paris holds the key to my heart

Things I’ve discovered about Paris… It smells like urine, the people are mean, and the food is gross. Other things I’ve learned… the style is fantastic, the museums huge, and the architecture priceless. I am loving this experience. Today we got up, had our usual little café breakfast downstairs with the best croissants and nutella ever, good pineapple yogurt, and OJ. The group met, got on the metro, and headed to Saint Chappell which is a stunning church real close to Notre Dame. I remember my art history teacher (shout out to Aunt Cheryl) telling me about how it looks like a jewelry box and it so does! It’s a small chapel, maybe only 50’ long, but the entire walls are filled with this stained glass depicting the bible. It starts in the corner and runs all along the nave, or middle section, to the apse, back part, and along the other side of the nave. It’s incredible how small and detailed the glass gets. All in all there are 15 windows shedding a rainbow of beautiful light into the church. It’s breathtaking really.
We then ventured down the street to the Pompidou Museum, which was designed by Richard Rogers. The entire buildings structure is located on the outside of the building, but after all it is an art museum and meant to be a little different. Architect’s dream. My favorite part was getting to the actual exhibits by an outdoor escalator system. Once you get to the top they have this sexy little café with a water pond floor. The views of Paris were incredible! Ok, so enter the museum and on the wall are these huge, bright, cartoon buttons that tell you what artists work is featured in the museum. Modern art speaks to me. I never really viewed myself as someone who likes bizarre sculptures of wire or a canvas painted only blue, but something just did it for me. I fell in love with art and design all over again. Most people would think, wow, Kylee you like really bizarre things… and truth is, I do. I wish I could begin to describe what I saw in there, but I think pictures will do this crazy museum better justice. In short… I love.
For lunch I headed over to a cute little creperie stand for my first French crepe. What do I order, sucre (sugar), of course! I had to try it to compare it to my grandmother’s Danish pancakes, hands down grandma wins. It was good; don’t get me wrong, just not as sweet as I thought it would be. Megan gave me some of hers which was egg, cheese, and ham. Pretty appetizing considering it was an odd crepe combo.
Next we walked on our way to the Louvre, only we had to take a garden detour because it had a cool statue, see above. I was so excited to get to the museum I just didn’t even care to take many pictures on the way. We also stopped by this old building with a completely metal organic façade. It was odd to see the juxtaposition of that building so close to the Louvre which is so classic French. Anyway, after all the anxiety we built up by taking side trips we finally arrived in the courtyard. The building is HUGE! When you walk through the arch and see the giant pyramid by I.M. Pei you can’t help but cry a little inside. It’s everything you could’ve ever hoped for, everything you could imagine. The pyramid is so gorgeous. The water ponds below reflect off the glass and make shapes upon the original building’s walls. You can’t help but feel the magic of design and beauty engulfing the space. I finally entered and was so overwhelmed by how large it is. We decided the best thing to do was go through the art by age, little did I know that 6 hours later we’d barely scratched the surface. We all know how much I love art, but I was bound and determined to get to every piece of work no matter how long or tired I was. Mission accomplished. The Louvre and I got into a battle; it and its 14 miles kicked my trash. The pieces of art were timeless and I couldn’t believe that I was actually seeing these masterpieces for myself. I saw priceless things like the Mona Lisa, The Madonna on the Rocks, Delacroix’s works, Nike of Samothrace, and the Venus de Milo. All of these deal with women, mostly naked, and I just realized that. Moving on to why all these works are so famous…the human body is beautiful, no matter what form the art is in. I feel honored to have been there. One day I’ll go back and stand at every picture and truly study the beauty of it. For now I just had to do what I could to see everything.
Megan, Susie, Michelle, Ashley, and I decided to then get some grub after we were completely drained and exhausted; food is always the best pick me up, no battle. Megan knew of this good crepe place where they make the crepe in front of you on a circle griddle. I shared an omelet with Ashley. It was divine. After this because we were already on Champs D’ Elysse we headed to the Arc de Triumphe. Due to the fact that I was past my limits with moving my body, the sound of hiking up more stairs for a view of Paris was appealing. Regardless, making it to the top felt like a triumph. It wasn’t that high but it was beautiful and great to see how large the city was.
We then had to book it to the Eiffel Tower before they closed it. What happens we’re late and ta-da, closed. Bummer. Off to my bed where me and Charley will be hanging out… and by Charley I mean the horse.

