Olympic Park

Oct. 23

 

 

I spent a lot of time at parks this week. We did a tour of the Olympic Park for our Urban Studies class. The Olympic Park is from the 2012 summer Olympics, which were hosted in London.

 

Got to see a whole bunch of the buildings and learn why they created them. The idea behind London 2012 was to regenerate east London. They decided to only make things that they needed. So anything that was needed for the Olympics, but wasn't needed for London was removable.

 

The Observation Tower is not only useful, but it is also art.

 

 

The building that was made for the pool, looks like a wave, or a dolphin.

 

 

 

The stadium is still under construction, because originally no football (soccer) teams wanted it, so they were making it smaller after the Olympics, but then a number of teams decided they wanted it. The bid against each other and a team won, and are now making the stadium bigger (seating wise).

 

 

Around the park there are also indications of how well England did in the Olympics. Such as the number of metals they won.

 

 

It's a really awesome place to go visit, and I strongly suggest you find time to make a visit. Although I would love to go to the Olympic Park in British Columbia, and that would probably be more meaningful, for those of us living in Canada, so do that first! 



Royal Parks

Oct. 19

London has a ton of parks. A number of them are Royal Parks. Most of these parks are very large. They are necessary, because without them you would go crazy in this city. There isn't a lot of green space other than these parks. There isn't yards, like we have. If you have a chance to be in London for a while, or just want a day to relax, I would suggest the parks. If you start at Hyde Park, you can walk right through Green Park, and St. James Park, as they all connect. Between Green Park, and St. James Park is Buckingham Palace, and chances are if you are going to Buckingham Palace you will go through Green Park to get there.

 

Hyde Park is the biggest. It has many statues and memorials.

 

Peter Pan statue in Hyde Park

 

There is also a lot of fountains and a lake.

 

 

 

Green Park isn't that great in my opinion, but it's nice to be able to see a large park land.



Getting back

Oct. 18

 

It's been a great week, but it's time to get back to London. Travelling is always an adventure in itself. We decided to make our trip back a little more complicated then our trip here (yes, that's possible). So we took a boat, to a bus, to the plane, to a shuttle (because the plane landed at the wrong terminal), to a bus, to a tube. We thought we might as well fit as many different kinds of transportation into one trip as possible. We couldn't get on a train, but we did that on Wednesday.

 

Everything went well getting home, although there wasn't a MacDonald's at the airport in Venice, which was extremely upsetting, and let's be honest, you know there is something wrong when there isn't even a MacDonalds. Apart from the fact that MacDonalds needs to get on that (or burger king, A&W, whoever, I would just like to be able to get a burger while waiting for my plane).

 

Back in London, it's not that late, but I'm exhausted. Travel seems to do that.

 

When travelling Europe, you have to juggle a lot. Three time zones, three currencies, and trying to figure out how much you really care to bother figuring it all out. At least an hour difference in time, just makes it seem like the plane ride is longer.

Boats, boats, and more boats...

Oct. 17

 

Today there were a lot of boats. We went to the Cemetery Island, which as you could probably guess is a Cemetery. It is the only cemetery in Venice, and is a large island. Due to it being an island, we took a boat to get there.

 

After the island, we took a boat ride down the Grand Canal. You get to see a different side of the city, and get great views.

 

 Lastly, I went on a traghetti. A traghetti, is a gondola ride across the Grand Canal. It's only about three minutes, but it's great if you want to go on a gondola, but are on a budget, or short on time.

 

If going to Italy, I would suggest splitting up the boat rides more, and not doing so many in the same day, as it is a lot.



 

 

Murano & Burano

Oct. 16

 

Today we went to the islands of Murano and Burano. They are islands in Venice. We started in Murano. Murano is known for it's glass. When buying glass in Venice you want it to be Murano glass.

 

 

 

There are even glass sculptures.

 

 

 

After Murano, we went over to Burano. Which is quite the boat ride. It was about 40 minutes. Burano is known for two things. It's lace.

 

 

And it's colourful houses.

 

 

 

 

After our day of shopping at these islands, it was time to head back to our place.







My fair Verona

Oct. 15

 

We took a day trip to Verona today. Verona is the city that Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is placed. So it is in Verona, that you can find many places related to this fictional characters. There is Juliet's house, with her famous balcony, Juliet's Tomb, and Romeo's house.

 

We woke up early hoping to catch the 8:30 train. Unfortunately we did not catch that train, but we were able to figure out the train system and caught an 11:30 train. After killing a couple hours hanging around the train station, eating, and checking out a local bookstore. The train took a couple hours, and got us to Verona around 1.

 

The first place we went was the Arena. The Arena is a roman piece of architecture, similar to the Coliseum.

 

 

After lunch we headed over to Juliet's house.

 

 

 

At Juliet's house there is a ton of letters and messages to her, about love.

