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Published: February 18th 2007
Basilica of St Marks
Constructed during the 800 centuryI have finally awoken from my long slumber after spending 36 hours awake. Our bus crowded with 55 students from our university left at 11:30pm on Friday night. We then drove through the night and made our 7 1/2 hr bus ride to Venice. Upon arrival to Italy's coast, we ate our schnitzel that was provided by the bus company. Our group had to get a water taxi to the island, which costs 4 euro and takes around 20 minutes to get to Venice. The water ride quite choppy but the sun and blue sky’s were out in full force, and served as the perfect background to Venice’s beautiful skyline. Venice was once the richest city in the world, being the center for the spice trade, connecting Europe with Asia. The island is full of back alley restaurants that have local Italian dishes. We happened to be on the island during carnival. It is the busiest day of the year…and it was sure obvious. On the main walkways and bridges over the canal, you had to walk shoulder to shoulder, and there were people everywhere. We had to stop and get our picture taken with the locals dressed in their costumes
A kiss
I was just standing for the photo, when the lady grabed my face and went in for the fake kiss...yikes (the ones that didn’t want to charge us money for a photo!) Our day was spent strolling along the streets and admiring all the architecture that dates back centuries ago. On the square of the Byzantine basilica of St. Marks, there were pigeons running around just like in the movies, “The Italian Job”, and “Casino Royale”.
It was almost impossible to find anyone from the group of us that had originally came with, so a group of seven of us traveled together and hung out at a local pizza place, where we ordered an assortment of beers, coffee and pizza. We enjoyed laying down and taking a nap in the sun along the boat docks, and tried our best to keep our valuables away from pick pocketers, even though we tried to pick pocket each other! Luckily we didn’t end of loosen anything other than a lot of sleep. After eating dinner at another local pizza place, we went into the main square in from of the Basilica and danced and took photos of all the people in their costumes and enjoying the music. When it was time to go, our group, along with
A group shot before a nap
We took a nice nap in the hot sun! every other person on the island, was leaving. We had about 50 boats to choose from, but had to get back to a certain destination. It is not very organized, mostly chaotic swarms of people and boats charging lots of money to get off the island. Once we finally managed to get back, we waited on the bus until everyone got back (pretty amazing we all returned…it was impossible to find our way back to the bus) and exchanged stories, while sitting in the uncomfortable bus seats for a “loud” 8 hours back home. Once my face hit the pillow at 5 a.m this morning, I was out cold until 3 p.m…Now I need to figure out something to eat. Have a great day!
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anonymous
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Carnival
Oh my gosh- I was in Venice during Carnival in 2004! Did you guys have the lady fly down from the tower to start the celebration off?