I tried to get more photos of me and not objects... not a good idea.

bastille!

It’s Bastille Day! I wish you could see the actions that went along with these words, in the meantime let me tell you a little bit about Bastille Day in Paris. Basically this is it, cram 1 million people in a park under the Eiffel Tower, and add alcohol and cigarettes, the end. In truth it's France's independence day when the people caused a civil war by storming the Bastille. Honestly when we started our day by going to the parade I got excited due mainly to the fact that I missed my own independence day and was looking for some sweet revenge on that fact. Unfortunately we woke up late and could barely see any of the parade due to the fact that there would be rows and rows of people on the sidewalk, and wait for it, more rows and rows of people on another sidewalk. Yeah, same side of the street. The French are bizarre and need no explanation for crazy things like such. Anyway, all we saw was about 60 soldiers marching in rows. Not my kind of parade, I wanted pretty floats! Mom, you know how I feel about this, and balloons. Next thing, as I now realize I’ve been standing next to a pile of urine, airplanes zoom across the sky waving red, white, and blue smoke behind them. Talk about American! It gave me this sense of home I’d been longing for in this holiday, yet at the same time it scared me to death to think that in the travesty of a world war these boys and planes would be fighting against my beloved nation and boys. It was one of those uncomfortable situations and the only thing we could do was try to get back to our hotel and establish ourselves again. Due to the tremendous outpouring of the French, the Metro was closed and we had to walk approximately 700 miles back in the middle of the day.
Our plan was to nap, due to our early morning rise, and do homework before bed. Knowing me you probably figured out that the homework thing never happened. 4 hours later I wake to find a day lost. We hurried and met up with our normal group and headed to the park for some Bastille Day fireworks. On the way we stopped at this cute little corner shop and had sandwiches. Divine. Only problem, I wish there was a sandwich to go with the bread. Regardless, we walked to the park under the Eiffel tower and sat for two hours for the show to begin. I got bored and started entertaining my fellow classmates with some dance moves, stand up comedy, picture taking, anything I could think of to help cure the boredom. The best part was when their national greatest singer came to give a concert. He looked like an older Neil Diamond, sequin jacket and all, with a hint of black eyeliner and 89% looking like the devil in Little Nicky. (Sorry I don’t know the actors name) Moving on, he sang all these songs in French which we don’t understand, clearly, so Becca and I began to make up the words we thought he was saying. Prime song writing. Generally his songs were about dead flowers, dropping things, and love affairs. I had some pretty sweet dance moves. We got a good seat next to some Canadians and drunken French boys. Also it was probably the coolest firework show I’ve EVER seen! They had lights light up the tower that made it seem like it was moving. The fireworks would go off to the music beautifully while the holographic lights would build up the Eiffel tower piece by piece. The whole entire show was a montage of their war history. At one point it was filled with hippie flowers. Honestly I wish I would’ve filmed the entire show. It did sparkles, and bright red, and words, and pictures and everything you could think. Definitely worth the wait. Anyways, on the way back it was back to back stuck traffic due to the 1 million people and we were being followed by a creepy man. Don’t worry my travel instincts got us out of there in a jiffy. We made it back safe and happy!
Also shout out to all those who are keeping up with these blogs; they tend to get boring and monotonous. Thanks for the darling comments and support. I hope one day I’ll be able to write back. Until then…

pictures to follow.

hello paris (hannibal voice)

