By Tammy H. - Guestblogger from Venice
Traveling by trains in Italy is easy, cheap and convenient. Once you learn how to use the "Fast Ticket Machine", you don't have to wait in long lines at the train station ticket counters. There are several of these machines nearby. You can press a button to choose your language among 8 common languages, then follow the directions and arrows to go forward or go back if you want to change the date or the time. You can also choose the kind of train to meet your budget: local, direct, express, or intercity. (The fast and comfy EuroStar trains require reservations that a ticket agent or a travel agent can do for you.) Once you have finalized you choices, you just insert your euro bill accordingly. Your ticket and your change will come down. Really simple!
On my last Saturday in Venice, I decided to make side trips to Padova (Padua) and Verona. Padova is only 30 minutes from Venice and the train ticket only costs 2.90 euro. Its prestigious university is the second oldest in Italy (after University of Bologna) and was once home to Galileo, Copernicus, Donatello, Dante and Petrarch. Its famous Capella Degli Scrovegni (The Scrovegni Chapel) holds gorgeous Giotto's frescoed scenes from the bible. Only 25 people are allowed in at a time to protect the paintings from excess humidity. Normally you have to reserve tickets ahead of time but I was lucky to get one right away. After visiting all the usual tourists' sights, I also walked around different town squares for people watching. In Garibaldi Square, a street performer was juggling three torches to the tune of lively music from a small boom box. In another town square, the fresh produce and fruit markets were crowded with buyers.
Verona, well known as the setting for Romeo and Juliet, is an hour from Padova and 4.95 euro by train. The courtyard of the Casa di Giulietta (the House of Juliet) was full of tourists. I looked up at the famous stone balcony and saw a young girl with long hair posing as Juliet for her boyfriend below, so I took a few pictures too. Then I walked to the Arena, the biggest amphitheater in the Roman world when it could hold up to 25,000 spectators. Now it is the place for the famous Verona Opera Festival every summer. Like most other cities in Italy, Verona has beautiful cathedrals and basilicas with lovely frescoes and paintings inside that I never get tired of looking at. I enjoyed some quiet moments sitting in an empty church with all the beautiful and religious artwork around me, giving me a sense of serenity and peace in my own spirituality.
By Tammy H. - Guestblogger from Venice
My two weeks in Venice went by too fast. I've learned so much, walked everywhere and seen so many wonderful sights. My school for Italian language and culture has a dedicated staff and lively, well-trained teachers. I felt a warm welcome on the first day when I received a folder full of practical information for new comers and an orientation session about Venice. The teachers make learning fun with small group work and pair practice, with interesting and realistic reading passages about life in Italy while teaching grammar. There are different cultural activities every afternoon or sometimes in the evening. A teacher would take us on a cultural walk to different parts of Venice each time. I'd always remember the time we were invited to a teacher's beautiful and spacious private home. We had a glass of wine with some biscotti while listening to her talk about Dante and recite dramatically two of his poems. I told her I'd just visited Dante's tomb in Ravenna the previous Sunday. On my second and last Friday at school, one of the teachers had us sing along some lovely Italian songs. That afternoon, we learned how to make tiramisu, and then we all enjoyed tasting it.
Unlike my Florence school where most students tend to be younger and more fun loving, my classmates and schoolmates in Venice are more mature and serious about learning Italian. Many of them are returnees for the second or third time. Others stay for weeks and months. I was enviously impressed! During break time, we would go down to the coffee shop next door for a cup of cappuccino and chitchat in Italian. Among my nine classmates were a retired civil engineer from Germany, a doctor from Spain, a young engineer from Belgium, a shiatsu massage therapist from Austria, a teacher from Korea, an office worker from Japan, a business consultant from Colombia working in England, a lawyer from The Netherland, and a university student from Poland now living in Germany. With such a diverse group, we had lots of fun sharing stories with each other and learning so much from one another in addition to practicing our Italian.
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