As I already wrote in one of the posts, recently I have been to Venice with my mom. We were just wandering around the city with no certain goal – it’s not very productive, but we thought that running around on fire and searching for some things to remember isn’t a very good way to spend the weekend. Especially when you’re in Venice. I mean everybody knows it as a city made of tiny islands, hundreds of bridges and gondolas, but what historical meaning is there, significant museums and stuff, well, I knew nothing (I am a bit ashamed of myself) except for this piazza something that is always shown in the movies with tons of doves flying  over cafés with beautiful women in sunglasses and light skirts. And it was almost as expected, except for the dove over cafés, it was raining cats and dogs, pretty cold, still magical.

When we arrived at the hotel a lovely gentlemen gave us a map of Venice right away and pointed out some significant places like the biggest church, the oldest church, a church with some arts and another church. And a palace. That’s it. I think I already said somewhere or to someone that Rome is a city where there’s more churches than coffee places? Well, that’s like all of Italy and the most touristic place on earth is not an exception. To my surprise a lot of churches hold some exhibitions. One of them has already appeared in this lovely blog – the one with the collection of music instruments. But this one is really something. I don’t know why, but I always had a feeling that crazy inventions and Catholicism aren’t friends, burning on stakes and stuff, but I guess now things are way better.

So one day we were wandering through the smallest streets I’ve ever seen and suddenly we ran into this church Chiesa di San Barnaba in Venezia, and on the porch of this church we found a very weird thing that looked like artificial wings. That rang a bell, we thought – why not check it out? So there we were, amazed by Leonardo’s inventions reconstructed from his sketches, and it was awesome!

Recently I have found out how greedy I am. Well, on the one hand it’s a good thing, I’ve managed to see a lot of things, on the other hand- I got a bit scared of the fact, that if I paid for something, I’m using it no matter what, ha ha! Ok, I’m just kidding, it’s not that bad. Here’s the story.

The day before yesterday my dear friend Tommaso came to Rome, He’s Italian but lives in Berlin, so we don’t get to see each other that often. And since he himself isn’t roman, he convinced me to go to Foro Romano and Palatino with him. Just FYI the ticket is 12 euro if you’re older than 25 and if you don’t study archeology. I thought it was a bit unfair, because I’m also a student, who cares if I’m not 25 anymore? I’m still a student, I’m young! :) Anyway, we went there and it was pretty interesting, walking through the ruins of something that is over 2000 years old. In addition to that it was a warm spring day, sun was shining, no coat needed, up to 20° in the sun, who wouldn’t like that! But, my touristic happiness lasted up until the moment I had to go to the conservatory, I still have to attend classes, that’s the main point of my stay in Rome. So I said “ciao” to Tommaso and that was it. Until I realized that that ticket is actually valid for two days and you can go to coliseum with it, and that was it, I knew my plan for the next afternoon! And then tomorrow came and I guess winter wanted to show everyone that it is going to enjoy its last day and live it in full strength so it rained. Rained hard. Like when you get wet in 2 minutes and the road get’s so slippery because of the water that you’ll hit all the records of kissing the ground with your soft parts. But no, that didn’t stop me. I had a tiny bit of a doubt, but I found myself taking the metro B till the Colosseo station and here I am, ready to enjoy ancient ruins in the rain. It’s necessary to point out the fact, that Colosseo has no roof. There are some hallways, but most interesting parts are there in the open, and one more thing – it’s all made of stone, can you imagine me with my shlimazl luck on the slippery second floor of this majestic building? What a surprise, I managed to stay on my two beautiful, but moving around took more time. I even bought a guide, but holding an umbrella in one hand and a camera in another completely crossed out any chance of reading it on the spot. Actually, there’s a good thing about the rain – it washes away all the unwanted tourists – less people, more space for me!  Anyway, I’ve been to Colosseo, seen a lot, enjoyed a lot, got wet a lot, found out that it took over a hundred years to build it, on the grand opening day over 5000 animals were killed and if necessary it could be turned into a big pool to play ship battle (Romans invented some awesome pluming system). Unfortunately the upper floor is closed for visitors and the basement floor is only available for guided tours, but I think I’ve seen enough, the place is huge even without two parts. Money were spent without any regrets, mission completed!

And the picture part!

A Couple of weeks ago I had the honor of listening to my Erasmus colleagues playing (and singing) in conservatorium. Actually there were two concerts, but since I went to Riga for some gigs, I was able to attend only one of them. And since I’m becoming Roman I arrived some 15 minutes late and missed the beginning, but all the rest I’ve heard was more than great! Although I’m not a fan of classical music I found the choice of each students personal program very inspiring and the time spent there was spent in pleasure. I myself decided not to participate in the concert because I figured that a drop of jazz in an ocean of classic would ruin everybody’s evening and that not all of the concerts are meant for me to sing at, I think I was right, because mixing up styles is not always good. Anyway, next time I am going to participate, because the head of all musicians decided to separate jazz from classics, and make different concerts, which is good, so if you are in Rome, my friend, come and feel the joy of jazz!

And as always – pictures!

Yesterday i went to a show. My first attempt to experience a show in Italian. I understood one joke out of maybe 15, but that’s a success, especially concerning the fact that I have been learning Italian for only a month and then all the new stuff I’ve got comes  from my land lord. Now I can communicate with her on some basic subjects (can i borrow your milk or i’m going out and i’ll be back late). Anyway, the show was interesting and a bit hm…ironic? sarcastic? cause the name of the band is Kea (hello Ikea) and they were dressed up as some warehouse workers (with high heels and makeup). They had a whole show made up of jokes, singing, videos, impressive :)

I went to Firenze a couple of days ago with my colleagues – other Erasmus students. Everyone decided to spend one day there, but I thought that since I’m willing to visit every available spot in Italy I want to see more, especially concerning the fact that the probability of my returning to Firenze is very little I’d better stay for 2 days, so I’ve booked a hotel (with some adventures, but I managed to do that), spent a wonderful day with my new friends and when they left started exploring the city on my own.

I found Firenze to be a very special place. Full of tourists but not as overwhelmed by the opportunity to earn money from them as in Rome, but willing to share a smile and a positive vibe. Don’t get me wrong, I love Rome, but I found more people that speak English in Firenze than in my hometown, if I can say so. And the prices are way better, for food, drinks and entrance tickets to museums. As usual I have made a million of pictures, but first of all I want to share my last minutes in that awesome town.

So I am a person that panics a lot when modern technologies fail. My phone died, I had no navigation and it was almost time to go to the station and I decided since I’m using the old fashioned tourist gadget – a MAP OMG, I should start heading to the station earlier, so I did. An hour before my train. What I forgot about was that from the place where I was it takes like 10 minutes maximum to get to the final destination. Of course I came to the station too early and had a lot of time to enjoy all its magic.

I like stations, they are usually designed to be convenient and interesting at the same time. I don’t think that this last criteria is intentional, but I hope that those guys that build places like that do think of those, who’s forced to spend more than 10 minutes there, and not just trying to impress the client with some sophisticated solutions.  I like observing people at train stations, you can see a lot of different emotions on their faces, people meeting other people, saying good bye, just chilling, worrying about something, basically all stages of life happen there, it’s amusing and entertaining :)

Anyway, Firenze station!