Welcome to my website. I'm sorry that it wasn't complete until recently (like today). I had really poor internet connections in Rome, and then when I got back summer happened. Now that the Folio is out and the program kindly referenced this site in one of the articles, I felt obligated to finish. So here it is. If I find more amazing pics or vids, I'll add them. Stay tuned.

This week has been busy, busy, busy, and tomorrow it's all over. Sorry to all who have been following this blog for the lack of updates. I wasn't able to get internet access on my laptop. FYI, you can find new pics on all of the pages except Rome. I'm still working to get the Rome pics up.

In the morning we leave for Rome. Sarah Enloe tells me that we won't have wireless access at our apartments. This makes me sad, because it means that I might not be able to update regularly. Keep checking in regularly. I have an 8 hour day of answering phones the day after we return, and I'm sure I can spend some of that time updating the site. See you all soon!

First and foremost, happy birthday to Raven (whose here with us) and Jer (whose stuck at home with Kitty - J/K Kitty. I love you. Don't hate me.). Raven tells me that his family wants me to update. So, I'm updating just for them. They should feel special. ;-)

The last few days have been a whirl. There is far too much in Florence to cram into one week, but we've managed to cover most of the important stuff. I'll just cover the most important stuff.

We've had two wonderful guides so far. The first gave us a tour of San Miniato, a lovely church in the hills overlooking Florence. Sidsel, the guide, gave us the history of the building and the art work within. Apparently, this is one of the churches popular for local weddings. And with the magnificent views, I can understand why. (I'm going to try and insert a pic below. Hopefully it works.)

The other guide, Christina, took us through the Galleria Palatina at Palazzo Pitti, the late residence of the Medicis. The Palatina is perhaps one of the best renaissance collections in the world, and certainly the best in Florence after the Uffizi. The collection contains a wealth of Raphael, del Sarto, Correggio, Ruben, and Titian among others.

One day this week we left Florence and took a day trip to San Gimignano. This small walled city about an hour and fifteen minutes by bus from Florence is a gem. (Unfortunately, it's also a major tourist site.) Although San Gimignano is never mentioned in Shakespeare, Ralph presented it as the type of city Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote Romeo and Juliet. Verona, the setting of that play, has overgrown its walls and become a hopping provincial capital in the last four hundred years.

Today we were at the Uffizi and several churches. Several of us gave our artist presentations today. I presented on Raphael (who was totally better that del Sarto, on whom Justin presented). And I'm not going to bother going through who everyone else presented; they're not as important as me. ;-) The Uffizi probably ranks up there with the Louvre when it comes to art galleries. Botticelli's most famous works are there, as well as several Da Vincis, Michelangelos, Raphaels, del Sartos, and many others.

Christine Parker and I presented on Santo Spirito, which is a lovely and beautifully designed church by Brunelleschi, and Sarah Enloe and Cassie Ash presented on Santa Felicita.

Now I'm writing and getting ready for dinner. Tomorrow is our option day. I wonder where everyone will go?

(Picture: The view from San Miniato)

So, as it turns out, what is worse than no Internet at all is shitty Internet. The Veronese hotel we were in last was very nice, but the net wouldn't let me access the Weebly site to update or make blog posts.

Since you last heard from me, we visited Padua, Vicenza, and Verona, and we're now in Florence. In Padua, we visited the Scrovegni Chapel. We had to sit in an hermetically sealed room for fifteen minutes to breathe out all of the pollution in our lungs. After sitting patiently, they only gave us fifteen minutes in the chapel. Sad face.

Comune di Vicenza is too small to have a left-luggage center at the train station. We, therefore, got to lug all of our luggage (hehe) around Vicenza. We found a great cafe by the Teatro Olympico where we took turns watching bags and seeing the theater. You can see a couple of pics of the theater by going to here.

It was Labor Day in Italy on the first and we saw street parties in both Padua and Vicenza. Sorta cools.

When we finally got to Verona everyone was tired from a day of traveling. It took us another hour to find our hotel because the directions were useless and the hotel staff wasn't helpful over the phone.

... ...I'm tired. No more blogging. The Internet is free at this hotel and seems to be reliable. So, you should hear from me tomorrow, too.