So the day started out all wrong due to the fact that I woke up on a train with my face in a seat belt latch. Not pleasant. Luckily I woke up close to when we got off the train. We shoved our crap off the top of our coach and folded everything up. This experience taught me that design, even in an economical sense, matters. Every body shape and height needs to be taken in to consideration. Also I learned that I could never be a hobo. So I threw back my hair, washed my face with a wipe, and put my shoes on. This was the ultimate walk of shame- hey guys yeah I’ve been wearing these clothes for two and a half days it’s cool. We hopped on the bus to head to our hotel, not a normal bus, a luxury bus with a cappuccino maker in the middle. Hip. Also he was rockin’ the D.A.N.C.E which cheered me up real quick.
We arrived at our hotel after passing all the highlights of Paris, the Eiffel, Notre Dame, and Musee D’Orsay. In comparison it’s about like Florence add a star or two. Good news is that we have a larger shower. We have windows. We have a floral print bed. We also have internet 24 hours a day! Gloria. Bad news is that we have one plug, the lights don’t stay on over the windy stairs, and we don’t have a shower curtain, door, or any type of barrier. Hoo-rah.
After we got our bags in we headed to get sandwiches at a café, best thing to eat yet. Our entire group went to the park and sat, sketched, and enjoyed the Eiffel tower. I could not believe the great size of it. It truly is breathtaking. We began to sketch, probably my greatest gift, and you pay attention to all the small details. Little history, little background information, the Eiffel tower was supposed to be made for a temporary exhibit for the World’s Fair, meaning it could come down quickly after. Needless to stay it’s become a huge part of the French history. Also it’s painted 3 different shades due to the height of it. They want it to look uniform and it can’t because of the way our eyes work, so they tricked us. Now you know. Anyway, we had to set up our sketches and mine was picked in the top 10, pretty cool. Darrin then made us sketch the entire thing in 3 minutes, 1 minute, and 30 seconds. How hilarious is it that I actually like my 3 minute one best because it seems so sketchy yet you can tell what it is. By this time it was getting hot and we headed back to the hotel for some free time. Our typical group decided to go to the catacombs where the who’s who in France are buried. We walk our butts up there and what happens, oh yeah… closed for the holiday tomorrow. I almost drop kicked that guy… not fair. After this I had had it with this French culture business and wanted a piece of home, where do I go when I need that feel, you got it the Hard Rock Paris. Naturally I ordered a huge burger with fries, no coke. Gross. I loved watching the old music videos and seeing the old artifacts of rock legends. My favorite part was that I got water for free, with ice, and refills! Seriously, I will not take that for granted again. After this we headed back to the hotel for our special meeting to go on a …. Drum roll….. Boat tour! We walked by Notre Dame, got some pictures real quick, acted like the hunchback… great pictures I’m sure. We did the classic jump picture and I completely stumbled over Ashley, smacked my head on the concrete and laughed my self to tears. Hello Paris, love Kylee. We walked down the Seine River enjoying the ambience and young lovers and boarded the boat. Not only was this the greatest thing ever, it had lamp posts and fake poinsettias to add! Honestly though, the sites were all illuminated and standing out against the night sky so beautifully. The river reflected the light and you felt immersed in Paris. I learned a lot about each building, about the Louvre being the longest museums, the Montmarte is where Marie Antoinette was beheaded, and so on. Unfortunately my camera couldn’t capture this well and it died so you get nothing except the pleasure of knowing that it was gorgeous. The group boarded the metro, so much easier than Rome and walking. We got back at about 12 and here we are, bedtime!

