Venezia on My Mind

Friday, June 13th through Sunday, June 15th

VENICE!!

My dreams have officially come true.

Besides Rome, Venice has always been that one place in Italy where I have dreamed of going. And finally it happened! I spent almost three days there, and it was magical.

First, Friday the 13th. Things seemed to be going wrong. We found out there was a train strike planned in Venice from Saturday at 9pm to Sunday at 9pm, and we had tickets to leave Venice on Sunday at 2:45pm . . . so that was a major problem. We eventually decided that we would worry about the strike when it was time to worry about the strike, so we pushed it out of our minds. Then we arrived in Mestre (just outside Venice) where our hotel was for the weekend, and couldn't find our hotel for a while. Eventually, we walked down this alley-like street and found it, the Hotel Giovannina, and it was completely awful. It was burning hot inside and there was no air conditioning. In the meantime, an Indian guy was working on pulling fans out of boxes and assembling them to put in the rooms.

When we got to our room it was stuffy and sweaty and tiny. There were no sheets on the beds and no towels, and it was beyond hot. We basically dropped our stuff and then left, hoping that the fan (which the Indian guy eventually brought to us) would have cooled down the room by the time we got back. (No such luck.) Then, we got on a bus to Venice.

Venice is so so beautiful! I felt like I was in a dream as I walked around the city, going over all the bridges and watching gondolas and boats float by. Every bridge was an opportunity for a photo—Venice looks good from almost any angle. It was wonderful to just take our time and really look at the scenes around us. I can't tell you how perfectly amazing it was to realize over and over that I was in Venice, the Venice. It felt like a major accomplishment.

After wandering for a while and taking too many photos, we went to dinner at a pizzeria. I got a carbonara pizza because I had had spaghetti alla carbonara in Rome and it was the greatest pasta I have ever had in my life (true story). So, I assumed the pizza version would be just as wonderful.
Here's how it went:

Me: "There's an egg on my pizza."
The group: "Yeah, that's carbonara. Egg and prosciutto."
Me: "But there's an actual egg sitting in the middle of my pizza."

In the spaghetti, the egg yolk is all mixed in with something delicious to make a sort of sauce for the pasta, so you never see an egg and you don't even taste it. With the pizza, they hide the prosciutto under the cheese and then crack an egg on top of the whole thing, then bring it out to you like it's the most normal thing in the world. Weird. So I popped the yolk and tried to spread it around as best I could, then just dug in. It tasted pretty good, but it just wasn't the same. My heart is set on spaghetti.

After dinner we continued our touristy wandering before heading back to our hotel for the night. The fan had done nothing to lower the temperature of our room, so we went from sweating in our day clothes to sweating in the shower to sweating in our pj's. But what can you do? Just be grateful that air conditioning exists somewhere on the planet, I suppose.

We got up early the next morning to make sure we had a full day in Venice, grabbing a quick bite to eat and getting to Venice around 8:30am. Our first stop was going to be St. Mark's Basilica and the Square, which was quite a walk from the bus station (especially since we didn't know how to get there).

St. Mark's Basilica

It took us around half an hour to get to the Basilica. When we stopped to ask an Italian man for directions he told us that in Venice it is good to get lost. I liked that.

Bridge of Sighs

We found the Basilica, and then we saw the line. It spanned the entire square, and as it was still blistering hot outside no one in our group was particularly interested in finding out what St. Mark's looks like inside. So we opted to take pictures outside (even though almost the whole facade was covered in scaffolding . . . seriously bad timing) and then hang out in the Square for a bit.

Being Mark Wahlberg

My favorite part of being in St. Mark's Square was walking through a group of pigeons just like Mark Wahlberg did. All I needed was Donald Sutherland and millions of dollars worth of gold bricks and I would be living in The Italian Job. Pretty sweet.

After taking many touristy pictures (per usual), we walked around the city a bit more before getting tickets for a ferry to take us to Murano and Burano, two islands just outside of the main city of Venice. Murano is famous for its glass and Burano is famous for its lace (also its colorfulness, I think).

Murano

We got to Murano and were immediately ushered into a glass factory for a (free!) glass-blowing demonstration. The guy made a vase and a fish—really cool. After the demonstration we were directed into a store where we could buy almost anything made out of glass. Seriously, there was everything from jewelry to clocks to chandeliers. As much as I would love to have a glass chandelier, I don't think it'd make it to the States. Darn.

Burano

We strolled around Murano for a bit before getting on the ferry to Burano, about a twenty-minute ride. Burano is gorgeous, almost beyond belief. The colors are so bright and beautiful, especially reflected in the water. It is an opportune place for pictures, and I took plenty of them.

After getting some food and walking around, taking in the beauty of the island, we decided to head back to Venice. The weather was starting to look stormy, which was a major relief from the heat, but we wanted to be back in Venice before the rain hit. We made it back and looked around a bit more, doing some window shopping and actual shopping, before heading back to our hotel in Mestre.

That night at midnight (Italy time) Italy played England in its first World Cup game, and we won! Forza Azzurri!! I was too asleep to notice until the morning though. Plus I have never watched soccer in my life (except for Madelyn's games). Anyway, viva l'Italia!

Also, there was a major rainstorm Saturday evening and night that dropped the temperature down to a livable level, which was wonderful. Because of the storm, we stayed inside our hotel room and I read The Fault in Our Stars and bawled my eyes out for a while before we went to bed.

Sunday morning we slept in a bit before getting packed up and checking out of the hotel. After a quick breakfast we took a bus back into Venice for a final hurrah visit. For most of the time we sat on a dock on the Grand Canal and people-watched, gondola/boat-watched, and read. I really wanted to go on a gondola ride, but no one else was up for it. And although "gondola for one!" might have gotten me a discount out of pity, I didn't think it would be very much fun to go alone. So, I guess I'll just have to come back! (I am definitely okay with that).

After relaxing and enjoying the (much cooler) day, we headed back to Mestre to catch the train to Florence. We decided to stop in Florence for a bit of shopping before going back to Siena. We went to the market and I finally got a leather wallet that I've been wanting! Then we got back on the train and made it to Siena in time for dinner.

Anna (my host mom) is so funny. As soon as we walked in the door (carrying our heavy backpacks and damp from rain) she gave us big hugs, told us she missed us, and then pushed us into the kitchen to eat dinner ("Venite! Mangiate!"). It was like coming home. Siena has become this home base, which makes these "vacation within a vacation" excursions more fun. I'm definitely going to miss Anna, and Venice, and Siena, and all of Italy. Everything.

So that was my amazing weekend in Venice! It was incredible and I can't wait to go back to ride in a gondola and see what's inside St. Mark's Basilica. Perhaps next year . . .

I can't believe I have less than a week left in Italy. I'm not ready for my dream to end!

A domani,
Ciao!