The Weekend

Wow... so I have the internet for today! This means what? More pointless blogging by me!

This weekend was an interesting one - kind of. On Friday after class, Stefanie and Scott and I went to the train station to make reservations for our Eurrail tickets and our upcoming 3 day trip to Austria. The original plan was to go to Lake Garda but instead we decided to stick around Friday night. Aldo took us out for a beer and we enjoyed fully (only one, but the beer here is so good you don't drink it to get drunk really!) But because adults are reading this, I'm now changing the subject ....

Saturday Scott and Stefanie went with a few of the others to Lake Garda but I decided to have my lazy weekend. (No, not Lazy Sunday ... although Stef and Scott fully enjoyed my ITunes video of this!). I woke up, eh approximately 12:00 and then wasted an hour just lounging around in bed. I had a cream cheese sandwich for breakfast with a glass of milk and then decided to do something with myself --- something useful. So I showered in our smelly bathroom (we cannot quite figure out WHERE the smell is coming from, but it smells). I got myself all dolled up and went for a stroll on the streets of Verona. I saw nothing new as I strolled the same streets I always stroll .... but I was on a mission! Charge my phone with minutes!!! It took three places, but I finally succeeded, and then I stopped by a pay phone (I know, silly right? I walked all over to charge a cell phone - telefono cellulare - and then I use a pay phone and old fashioned phone card!). Lets just say it is much cheaper to use the pay phones! So anyway, I called my daddy and he was shopping at Lowe's buying railings for the new deck I'll have when I make my return! THEN I called Dustin ... now I have a bone to pick!

First of all, imagine this! He told me that he was probably coming to visit at the end of our trip so I could travel with him while Scott and Stefanie travelled together. I've been super psyched, right? Well I called to confirm his plans and found out the following:

HE'S PROBABLY NOT COMING!!!!

Well, of course I was sad so I went home and napped off my sadness. Needless to say, I'll live. But it was sad.

Sunday was new day and a new adventure. I sat on the bus next to Joe ( a really cool guy with a girlfriend he misses greatly --- we have something in common!). We talked about the situation from Saturday and he understood my sadness, but we both decided to just have fun! We soon arrived at our destination: Mantua! Here are few pictures of i palazzi (palaces) the town center and of a chiesa (church in l'italiano):

In Order:

• The Secret Garden at Palazzo Te
• Facade of Palazzo Ducale
• Basilica di S. Andrea
  

So these are just three of the pictures. I'd love to showcase the amazing art we saw inside of each palazzo but no photographs were allowed to be taken. Most of the amazing artwork dates back to the Renaissance Period. My favorite room was the room of the giants in Palazzo Te. It was a room where the artist (Giulio Romano) painted a picture of Jupiter (Zeus) and his rage towards the Titans who had dared to climb to the top of Mount Olympus. It was absolutely breathtaking with the entire wall covered in the fresco. The room curved in the corners and if two people stood in each corner and one person in the middle of the room, the two in the corners could conversate without the person in the middle hearing!!!! Palazzo Ducale was impressively large, but not nearly as beautiful as Te in my opinion. Ducale took over an hour to visit and our guide was not nearly as nice as the Te guide (perhaps because of a few of the guys had taken it upon themselves to become wasted during lunch with wine!).

So here ends my weekend. If you are perhaps wondering about the last photo, it is simply a picture of a beautful dome and of a fountain that I liked. We ate pizza at a small restaurant with that view, so the picture was therefore taken! Anyway! This is long and probably boring to most!

Ciao!