 

 

 

Juliet herself is there. Legend has it that if you rub her right boob, it will bring you good luck.  

 

 

 

There is also her balcony.

 

 

We went into her house. It is museum style. With props and costumes from the first movie.

 

Juliet's bed from the first movie.

One of Juliet's dresses from the first movie.

 

After seeing Juliet's house, we headed over to her Tomb.

 

 

The main part is a museum.

 

 

At the end is her tomb.

 

 

 

Personally I'm a little confused as to why a fictional character has a tomb, but it was cool, and brings in a tons of tourists every year.

 

We then headed back to the train to get back to Venice for the night.

 



Targeted Exploring

Oct. 14

 

Let me tell you something. It doesn't matter how long you are in Venice, you will get lost, constantly. Even if you have done the route a number of times. It doesn't matter. I know, whether they admit it or not, even the locals get lost on a fairly frequent basis. But the beauty of technology, is that if you connect to wifi and open google maps, when you leave wifi, it will continue to track where you are. The most helpful thing. The signs of major places are also helpful. Know what major place you live by, it will save you.

 

 

Today I went exploring. But I had a destination I wanted to get to at some point, but a lot of time. I found a park. Which is amazing in Venice, seeing as there is next to no plant life. No flowers, grass, trees, nothing. So to see a park with actual plants was amazing.

 

If you are looking for a park while in Venice, some of the right hand side of the island has been made into a park. Once the park starts, it goes all the way to the end of the island.

As I continued my adventures, I came upon a huge military base.

 

After exploring for a while I got to my destination, Doge's Palace. Also known as Palazzo Ducale.

The Palace was absolutely gorgeous! There were incredible statues.

 

 

Amazing paintings...

 

 

The ceilings were breathtaking.

 

 



Once through the Palace you go over the Bridge of Sighs.

The Bridge of Sighs from the outside.

 

The Bridge of Sighs, is the bridge that leads from the Palace to the jail. It's called the Bridge of Sighs, because the prisoners crossing would get their last glimpse of the outside world, and sigh.

 

Bridge of Sighs from the inside                                                      Last view prisoners would see                        

  

After crossing the Bridge of Signs, it's time to check out the (no longer used) prison.

Pretty crappy place to be if you ask me. But then again it is jail, and it was the 1800's.

After my exciting adventures in the Palace, it was time to meet up with everyone, and go to our next destination. If you remember back to a couple days ago when I talked about St. Mark's Campanile, aka the Bell Tower. I went up in said bell tower, using an elevator, because no one wants that many stairs. The view from the top did not disappoint. It was spectacular.

View from the bell tower

View of St. Mark's Square from the tower

We went at a great time, as the sun was starting to set, so we got to see the sun setting.

 

 

Unfortunately for, well most people. The bell goes off every 1/2 hour. Chances are you are going to be up there for about a little while, so there is a high likelihood the bell will go off while you are there. It did for us. It is very very loud!

 

Tomorrow we are off on another adventure! Stay tuned.

Reading Week Relaxing

Oct. 13

 

This morning we woke up early so that we could go to the market. We got some food. Before exploring some more.

 

In Venice you can't get tap water at restaurants. You have to pay for water, and it's usually a couple euros. But they do have fountain like things. 

 

 

You can fill your water bottle in these fountains. They pump fresh, cold water in from the Alps. Moral, when travelling in Venice, always bring a water bottle.

 

In the afternoon we rested. So great to be able to relax. We stayed in a flat, so we had a living room with a couch, and a kitchen. It was great! Especially compared to the tiny room that I currently live in.  

 

We popped out to get some food in the afternoon, as a storm came in.

 

 

 

It made me wonder how the whole place doesn't shut down during storms. There are only boats, and you shouldn't be boating in storms, especially thunderstorms, but people weren't trying to leave the water. Plus, you have to have emergency services, which are also by boat.

 

Being Thanksgiving and all, we decided to do something. Thanksgiving doesn't exist in Europe, so we had an Italian thanksgiving. Pasta, homemade meatballs, and lots of parmesan cheese. I'm thankful for everything! My family, my friends, and this trip of a lifetime. 

Getting lost in Venice

Oct. 12 

Today we explored the island of Venice. We walked around to see what awaited us. It's very easy to get lost, as there are small, short streets, that all look very similar.

 

There are also a lot of squares, and dead ends, because of the water.

But we ended up at Piazza San Marco (AKA St. Mark's square), which is the most prominent square in Venice. 



St. Mark's Square

 S. Marco square has lots of places to eat, as well as, St. Mark's Campamille (bell tower).

The square also houses St. Mark's Basilica (a famous church).

When walking around Venice you will see lots of water ways, all filled with boats. Including gondolas! At some point this week I will take a gondola ride.