European Extravaganza Days 13-15: Venice, Italy

I am currently on the train on my way to Florence (Firenze!), Italy! I am also currently nursing a wound that I got from trying to push my bag under my seat with my feet. Apparently, if you slide your ankle , against the air grill thing on the side of the wall (I know you now I have no idea what I’m talking about), it will slice your ankle like a razor. Yummy. I also can’t get out a band-aid because if I unzip my suitcase, it might never get zipped again. Hrmph.

Anyways, Venice. Beautiful. When we arrived, we came out of the train station only to discover that we had to take a bus to our hotel, and not just any bus, but a WATERbus. We thought about taking a WATERtaxi, but settled on the waterbus instead (it was significantly cheaper). So, we hopped on the waterbus to the stop nearest our hotel and got a GREAT view of Venice. It really is beautiful. There are no cars, only boats, and lots of high-arched bridges (so that boats can get underneath). The buildings’ facades are very much what you would imagine – kindof old looking, but beautifully designed at the same time. Our hotel was hidden in the depths of Venice (it’s a labyrinth. Seriously.). We managed to find it, and checked- in around 8:30pm.

After checking-in, we ventured out to find somewhere to eat. We wandered for a long time before settling on a cheap little restaurant that served, you guessed it, Italian food! (Who would’ve known?!). I had chicken with tomato sauce and a salad with oil and vinegar. I thought my chicken came with pasta, but it was delicious anyways. After dinner we headed out wandering some more, stumbled upon the Per San Marco, and ate some gelato (delicious, by the way). Then, we discovered that we were totally and completely lost. We wandered for a long time down alleyways and roads, but it got us nowhere we recognized. Luckily, Alex has a GPS on his Blackberry  (thank goodness for Blackberrys! [Blackberries?]). We used it to get us back to our hostel. Unfortunately, all of the roads are named nearly the same thing (Calle de San Zulian, Calla de San Zulian, Casa de San Julian, Campiello de San Julian, you get the point, etc.) and the directions were a little faulty. However, after about 30 minutes of exploring, we managed to make it back alive and in time for bed.

Wednesday turned out to be a relatively stressful day, so we decided to sleep in on Thursday morning so that we weren’t exhausted all day. Around 11 we got out of bed and got ready, getting us out into Venice around 12:30. We walked around looking for somewhere to eat, and found a cute little Italian restaurant right on the water. I had ravioli with tomato sauce, and strawberries with whipped cream for desert (I think they were soaked in a liquor like triple sec which made them extra sweet and tasty!). We went exploring/shopping around Venice for the remainder of the afternoon in the sunshine (it was about 70 degrees Fahrenheit and sunny! The nicest weather we’ve had abroad!). I managed to get some cute, colorful glass earrings and some souvenirs/gifts for friends. We also had gelato as a mid-afternoon snack (mint-chocolate chip, yum!). Have I mentioned that gelato is delicious yet?

After we finished shopping, we went out to dinner at another Italian restaurant (luckily, Italian food is my favorite kind of food). The food here was phenomenal. Alex and I decided to split two meals, and we settled on four-cheese pizza  and meat lasagna. The pizza was really good, and the lasagna was really delicious. For dessert I got fruit salad with vanilla gelato. After dinner we headed down to Rialto Bridge to go for a gondola ride! It was right around sunset/dusk, so it was perfect timing. After paying far too much money, we hopped in the gondola and were off! It took us down the main waterway, and then off into the “back alley” waterways through the little streets, houses, and bridges. I discovered that many of the businesses had back doorways that led either to a dock or to a staircase that hung above the water so that patrons could tie their boats up outside and get into the building. Cute!

After the gondola ride, we wandered a little bit more, decided to have drinks at an outdoor restaurant in a square by our hotel, and then finally pack and head to sleep. I would mark Venice down as a success. It was nice and relaxing amidst all of the stress that we had experienced in getting there. And now, off to Florence we go!

(P.S. Since I know you were concerned, my ankle has finally stopped bleeding. Sortof…)