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Published: April 26th 2009
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Venice was the second stop we made as a group, and after spending another night in the airport, we were ready for some time to relax. Well when we made it to our hostel, which was more of a campground, Stephen and I decided to go into the city while the other girls relaxed by the moldy green pool by the bungalow we stayed in. Because it was such a nice day, and we were in Italy, we were able to soak in the sun any way possible.
When Stephen and I went in to the city, we wandered around, got lost a few times, found a few interesting places, saw some beautiful shops, I fell in a canal, we went got a sandwich and a glass of wine-which was cheaper than water, ate gelato, and saw even more beautiful views. It was a very busy afternoon. We met the girls and continued to do the same again, except I avoided falling in the canal a second time. I had dirty clothes and I smelled for the rest of the day, but didn’t really let it bother me, because hey- I was in Venice! (It wasn’t a dangerous fall, by
the way, just really funny now that I look back on it!)
The shops we saw throughout our days in Venice were gorgeous because Venice is famous for its masks, and its Venetian glass. The artistic ability of the people who made these things is really amazing. There was a mask shop, a glass figurine shop, and a gelato shop around every corner. I really enjoyed the gelato shops! They had every flavor of ice cream possible- but it was way better than ice cream- it was gelato! My favorite was caramel, but the fruity flavors were good too. We made sure to get gelato as much as possible because it was special to Italy, and we wouldn’t be able to have it once we left. But all of the shops were really neat to walk through- very carefully, of course.
That day we saw Rialto Bridge, which was what the Pulteney Bridge in Bath was modeled after, with shops on either side of the street. This bridge was beautiful! It crossed the Grand Canal and so there were tons of people on the bridge. Venice is unique because, if you didn’t know, the roads are actually canals,
therefore no cars just boats. Sometimes there were sidewalks along the canals, and sometimes the sidewalks went off in random directions into dead ends- which catch you off guard causing you to fall in... as I experienced so gracefully.
We also went to San Marco Square, which is known for its pigeons. It was a beautiful square architecturally though as well. We had pizza and then took a ride through the canals in a Gondola! Franco, our Gondolier, didn’t sing to us, but he did show us Marco Polo’s home, and I really think I saw the exact canal that The Italian Job was filmed in. The city was beautiful from the water, plus we went at night, so it really set a romantic mood for all of us girls and Stephen! ;-) We enjoyed the Gondola experience that is exclusively Venice, so it was worth it, even though Franco only hummed to himself.
The next day (April 4) we went island hopping! The ticket we got allowed us to take any ferry to any island, so our first stop from Venice itself was Murano. Murano is the island that is known best for glass blowing. So immediately
we went to watch a demonstration, and this guy was good! He made a vase and a nice little horse figurine, all in about 4 minutes. It was really amazing! We ate pizza again, then headed to the next island: Burano. Now when I imagined Italy, I had Burano pictured in my head but didn’t know it. Venice was a beautiful city, but Burano was really magnificent. Each house along the canals was stucco-ed, then painted a bright color. The sun was shining on us, and it was absolutely gorgeous. We went to another island also: Torcello, but it wasn’t anything special like the others.
There was a lot of character in Venice and on each island. It really impressed me, how ‘Italian’ everything was. But I probably shouldn’t be so surprised about that stuff, because I was actually in Italy. Maybe I am just so amazed by the fact that I was actually in Italy that I never really realized how they would have their own unique style, rather than the Americanized version of ‘Italian’. It was really good for me to get out and see the world, for this reason alone, let alone the other amazing experiences
I had.
One frustrating experience we ran into in Venice was laundry. Now I needed to do laundry after falling down and getting algae and dirt all over my clothes, but with all of us girls, we managed to get 2 loads of laundry. The nice lady at the desk of the campground told us it was 2.50 euro for a load. That was a little pricy for us, but a load was pretty necessary. Well the lady didn’t speak the best English and she got her 2’s and 3’s confused. So we ended up paying about 15 euro to wash and dry our clothes! Not something I plan on doing again, that’s for sure! I’d rather wash them in my bathroom sink like I do when I’m in Bangor than pay 15 euro!
After a nice relaxing few days in Venice, where we weren’t rushed to get from museum to museum, we were all feeling a lot better about our travels. We had plenty of pizza and gelato (which was a great change for me, coming from loads of fish in Norway!) and we enjoyed the beautiful scenes, which are so unique to Venice, so it truly
was an amazing stop.
I have not exactly caught up with my school work, but I’m done with all of my lectures now, so I have plenty of time to write more papers this week. We had a fieldtrip this weekend, which may be the next blog, so I don’t forget about it, then I will go back to Prague, Berlin, Krakow, and Ireland. But then this weekend we are going to Paris, so I will have even more to do. Looks like I should get to work! Chao!
Xx
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