Venice - The City of Canals or just one giant maze

Grand Canal

Well, I have completed midterms so I think I need a little vacation for the long weekend. I don't know, how about Italy? Alright, Italy it is! My last midterm was on Wednesday evening, so even before the sun was up on Thursday, I was on a train to Venice. I'm traveling with two girlfriends, Katie and Elizabeth. We have two days in Venice and then two days in Verona. I was so excited for I have never been to Italy before and I made it to Venice before it sinks! The train was about 6 hours. Long, but not terrible. It also was through the most gorgeous countryside and mountains. The leaves are changing colors right now and some of the hill sides are all blazing with golden leaves. We were in Venice shortly after noon. Venice is the prettiest island. Canals are everywhere! You have to always watch where you're going because you might just dead end into a canal. The streets are so narrow and tiny. There are no cars, just boats. It was kind of scary walking through the streets, especially at night. The buildings are so tall all around you and the streets are very tiny. You never know what is around the corner. Also, the streets randomly dead end at times. We took a water taxi to hour hotel. We found it cheaper to stay in a hotel instead of a hostel in Venice. We had the perfect location right by the Rialto bridge in the center of the island.     

Rialto bridge



 

That afternoon we walked all around the island. We saw the plaza where bull fighting use to occur. We saw the opera house and the theatre house. We did some shopping. I have a new real Italian leather purse that I am super excited about :) It was frustrating trying to take pictures of all the buildings since it's impossible to get the whole building in. There is no way to back up since all the buildings are practically on top of one another. We had dinner that night along side the Grand Canal by the Rialto Bridge. I had delicious stuffed pasta. It was the house specialty. Later that night we went to some wine bars. Now, Italian men are very forward. They are not at all shy about approaching a girl and kissing her like they were the best of friends. It was a little frightening the first time it happened to me. All of the sudden my hand was grabbed and kissed and then so to was my cheek. Flattering, but a little creepy at the same time. Katie had the worst of it since she is the fairest of blonde's. Every guy came up to her and asked where she was from while we were walking on the streets. Elizabeth decided to be smart and just answer "Heaven" and keep walking. It was funny.   





View of Venice from the top of the Bell Tower

Our hotel provided a very nice breakfast in the mornings. Being the thrifty college students that we are, we all brought a purse to breakfast with us and stored some rolls and fruit for lunch later. That way we only had to buy one meal a day, and gelato snacks of course. Friday morning we made our way down to the only official square in Venice, San Marco Plaza. We saw some beautiful churches and museums on the way. Many men were out selling gondola rides. We were stopped by one who looked real legit in a stripped shirt and straw hat. He said he'd give us a deal of 90 euros for a half hour gondola ride. Now Elizabeth is a shrewd bargainer and so we decided to accept his offer once she had talked him down to 60. So we had a wonderful gondola ride through the canals of Venice. We also got an extra 15 minutes free of charge. So in other words, we worked the system. It was so cool having a guided gondola tour of Venice. We decided all that was missing was someone to serenade us. We saw Mozart's Venice home and many other important people of Venice's homes. Once we made it to San Marco Plaza, we went up to the top of the bell tower. It was a gorgeous clear day and from the top you can see the Alps, the mainland of Italy, and even Croatia. It was amazing and beautiful. The funny thing is that from that high up, you can't see all of the canals. Venice looks like a normal city with only the roof tops visible. It was so cool.



Venice at night

After San Marco Plaza we went to the Jewish Ghetto. This was the first ghetto in Europe. It was real easy to block it off since it was it's own little island. All the bridges were blocked and the canals as well. It was a super small area and there were a few plaques as a memorial. Afterwards we found this really cool carnival mask shop. We spent about an hour trying on all these different masks and taking pictures. Some were really crazy with tons of feathers and glitter. In the end we each bought a mask as a little souvenir. Dinner that night was some more wonderful pasta and excellent wine. I finally had some of the best tiramisu that I have ever had! It's my favorite and it was so good! That night we wandered a bit until we found a good wine bar. It was a fun night :) The next morning we did the same thing with breakfast and lunch. Our train for Verona left at 10:45, so we had a relaxing morning walking around Venice saying goodbye to the beautiful canals and pretty houses. What I will not miss is all the litter on the streets and the cigarrette buds everywhere.