Thanksgiving

Hi all,

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful day, with plenty of food involved. Thanksgiving here was definitely a very different experience, as you can imagine. The weirdest bit was that no one but us was celebrating the holiday (since it’s an American holiday), which made it feel much less like Thanksgiving. However, it was still a pretty fun day.

We met up with our professors at about 2:00 for a surprise, which turned out to be a tour of the clock tower that stands in Piazza San Marco. Only half the group could go up at a time, though, so the other half of us (Lizzie, Shannon, Caylen, Sara, Emily our professor, Chris who works for Purdue and was visiting this week, and me) went over to the Correr Museum, which has some really great artworks and statues, while the first group was in the tower. Then, after an hour, we switched off and we went up the tower while they all went to the museum.

The clock tower may be my favorite thing that we’ve done so far in Venice. It was so cool, partially because it was completely different from anything else we’ve done. Our guide, Elena, was great too, she was really enthusiastic. She told us about the history of the clock tower, how one family had lived in and run the clock tower for about three centuries, until 1998 when the last member was asked to move out so that the tower could be restored and opened to the public. It was so cool inside because we got to see all the inner workings of the clock, plus we got to watch from the inside when the minutes changed, it looked like the wheel on Wheel of Fortune to be honest. Then, we got to go outside on the balcony and look out over the square and because it was on the hour, we got to see the clock strike four. This was the coolest part because on the very top of the clock are the statues of two men, each holding a hammer and they actually move and swing their hammers and strike the bell on the hour, since it was four o’clock they each rang the bell four times, the guy on the right hit the bell two minutes before four, the guy on the left hit it four times right at four.

After they were finished striking the hour, we could go up to the very top of the tower, where the bell and the statues are. This was really awesome, but scary too, because the roof was a bit slanted and the railing was quite low, plus the roof was damp because it was drizzling. The view was amazing and Elena our guide was telling us more about the bell and the figures, which was cool, but I was still glad to go back down the spiral staircase into the building. Like I said, though, it was totally worth it because the view was incredible, every roof was red-tiled and the walkways and canals are so narrow that it just looks like nothing but roofs stretching out until the water, except for the churches and belltowers that are scattered throughout the city. This view was only second in coolness, though, to the view on Monday when, instead of class, Emily our professor took us all up to the top of the belltower that stands in Piazza San Marco, the tallest in the city. The view from there was incredible, you could see all of Venice laid out, and it was so much cooler doing it towards the end of the semester than if we’d done it earlier because now we all knew where things were and what we were looking at, so it was really fantastic. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my camera yesterday for the clocktower, but I did take plenty of pictures from the belltower, so I’ll be putting some of those up.

After the clock tower, we all met up again and went to the church of Giovanni e Paolo, which means John and Paul. It was amazing because it was so massive, easily the biggest church we’ve seen in Venice. And because it was a gloomy day, and getting later, it was pretty dark in there, there weren’t many lights on, but that made it seem even bigger and the effect was actually pretty cool. We didn’t stay too long in the church though, and then it was on to dinner.

We ate Thanksgiving dinner at this place called an osteria, which is basically a very small, bar-like restaurant, which doesn’t really serve plates of food so much as just lots of appetizers. The first three dishes we got were all fish dishes, sardines with sauerkraut, baccala which is a kind of fish paste you eat on bread, and shrimp and some other fish thing on a plate together. I don’t like fish, so this was a bit of a problem, but luckily I was sitting at a table with Elyse, who is a vegetarian, so they brought out a platter of cheese and another of vegetables and she, Lizzie, Stephanie, and I all split that, since they don’t like fish either. We gave our fish dishes to Dane, Caylen, Audrey, and Chris from Purdue at the table next to us. The cheese and vegetables were really good, we had plenty of bread so we just made some little sandwiches. Then, after this course was over, they brought out several trays of meat. It was all very red, though, and while I did try several pieces, I was not a big fan, so went back to the remaining cheese and veggies. Then, at the very end, they did bring out desserts, and those were excellent, I split a piece of a chocolate cake roll with Lizzie and Elyse, and also had this little creamy cake thing which was very good. The best part of the dinner, though, was when Catherine, who also works at Purdue and was visiting this week, came around to the tables and gave each of us a goody bag with American candy and things in it, a card from herself and Chris, and, best of all, a card for each of us from our families. I have to say that getting the Thanksgiving card from my family was definitely the best part of my day, it even beat the clock tower.

After dinner was over, seven of us needed to go to the train station, so we headed that direction with Shannon’s parents, who have been here this week, and actually ended up stopping at the McDonalds in Venice. Lizzie, Shannon, Shannon’s mom, and I all actually got Happy Meals because it’s the best deal and I got an R2D2 toy which I’m pretty excited about. So that was fun, too. Then, after McDonalds, we said good-bye to Shannon’s parents, who were going back to their apartment, went to the train station where Elyse and Stephanie were getting on a train on their way to Switzerland, while Caylen was looking up trains to Bologna, and Lizzie, Shannon, Dane, and I were getting tickets to Assisi. We’re actually leaving tonight at about 11:30, it’s an overnight train, but I’m pretty excited, the city is supposed to be beautiful. Then, after the train station, we came back to San Servolo, played Apples to Apples for awhile, then I talked to my family and after that it was time for bed.

This was definitely the strangest Thanksgiving I have ever had, by far, but it was also a surprisingly good one. I definitely missed my family and seeing everyone at Thanksgiving dinner, but it was nevertheless a good day, even if there was no pumpkin pie. I hope everyone else had a good Thanksgiving and, because I didn’t get a chance to say it yesterday, I would just like to take a moment to say that I am grateful for my family, my friends, the opportunity I have to be here in Venice, and for all of you who are reading this blog. Happy Thanksgiving!

Ciao,
Maria

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures." ~Thornton Wilder

"Remember God's bounty in the year. String the pearls of His favor. Hide the dark parts, except so far as they are breaking out in light! Give this one day to thanks, to joy, to gratitude!" ~Henry Ward Beecher