We had our Italian midterm Friday
morning, went home and packed, and caught the train to Venice at 2:30 pm. We didn’t
realize how packed the train would be so we didn’t give ourselves too much time
to get on it. We got there like 15 minutes before it left and all the seats
were completely full. We started freaking out at first not knowing what to do,
scared that we were going to get kicked off the train. We ended up having to
stand in between cars smushed between people for over an hour before we could
sit down. We were sardine-style, I was getting a bit claustrophobic. Once we
finally got a seat, we enjoyed the rest of the ride and arrived in Venice
around 9 pm. We caught a water taxi to our hostel in Rialto Mercato. It was
raining when we got there so we wanted to stay nearby so went to a local bar
for the evening. By the end of the night, a lot of Venice had flooded and
people were walking in shin-deep water. With all the rain and wind, we were freezing
during the night. Turns out our heat was also broken and the AC was on so that explains
it. Luckily they brought us extra blankets and fixed the heat for us for
Saturday night.
Saturday
morning we woke up and it was raining even harder and even more windy. We started off the day right with pasta for brunch, I got delicious lasagna.
We walked into the main Carnevale square (San Marco) to fight the umbrella-filled crowds to see the shops. The weather was so awful that all of the Carnevale events for the day got canceled. It was a big bummer, we were really looking forward to all of the events and seeing Abba perform! So then we just had to make the best of the day. We took a water taxi over to another island, Murano, which is the glass-making island of Venice. They have tons of shops with beautiful handmade glass. We also got to see them make a glass horse in front of us which was cool.
It was so cold outside we were just sprinting from shop to shop and finally decided to dry off and get warm in a little café. We got hot chocolate (which was basically just melted chocolate), cake, and some wine.
They had wine, beer, and fanta on tap- was pretty funny.
We headed back to our hostel after that to cuddle under our blankets and get warm before we headed to dinner. We went to a restaurant near our hostel and got a three-course meal. A lot of places in Venice have the three-course meal option. The first is a pasta (I got spaghetti Bolognese), the second is some sort of meat (chicken or fish usually) I got calamari. It was delicious, the seafood is so fresh there. We had a fish market just a minute or two away from our hostel. And the third course was either fries or a salad so I got a salad.
My friend Jackie and I
also tried the local drink which is called a Spritz. It was really interesting
tasting, had some alcohol in it that we’ve never heard of before but they use
it in a lot of their drinks there.
The taste of the alcohol reminded me a little of a bloody Mary which was
gross but the rest of it tasted good. We also had a really cute waiter who we
invited to come out with us after so he did so we went back to the local bar
for the night.
We walked into the main Carnevale square (San Marco) to fight the umbrella-filled crowds to see the shops. The weather was so awful that all of the Carnevale events for the day got canceled. It was a big bummer, we were really looking forward to all of the events and seeing Abba perform! So then we just had to make the best of the day. We took a water taxi over to another island, Murano, which is the glass-making island of Venice. They have tons of shops with beautiful handmade glass. We also got to see them make a glass horse in front of us which was cool.
It was so cold outside we were just sprinting from shop to shop and finally decided to dry off and get warm in a little café. We got hot chocolate (which was basically just melted chocolate), cake, and some wine.
They had wine, beer, and fanta on tap- was pretty funny.
We headed back to our hostel after that to cuddle under our blankets and get warm before we headed to dinner. We went to a restaurant near our hostel and got a three-course meal. A lot of places in Venice have the three-course meal option. The first is a pasta (I got spaghetti Bolognese), the second is some sort of meat (chicken or fish usually) I got calamari. It was delicious, the seafood is so fresh there. We had a fish market just a minute or two away from our hostel. And the third course was either fries or a salad so I got a salad.
Spritz
On
Sunday morning we woke up and we could see the sun! The weather was beautiful,
sunny with a light breeze. I had booked a tour for Sunday morning, and was
really happy that I booked it for the sunny day. The lady who I booked my tour
with didn’t give me very clear directions about where to meet her. She said to
meet her “by the big red flag pole in Campo San Polo.” …What? There are
multiple campos in Venice and multiple flag poles… Luckily somehow we found it,
and with five minutes to spare. I’m really glad we did and didn’t leave our
tour guide hanging because she was really sweet. She was a student at the
university doing tours on the side. She took us through some of the back
streets of Venice that we probably wouldn’t have seen otherwise and to some
beautiful views of the water and bridges. I also learned a lot of fun facts
from her, including that you can’t become a gondola maker unless your dad is
one. And there is only one woman gondola maker, and she had to work really hard
to get permission to be one.
She also showed us the university and where all the students hang out as well as storage units where they filled and stored salt for hundreds of years. The salt was still pouring out of the brick walls.
After our tour we headed back to Campo San Marco and it was filled with a lot
more people, all in crazy masks and outfits. It was cool to see everyone in the
Carnevale spirit.
After walking around we headed back to Rialto to do some shopping and eating. It was filled with shops and people, reminded me of a busy flea market. Then we decided to take advantage of the day and eat lunch on the water. We got free bread for an appetizer which was shocking because they don’t normally give out free bread, it’s another thing I miss from the states. I got spinach and cheese filled ravioli in a mushroom cream sauce, it was really yummy.
After lunch we got the best gelato I've had so far!
Afterwards we headed to the train station at 4:00 pm for our 5:00 train to make sure we got a seat this time. Luckily we got seats just in time before it filled up and got back to Lugano at 11:30 pm.
She also showed us the university and where all the students hang out as well as storage units where they filled and stored salt for hundreds of years. The salt was still pouring out of the brick walls.
Salt in between the bricks
After walking around we headed back to Rialto to do some shopping and eating. It was filled with shops and people, reminded me of a busy flea market. Then we decided to take advantage of the day and eat lunch on the water. We got free bread for an appetizer which was shocking because they don’t normally give out free bread, it’s another thing I miss from the states. I got spinach and cheese filled ravioli in a mushroom cream sauce, it was really yummy.
At our table on the water
My ravioli
One scoop of cookies and one of caramel!
Afterwards we headed to the train station at 4:00 pm for our 5:00 train to make sure we got a seat this time. Luckily we got seats just in time before it filled up and got back to Lugano at 11:30 pm.
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