goodbye my love

And this would be our free day in Venice… we woke up early so we could get to church on time. This is quite the process due to the fact that we had checkouts when sacrament meeting was and couldn’t store our bags at the hotel. So at 8:30 we headed on to a water taxi to the train station to keep our luggage. I hauled all 70 pounds by myself up a flight of stairs around the corner and down the entire length of the station. Unfortunately we had to give a copy of our passport for them to even take them, but we were bound and determined to make it to church, and on time. After this we hustled over the new contemporary bridge to the bus station. Quickly purchased our tickets and hopped on. Three quarters of us, Josie, Megan, Mal, Whitney, Becca, and Laura, had to stand as the bus drove into Mestra, which is the closest city on the coast. The bus pulled up and took us to the train station there. Side note, thanks to Megan’s brother Shane who is serving in the Milan mission who had a companion who served in Venice, we had perfect directions down to the approximate yardage. We had to hop on another bus, walk a little ways and we approach the church. It’s a building set back, with a yard and trees in front, a quaint white building with arches. All of us walk up and open up the heavy wood door. A man immediately runs to get the missionaries and we end up sitting in an Italian Sunday school class because they were busy. It was actually very interesting to hear Italian and then certain words like Joseph Smith in English. Although I didn’t follow anything that was being said it was nice to just be at church, to have that little bit of home back. The room was small with about 8 members and 50 wood chairs. I loved this poster which had a picture of the Italian peninsula with all their churches shown in relation to the cities in which they were. At the bottom it said Italian Mission Success. (In Italian of course, but I could tell what it was saying) I thought it was so adorable and true that because of missionary work they now have all these churches that they love. They had a picture of Christ and a chalk board. After this we were guided upstairs to sacrament service. We met a man, Daniel, who interpreted to us over headsets. I missed the first talk because we had to share, but the second talk was about eternal marriage and preparing to have hard times in marriage. I found it very insightful even though I’m not married it’s good to focus on. We then sang Families can be Together Forever in Italian for them, and English for us because we knew it. Within possibly the first few words I of course teared up and starting crying. Mainly because the Italian was so pretty to hear, the words in English made sense, and the song testifies of families being together eternally. At this point I was really beginning to miss my family and heavenly father sure knows how to make you feel better. It just reminded me that no matter how far apart or distant, no matter the struggles or turmoil, I’ll always get to be with my parents and brothers. The meeting ended with another speaker and song, this time we tried to sing Italian from the hymn book. What I loved mostly was the sweetness of it all. The building was so plain with tiled floors and wood beam ceilings, a piano in the corner, 50 wood chairs lined up perfectly, a few chairs in front, and these amazingly cool glass lights that looked like fire. (Italian gets it done when it comes to lighting fixtures) I was a little jealous though that they had an electronic hymnal sign. The thing was that no matter how humble the circumstance or design aspect it made me feel like home because of the feelings that I felt while I was there. After sacrament we stayed after and talked to the Danish family who sat by us and the members. They were all so friendly and helpful, I felt like a celebrity, maybe because I’m clearly not Italian by the looks of me; I was some kind of foreign alien. We headed back to the mainland the same way we entered and then broke up to spend our last day in Italy doing what we wanted. Megan and I decided to just sit by the water for a while and watch the people, watch how they lived and immerse ourselves in the culture. I noticed these things- that Italian people are never in a real hurry to get anywhere; they take their time getting places, enjoying what’s around them. I wish I was more like that. Italian people are skinny because they have to walk everywhere, and also because they just eat carbs and burn them off like nobody’s business. I wish I was like that. Italian people genuinely care about their friends, neighbors, culture, and city. I hope I’m like that.
After our observations we decided to walk down the streets and do a little window shopping. We weren’t really feeling it and decided to just wander and again immerse ourselves in the land. Italy is unique in that every corner holds a vendor, almost every building is a store with windows all the selling the same thing, and everybody wants you to buy. At this point in the day I was starving and needed some substance before the train ride, so what do I do, yes… head to American cuisine, McDonald’s. I had had it with trying to eat fake meats and Italian pasta and pizza. I needed some home. I walked in ordered my little happy meal with pineapple for dessert and sat down. I cannot tell you how excited I was to eat this. Provided I knew what I was getting. Also, I could sit in there all day, the design was so posh! They had a flat screen TV, white marble floors, swanky leather chairs, tiled things on the wall, vinyl wall wraps, and cool metal tables. I was impressed and confused as to why ours in the US don’t look that way.
We continued our adventure on to the Rialto where we had to get some last bits of gelato, as we hadn’t tried pistachio yet. It quickly topped the charts. SO GOOD! I highly recommend it. Soon we met up with Michelle and Ashley on the bridge and headed to do the most famous thing yet in all of our travels, a gondola ride. We met our man and jumped in the boat. The gondola was black, red, and fuzzy all over. It reminded me of the 16th century, and was so fitting for that. I grabbed a little padded bench seat on the side and off we headed to the Grand Canal. Our gondola driver, we’ll call him Henry, told us all about the different sites around Venice such as the prison which was white and marbled, and the oldest home in Venice which dated back 30 centuries, and that Venice has a new top layer for entrances because of the ever changing water levels. He then sang to us and told us all about the gondoliering business. They have to take gondolier school and pass two tests; also they can’t just be one after they pass the test because the city only allows 425 to be in business. Despite all these technical terms, you have to wait for someone in your family to hand down their license, basically, to you because of the art of doing it. We took our pictures with him. Best twenty Euros I spent. It was so worth it to just be on the water and see the beautiful city.Meg and I continued back to the shops on our way out of town. We purchased a few things and heard a few things, this was my favorite thus far, a woman smacked a man and said, “Do not go home to her!” Needless to say it was hilarious and a true lovers spat. The train ride came soon enough; we grabbed our luggage and pushed our heavy bags on to the two ounce big train. It probably took half an hour to get us all situated into our little coach. Naturally my bag wouldn’t fit under the seat, so we had to heave it into the air on the top bunks and shove it above the door. Quite the process for about 4 bags. The next process was putting sick nasty sheets on to our foam pad fold down beds. I swear the blankets had lice and infectious diseases. So after hilarious accidents, crammed uncomfortable seating, and exhaustion we fell asleep. Whoever designed these cars was about 4 feet tall because for someone of my stature it just wasn’t working out to be on the top bunk or get around. The later was toothpick big and my bunk had two ‘seatbelt’ looking straps holding it to the wall. Worst sleep of my life, but we made it to Paris! I think I might really begin to miss Venice. It was all too perfect

