we downed the free, delicious breakfast, and I even illegally took an apple to go. I forgot about the apple though, and only just found it two days later while waiting for an absurdly long time at the Malpensa Airport in Milan! What a nice surprise!

Our day in Bologna consisted of checking our bags at the train station, walking to the old city, window shopping along the way, and checking out the university which is actually the oldest in Europe. The day was just what we needed: cold but clear and sunny, interesting but not educational, occupied but not jam-packed. Our train out of Bologna to Milan ended up being cancelled so we had to spend a little more and wait a little longer, but I was in good spirits so the Cancellato did not bring me down.

The train to Milan had compartments like we were hoping, but it was terribly distressing when we were all split up into different ones! My compartment smelled like smoke, but my compartment companions were quiet and unobtrusive. I had a window seat which was lovely, and the sunset was so red and pink over the snow covered fields! Milano Centrale was the last stop, and we reconvened there in the majestic station.

The walk to our guest house took us through a shadier side of the city than I would have loved, but the rooms were very nice, included free internet, and were inexpensive. We got into Milan kind of late because of the surprise train cancellation, so we went out for a later dinner near the guest house and then returned for an episode of Friends and sleep.

Today, Thursday, was a big, wonderful day. We started with 7:30 am wake up and we were on the Metro soon afterward on our way to Cadorna. From there, we walked to The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci!! We had reservations thanks to Rachel’s superb planning skills, and otherwise we would not have been able to see it! The painting was really cool, especially since whenever I picture Jesus I think of him the way he is depicted in it, and also after reading The Da Vinci Code it is truly a must. The whole trip here I was kind of wishing I had read it more recently, but still I remember bits and pieces.

We stopped for a leisurely breakfast complete with creme croissants and hot chocolate and then we walked past a really big castle and then we went to the Brera Art Gallery. We saw The Kiss and also The Marriage of the Virgin, as well as all the other paintings. It was a really great gallery and very stimulating. From there we walked to the Scala Opera House but didn't get to see the inside, and then we walked through a nice shopping area to the Duomo. The Duomo was very elaborate and beautiful especially on the outside, and it had some great stained glass from the inside. We shopped afterward and made our way slowly back to our guest house. After some last pee breaks and internet checks, we walked to the train station where we picked up our shuttle and we were off to the airport!

The airport process was filled with waiting, and everything just took so much longer than it really had to. We got there at 7:30 pm, which was perfect, but then there were lines for the questioning and lines for the bag check and lines for passports and we just waited around sooo much. We saw Groups #2 and #3 in line, and we kept each other company. I worked a little on this blog post and had a little nosh and finally it was time to get on the plane home!!!

The flight was fine, and my ear didn't bother me. I slept, I ate, I listened to music. The usual. We landed at 3:30 am and Adina yelled out, "Glory, Hallelujah, we are HOME!" and I almost cried I was so happy. The plane had stairs to the ground instead of a tunnel right to the door of the plane and I kissed Israel out of joy the second I stepped foot on land. We waited in more lines at the airport and finally it was time for the final leg of the journey-the 45 minute sherut ride home to Jerusalem. It was 4:30 am by this time, but I couldn't sleep because I was so excited to be in Jerusalem again.

Today, which is technically Friday but feels like the same day I wrote about Thursday, I woke up at 7 am for breakfast and to go to the clinic. The weather and sunshine totally invigorated me and the walk to the clinic was really nice. I talked to a very intelligent sounding doctor who was able to clean out my ear and take a good look, and apparently I have a perforated tympanic membrane and I need further care. This information concerned me a great deal but I got drops for the immediate infection and Meir distracted me with clever conversation on the way home. I slept for another hour, and now I'm awake, and it's lunchtime, and soon it will be Shabbat.

Shabbat has never been a more welcome day in my entire life!!!!

There's no place like home!!!! <3