Venice

At the end of fall break, we all converged in Venice for several days. The first amazing part of this trip was that everyone found the way to the hostel. Although the hostel was only a few minutes walk from the train station, it was down several twisty alleys which didn't look like you were really going anywhere. Even the sign was only a small plaque on a unassuming door. Thankfully, though, before midnight on Sunday, all the travelers from Ireland, Paris, England, and various parts of Italy had made it. For the next two days, we walked a lot and saw a lot of Venice. Our first group outing was taking the vaporetto to the Accademia stop to go to the Gallerie dell'Accademia.

After a morning of looking at art, we met up with Michi and Petra for lunch at a pizza place along the Giudecca, ice cream at Nico's, and then on to the Hidden Nest. We had some class time with Mary—hearing parts of the Cantos related to Venice—and then started our walking tour of Pound's Venice. 

We focused particularly on Dorsoduro, seeing places including Santa Maria della Salute and the Punta della Dogana.

Eventually, Michi and Petra led us across the Accademia Bridge and through the winding streets to see San Marco and the Palazzo Ducale. By the time we made several more stops, it was dark and we were back near the hostel. 

The next day was more walking—to Fondamente Nuove so that we could take the vaporetto to San Michele to see the graves of Pound and Olga Rudge.

After our time together, we had time for sightseeing on our own. The students all went to Murano, but after that, people split off for various adventures. By the time we were all together again the next day to catch our train for the first part of our journey back to Brunnenburg, I think we all agreed that Venice is a city of mazes, a city of water, and a city of magic.