Post date: Nov 19, 2012 10:22:30 AM
Our first week in Venice was quite an interesting time. Arriving on Sunday, October 21st, we came to find out that all of the supermarkets were closed for the day by the time we unpacked and settled in! After a day (or two!) of traveling to get to Venice, we were all pretty hungry so out to lunch we went! As a large Venice project center group we went out to dinner later in the evening and enjoyed our first night on the fish shaped lagoon!
Throughout the first week we had many firsts: group meetings at the Venice Project Center (VPC), first church visits, first acqua alta, etc...
Acqua alta sure was interesting. With half of our group living on Giudecca, it was difficult for them to get to the main part of Venice in the mornings, but we got to watch how some of the tourists and locals deal with the high water flooding around the entire city! Many people walked around barefoot and tried to have a good time, others weren't happy that their feet were getting wet or their homes and stores were flooded. Altogether, it was a foreign situation and one I am sure will be remembered for a while!
Visiting our first churches by starting with those on Giudecca, we figured out a method of collecting information that worked for us. Meghan first takes a picture of the sign on the church, then a front, left side, and right side picture of the facade. Then Danielle takes down information about the church such as when it is open and other pertinent information that is found by Jeff and Kevin. If the church is open for public viewing, we enter and take a look around! Our first week we visited around 20 churches, out of 144!
6 weeks left to go!