The Worst Morning Ever

not.

Venice

Venice was a wild ride. Get ready for a lot of pictures.

We were only in Venice for about a day and a half, but the city was rung dry by the time we left.

We started early on Saturday, before the sun came up, to beat the crowds. The population of Venice is about half tourists at any given time, so if you want to see the city without dealing with them, you need to be an early bird.

We woke up at 5:30 AM and booked it to St. Mark's square.

We walked all day, from 5:30 AM to around 7 PM, and absorbed as much as we could.

It was a great decision to wake up so early. This place is iconic, and to be alone with it was surreal. For a few hours the city was ours.

The morning light is another reason to do it all so early.

This is what happens when you don't sleep in.

I was really excited to be somewhere that isn't landlocked.

For comparison, here is the crowded version of the bridge next to the bridge of sighs and St. Mark's square. Still cool, but not as good.

Will is really into playgrounds.

We tried many gelatos and I made friends with a cat. I miss my cat.

Go to Padua

On Sunday morning we were back at it again. By the recommendation of Professor Ligo at Davidson, we went to see the Scrovegni Chapel. Inside it are floor to ceiling to roof frescoes done by Giotto.

They are the most beautiful in Italy. It was breathtaking and I wanted to sit in there all day, but we were only allowed 15 minutes. There is obviously no way to capture it in a photo or video, but this is what it looks like.

The Rest of the Week

I did other things this week too.

On Thursday there was a presentation by the company who did the visual effects on some big movies, most notably Interstellar. They focused on Interstellar because they used a lot of real science, and they were also presenting to cern, so it made sense.

It was fascinating how seamlessly they combined elements of science and computer simulations to create art that accurately represents a physical phenomenon. They talked a lot about gravitational lensing around black holes, and how they produced fantastic images like this:

I also went with Michael to the Geneva car show, which Tom Brady was at earlier in the week. It's apparently one of the biggest in the world. I don't know much about cars, but it was fun.

I realize that in all of these pictures I'm wearing the same jacket, but I swear I change my clothes.