My mom came to visit!

March 10th
I was sleeping and I had a dream; I was speaking in Italian and trying to order a bus ticket for my mom. I had said “biglietto per favore” (ticket please).My dream was realistic, because I in fact needed to get a bus ticket for my mom who was coming to see me this week! I got her a bus ticket to come back to Sansepolcro from the Arezzo train station, and then back to Arezzo to take a train to Florence.
March 12th
My mom came! She flew into Rome and took a train to Venice. Jess and I took a train to meet her in Venice. After arriving around 6:30 we decided to drop our stuff of at the albergo (hotel). My mom and her friend Suzanne decided they would lead the way and that it would be nice to just stroll around rather than to look at the maps which I had previously printed. We ended up getting a little lost, you can imagine at this point, and with a heavy bag on my back, I was saying “we should have looked at the map I printed!” A sweet old woman was walking behind us and heard where we were trying to go. She ended up walking us directly to where we needed to go. Jess and I thought that it was funny, two weeks in a row an elderly person has helped us to get to where we need to be.
We went to a seafood restaurant for dinner. I ordered sea food pasta. It had calamari, muscles, shrimp and scallops. It was very good. My mom and her friend Suzanne ordered a sea bass. The pesce (fish) came on a plate, eyes, tail, bones and all. The waiter peeled of the skin, cut the head and tail off then deboned the fish. I had never seen the process of doing this to the fish. It was something new for me, and it was good too!
March 13th
My mom, Suzanne, Jess and I woke up ate breakfast and headed out to the streets of Venice! Our first stop was The Doge’s Palace. It was filled with beautiful paintings, grand council chambers, dark cold prison cells, and antique weapons. The Doge’s Palace served home to the doge, the head of state in the Venetian Republic, as well as the center of political and administrative life for the legislator. The palace has lots of rooms each with its own purpose and design; my favorite was the map room it had two huge globes and frescoes of maps on the wall. I was able to find Italy and Arezzo on the map.

After the Doge’s Palace we went into the Basilica San Marco. The mosaics were incredible. The entire cathedral was covered in small tiles; they were of every color and the back ground to each piece was thousands of small gold tiles. The mosaics above my head were so detailed and breathtaking, and there were also really cool mosaics on the floor. The mosaics above were of Jesus and his apostles. The mosaics on the floor geometrical design.
Venice has a clock tower, and Jess and I decided we must climb it! We were very excited to climb to the top of the tower; we paid our 8 euro entrance fee got in line and then realized there were no stairs for us to climb, since they were off limits for some reason. We got in a crowded ascensore(elevator) and rode to the top. I was upset that we were not able to climb the tower, because the climbing is part of the experience. The view was pretty, but If you enjoy the journey of getting to the top of the tower, I would not recommend “climbing, or riding” to the top of the Venice bell tower. I felt that paying for the elevator ride and getting up to the top within a minute was very anti climatic.

Later in the day we walked over to the Rialto Bridge. Il ponte ( the bridge) is very long and wide with stairs and shops on both sides. We went into one shop and learned how the cameos were made. A man showed us antique cameos from his grandfather and portraits of people which he has made. He showed the sea shells which they are made on and the process he does to carve them. My mom bought me a beautiful blue ring. The ring is a side profile for the goddess of beauty. I love it!

We went to Leone Bianco, which translates as white lion for dinner. I got some lasagna and it was some of the best I have ever had. We sat in the restaurant for about two hours. Jess and I always laugh and say we feel like real Italians when we stay in a restaurant for hours at a time.
March 14th
Our hotel served the typical Italian breakfast: bread, croissants, dry cereal, juice, tea and coffee. As we were eating our breakfast we heard some people talking. They were speaking English but had an accent. We were trying to figure out if they were British, Scottish, or Irish. After a while of listening we decided to ask them where they were from. They told us they were from Winsor. John Rose is from Bath and we asked one of the women if she had ever been. She told she has a friend there and had just visited.

We took a water taxi from our hotel to the train station. Jess and I stood on the outside portion of the boat and were able to take some nice pictures of the Grand Canal. We saw some buildings that we assumed had to be vacant because of the water damage. The bottom of the door was under the water level. Jess told me that supposedly Venice goes further underwater oggi giorno (every day).


When we bought out train tickets to go back to Arezzo we realized that Jess was sitting in a different cabin than my mom, Suzanne, and me. We thought maybe we could get lucky and the extra seats around us would not fill up and that she could stay. They ended up filling up and we squeezed together so she would not have to switch cabins. Because we were squeezing together I had decided to stand. One boy that was sitting in our section realized that I was standing and got out of his seat so that I could sit. His name was Giovanni and he was from Sicily, studying in Perugia to become a doctor. He was such a gentiluomini (gentlemen)! After our train ride from Venice to Arezzo I showed my mom how the buses and biglietti (tickets) work and we got on the bus to go back to Sansepolcro!
I gave my mom a quick tour of the Palazzo and we went to dinner. We ate at the Ristorante Fiorentina. If you are ever in Sansepolcro, you must make it a point to eat here. The whole dinner and experience was great! The owner is friendly old man who takes great pride in telling you about the choices and how each dish is made. The atmosphere was great. I ordered Ravioli with meat inside and got a pink sauce which had tomatoes and cheese. We split some pork loins and grilled vegetables which were delicious. Ristorante Fiorentina made pane fresco (fresh bread) and brought it to the table nice and hot! Though the food was excellent my favorite part was the kart of homemade dessert. We were able to sample different ones, and my mom and I got 4. It was a great way to end the an awesome weekend with my mom!