Fall Break: Italy + Lady Gaga

I don't want to write this post because it means that my fall break is coming to an end and I will have to start classes soon. I'd say I've had a pretty good vacation, though.

Last Friday at 4:45 in the morning, I took a Super Shuttle to Charles de Gaulle airport for my flight to Milan, Italy. Over the course of the past week, my friends and I essentially backpacked our way around Italy, hitting three major cities on our trip. We started in Milan, the fashion capital of Italy, then went to Venice and then Florence.

Milan was probably my least favorite of all the cities we visited just because I don't really follow high fashion and I didn't really know anything about the city beforehand. My friends and I decided to use Milan as our "relaxation" city since it was the first place we were visiting immediately after midterms and since none of us really had any idea what there was to do there. The first day, we mainly just explored the area around our hotel, but the second day we made our way into the city center to see the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuel, the Teatro alla Scalla, and the Sforza Castle.

The Galleria Vittorio Emmanuel is essentially a giant shopping mall for people that can afford to buy things from designers like Prada, Louis Vuitton, Armani, etc. In the middle of the Galleria there is this bull in the floor tiling and where the bull's you-know-what should be, there is just a little hole/divot thing. People, even locals and not just tourists, walking through the mall stop and spin on the bull's "balls" for good luck. Don't ask me how that tradition started, I just read it on some tourist website.

I think my favorite thing that I saw in Milan was the theatre because it is super famous in Italy. It was especially cool because we got to watch part of a live rehearsal during our viewing of the actual theatre part of the opera house (the public is only allowed into museum part of the house unless there is a show).

The Sforza Castle was also pretty cool but it was cloudy when we went to go see it and all I could think about was how much it looked like a prison. My friend, Lyn, and I kept making up stories about each courtyard we passed through and what it would've been used for if the castle had in fact been a prison in it's day.

We also saw the Duomo of Milan, the city's big cathedral. Because we're all obsessed with climbing up a million flights of stairs for exercise, my friends and I climbed to the top of the Duomo for a lovely view of the whole city. 

Dani getting attacked by pigeons

Next was VENICE!! I was the most enthusiastic about going to Venice. Let's be honest, that was really the only place I cared about going to. Venice is such a beautiful city and has a great atmosphere because everyone seems happy and excited all the time. I loved being surrounded by water because it was so refreshing. I knew a little bit more about Venice than I did about Milan (thanks, Dan Brown ;) ) so there were things that I knew I wanted to see, like St. Mark's Square.

While in Venice, we took the boat metro to Murano, a little island just off of the main one. Murano is famous for their glass blowing/flame working, so we went to see some of their glass factories and explore some of the galleries. We got to watch a couple of demonstrations on how the glass is blown and how different little trinkets are made. It was super cool! I really wanted to buy a couple of glass items but I was scared that I wouldn't be able to them back to France, let alone the United States, without breaking them. 

Once we got back to the main island, we visited St. Mark's Square and climbed the steps to the balcony of St. Mark's Basilica for a nice view of the square and the Grande Canale. 

Unfortunately, we didn't get to take a gondola ride while in Venice (they were SUPER expensive), but I took this picture of a random gondola floating through one of the many canals. 

This counts for something, right?

Finally, it was off to Florence. I was sad to leave Venice even though I knew that Florence would be cool because Venice was just so amazing and even better than I thought it would be. That being said, it was also the most expensive city and affording Florence after Venice was difficult. 

As soon as we were settled in our Florence hostel, Dani, Lyn, and I went straight to the Galleria dell'Accademia to see Michelangelo's David. The statue was HUGE, much bigger than I was expecting, and very, very detailed. I could definitely see why it is such a famous work of art because it really was extremely well created. I'm not really sure if it's appropriate to post a picture of a giant naked man statue, but I'm pretty sure other people have posted worse, so I'm going to do it anyways.

I won't lie, we pretty much only went to this museum to see the David. Everything else was cool, too, but let's be real, the David tops it all. 

On our second day in Florence (and last day in Italy), we did A LOT! The three of us got up relatively early and started our day of exploring by visiting the Duomo of Florence. It was much bigger than the Duomo of Milan because there were multiple parts to this cathedral. There was the tower, which we, of course, went to the top of; the crypts, which were the excavated remains of an old cathedral on top of which the Duomo had been built; and there was the dome, which we also climbed. I can't even tell you how many stairs we walked up that morning but I know there were too many. 

Tower of the Duomo

The original tiling of the floor of the excavated cathedral.

After we were down walking up and down stairs and had given our legs a chance to stop shaking, the three of us walked down to the Piazza Vecchio to see the famous bridge and also to visit the Galleria degli Uffizi, which is home to, among other works of art, "The Birth of Venus" and "Primavera", two well-known Botticelli paintings. We spent a couple of hours exploring the museum, then made our way to the bridge and crossed it as the sun set. 

 By the time we had finished being touristy, we were starving, so we ate our final Italian meal at a little restaurant close to the Ponte Vecchio. I had yet to try a real Italian calzone, so I decided to order a vegetarian one for my last meal in Italy. It was an absolutely huge calzone. The picture below doesn't really do it justice, but the thing was giant.

Yes, yes I did finish it, in case you were wondering.

We left Italy on Thursday morning and arrived back in France that evening. As much as I loved Italy, it was such a relief to be back in France where I can actually speak the language, no matter how poorly. It's not that getting around Italy was difficult without any Italian skills, but it was just a little uncomfortable not being able to even ask basic questions or say things like, "excuse me". 

Just pretend you can see what's in this picture (canal + buildings).

Last night, Halloween, I went to a Lady Gaga concert in Paris with my friend, Dani. Her parents bought her two tickets as an early Christmas present because she's such a huge fan, and she invited me to go with her after we discovered that we both love Lady Gaga. The concert was amazing! That woman knows how to put on a show. She must have had at least ten costumes and her stage set was so cool, not to mention the lighting, which was on point, by the way. The coolest part, though, was when she read a letter one of her fans had written to her and then brought that fan on stage with her and sang "Born This Way" while he was still on stage. Lady Gaga is the coolest. I have always really liked her and thought she was interesting, but now I am a really huge fan and would definitely see her live again. Such a great show!

I was too scared to bring my camera because I thought it would get taken, so I took all my pictures with my phone.

So, with that, I think it's safe to say that I have most definitely profited from my fall break and made the most out of my week of vacation. Now to start classes again! Woohoo! Bring it on! 

I will leave you with a handful of selfies and food pics that I forgot to put in earlier parts of this post. 

At the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuel

Boat ride to Murano