Over the past couple weeks, I have been busy studying for my first set of finals. To celebrate the end of finals, I took a day trip to Venice. We had absolutely no plans for the trip. We only knew which train we would take there and which we would take back.
When we arrived in Venezia (Venice), we noticed that there was a path from the train to Piazza San Marco that EVERYONE was taking. We decided to wander off the beaten path to see if we could get a better idea of what Venezia is like. There are tons of bridges with unbelievable views and small churches and cool buildings everywhere. The pictures really don't do the city's beauty justice.
Gondole - the boats that Venezia is famous for were sprinkled throughout the city. Why didn't I take a ride in one you might ask? Well... they cost 80 euros (120 bucks) for a 40 minute ride. I'll stick to walking. As we walked along aimlessly, we noticed that we were a 2 euro vaporetto (large motor boat) away from Murano, the island world renowned for it's glass. So, we hopped a ride to the little island.
When we got off the island we were told that there was a free demonstration of how Vetro di Murano is blown. The master glass-blower made a bottle and a horse as the tour guide explained some interesting facts about Murano Glass. I would relay them, but he was speaking in Italian and I didn't catch much of it. Afterward we looked in some of the glass shops along the main canal in Murano. I really like some of the stuff, but a set of 6 shot glasses was 400 euro and a small elephant figurine was 105. After that I stopped asking... Below is the glass blowing demonstration room.
Along the way to Piazza San Marco, the largest Piazza in Europe, we saw people dressed up for carnevale heading the same direction. There were street musicians and almost everyone had at least a mask on. Here's one of the carnevale shops, some people dressed up for carnevale, and me eating some nutella next to a statue and a street musician.
Finally, after about 4 hours of exploration, we arrived in Piazza San Marco. This was definitely the coolest piazza that I've ever seen. The intricacy and color of the buildings was unbelievable, and the amount of people packed into one place was absurd. Here are some pictures that I took of the Piazza. First, the Basilica di San Marco. The next two pictuers of the Piazza itself. The fourth is of some typical costumes, the fith of some intricate costumes, and the last one is a giant lion constructed completely with vegitables.
Piazza San Marco was definitely the place to be during Carnevale. We stayed here for a couple hours, bought masks of our own (partially as souvenirs and partially to wear) and then we took the tourist route back to the train station. Along the way we stopped to sample some traditional carnevale dolce (dessert). The last view I had before we left the city was amazing. I tried to take a picture, but it didn't turn out that well. Try to imagine what it actually looked like...
Overall I though Venice was an awesome city, but it has the same type of atmosphere as Florence - it's 100 percent tourist trap. I'm definitely glad I went, though, especially during Carnevale. I think it's my favorite place I've seen so far!After we got home (around 11), my roommates and some of their friends who were visiting from all over Northern Italy, went out to a disco pub. We were out until 5:45 AM?! which is apparently pretty normal. Here is a picture of me with 3 out of 4 of my roommates (after a very long day).
When I woke up the next "morning," I made french toast for "breakfast" because a couple of my roommates had never heard of it before. It was my first time, but it wasn't too hard and I figured it out well enough - even put chocolate chips and powdered sugar on it.
That pretty much sums up my end of finals celebration. Ciao!
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