Arrivederci Venezia

*sigh* I am back in Siena. As glorious as a city as it is I really liked Venezia and shall greatly miss it. This morning I woke up and got ready and as soon as the other four were up, in order to use up some food, I made some delicious eggs with feta cheese on top sprinkled with basil and also some olive oil toast. It was quite tasty. Then we headed to San Marco to see the basillica! There was a huge line and at first I was really worried we wouldn't make it in but it moved really fast. We got in minutes after it opened and wow. Never before have I seen such an extravagant display of wealth in my life. The Venetians truly were a power. Quick fact: did you know at one point Venice controlled 40% of the Holy Roman Empire? That's how powerful! The Basillica was it's own unique type of beautiful. Not my type but still amazing. The city of Venice is a mixture of Byzantine and Renaissance architecture and it makes for an interesting combo know as Venetian Architecture. While in the basillica I saw some bronze horses that supposedly were made in the time of Alexander the Great (but it's debated) which if they were holy cow! Pretty much the coolest thing ever. I'm going to research as soon as I can and find out their story. I also was able to see the power and glory of the Venetian Rule. The treasures they amassed /stole was phenomenal. Of course being St Mark's Basillica I saw the body of St Mark (from a distance ---$$$) and it was interesting.

We had to leave pretty quickly to get packed up and grab a vaporetto back to the train station. We managed to grab a train an hour earlier than we planned (traffic was good!) and we were off! The train ride was pretty good. Same old. We had a two hour layover in Bologna so we did some exploring. That city has quite the history too! It's much older than Rome itself. It would be interesting to explore, but my trusty Rick Steve's guide didn't say a word on it. Jake and I managed to find a bookstore and do some research as well as some Italian plaques near some ruins (in Italian of course). I think it would he an interesting place to visit. If I rememer my history correct, Romulus and Remus (founders of Rome) were from Bologna (it was a different
name then). I might be wrong though. It was absolutely gorgeous going from Bologna to Florence. The train cuts right through the Apennines and wow. It was rainy weather and the mountains were amazing. I loved it. My kind of scenery. It's rainy here in Siena now too and it feels great! Tonight I made dinner after finally arriving around 9ish to the apartment and we enjoyed a simple pasta meal. I'm starting to get this basic Italian cooking down! Hopefully by the time I leave I'll know some good recipes! But bedtime now! Tomorrow I wake up and go to
Assisi! Ciao!