Carabinieri Tour

Today was had a tour of the Carabinieri station in Venice. The Carabinieri are part of Italy's police and military force, and train accordingly. They are similar to our National Guard, but with more police duties. We asked the officer who gave us the tour what the most common crime they dealt with, he said that petty thefts and drunk driving in the canals occur the most. He showed us their impressive fleet of police boats, which is their only way to respond to a call other than by foot in Italy. One of the big problems for police in Venice is the response time, as it's time consuming to drive down the canals in a boat, especially if the location doesn't have direct access from a canal. Also they have issues with finding locations, as the house addressing system in Venice is chronologic, so directions are usually given with respect to the nearest landmark or Campo (square). One fact that I found interesting was that not all Carabinieri have boating licenses. I though that would've been a requirement. Most Carabinieri officers, unless unmarried, are not offered free housing in Venice. Because the cost of living is so high, many cannot afford to live on the Island, and are forced to commute from the mainland everyday, along with shop workers, vendors, and a large portion of the Venetian working class.

Tonight we leave on the night train for Vienna, Austria. We will be spending the weekend there, before returning to Venice for our last week of study abroad.

Follow our blog for updates on our studies and adventures!

Today started off great as our meeting time was pushed back to 1 PM. This gave us a little extra time to sleep and get some well wanted rest. After meeting up we visited the National Guard like Police, the Carabineiri. They were more than happy to meet us and tell us about what they do and how they do it. They even offered coffee and drinks while talking to us. I especially enjoyed hearing about how they navigate to respond to a call and what kind of boats they use. Unfortunately even the officer that talked with us didn't know why Venice has so many different police forces, between the Carabineiri, the federal police and the local police. After the visit we went and had apportivo before heading to the train station and hopping on the night train to Vienna.

24/05/17

The day began with a tour of the Teatro La Fenice. It was a great tour that allowed us to see the splendor of the theatre. The decorations were incredible and could be seen from wherever you sat in the theatre. We also learned the history of the theatre from our tour guide. The theatre had been built after a royal family had to sell their other theatre. Naming the theatre after a Phoenix brought some bad luck as the theatre had been damaged by two fires, the most recent in 1996. The second part of the day was not as enjoyable. We had a "tour" of the flood gates currently being installed to try and prevent flooding in the city. The "tour" only consisted of a 20 minute video that easily could have been watched anywhere from a computer. The last part of the day was a group dinner where I was surprised with dessert and a card for my birthday. A night of good food and good friends was a great way to celebrate my birthday in Venice.

May 24th

We started off the day with a tour of the Teatro La Fenice or The Phoenix Theatre. It was a fun and interesting tour because the decorations inside the theatre were so over the top.

After the theatre, we went to have a tour of the MOSE Project which is the city's floating dam that's still being constructed. We were all a little disappointed because the entire "tour" was just a 20 minute video. I mostly feel bad for the professor who came to Venice from Milan solely to see the project and only received the same "tour" as us.

The best part of the day came a bit later because we all met up at Professor Bradke's apartment for dinner and to celebrate Tyler Azure's birthday. Good food and good company led to a long night with many laughs.

Cooking my way through Venice: Part 2

A little late, but on Monday we went on a long, guided tour through the more touristy parts of Venice. That included a walkthrough of La Basilica di San Marco; we weren't allowed to take pictures inside, which was for the best as documenting all of the beautiful works of art in that church would have taken days. After finishing the hours-long tour near the Rialto bridge, we walked back to our apartments for some much needed rest.

When our growling stomachs roused us from our relaxation, I decided to cook the salmon I had purchased at the Rialto fish market. Alex helped me find a good recipe for an Italian lemon pepper salmon and pasta dish. As it was my first time preparing the dish, especially with such a large about of fish, it wasn't my best though I look forward to trying it again in the future. The general consensus was that I needed to make my fish tacos again!

All of the salmon and first batch of the pasta.

There wasn't enough pasta for the six of us to start with, so I switched types. All of that salmon was also decimated.

Class on the Beach

Today the plan for the afternoon was to learn about tides, so we went to the beach. We took about a half hour water bus ride then about a half hour walk to get there. The water was warm and clear, the sand didn't burn my feet, and as far as I could tell there were no unfriendly sea creatures. As soon as we got there, I got in the water and didn't come out until it was time to go. 

Structures

Today we studied the city's structures and did a practical exercise to analyze the bell tower in Saint Marc's square. The objective was to approximate the stresses in a singular pile beneath the bell towers foundation. After completing this we went to the top of the tower, what a view! We could see the Adriatic as well as the Alps. The best view of the city by far.