On June 10th, Patrick and Jaxon dropped Travis and I off at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. We were about to embark on our first trip overseas with the Carrollton Wind Ensemble. This trip had a greater purpose than just sightseeing. We were going to be performing four concerts as well as hosting a music workshop for underserved refugee youth living in Rome, Italy. We could not be more excited! We flew from Atlanta to Toronto, Canada where we had roughly a four hour layover. It felt like it was so hard to pass the time in the Toronto airport mostly because we were so excited to get to Italy! We walked around the airport and checked out the shops, got lunch, and then we got a pack of cards to pass the time. Finally it was time to board the plane and head to Venice!
The plane for the international flight was huge! We had screens on the headrest of the seat in front of us that were touchscreen. We could view our flight’s progress, see the menu for drinks and snacks, watch movies, or play games. We could even play games with people in other seats by just putting their seat number in. It was pretty neat. We had dinner on the flight, which was actually pretty good! I had some kind of mushroom pasta. Travis and I decided to try new drinks while on this flight since they were free. I tried scotch (not my cup of tea, the BURNING), and Travis tried Canadian whisky (also the burning, but he didn’t seem to mind as much). We played Angry Birds, I watched part of a movie, and then I tried to get some sleep because it was going to be 9am when we reached Venice, and we were going to hit the ground running. Not long after I woke up, we were flying over the Swiss Alps, and it was so beautiful!
Finally we came in to land at the Venice airport! Everyone seemed to be equally tired and excited. Once we had all gotten our bags, we went outside to take a water taxi to Venice. More than half of us slept the whole way there. I was wide awake the whole time though because I just couldn’t contain my excitement! We were really here! This is real!
We got off of the water taxi and walked over to our hotel which was close by. Our rooms weren’t quite ready, so they gave us the keys to four rooms so that we could drop off our luggage, and then go grab some lunch. Lunch was on our own and not a group affair, so Travis and I just took off not even knowing where we were going. We figured we’d run into food, and sure enough just over one bridge and a little ways down into a piazza, we found it.
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Terrazza Aperol: This restaurant and our experience there was one of my favorite parts of this trip. This restaurant is centered around a popular aperitivo that includes a drink called Aperol Spritz. Travis and I decided to eat there, and struck gold with our waiter. He was personable, funny, and clearly enjoyed his job. We had decided that we wanted to try their special that included the famous Aperol Spritz as well as two cicchetti each. Cicchetti was listed as typical Venetian finger food. When the waiter asked what we’d like, I told him that we’d both like the Aperol Spritz as well as this- and I pointed at cicchetti on the menu because there was no way I’d pronounce that correctly. He told me to give it a try, and I promptly butchered the word. He actually took the time to teach us how to pronounce it correctly while also breaking down the word with us. He brought our drinks and food, and we immediately dived in. He came over and said, “What is that you’re eating?” Travis and I were both like, “I don’t know, but we like it!” He said, “You are eating way to fast. How are you able to taste your food? You don’t even know what you are eating. Slow it down and see if you can tell me what it is. Savor your food.” Lo and behold he was so right. We slowed down and enjoyed our food, and we were able to actually figure out what we were eating. He talked with Travis about gaming, and decided that Travis is a cheater since he games mostly on PC 😆 . He brought out another drink for me to try since I liked the Aperol Spritz, and said it was on the house. This is where I think I tasted Campari for the first time. We just had the best time slowing it down, taking it easy, and just really enjoying our mealtime and the conversation. This was my first glimpse at how Italy views mealtimes. As Americans, we are so quick to rush through our meals to get on to the next thing. We value speed over quality a lot of the time, and not just with our food. To be honest, the long drawn out meals in Italy were almost annoying at first. I felt like we needed to hurry up, so we could get out there and do something else. By the end of the trip, I had a new appreciation for a lengthier mealtime allowing for more conversation and camaraderie with our friends and family.
After our lunch, we headed back to the hotel so we could check into our rooms and freshen up. The next thing on our itinerary was to take a water taxi to check out the Venetian islands of Murano and Burano. It was kind of funny to see that almost every time we got on a water taxi about half of our ensemble would go to sleep. Murano is a Venetian island that is well known for glass blowing, so we got to see a glass blowing demonstration there that was really cool.Â
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After the glass blowing demonstration, we hopped back on the water taxi and headed to Burano. Burano is known for it’s brightly colored homes and lace work. We had fun exploring the island and all of the little shops.
We took the water taxi back to the main island of Venice once we finished exploring, and Stephanie got a candid of me enjoying the sun on my face. I bought a beautiful gray lace wrap on Burano, and you can see it in the photo.Â
Once we returned to the main island, we ate dinner as a group under a beautiful green canopy. Let’s talk about a bit of culture shock. The number of courses at dinner were astounding! It was also another lesson in taking our time and enjoying our food and each other. This was when I had my first true Italian tiramisu. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest. On the way we got a sneak peek of the Basilica di San Marco which is gorgeous!
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The next morning we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel. Now we got to experience coffee done the Italian way, and it was so good! It was also definitely a far cry from Starbucks coffee. We then walked over to the Church of Santa Maria della Pieta. This church is where we would perform our first concert of the tour later that day. The church was lovely, and I felt very honored to be able to play there. We dropped off our attire and instruments there for the concert later.
After that, we had some time for a guided tour of the Basilica di San Marco and Venice. Let me tell you the history, architecture, and art that we saw in Italy were like nothing I have ever seen in my life, and the Basilica di San Marco was no exception. It was amazing! You can swipe through the photos of the Basilica di San Marco below.Â
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After visiting the Basilica di San Marco, we had our guided tour of the main part of Venice, and then we were turned loose to get lunch and do some exploring on our own until we had to be back for our concert. Travis and I found a yummy place to eat lunch where we got these great coffee drinks! We then explored until it began to rain, during which we sat under some scaffolding until it was time to go to the church. You can swipe through the photos of our time in Venice that afternoon here.
We then returned to the church to get ready for our performance. You guys. I have never heard acoustics the way they sounded in that church. It literally brought tears to my eyes as we were playing Dirait-On because it was just so stunning. At one point while we were playing, the sun decided to stream through a window in the ceiling, and your girl was super lit for a good bit of the performance 😆
 Once we finished the concert we were on our own for dinner and more sight seeing. By this point we were all pretty exhausted, but we really wanted to be sure to see everything we could, as it was our last night in Venice. Travis and I were single-mindedly determined that we would experience a gondola ride before we left, and we made it happen!Â
This concluded the first leg of our trip in Italy. The next morning we got up and headed out to the Tuscany region. Venice was amazing and everything I had ever imagined. I’m so glad that I got to see it. Stay tuned for part two!