Carnivale

Yesterday, I returned from Venice where I was immersed in the true Venetian culture during the first weekend of Carnivale. Carnivale is a 10 day long celebration leading up to the start of Lent. I went in expecting Mardi Gras but quickly realized this is less of a party and more of a sight-seeing event. The entire island was packed with people, some dressed in elaborate renaissance costumes with masks adorned with feathers and jewels and others wearing typical Halloween costumes (including one family of ducks and duckings). This was my first trip to Venice and I have to say it is one of the most fantastic places I have ever been. While I didn't enjoy the huge crowds of Carnivale, the city is absolutely beautiful so I will definitely be planning a trip back in the future. Katie and I enjoyed taking little adventures down random small back alleys and finding secret canals. We would break off from the group just for a minute whenever we spotted a narrow alley we couldn't see the end of. Below is a picture of Louis, Katie and I on a bridge over one of the larger canals. 

Once we reached St. Marco's Square, Elena and I had to get to the water (us below with our masks on); the view was unbelievable. After taking it all in from a bench by the docks, we found our group and made our way back to the Grand Canal to find a place to eat dinner. Since Elena and I wanted to eat on the water, we went to Ristorante Florida while everyone else went to a pizzeria further away from the canal. Since the host thought we were from Florida, we were given free Bellini, a delicious aperitif. We had a great time eating by the water and enjoying the beautiful scenery of Venice. After dinner, we were waiting for our group when several gondola captains approached us offering to take us on a ride for 50 euro each. We chatted with them for a minute and ended up haggling a deal for 15 euro each when Jackson and Louis showed up. Even though we had never planned on taking a gondola ride this weekend, we thought it was a decent price for a 25 minute ride, so we had to do it. It was awesome to see more of the city from the canals and to ride under the Rialto Bridge. I was even able to pick out a couple apartments that I liked for when I live in Venice, which needs to happen one day, even if for only a year. Elena, Ari, and I then headed back toward to the train station so we could catch a train to Mestre and walk back to our hotel.

Sunday started off great. We were just on time to catch a train to Bassano at 11:30. However, after about 5 minutes on the train I realized I had left my phone at the hotel. Thankfully, Elena is such a good friend and decided to accompany me back to mestre. We got off at Maerne di Martellago which is basically in the middle of nowhere. Since the next train back to Mestre was not coming until 1:15, we decided to walk into the closest town and find a bus stop. After several failed attempts at hitch hiking and even more failed attempts at finding someone who spoke English, we finally found a bus stop that ran on Sundays and headed to Mestre at 12:30. We had no idea where we needed to get off the bus so when we thought we were close to the train station and a large group if people exited, we made a run for it. However, right after I jumped off the door closed with Elena still on the bus. I ran alongside for a minute and the bus driver quickly realized what had happened so he stopped to let Elena off the packed bus. But then we realized that we had gotten off about 8 blocks too early then had to walk another 10 blocks from the train station to our hotel. On a better note, it was all worth it when we picked up my phone and then only had to walk back to the train station. Since we still had an hour until the next train to bassano, we had cheeseburgers at McDonald’s. So delicious. 

This weekend we have Thursday afternoon and Friday off for extended travel time. We haven’t officially booked anything yet, but I believe we will be going to Tuscany.

Ciao!