Shopping + Venice

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I have lots to tell since it's been a while, but I'm going to keep this one short and sweet (ish) since it's 1am here and the weekend was an adventure to be told in a much longer, better entry tomorrow, after i've showered and slept. So here's the story of Venice and the rest of Thursday!

Thursday after I last updated, we headed downtown for a bit and did some actual shopping, I didn't purchase much other than some pendants from a street vendor, and then we wandered quite a bit. Right before dinner, I ended up purchasing a pair of nicer leather sandals, since I don't own any and we though I'd need them for Friday and Harry's Bar in Venice (They're very picky about how you dress there).

After that, we met up with everyone at a creperia and OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!! the most amazing crepes of my life, no joke. We all got nutella (very, very popular here) and fresh strawberry-they cook and make it in front of you, how you want, and its 3 euro. Cheap and the most amazing delicious crepe/breakfast like food in my life. I'm really gonna miss those, we're planning on living on them the rest of the week. They also make lunch-y type ones, and whatever you want. If you are ever in Verona, go to the creperia down the street from Castelvecchio, not far from the Piazzas. You won't regret it.

After the crepes, we went back to the pizza place from the first day and had more pizza, and then came back and dropped things off before some of us went for gelato. I know, I'm kind of a fatty-at least I'm walking it off everywhere!!!

Bed came shortly after that, I think, and then Friday we had to be up pretty early to catch the bus and then a train to Venice! We ended up missing the first bus because it drove right by us without stopping!! We walked to another stop and caught it just in time, so that we could make our train, by only 10 minutes! I have to say, I'm sick of riding trains, you'll find out why in the next entry!

After we arrived in Venice, we headed straight to the water taxi (btw, LOVE Venice, if you know me, you know my love of water 😊! ) and over to St. Marks Basilica and the Doge's palace, if you've ever done art history/any italy, you know them. Very famous, they also flood frequently around there, its right off the main river (canal). We met up with our tour guide, who was certifiably insane. We were there right at noon, so it was neat to see the bells ring and the famous Zodiac clock, and then we went in the church, where our guide spent more time enforcing the rules, mostly the no photo one, to everyone else not even in our group, including taking their cameras and yelling at them, than she did giving us a legit tour (no, she does not even work there, she's just some random tour guide for Venice-CRAZY LADY!) We didn't see much, and she booked her tours too close together, so we were hurried the whole time and didn't see much. and yes, i took pictures, im very good at aiming my camera while its around my neck and not holding it up! haha we all are.

After St. Marks, we went over to the palace, which is impressive, but after a while looks the same. I was excited to see the Hieronymous Bosch paintings, unfortunately the one i am most familiar with is on loan to another exhibition. I also took illegal photos in here, haha it was quite fun. And our tour guide argued with everyone and was in general, crazy, especially when our teacher and the other woman on the trip got lost, she flipped out! too funny. The bridge of sighs, that famous enclosed bridge that goes over the canal with a little tiny window for a last view of outside that connects the palace and prison, if you've ever had history or anything you'd know it, was not that impressive. I didn't even realize we were in it at first. Also, everywhere we've gone, all the duomo's, cathedrals, etc. have all been under repair of some sort with lots of scaffolding outside, which makes for crap views and pictures a lot.

After the basilica was lunch, and since Venice is known for seafood and i love fish, i got a sea bass, with a cheese/artichoke dressing on top. Very, very good. Sorry my sentences are short and less descriptive than norma, but i want to get this all down before bed and before i start forgetting since this was 3 days ago. After lunch, we split up to do some shopping and take photos, but it had gotten very cloudy, windy and cold, and was sprinkling rain off and on for several hours. We decided to all meet up at 6pm on one of the main bridges and discuss the possibility of a Gondola ride, and then we split into two groups and did some shopping. I bought some glass beads and some BEAUTIFUL elephants that I will have to post pictures of, and my group went to Harry's Bar, where the bellini was invented (that drink we had last week). It was ....don't be too shocked.... 15 euro. But very, very worth it, absolutely amazing, and we were in the very place it was invented. It definitely warmed us up a bit, and we walked back towards the bridge and hit some stores along the way.

Once we got to the bridge and met up with everyone, we discovered they'd already gone on a gondola ride without us, so the five of us went down to ask about prices anyways. It ended up costing us 16 euro a piece, and it had finally gotten sunny out so I'm pretty sure we all got some good shots. Our gondolier was nice, too, and his name was Giorgio, although I'm not sure I spelled it right!!

After the ride, we went back to the water taxi, but apparently took the right one in the wrong direction first, and ended up on the other side, but we eventually made it back and then had a nice long train ride back home, and when we got here we went and got some more crepes!! It's now morning, because I couldn't get the rest of this to publish last night, but I'll update again later so you can read the crazy story of the weekend!!

Ciao!

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