Venice: the first mini adventure

I have finally successfully traveled while I am here. I planned a trip for Venice with 8 other people. It was a very trying process but in the end- it turned out perfect.

My friends and I went on the last weekend of Carnivale so we got to experience that as well as see the city, but we went from Thursday night until Friday night so it wasn't too crazy. Something I thought was interesting was that Venice and New Orleans are two cities that are predicted to sink at some point and they both have a festival, (Mardi Gras and Carnviale) that are very similar. I don't know why I thought of that connection but it a hell of a coincidence I think. 

I have to say- I am pretty proud of my travel agent skills (thank you mom for passing those down!).

Getting on the train I was somewhat stressed out because I had never done anything like that, and I was in charge of all the tickets and such, so I was not sure how smooth everything would go. 

BUT IT WAS ALL GOOD. 

 We stayed in hotel that was right off the train station and it was in the middle of this square that had live music and an outside bar. It was so much fun. AND BEAUTIFUL. Not inside, but the view was great.

This is in the morning, when the city was just waking up. 

The first night we did not do much seeing that we had a curfew of 1:00 AM. That is pretty common here with hotels and hostels. Which was fine with me, so we all went out to dinner at this great restaurant. The waiters are very used to tourists seeing that Venice is a huge tourist area; so they were very entertaining and fun. Then we walked around and enjoyed the city. I felt like I really stepped back in time because there are no cars. Everyone uses boats to get around, or they walk. Even the police force and ambulances are on boats. It is a weird concept but makes everything so much prettier. 

This is an average "backyard" for a venecian.

The next day we woke up super early, checked out, dropped our bags off, and hit the town. We shopped around, took our time, and finally all of us found a mask that seemed as though they were made for us. 

This is mine: A little bit of glam, flare, and goofiness all in one. I wore it all day long.

Here is some of the city:

There are bridges everywhere clearly since each block is separated by a small river of water. This was right by our hotel, and is the view that welcomed us to this amazing city.

The city was packed! so much shopping. 

This is closer to Piazza San Marco, it is next to the main bridge in the area. Their are gondolas everywhere.. I wanted to ride on one but they are around 50 euro so that was not happening.

People were dressed like this everywhere we went. I twas awesome.

The actual San Marco Piazza. It is weird to think that people used to just walk around  here dressed like above and live their lives. It was just a normal day for them.

Please notice the seagulls. They are huge. There are some that are on the top of that fish stand and one in the air. They are man eating birds. 

We got to San Marco and there was a big stage with a whole bunch of performances like comedy shows and costume competitions. It was cute. Then we met up with  my friend Annie's cousin, Olivia, who is studying there. She showed us around and brought us to this heavenly bakery that makes some of the best fritellas in town. I could have eaten a dozen of these, but I stopped myself. They are fried dough balls filled with different things. There are some with cream, some with apple, and some with chocolate. I had the chocolate one obviously. It left me speechless. They are a Carnivale treat so they will be gone after the weekend, so people are stocking up. I almost did too!

I would like to mention that I had gelato and hot chocolate as well this day. I felt no guilt. 

So Olivia is here with 14  other people from her school. They all live in a mansion like house with a professor from home and one who lives in Italy. Their is a full dining room with four tables, a parlor, a library, and classrooms- so just try and imagine how big it is.

 Their view is the grand canal which is crazy to think about waking up everyday. 

The view from the terrace where they can eat.

the grand canal view!

view from the kitchen

 The place is amazing, and it would be so fun to live that big group of people especially since there is a "no sleepover" law (which I am confused about); however, I love that I can have my own place with a few roommates. I feel like I have more freedom and can experience the city in a different way. Just by having to walk to class. 

Anyway.. we continued exploring the city. We went to the end of this specific peninsula. 

How pretty? This is where we got gelato and sat on the dock. Everyone sat in silence for a minute. I think we all were captured by the moment and were trying to soak up the idea we were in such an incredible place. At one point I looked out at the water and it was moving in slow motion.. well it looked like that at least. It gave me chills, and the whole thing was very humbling. This was probably my favorite moment in Florence.

We knew that it was time for us to head back after this. We all had a long but exciting day- but we needed to catch the train back home. 

On the train we all put in our ipods and fell asleep. Could you tell we were exhausted?!

All in all I think Venice was a great first trip, and now that I know what to do and not to do when traveling, I plan on making many more trips in the near future. 

**for more pictures please go visit my facebook page. They are located in the Florence album.