seven eleven

Venice could not disappoint me if it tried. Every day I wake up refreshed and ready to get lost. I’ll snap a picture of something beautiful and turn around and find something more beautiful, and this problem is never ending. Today was such a glorious day in the life of Kylee. Everyone waited outside our hotel and what happens, oh yeah our appointment at Mazzega Glass on the island of Murano, the contact tells us we have private boats coming to get us. Not only was this the coolest news I’ve received while here, the boats were gorgeous wood and white seats. Plush I tell you, plush. This lifestyle can continue forever! Anyway they took us to this little island where they only focus on glass works. We met our guide and he directed us into their factory where Maestro, no joke that was his name (so fitting), demonstrated how to make glass. He whipped out a vase in approximately 2 minutes and then a little horse figurine in the same time. The process was intense because if he didn’t do it right it would blow up. He takes his stick and dips it in water, blows into the pole, shapes it on a stand and Ta-da! Talk about economical, easy labor and an expensive product! After this shocked and changed my life they showed us their showroom. Beautiful works! Every corner was something new and phenomenal. The 9 rooms were lined with these glass chandeliers in every shape and color. As most of you know I have a small fetish for chandeliers (hence my profile picture), and this was a small corner of paradise. The design of them was just so detailed and classic. The smallest pieces were 4 Euro, not cheap, but they were so friendly and helpful that I loved it. The art works ranged from a little bead to a huge stained glass window, great range and color. After our small tour we hung out on the island and shopped in all the glass shops. My favorite moment was when this little Italian lady came over and yelled at me for touching things, because apparently I’m a five year old and not to be trusted. This will not be the end of this today, foreshadow.
We caught a water taxi and headed over to St. Mark’s cathedral. Little did I know that this would take an hour and a half. I fell asleep on my one-hand-on-knee-pose, head bob a goin’, and all the passersby got a good laugh. Needless to say I came away a little nauseous and vertigo to the max. We missed our stop due to our exhausted state, after crossing the Grand Canal twice, we arrived at Ducale Piazza which house the Doge’s Palace, St. Mark’s, the Campanile Tower, and countless other things. The group of us waited outside for only twenty minutes or so and entered St. Marks. What I loved most about this church was the gold mosaics and incredible marble tile floors. We couldn’t stay there long unless we wanted to pay. What I saw, without taking pictures, was breathtaking. St. Mark’s is the cathedral with 5 domes, with the largest in the center, it’s a Greek cross layout and absolutely unique for that time. Susie, Megan, and I then attempted to walk through Doge’s Palace, it cost 20 Euro, so it was a no go and we headed to the Campanile Tower. I’ve decided the flat rate for climbing things with hundreds of stairs is 8 Euro, 8 Euro for death. Best part, it was an elevator. Yet again, the views were spectacular and I have to climb anything and everything to see cities like this. Next thing you know I’ll be in Salt Lake climbing the capital. Uh Huh!
Meg and I went alone back down and tried to be studious little art historians and find a beautiful art museum but we had no idea which one to go to so we sat in the piazza for a long while, talked, and headed back to the hotel. I got in my room and crashed on my bed, shoes on, bag on, key in hand. I was KO’ed. Luckily Megan called me and had done the exact same thing, and also we had dinner plans with everyone who went to the beach to meet at Rialto Bridge. We picked out a quaint little seaside ristorante, the man was so rushed to sit us down, so we did. After getting my drink of water bottle in green glass (water isn’t free here anywhere), and ordering, the man came over and yelled at us for only ordering one plate. We weren’t that hungry and tried to explain that but he just yelled and told us to leave, take my water as a “gift” and leave. I was mortified and more embarrassed than anything. He was so rude about it because we didn’t want an 8 course meal. The best part was that the waiter didn’t even care because it wasn’t communicated that guests had to eat a minimum of 2 main courses. Surriously a joke. I almost cried and we scattered away with a newly found lost appetite. Next we ran in to Becca, Mal, Jenna, and Whitney who were hungry and decided upon a quaint little riverside place. I ordered Gnocchi which is potato bread dumplings and it was so prime. Good news is we didn’t get kicked out. Go us.
We finished the night by walking around, crossing bridges, and talking. Venice gets more and more beautiful by the minute. It’s hard to believe, but it does. The lights just glow and reflect off of the water so perfectly. Although I love being here and this experience I feel that something is missing, something that allows me not to be able to absorb this all and I figured it out. It’s the fact that I’m not here with anyone I love. I need to be able to share this with someone who knows and understands what I’m talking about, I need to have that connection and I can’t. So… if I focus it’ll be better. But here I sit back at the hotel, still swaying side to side from the great water boat ride, wanting a pastry from the other side of the hotel, but that requires walking down 3 flights of stairs, down four doors, and down the hall. Too much effort. Italy loves and misses you.

