Just Kira’s Weblog

Today was a big day! We covered a lot, and I fell in love with Venice. It’s the most beautiful city I have ever seen.~_~ We left in the morning with our own personal guide; a friend of the people we’re staying with in Cento, and his son. When that 3 year old speaks Italian, he is the cutest thing ever X3.

Our first stop was actually Padova (Padua), which is a quiet town. Its main claim to fame is the church there dedicated to St. Anthony of Padova, the patron saint of children, among a variety of other things. Apparently he’s a pretty famous saint for Tamil people (even non-Christians), so we visited. My parents did their whole candle-lighting ritual and I’m once again just there for the architecture. Oh and also for the relics. Slightly grotesque in my humble opinion, but interesting nonetheless. They had his tongue and jaw, and some other artefacts.

We only spent a little time there and headed to Venice, where it was really, really crowded. But really really stunning. We used the bus boats to get around, you can get one of those day passes and it’s a pretty easy and affordable. The boats are fun but scary. The “bus stops” rock like crazy- they’re just platforms with walls. And only two walls in some cases; at one station there was no boundary between us and the water. No people either, to stop us from jumping/falling into the water. And the little 3 year old that came with us was pretty inclined to do that. XD So cute. There are also gondoliers but my mother was frightened at their lack of safety. >_>

The first place we went to was Piazza di San Marco (St. Mark’s Square)- the one that’s famous for the attacking pigeons, I believe. But because the place was filled with tourists there the pigeons’ attentions were diverted. : p There are a lot of nice-looking buildings there to look at, and we decided to climb the old Clock Tower. The view from the tower was absolutely gorgeous; we could see all the separate islands that make up the city. It`s at times like these that I decry my lack of photography skills; I wish I could take awesome pictures that would express Venezia`s beauty to its true extent.

After leaving the Piazza, we walked past the infamous Ponte dei Sospiri (Bridge of Sighs), named for the sighs of prisoners as they crossed the bridge and saw Venice for the last time. I guess prison didn’t have any windows.  We took the boat to Murano, an island famous for its glasswork. : D They had really nice pieces, but we didn’t want to risk breaking any on the way home, so we didn’t get any. >_> We have too much stuff already anyways. After leaving Murano, we got off at the San Marco stop to get souvenirs, and I bought one of those pretty carnival masks that Venice is famous for. : D After that, we drove back to Cento for the night. : o

Even though we spent a lot of time in the city, it definitely wasn’t enough for me. I’ll be seeing you again soon, my Venezia. >: 3