venice & milan! (extremely delayed)

so, i know this happened about a month ago (feb 20-23)... but i've been super busy with schoolwork & spring break (more on that to come later), so... enjoy it in all it's delayed & partially-forgotten glory.

after arriving, we dropped our stuff off at our hotel (Hotel Agriturismo Ca' Tessera), and took the bus back into town to take our first ferry ride. the sunset was indescribable.



we then had our first italian dinner, which was kinda... meh. (food in rome is a million times better). what venice definitely DOES have to offer is the masks. THERE ARE MASKS EVERYWHERE. granted, it was carnivale, but the mask stores make up about half the stores.








(yes, people wore these in the streets.)

after gorging on gelato (which we ate tons of), we ran into a beatles cover band (called the bitters), and checked out a drag show. i took videos / pictures, but i'm not really sure anyone wants to see a guy in a very glittery thong singing "get this party started"... i know i don't want to again.





the next day we had the most amazing cichetti, stared at all the amazing canals and outfits that people wore, and stumbled upon the da vinci museum, where i found out he invented the hall of mirrors (when i was 4 or 5 i went in it and walked into every mirror and got very bruised. damn you da vinci). also, he invented how to walk on water. smart guy.

we then ate the most delicious pizza in the world:


and headed back to piazza san marco to take more pictures of the insane outfits.

while in venice, we also went to the island of murano where they make world famous glass [& we watched a guy make glass & i bought stuff which broke :(]-




& we also went to an opera, the jewish ghetto (which is the world's first ghetto, formed in the 1500's. yay italy =/), checked out the rialto bridge, and ate a tonnnnnn.

on monday we went to milan, where we checked out the world famous duomo church & castello sforzesco (italian for huge beautiful castle).


the duomo


the castle

we walked A MILLION miles, & it was probably one of the best weekends of my life. sorry for the lack of text, but the photos pretty much say it all.

here's all the photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017975&id=1379550005&l=04e65394ec
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017977&id=1379550005&l=ebf39b637b
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017980&id=1379550005&l=b73049bd9e
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017981&id=1379550005&l=62a2a96351

liverpool

I could easily write five pages about my obsession with the Beatles. Like every other child of the 80’s, I got my love for John, Paul, George and Ringo from my parents. To give you an idea of how they feel about them, my brother was named “Paul“ after Paul McCartney (they chose Randi for no reason… the joy of being a second child). My mother was lucky enough to see them at their famous Shea Stadium concert, but all she remembers hearing and seeing is screaming girls. Growing up, my dad would sing “Do You Want To Know A Secret“ to me almost every night at the foot of their bed with his guitar (along with Perry Como’s “Catch a Falling Star“), and to this day it’s one of my fondest memories. So, needless to say I was extremely excited to go to Liverpool.

After arriving on February 13th, we checked into the hotel and walked around the area waiting for the long-anticipated Magical Mystery Tour. Despite having every Beatles song ever created on my iTunes, I didn’t know the story behind a lot of them. For example, I have the Germany recording of “My Bonnie“ with the Beatles and Tony Sheridan, but I didn’t know that it was their first recording ever. I didn’t know that Brian Epstein originally owned NEMS records, and signed them in January of 1962 (I thought it was much earlier). It was really cool finding out what song Paul McCartney auditioned for the Quarrymen for – Eddie Cochran’s “Twenty Flight Rock.“ I had always thought that Eleanor Rigby and Father McKenzie were fictional characters, until I learned that Eleanor Rigby is buried at St. Peter’s church, and Father McKenzie’s real name is Tommy McKenzie who was the master of ceremonies at all of the Northwich Memorial Hall concerts.



I absolutely loved the tour. Getting to see all of their childhood houses, get a picture with and drive along Penny Lane, and to visit Strawberry Field made me indescribably happy… it was definitely one of the best afternoons of my life.



After the tour, we had free reign to explore the town. After grabbing some delicious Greek food opposite the bombed out church with Chris Maggio, it was off to the Cavern club. For about ten minutes, all I could say was “I CAN’T BELIEVE I’M AT THE CAVERN CLUB!!!!“ The Wall of Fame was breathtaking… the fact that I was where SO MANY famous acts had played… one of the most famous clubs in the world… signing the wall… I couldn’t contain my excitement.


If only it was the real John Lennon…



The next day, we went off to the Albert Docks to see the Beatles Story museum. The amount of Beatles trivia and objects were staggering… the Quarry Men drumkit, John Lennon’s first guitar, their contract with Brian Epstein, Ringo’s drumsticks, John’s glasses, the microphones they used at Abbey Road, a brick from the original Cavern Club… the list just goes on and on.
After the Beatles Story I was off to the Tate with Sarah Fasching, where we got to see pieces of work by Picasso, Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock, and my favorite, the Salvador Dali ‘Lobster Telephone.‘ We also visited the slavery museum and the Hard Day’s Night Hotel before getting back on the bus to Crosby Beach. Overall, this weekend was the best experience I could have asked for, and I love the Beatles now more than ever.



Posing on Crosby Beach with one of the sculptures


here are the photo albums:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017083&id=1379550005&l=7c199
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017084&id=1379550005&l=08940
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017090&id=1379550005&l=9ae6c

also, feb 20-23 i was in venice/milan with chris, and then from the 6th-13th i'm gonna be in rome & athens. more on those later. also, i have zero desire to ever return to the united states, let alone ithaca college. more on that later too. currently i'm swamped with my brit pop journal/studying for my midterm on tues/internship stuff... the only reason i even posted this blog entry was 'cause i already had written it for my journal.