Yesterday my roommate Perri and I woke up early and took a walk over to Piazza San Marco. I had no idea we lived so close, it was only about a five or ten minute walk. Every day navigating Venice gets easier. We took some corny tourist pictures and dodged the millions of pigeons (ew), and gawked at the tourists who were trying to touch/feed/have the pigeons sit on their arms....so gross. As my mom always says, pigeons are just rats with wings!

We were in desperate need of some caffeine but of course every caffe and store in St. Marks' Square is totally overpriced, so we wandered a couple of blocks away and found this amazing little coffee shop. Rule of thumb: If you stand at the bar to drink your coffee, you don't have to pay. If you want to sit inside, it's usually about one euro. If you want to sit outside, it's pretty pricey. That's how they get ya!

Most delicious cappuccino I've had so far. I'll be totally spoiled by the end of this trip and never want American coffee or Starbucks ever again.

Here are some more pictures of San Marco. It's absolutely breathtaking. I'll be able to go inside on a trip with my class this Tuesday I believe.

After our little visit here we ran through crazy winding streets to get to a boat stop on the opposite side of the mainland. We then met up with the rest of our group to take the vaporetta to the island Burano, where we then transferred to another boat to take us to Torcello where we had our class for today. I don't have any pictures from the churches there since cameras weren't allowed, but it was really amazing. 11th century stuff. We had great lectures from our professors about the conservation efforts (and mess-ups) concerning the mosaics in all of the churches. 

This next picture is the only picture I took at Torcello. Our professors took us out for a drink right after the lecture at a little restaurant that lined the river. It was absolutely beautiful and probably the fanciest place we've stopped to eat at so far. The girl in the picture with me is my friend Kelly, a graduate assistant.

Back on the mainland close to my apartment this amazing military ship is docked out on the water. Couldn't NOT take a picture of it - so cool! They brought it out into the water earlier and were doing some kind of cannon shooting drill. 

You can't see me but I am in this picture below standing on my friend's balcony. I met up with some friends for dinner, I think it was actually at that restaurant you see at the street below. We all had pasta and were serenaded by the owner and his wife with a guitar and violin. 

I've been getting around pretty well with the little Italian I know, and I learn more and more every day. I even went to the grocery store and knew how to ask for things I needed, and how to pay. I'm quite happy that I live in such a local area, pretty separate from the tourists. Last night on my way home from dinner we walked past a small taverna with a bunch of people singing karaoke in Italian, and they all waved as we walked by. Everyone is friendly and the city is beautiful.