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Published: November 8th 2009
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VENICE!
View as you walk out of the train station...this was the first thing I saw the night that I arrived. Absolutely amazing at night! Venezia!
Venice was amaazing! I could not have envisioned a better trip, and I am so glad that Hannah and I got to go somewhere together! The ride there was a little too long, but not too bad. I got into Venice around 6 p.m. and the view from the train station is pretty awesome. I walked out to a gorgeous view of the canal at night with all the boats and gondolas. It felt like walking into a whole other world it was so amazing. The whole ambiance of the city is just so much different from anything that I have ever experienced. Our hostel was amazing. Our room was actually in the annex since only the dormitories are in the main building. I think I preferred it this way though, because it felt more like an apartment than a hotel or hostel room. Our room was so cute (the drapes, the bed covers, and our chair where made of matching gold and red fabric--it was like a little Chi Omega room), and I was so excited to see a big bed (mine is seriously barely large enough for me here) that I definitely did a
10-15 minute long happy dance (think Kate Winslett in The Holiday complete with the whole falling back onto the bed). It was pretty convenient since there was a little bakery right next door, so we had somewhere to grab a quick, cheap breakfast each morning. It was cold and pretty rainy the whole time, but it definitely didn't detract too much from the experience (except for maybe when we got stuck in a torrential downpour the first night).
The 1st day we wandered around Venice. At first we tried to kind of follow a plan and hit all the places everything says you need to hit. After an hour or so though we realized there wasn't much of a point, and we ditched the map and just wandered. That was definitely the best way to do Venice, especially since we were trying to save money. Most of the churches and other places all the websites and tour books tell you to go cost money, and it's not really worth it to spend that much. It was a lot more fun to just wander and see the important things that we wanted to see and to look at all the
little shops and just enjoy the sites and the people. We saw the Piazza San Marco and went inside and out on the terrace (definitely worth the 3 euros to do that). We ate at a little restaurant in the afternoon and had some of the best pizza I have ever tasted in my life. The little shops were so adorable--mask shops, glove shops, all of them had awesome displays, and it was so much fun to walk around and just look. The mask shops were especially cool, and the displays were always really neat (we took a ton of pictures so just check out my Picasa). Because of all the rain the city was a little flooded too, but it was kind of cool to see. There were little platforms all over the place lined up so people could walk on them and keep dry. Hannah and I got a kick out of it. Once the rain started to get to us after 5 or so hours of being outside we walked back towards the hostel, stopped at our bakery and bought a few pastries. We were already on a Venice high so this just made it even better!
Masks!
The Venetian mask stores were amazing! So we had a snack and freshened up a bit and then went back out. Instead of taking a gondola ride since they're so expensive, we just took the water taxi all the way around the Grand Canal. It was a great way to see Venice by boat, even though we didn't get to go down any of the smaller canals. Unfortunately, it started pouring and Hannah had accidentally left her umbrella on one of the boats in a fit of Venice high. Originally the plan was take the water taxi all the way around the Grand Canal and then go somewhere for dinner. Unfortunately, I got so soaking wet that my jeans were soaked entirely through from my feet all the way up. My hair was dripping down my back so my shirt got totally wet too, so I had to go back to the hostel and change. Then we just ran to one of the first relatively affordable places we could find, after I bought an umbrella of course.
On day two we went to a couple of the islands--Murano and Burano. Murano was interesting, but pretty deserted. We saw glass being blown at three different places,
although the last was my favorite. We saw it as we were leaving so we went in for a quick look, and there was a nice woman who asked us if we wanted to watch the glass being made. She tried to explain the process, but her English was pretty broken and hard to understand through her thick accent. The older man blowing glass was so cute--he was making a horse, and he looked so happy when we told him that it was beautiful! They were just a lot more nice and welcoming than the others had been. Burano was by far the best of the two. Of course, part of that was due to the fact that the sun finally came out while we were on the boat over, and part of it is due to the fact that there are tons of cats all over the island. The houses were so cute with all the different bright colors. So many people in Europe only wear neutrals and dark colors, and it's so easy to sometimes feel like everything is just devoid of color that this was just such a great burst of colors. We loved taking pictures of
the houses. Burano is the island that is known for its lace-making, so we wandered through a few of the shops and they were just absolutely gorgeous. In one there was the cutest little old lady sitting in a rocker making lace, and she had the cutest cat--he let us pet him and was super friendly so of course I was loving it. We didn't go home until later so on the boat back we got to watch the sunset which was absolutely gorgeous. When we got back we bought our Venetian masks since we were dying to get some...who cares if it's super touristy, they are great! Then we went to a little pizzeria close to our hostel and bought what had to have been the largest pizza I have ever seen in my life. We ate almost the entire thing, then went and got gelatto--I have no idea how my stomach didn't explode, and wandered around the city at night. It was the perfect way to end an amazing two days.
The trip home was pretty exhausting, and it was pretty great to get home to my own bed, although not so great to have to work
the next day. Of course I only had to work for two days, and my roommate and I went out with a few people on Friday night so that was a ton of fun. Now I am just excited to plan my next trip. I'm thinking Christmas festival in Strasbourg or maybe somewhere in Germany? Can't wait to see more!
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