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Published: March 4th 2007
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Carnivale Costumes
Here is an example of the amazing costumes. These are just regular peple dressed up for Carnivale. I loved the costumes- they are so beautiful! Hello Everyone!
Ok so the first thing I want to say about my trip to Venice is that I think going to Venice during Carnivale should be on everyone’s life list! It is an absolute blast! The tiny streets of Venice are packed with locals and tourists from all over. People really go all out with their costumes and masks and it is just so fun to walk around and be in the middle of it all. There is also great entertainment, activities and parties at night! Venice is beautiful, but it is very difficult to find your way around as there are no street names. There are just areas such as San Marco or San Polo and then numbers, but the numbers don’t go in order so it is very confusing. However, the upside of this is that it is fun to just wander around the winding streets of Venice and see where you end up. The main Piazza in Venice is San Marco and this is a huge square where most of the big events of Carnivale took place. Here we saw the competition for the best costume of the carnival. This was really cool because anyone who
Face Painting
Kaley and me with our faces painted for the carnival. We are standing in Piazza San Marco infront of Basillica Di San Marco. is dressed up can compete in the show. They just walk down this long stage and model their costume and then some judges decide. The lady who won this year was dressed up as a hot air balloon. Her costume was pretty cool and very detailed, it was like an old fashioned hot air balloon. Also in this main square there were vendors of all sorts, people throwing confetti everywhere- especially kids, they love this tradition. There was also traditional dancing to be watched and fireworks to be seen from this square.
Gondola rides are very expensive at any time in Venice, but since we were there for Carnivale the prices were even more. However, as we were walking down the crowded streets, my friend Kaley looks over and sees this girl drinking a Bacardi Breezer and says to me (kind of loudly) “look that girl is drinking.” The girl was an American who I think thought Kaley was being rude and judging her and I picked up on it and said oh she doesn’t mean it like that we just forget you can drink in public here and we are pretty much thinking it is a good idea.
The Gondola Ride
Me, Kaley, and the two American girls we met on the Gondola. So much fun! They were actually pretty cool girls so we wandered around with them for a bit and we all wanted to do a Gondola ride and it is cheaper if you have 4 in a boat than 2 because you just pay for the ride not by person. So it actually worked out that Kaley said what she was thinking out loud because we met up with these girls and got a cheaper Gondola ride. And the Gondola ride was so fun. We all grabbed a drink and hopped in these beautiful old fashioned Gondola’s and went for a ride all through the canals of Venice. On our ride through the canals we saw a tourist fall on a slippery step into the canal. I felt so bad for her because I heard that the water in the canals is very dirty because it is stagnant. Well, glad it wasn’t me.
Ok moving on- so even though it was Carnivale and there was tons do we still wanted to fit in the usual tourist destinations so we went to see the inside of Basilica San Marco. This is the main tourist attraction in Venice and its 13th century mosaics are
Party Night in the Square
Me having a great time at the party in the square right outside our hostel! amazing. We also went in to Doge’s Palace which was once the home of Venice’s mayor (Doge). This was pretty amazing as it is a Palace so it was full of beautiful state rooms that include detailed wood carvings and ornate oil canvases. In one room the ceiling was covered with pictorial biblical judgments and this painting was really beautiful. It was also cool to see the rooms of the Council of Ten and the Council of Three where they would make decisions on the fate of a person accused of a crime. It was really very interesting. Of course you can’t go to Venice and not walk along the Grand Canal so we did that and picked up a few souvenirs along the way as well as got out faces painted for the Carnival festivities. Our last touristy destination was to walk to the Jewish Ghetto where in 1516 the Doge forced Venice’s Jewish population into the old cannon- foundry area, creating the first Jewish ghetto in Europe. It is in this area that we saw the oldest synagogue in Venice but, it was hard to find because it is so simple that it looks like a regular building.
Crowded Streets of Venice
This picture just gives you an idea of how busy the streets were during Carnivale. Although we did not go to the island of Murano where they make the famous Venetian glass- we did pick up some jewelry made of the glass and it is beautiful.
There were so many cool costumes at this Carnival- people were dressed up in the traditional Venetian masks and dresses, or just dressed up in a funny mask or jester hat. However, my favourite costume was probably the guy who was dressed up as a wine box. In Italy they sell wine in what looks like juice box and this is what this guy dressed up as it was hilarious (see picture).
One night we went out to a nice Italian restaurant for supper (the key to finding a good restaurant is to find one down a small side street away from the main squares- so that is what we did- and we hit a good spot- Italian food is amazing!). We met up with a girl from L.A. who was staying in our hostel and she came with us. It is so fun meeting people as you travel around! So anyway, we went for a nice supper and then went to this big outdoor party in
Wine box Costume.
Here is the wine box costume- my favourite costume of the carnival! the square right outside our hostel. There was a huge stage set up and music blasting and thousands of people just dancing and having a great time. So we joined in and even made it up on stage! It was so fun. Then when that was over they had signs taped to the ground leading everyone to a big indoor night club set up just for the carnival- it was great because there was no navigating- just following signs. So finally, we made it back to our hostel and I am sleeping for quite awhile already when some guy comes into our room and falls flat on his face in front of my bed and wakes me up. Then he gets up gets on my bed and starts grabbing my leg and trying to pull my blanket off- so naturally I get a little freaked out and I am yelling at him asking what he is doing and telling him to get off, but he doesn’t- he just continues. So I kick him and wake my friend up by yelling to her what is going on. So she gets up and yells at this guy too and finally he stops,
Bellini
Here is a picture of me by the water having a Bellini. This was a popular drink at the carnival. It is not like a Bellini at home though- it is more of a fruity champagne. Yum! gets up walks to the corner of the room, takes off his pants and leaves the room. Then a few minutes later comes back in and passes out on the only empty bed in the room. Needless to say I did not have the best sleep the rest of the night. But it is a pretty fun story looking back. Oh the hostel life!
So all in all Venice was amazing and I am so glad I went for Carnivale! I loved the chaos and of course you can’t beat Italian Gelato so that combined with great entertainment and a beautiful city equals a blast!
More to come on the rest of my spring break trip.
Take care.
Lindsay
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