Hadrian's Villa and the town of Tivoli

 So we have been in Rome a few days and we took a field trip with the class out to see Hadrian's Villa, which is one of the largest and oldest remaining villas and then up the road to the mountainside town of Tivoli.  There we got to see a beautiful palazzo (palace) with a very extensive and massive garden.  So Hadrian's villa was really cool and we had studied it in school and theres all this history behind it.  But basically there was a bunch of cool ruins and some cool little water features.  Some turtles and sculptures were hangin out by the water too.

turtle family

Ruins! It was cool the owner actually had a moat kind of thing around his observatory

sometimes i like trees

Hows that for a living room ceiling?

and a backyard swimming pool? not bad, not bad

 So here are some pictures of the amazing garden atop the hill.  Lots of amazing fountains and moss everywhere and cool trees and bushes and all that.  A really cool place to see.  Plus since it was in the mountains you could look down into the valley and see the edge of Rome really far away in the distance.

A fountain and a half

100 fountains, literally

These places really could use bigger and nicer back yards

There's something beautiful about the hills in Italy. 

Venice, Ill be back some day

 The rest of our time in Venice continued to be a huge success. After that first part of the Biennalle we went to the rest of it.  This part consisted of seperate buildings for all the countries participating.  It is their chance to show off and put up their own independent exhibits.  I had a few favorites that I thought were really cool and unique and then some that were just kind of not so exciting displays.  But all in all it was great to see and this was the part I had to race through so that I could actually see it all.

Walk in to the Dutch pavilion and you are under a ceiling full of blue buildings.

Then you walk around to see them from the top, shows all the vacant buildings in the nation

quiet and subtle little cafe right?

Pavilions from countries all over the world

France had a pretty cool entrance

cant remember what country this was, but another cool entrance

Egypttt.  One of my faves

Space

I love this diagram

 Ahhhh Venice. Right after the last of the Biennalle, we were walking back towards the rest of town and the sun was setting.  It was a great time to sit along the canal all together and enjoy the amazing view of the sun setting over Venice.  Another one of those unforgettable moments. 

 After staying in Venice for the night some of us got up early to do some last minute exploring and wandering.  Parts of the city were covered in water because it had rained and because the city itself is sinking (thats a bummer, right?). Ill miss you venice, but ill try to be back someday.....

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Venice, Im a fan.

Venice!! What a truly amazing city. So beautiful.  Every where you look is a picture perfect view and it almost seems like its not real.  Of course, thousands of other people feel the same way.  Every where you go the area is filled with tourists.  I heard more english, german, and french then I did Italian.  I am almost convinced that no one actually lives there and that the entire city is just foreigners.  But there is no sense in worrying about that.  Visiting Venice is about the canals, the buildings, the markets, the streets, and the experience of the city itself.  And it was probably one of my favorite if not my favorite stops of the trip so far because of that.

One of the first things I saw of the day. Cliche but awesome

Gondola anyoneee?

St. Mark's square from across the main canal

Really nice church

I have so many great pictures from this bridge from every part of the day, it was right near our hotel

The famous St. Mark's square!

Tourist's much? Who can blame them though

So after our wandering around the city and enjoying the historical parts, we moved on to something more current.  There is very well known international architecture exposition (called the biennale - means that it happens every two years).  This is a pretty big deal and was really awesome to be able to see.  We spent half a day and I probably could have spent another few days looking through everything.  I was trying to rush at the end so I could see everything before it closed for the day, not to mention the fact that I was exhausted after walking around non stop all day. 

But the Biennale was amazing to see, like I said.  The first part of it was a large warehouse filled with endless unique and fascinating architectural exhibits.  There was a room that had an actual layer of clouds you walked through (one of my faves), a room with strobe lights and dancing water, endless models, full scale pieces and everything in between and beyond. 

Cloud room was sooo cool (weird, true, but still cool)

Just some last pictures I took before I moved on to the next part of the Biennalle.  I actually remember this bridge from the last time I was in Venice with my family! Strange and cool experience.  I dont know if you could tell, but I liked Venice a little bit.

Hanging laundry, somebody must live there then haha