a venetian friday

Oh Venezia, how you’ve stolen my heart! After I fell asleep, the most comfortable sleep of my life, we yet again woke up just in time to get ready and go to breakfast. Luckily my body has an anti-anxiety wake up call. Ashley and I had to run from our hotel into the larger hotel to eat breakfast. It’s the strangest thing because we’re all in the hotel, all connected, but there is no connection to about 6 rooms except the front. Let me explain to you the breakfast now, best yet. The room is all white with strong black counters and dark wood floor. Fabric covered dining sets with tropical red flowers. The food itself was 700 times better; I ate the eggs and ham! Honestly the modern cleanliness speaks to me; it makes you feel clean and important.
Our journey began by walking across town, and by across I mean over bridge and through alley, to Rubelli, who is a fabric and textile company centered in Venice. Their showroom was in the palace of the family and maintained for their clients. The women there were so sweet and made us feel so welcome. Isabella showed us the historical antiquities and collection from the very first pieces until current day. I loved the clothes that they had, a little boys coattails and a corset. It was amazing to see the metal and cardboard with the beautiful fabric and ties. I was surprised that something like that could still look so beautiful if it’s well preserved. It makes me want to protect everything! After this they showed us their current lines which are designed after Italian cities. My favorite was the collection on Rome which was very modern patterns, geometric, and bright funky colors. The fabric was so beautiful as well as the palace. We had a heyday with touching these high, high, high, end textiles. The really cool ladies just let us wander and told us about samples they were selling. Naturally we had to look and possibly purchase. Now realize that these fabrics cost 1,200 Euro a meter! Some of them are even sewn from silver and gold strands. I’m going to post some of these pictures, but know that they do not do it one ounce of justice. I seriously loved it, totally my style.
We had a lunch break and tried to find a place so we ate a pizza slice on the go. Best pizza yet! It had a thick crust and American style. Prego (that means thank you, not with child)!
We got back to our hotel for a minute and sat on our bed, and what did I want, oh yeah, a nap. Too bad it didn’t happen; we had an appointment at Fortuny so our entire group had to jump on a water taxi or vaporetto and head clear over to the other side of the city to their factory. We met the manager and looked at the small showroom. I loved the old time feel you got from the rolls and rolls of fabric on the wall, the paper lanterns and wood beams. What’s cool about Fortuny is that their founder, Mariano Fortuny himself created a method of dying and printing these high end fabrics with his own machines. The man was a genius and created his own dyes out of natural items, created a dome light in theaters, and even dabbled in fashion with his Knossos dress. The secrets of his method are still held tight in their factory and they are very selective about what questions they will answer due to that. The manager was such a nice guy and took us back to the spa gardens. They were gorgeous with rows of ivy and cobblestone paths to a majestic turquoise tiled pool. My favorite aspect of this pool was the circle steps on columns. I had never seen that before and it was marvelous design, the logistics and safety I’m not sure about. The group called it a day and we headed back to our hotel, except a few of us girls decided to do some shopping in the glass shops because Venice is famous for their glass work. Now we blog of the day! Happy travels.

