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Published: November 18th 2008
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Milan didn’t get much better. We asked our hostel manager for a recommendation for dinner and he directed us to a restaurant that serves Italian AND Chinese food. So the menu went from bruschetta, lasagna and tortellini to orange chicken, beef and broccoli and egg drop soup… Sketchy! But we made the best of it.
I forced Rachael to get out of bed at 4:30 the next morning to catch the 6:55 train back to Venice. It was a struggle but we made it in time. This time when we arrived in Venice, it was sunny and in the high 50’s. Perfect! We went back to the hostel office and we were expecting to be put in the same apartment as before in the Santa Croce district, which is at the mouth of the canal. The manager said that we were actually going to be staying in the San Marco district, which is extremely close to St. Mark’s Square, the main tourist attraction. She showed us a map and drew in the route we needed to take. We jumped on a water-taxi and got off at the right stop. Then we noticed that in showing us the direction to our
Flooded St. Mark's
Here's the boardwalk that was set up Saturday morning when the square was flooded with water. apartment, she had managed to cross out every single street name that we needed! We didn’t even know where to start. We followed signs to St. Mark’s Square (which at this time was completely flooded due to all the rain the day before and high tide). She had showed a different way to reach the hostel from there, but of course the streets were crossed out too.
There is so much that happened in the 2 hours that it took to find the hostel but tired, frustrated, irritated and with aching backs, we made it! I brought my Rick Steves’ “Best of Europe” book and he says the best thing to do in Venice is to get lost, but don’t do it with 40lbs of luggage on your back. To give you an idea of how hard finding the hostel was, San Marco district has no major streets and over 6,000 address numbers. Our street didn’t even have a street sign. After a power-nap, Rachael and I ventured through the streets to find lunch and then out to St. Mark’s Square.
When the square was flooded, there were boardwalks set up so people would walk through the area
and reach the entrances of the different sites. But when we got to the square this time, the water had been drained and people were free to walk about. We headed to St. Mark’s Basilica, which is decorated with items stolen by Venetian crusaders from Constantinople. Rick (Steves) called this the “lowest point in Christian history until the advent of TV evangelism.” Haha.
Next, Rachael and I meandered over to the Doge’s Palace. Still tired and grumpy from earlier in the day, we had a bit of a tiff. I wanted to go inside the palace, which was the location of Venetian government and the home of the Doge (the duke) for over 400 years. I had learned all about it from Steve and friends who had already been to Venice. Rachael wasn’t interested in going. She said that she doesn’t like history and thinks it’s boring. I said, “Well what in the world are you doing in Europe?!?!? You’re the worst travel buddy!” The story ended happy because I got my way and we walked through the Doge’s Palace (even though I felt a little rushed).
After some more exploration along the Grand Canal and the back
side of St. Mark’s Square, we decided it was dinner time. We ate at Pensione Wildner and shared the best Caprese salad and a bottle of wine that we knew we deserved after wandering the streets blindly for half the day. We sat next to an American couple from California who along with every other American we met had just gotten off a cruise ship. They were really interested in hearing our stories about studying abroad and of course we were happy to brag.
Rachael and I never rode a gondola, not because we didn’t want to, but because we definitely couldn’t afford it. It costs about 80 euro for a 40-minute ride and even more for a musician. Plus, with so many romantic couples around, two girls in a gondola might look a little funny.
When we left Venice on Sunday, it was in the low 70’s and sunny. London was in the low 50’s and cloudy. Ick!
I really wish I could write more and go into further detail about the things that I saw and did, but I am playing catch-up in the majority of my classes and I am currently behind on writing
Golden Ceiling
Here's one of the golden arched ceilings inside the palace. a paper for my European Studies class on the European Union’s Working Time Directive and the search for labor market flexibility. Oh, God!
I leave on Thursday to visit my friend Lauren in Barcelona where she is studying so I’ll have more stories next week! Oh, my 21st birthday was really fun (no details necessary).
Arrivederci!
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