torcello

today, being a thursday was art history day here in beautiful venice. today we went to torcello, an island in the lagoon that venice lies in. it was the first place that people really settled in the lagoon, so it has the oldest church. it was built in about the 5th century, and kind of evolved during the subsequent centuries, up until the 11th. it has beautiful gold leaf mosaics on the inside, which is a style that is "byzantine." we learned about different images on the wall and how they portray certain messages the church wanted its followers to understand/see.

we took a long vaparetto ride today and went past the island of burano, which is where a special kind of lace is made. we want to go back and visit. it also has really colorful, brightly colored houses that line its streets. during our lunch break today, we did some more johnny depp stalking. he was in san marco piazza, which was where our class was today. we watched him film a scene where he strutted in an all white suit & smoked a cigarette with a smirk on his face. needless to say, all the girls were turning to mush. katy and i got smooshed up against the metal barracades; we were in the front row with all the paparazzi and their giant lenses. we still haven't found angelina jolie yet, though. so everyone's on angie watch.

after we composed ourselves we went to class in the san marco cathedral (HOW COOL IS THAT?! I still can't believe how awesome my classes are) which was incredible. the entire ceiling were different mosiacs. i cannot adequately describe how beautiful it was. all in all, a purty good day. :)

ciao