Venice- the land of lovers

---

2 posts in about 3 days, my my. Midterms must be over.

Last weekend, I went to Venice. Let me begin with getting to Venice- overnight train. I once took an overnight train to Memphis and loved it. Course, when I got there I had the luxury of being able to sleep until mid afternoon. On my trip to Venice, I wasn't exactly granted that luxury. The regional trains in Italy have compartments- Hogwarts style. So, I was in a compartment with 5 other strangers, trying to fall asleep in the most uncomfortable seats ever. I didn't sleep. We arrived in Venice at 5:30 AM. To be honest, being up that early didn't exactly suck. We were given the unbelievable pleasure of watching Venice wake up. There's no equivalent to the experience of standing on a bridge over the Grand Canal watching the sun come up. It actually might have been my favorite part of the trip. We took a water bus to Leto, the beachy island next to the island of Venice. We played around on the beach a little bit, and checked into our hotel where I promptly passed out for 2 hours.

Noon arrived and we were out the door. We went to St. Mark's Square. PIGEONS! We went to the Basilica of San Marco. It was mind blowing, mind you, I've seen a lot of churches in my time here in Rome. Every Wednesday, my Art in Rome class basically goes to a church. But I've never been so breathtakingly stunned as I was in San Marco. Mosaics, mosaics, mosaics. The domes in this basilica are SO high, and covered in mosaics. I remember when my mom tiled our back patio, and that seemed like it took forever- I can't even imagine people being hundreds of feet in the air tiling. It blows my mind. For those of you who don't know, St. Mark's got its name because back in the 9th century Venice acquired the body of St. Mark (like the Gospel of Mark). So, apparently it's him, and he's in this basilica. I didn't pay the 2 euro to see his body, because Dr. Nicholson taught me to be skeptical about relics.

After the basilica, we hung out in the square for awhile. Then, we went for a gondola ride. At first, I was skeptical because a gondola ride costs 100 euro. I know, right?! But the 4 other girls I was with wanted to go, and that meant only 20 euro a person. Our gondolier was named Alvin. He looked like a Venetian Abercrombie model. (Venice had very good looking men) He took us by Casanova's house and Marco Polo's house. No, he didn't sing. We asked. He said no. Then, proceeded to sing to himself. He ended up totally flirting with a couple of my friends. They asked him if he wanted to out with us and he said that at night he has a girlfriend, but not during the day (showerbag...) Then, we went to the island of Murano- the glass island. We watched a glass blowing demonstration. I watched this guy make a horse- that was pretty cool. Then, we went back to the island of Venice and walked around a bit. We had dinner in the Jewish ghetto. I bought a carnivale mask- Halloween dance is tomorrow.

The next day, we went to the Doges Palace. I made an ass of myself. We purchased a rolling Venice card which gave us unlimited water bus transportation and discounts at the museums. The women who worked there were really bitchy to us. I couldn't find my card. I paid the 13 euro, stepped out of line and found it. I knew the bitches wouldn't let me exchange for a ticket of 7.50. So, instead, I turned around and kicked the wall. They weren't happy with me. Oops. I need to control my temper sometimes. Anyway, the palace was pretty sweet. We saw a big ballroom reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast. We went through the prison. We walked across the Bridge of Sighs. The Bridge of Sighs gave prisoners their last look at Venice before they were executed. Pretty depressing, eh?

After that, we walked for what seemed like forever to the Basilica Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. This basilica houses a wooden sculpture carved by Donatello. To be honest, I wasn't entirely impressed with it. This may be because I'm used to seeing sculptures by Michaelangelo, and let's face it, nothing compares to him. Maybe I'll go on a Michaelangelo rant in another blog. Anyway, we to the basilica at 5:30, and they had mass at 6:30. So, we stuck around for mass. That was a really neat experience. I haven't gone to mass on my own volition since moving to Europe. But this was pretty cool, we actually felt like members of the Italian community, and it wasn't boring. Sure, I didn't know what the priest was saying in his homily, but I could follow along well enough for the rest of the mass. Oh the joys of uniformity. After that, we went back to the train station, and headed back to Rome.

Oh, I need to address the title. Alvin was not the only person in Venice with a significant other. I think they breed couples there. Everyone had a significant other. Sigh... Anyway, Venice is still my favorite city in Italy. If you have the means, I highly recommend you go before it sinks.

Ciao

---