So sorry about the lack of activity over the last couple of days: our current hotel does not have the internet. I am told that our hotel in Verona will. At that stage, I hope to add more pictures of Venice from different people. By the time we get to Florence, if there is stable net there, I should be able to add pictures for Verona, Padua, and Florence. Yay!

What have we been doing the last few days, you ask? Too much to say. We've toured the city. Our guide, Rita, gave us wonderful historical and art historical information on Venice. Among many others, we've seen Saint Mark's, the Dogi's Palace, the Accademia, the Rialto, S.S. Giovani e Paulo (the largest church in Venice), and much much more.

Last night we went to the opera. And get this, none of us fell asleep. If you see pictoral evidence to the contrary, don't believe it. The pictures lie!

Pictures to look forward to: Hamish in new and exciting places, the new narrowest street in Venice (measured at 1 Brett and 2 shoulders), more Gondola pics, the Bridge of Tits! and lots of tits to go with it, etc.

Check back soon!

We did the islands today. San Michele, the grave yard island, was quiet, as you would expect. It's rather large but cramped. You can find several hundred year old graves next to brand new ones. After some work, Andy found Ezra Pound's grave. It was hiding in the bushes in the Protestant section.

We traveled to Murano next. Before exploring the island, we sat down for lunch, picnic-style. Bread + cheese + ham + fruit + wine = Yum + cheap. Justin, Lauren, Chelsea, and I spent most of our time looking at pretty glass things. Justin and I bought someone something s/he's going to like a lot. (hehe.)

We made a stop at Burano long enough to catch a bus to Torcello. This island is difficult to get to and contains two churches, a bell tower, a museum, and restaurants that close before dinner. I don't advise visiting. Supposedly the buildings there are "ruins" but they still had roofs. In my book, having a roof disqualifies a building from being a "ruin." ;-)

We grabbed dinner at Tortuga, a pirate-themed restaurant. The food was pretty good all around. We left in a hurry to get gelato and in so doing Lauren forgot her shopping bag at the restaurant. She and I traipsed halfway back across Venice to retrieve it. It was probably sheer luck that it was still there.

Oh, yeah, and when I got back for the evening, I found out that the maid threw all of Justin's toiletries away. Silly people, losing their stuff.

Disclaimer: Brett is tired and his writing skills are suffering. Bye.

[Editor's Note: What is this crap? I need travel posts about Spider-Man!] *Sighs* Thanks, Justin.

Yesterday we purchased 48hour bus/boat-bus passes. We checked out the far side of the island. To make things easier on all of us, we broke into small groups throughout the day and then met up here or there. Justin and I got ourselves lost. This was more or less on purpose. We did find what we think might be the narrowest road in Venice. I'll let you know if we find something smaller. Christine Parker and her friend Cheryl (sp?) arrived last night. They are staying in the same hotel as we are. I think they're going to tag along with us today.

Today (Sunday) is the last day before Ralph and the rest of the class shows up. I think we are all planning to take the boat-bus out to the islands around Venice. Ralph isn't taking us there, so we gotta go today. Should be fun!

Yesterday, Lauren Shell and Ryan McCarthy graciously drove Lauren M., Andy, Chelsea, Bob, Raven, Justin, and I to Dulles where we met up at gate B19 for drinks and a bite to eat before taking off for Madrid.

The overnight flight was long and uncomfortable (pretty normal). It's sorta the punishment for three weeks of upcoming fun. ;-) We landed in Madrid and made it through emigration and customs without any problems. I caught some shuteye on the airport floor while we waited for our connection to Venice.

A few short hours later we were at Venice's Marco Polo airport catching a taxi to our hotel: Hotel Ducale. We're here for a few days before the rest of the class shows up. First day in Venice consisted of dinner, gelato, and lots of exploring. We're all pretty clueless about what to do today. Methinks we'll make it up as we go.

So, I'm sitting at my computer in my room in Staunton, waiting for Lauren Shell to come pick me up. It's been about two and a half years since I've traveled outside of the states, and I'm excited to hit the road again... well, the airport.

My past travels have taken me to London and Berlin for a couple weeks in 2004, Chiapas (Mexico) for a week in 2005, and a semester in London in late 2005. During my semester abroad, I had the chance to backpack through Italy. At that time, I stopped in Rome, Florence, Bologna, and Venice. On this trip, we'll do much of the same but in reverse. I'm really excited!

Time to go...