Mom and Wendy

Alright well Wednesday Mom and Wendy got to Florence!
I still had some midterms left so we did quick sightseeing and then we cooked dinner for them in the apartment. We went to Venice on Friday and Scott met us at the station- he had done research and made plans for us which was so thoughtful. I can tell that he is learning a lot about the city when he walks around with his professors one on one. Listening to him tell us all about Venice made me think that I probably should have taken a class about Florentine history. My classes are teaching me things about Italian culture and the media. I also like learning about Italian wine culture and appreciation. I feel that it is very important to maintain the integrity of Italian wine families and I am upset to learn about American and Asian companies pressuring local winemakers to sell their companies. I feel that this sort of abandonment is a slippery slope on the way to homogenization. Not good. When I drink a glass of wine, I like to know who made it and how they did it. I enjoy it much more when I know that it was made with tradition and historical imtegrity in mind.
But anyway, enough about globalization for now.
One of my favorite things we did was when we went into the Basilica San Marco, which I missed out on the first time I went to Venice because it was so crowded during Carnevale. It is one of the most spectacular churches I have ever seen, and I have been in a ton of them. The ceiling and surrounding walls are covered in gold and there are scenes and saints depicted. Scott knew all about the exterior and how the all of the marble was stolen from other areas of the world, which accounts for the fact that no single marble column is the same as another.
We went to Murano the next day where we went to the glass museum. I enjoyed that very much and it made me want to take some kind of glass throwing class. I don't think that Binghamton would offer such a thing but perhaps there is some other way to learn about it.
Overall, Venice was amazing and dream-like as always and I look forward to going back again soon when Josh goes. Kel, Alli and I are all going to go to Venice and it will be so much fun.
I still really want to see the Peggy Gugenheim museum, Burano and a church that Scott tried to take us into but it was unfortunately closed...
Mom and Wendy went home on Monday which was sad but I know that they both had a great time and it made them want to travel more- which I fully support and I hope we can plan a fun place to go!