Bolognese Medieval Defensive Tower (Since I Can't Remember its Exact Name)

The outside of the tower covered in lights, and statue of some Catholic important figure.

The view from the top looking over several churches, the main piazza, and to San Luca on the Hill beyond.

Girls on top... several times.

Climbing up the 400 + steps of the tower with 400 + other people. It's fun to squeeze onto tiny, rickety, ancient staircases with holes in the steps and 50 ft. drops off one side with lots of other people passing and jumping and running and yelling and squishing and jamming. The family who lived in this tower must have been in really good shape.

Looking down.... down.... down....

Light!

We climbed up a defense tower over 200 years old that was built to house a rich family in fortress-like accomodations. You climb all the way to the top on thin wooden staircases that wind all around the inside of the brick tower. There were over a hundred other people in the tower when we were, and everyone was climbing up and down so there was a lot of strategic passing and lots of waiting to get to the top for the gorgeous view right from the center of the old city. It was beautiful!

Venice, Italy

The Grand Canal from the Rialto

Piazza San Marco at aqua alta (read: flooded!) which means no pigeons but lots of funny temporary plastic shoe covers!

Walking on elevated walkways in front of the Church of San Marco, which is made with a lot of marble from Istanbul, then Constantinople, as well as graced by several horse statued "gifted" by the Ottomans.

Anna and I on the 2 hour train ride from Bologna to Venice.

Erin and Jill on the train before we all fell asleep from having only slept about three hours...

Gondolas along the Grand Canal after the sun finally came out.

The Bridge of Sighs. Prisoners were marched over this bridge on their way to various places - thus the sighs.

The Tower of San Marco (I think... )

People wandering around in the flooded Piazza with funny plastic shoe-covers on rather than crowding onto the elevated walkways. The water was over a foot deep when we arrived around 11 am. By the time we left around 5 pm the water was almost totally gone from the Piazza and the sky was blue and sunny. It was fun to see the Piazza both ways!

Me, Jill, and Erin on the Rialto overlooking the Grand Canal.

We went for a day trip to Venice from Bologna, riding the train 2 hours both ways for only 7 euros each way. We had a fun time wandering the streets, shopping for gifts, meeting strange waiters and wading through the flooded city. We tried to get lost but just ended up going in circles. I think I prefer Bologna, but it was fun to see Venice again. I still think it is overpriced, over-touristed and its food isn't as good as elsewhere in Italy. You should still visit it someday before it sinks.

Some photos contributed by Jill!

San Luca Basilica

The outside of San Luca Basilica on the top of Gaurd Hill at the end of the longest portico in the world!

A crossed wall

The inside of the basilica, which is still actively used.

Looking out past the basilica towards the valley beyond Bologna.

Streets of Bologna

The girls walking along the longest stretch of porticos (covered walkways like above) in the world, over 4 km long.

Erin, Anna, and Jill under the porticos of Bologna.

Two things, besides pasta and gelato, that are very common here: statues and pigeons.

Italian street signs.

A gateway from the original walls ringing the old city of Bologna.

A cobblestoned road of old town Bologna.

The courtyard outside one side of Anna's apartment.

Via D'Azeglio

Looking out of Anna's bedroom window

Jill at Anna's computer

Jill, Erin, and I stayed over with Anna and slept in her apartment in Bologna.

Going to: Bologna, Italy

Jill and the top of our snack box on the tiny Austrian plane

Jill, Erin and I went to Bologna, Italy for the weekend from Thursday to Monday to visit Jill's friend, Anna, from the states who's studying abroad there.

The flying situation was a little weird so we all ended up on different flights, excpet Jill and I were on the same planes on the way there. We flew Austrian Airlines (who charge extra to fly into Vienna... but that's the only place they fly to/from). They serve, on every flight as far as we can tell, these cute snack boxes with things like apple streudel in them, and the top is a postcard that you can send free of charge that say clever things like, "freshmania!"

Oh clever Austrians.

Flying over Austria to our plane change in Vienna, where they celebrate Christmas and have very poor airport design.

Around Istanbul

Outside of Akmarkez at night, an upscale mall near school

Chinatown, Istanbul

Taksim square, the day shopping night clubbing mecca of European Istanbul

I was walking along and this little boy stopped me and gave me a flower from his boquet - so cute!

Tons of jellyfish on the left. On the right, one thing I really don't like about Turkey - the vast amounts of litter, trash, and general pollution.

The first bridge

The walkway along most of the Bosphorus in the rich sections looks like this

The second bridge

Tiles and artwork in a tree

Situational irony

Overlooking the Bosphorus from my neighborhood

Cates & Dogs

Along the Bosphorus somewhere

Confrontation. Cats won.

Doing the crossword

Sleeping in leaves outside our building

So I know this is a little bit of a hokey subject, but there are SO many dogs and cats that just roam the streets in Istanbul I couldn't help but take a few pictures of them. It's really amazing how many actually live here.