venezia

Due to the disco un-events of last night, what happens, we don’t go and oh yeah, we wake up late. Not just late, ten minutes before we’re supposed to leave. I bust it to the 1’x 1’ shower and throw everything in to my bag and head out the door. Luckily the professors had decided that instead of rendezvousing to sketch that we could have more free time. Hallelujah! Michelle, Ashley, Megan, and I took off a running to the market to find souvenirs and such for our loved ones. It’s in this little alleyway where about 60 carts are lined up selling there goods.
My favorite line that I got was, “You dropped something miss?”
I being the nervous tourists that I am start getting nervous and looking around.
“Your heart.”
I laughed but then was a little angered because I am not a mean American just trying to pass these vendors up. If I had the funds I would buy something from everyone, unfortunately I’m not famous and haven’t inherited billions. The great thing about this scenery was that the salesmen were so clean and neat. You touched something, they put it back right in order. Design aesthetics were entirely important to these people in order to make a living. See design is everywhere and everyone can use it. I made my purchases and hobbled down the cobblestone road to our hotel so we could savor the last precious moments with the internet (as we have no idea what to expect next). Tried to blog for a minute then had to be back to the hotel for our train ride.
I love the procession of all of us design students, single file, one large bag, one backpack, and generally a purse. I imagine that from heaven we look like ants just trying to find our next meal, take that as a metaphorically, or not.
Once again we sat in the train station for about half an hour. Greatest moment of my traveling experiences happens next. The Italian police walk over to our huddled masses yearning to train ride and then asks me for my passport. I of course get it out and hand it over. Half an hour later all three of the Polizia are writing down my information on a clipboard, radioing to the grand master about me, and not speaking a word of English. Not only do I have no idea what’s going on, I have to sit and wait and not understand what they’re saying. I was scared out of my mind, what if they took my passport away from me, I hadn’t done anything wrong! Finally they handed it over and said, “Normal check.” Yeah, my eye it was a normal check. I’m just marked as a terrorist everywhere I go. Now my social security is in question. I suppose they thought we were trafficking women, 24 young girls and a few men. You do the math.
Finally we were able to get on our train and end up in Venice. I slept practically the whole way. There is just something about the sideways lull of that train that just gets to me. I slept like a baby in a car seat. Ta- dah! Venezia! I cannot even begin to describe the beauty of this city. Gorgeous! The water just glistens off everything like a dream. All the homes are apartment style with amazing wood doors and red geraniums in the window planters. My favorite part is that they even hang their wash out to dry. We took the water taxi to our hotel. We had 3 minutes as a group to get our entire luggage off, needless to say we didn’t all make it and some got left behind. Thankfully we made it to our rooms. Ash and I have this posh champagne damask and thick wood beamed room. Surriously an upgrade. D Brooks hooked us up! My insight to this is that I feel so much more at home, better confidence, and comfort with a place like this than the 0 star in Florence. The curtains are huge and beautiful; the shower is glass with an adjustable removable shower head, a bidet, huge mirror, and comfy bed. It took all my energy to leave the hotel, but I did. We walked around the streets and took Rialto Bridge to see the sights, unfortunately my camera died and I have nothing to show for it. The sights were amazing and water was such a beautiful green blue. Us normal group of girls headed to dinner, starving and wanting good food. We strolled to a little restaurant which we loved until I ordered and got the bill. I wanted crisp vegetables, so I ordered a salad and sprite for my tummy. The salad was an ounce big, just tomatoes, and cost the same amount as the sprite. Delicious dinner Kylee. Good one. Anyway we just wanted to be back in our plush hotel and have been here since, enjoying every minute of this great design. (Even the toilet paper holder rocks my world; it reminds me of a metal money holder) All in all today was a good day to just look at the city and relax.