Exactly a week ago, I was already on my way to Rome. Now here I am, tired from pretending I know German during my classes, trying to muster up the energy to finally blog about the main events from last week. But then I think of Venice, and I feel so happy and warm, so maaaybe I'll be able to finish this blog entry before bedtime!
I know that it might seem like I didn't have the most fun on this trip if you read my Florence saga, but don't worry, this is the part where it gets good. Because it's...
Venice
I just went to get my travel journal only to find that the "Venice" pages were gone. I was freaking out a little...had it all been a dream?? It seemed like it, but don't worry, I found the page crumpled on the bottom of my backpack. Poor thing, I hope it's alright...
So, when I was boarding my train to go to Venice from Florence, I was more than a little stressed out because it was seriously crowded. At one point while we were boarding, there was literally a gridlock where no one could move, and everyone was shouting in Italian, so that was fun. (Once again...not the biggest fan of those abrasive Italians!) But finally I got to my seat and was able to relax for the two hour ride. It was strange, because even though I knew we were quickly approaching Venice, it didn't look like Venice. There were factories and I was really confused. But then, finally, we were riding over water and the plumes of smoke became a distant memory...because I was really there.
I got out of the train station, and bam, there it was. Venice. I couldn't believe that I was actually in that famous city where the roads are made of water. It's like, I've seen it mentioned/shown on TV and in movies so many times that it has almost seemed cliche. But there it was: the grand canal. I saw a big line for tourist info, and it didn't even bother me. I was standing in it for a while but I was so content because I was in Venice (if you couldn't tell). As it turns out, the only transportation that it exists is indeed the vaporetto line. No cars, no bikes, no nothing. The vaporetto was essentially a boat subway system. I got a student ticket that let me go on as many times as I wanted for 72 hours and it was 20 euro, so I suppose that's not bad. I also got a gigantic map from the guy, just in case people weren't aware I was a tourist.
And despite this giant map and despite the fact that I took the correct vaporetto line to the correct vaporetto stop (the vaporetto goes really slowly, by the way, so if you intend on using it definitely don't assume you'll arrive at your destination in 10 minutes.) I got lost going to my hostel. And that's the thing. RSS that Venice is the best place to get lost. Well, that is probably true, but only because it's the easiest place to get lost. I got lost a fair share in Florence and Rome, but it was nothing compared to Venice. I had adopted a strategy where I'd find a corner away from the hustle and bustle and lean with my purse against a wall so no one tried pickpocketing me while I was in my vulnerable touristy state. There was no concept of square city blocks, of course, and some streets were only wide enough for one person to fit through at once, so the map was hard to follow. And street names would change without you even knowing it. After the 10th time I got lost I figured I should just accept it. And if you have no patience for getting lost, well, Venice is probably the wrong place for you...but it's part of the fun!
Anyway, I arrived at my hostel earlier than I was supposed to, so the only woman there was the housekeeping lady who only spoke Italian. We had a fun time trying to communicate, and in the end I managed to finally tell her I just wanted to drop my luggage off. She was very nice, so it wasn't a problem. At this point, though, I was losing a bit of confidence in my choice of hostel. Not only did it seem to be in a relatively unpopulated area, but the only woman I met couldn't speak English. But then when I was finally able to check in, the guy who ran it, Giorgio, spoke perfect English and was very helpful. He gave me a regular sized maps and circled some important locations on it, like his recommended cheap pizza place and a great gelato place. Since I was pretty hungry and I wanted a real meal, I decided to go to one of the restaurants the little guide book I got at the tourist station recommended. I could get a 10% discount just by showing them the guide, so I figured, why not?
I'll tell you why not, actually. First of all I got indescribably lost trying to find this place and accidentally found San Marco Piazza, where the main sites were. That was beautiful and all, but I just wanted to eat! And when I fiiiinally found this place, it ended up being like 20 euro a dish. In Italy they list things like "first course" and "second course" on their menu, but each first course dish is at least 10 euro in most places so I never got more than one course if I was ever eating anywhere nice. And this place was way too nice so I was like, nope! And instead I got lost a million more times trying to find the cheap pizza place he recommended. When I finally got there I had a language miscommunication with the chef. I thought I had ordered something and I sat to wait but after 10 minutes I realized he never put anything in the oven so I had to start all over again. Even though it took a while and I felt pretty dumb, I was really happy with this pizza. It was delicious. It was the size of an American small for only 5 euro, which is as cheap as it comes in Italy. And I ate it while sitting on a bridge, which made people think I was actually Venetian, because I got asked directions quite a few times. (Look! That brunette girl is holding a pizza! She must be Italian!) A few times I was able to point them in the right direction, simply because I remembered seeing the street names when I was lost. So that was kind of funny.
I then went to the recommended gelato place and got pistachio, which was extreeemely delicious. I sat on another bridge, just taking in the atmosphere, watching people ride gondolas and whatnot. (I decided against a gondola ride, BIBB with someone special one day...) I went back to the hostel and rested a little bit, planning on aimlessly taking the #2 vaporetto and seeing all of the main spots on the grand canal. But instead, I checked Facebook on my phone and found out that my friend Zach from AJY was in Venice too. He was pretty far from where I was, but we decided to meet at the train station and hang out for the night. Despite the fact that the vaporetto took me 40 minutes this time, I was really glad to meet up with him. We walked around a bit and tried free samples of random things like creme liqueurs and olive oil before settling in at a restaurant. (It was called Brindisi's, which was funny to me because that's the name of my former AP Stats teacher.) I told him I already ate, but he hadn't, so we went there anyway and shared a cheap bottle of wine. And then, we accidentally ordered seafood pasta for two that was really expensive, like too expensive to be allowed, but...on the bright side...it was really good. So...yay?
It was really nice to hang out with someone from AJY because we spoke in German about how we missed speaking in German and how we heard German tourists all of the time. We also walked all over the place and took pictures of Venice at nighttime, which of course was fabulous. And so, even on day 1, I was in love with Venice. Was it slightly stinky and super old? Yes. Was it beautiful? Yes. Could I believe I was actually there? Nope!
And so, after a nice chat with other people at the hostel and a nice sleep, I woke up to another day in Venice. The weird thing was that I checked in alone and the other girl in the room did not come in until 2am, so I never even met her because we woke up at different times that morning. Oh well. On the bright side I went in the kitchen and ate an apple crostini (I bought a box of these things at the supermarket and they were wicked good) while talking to the other travelers. There was this one guy there who was learning German as well, so we practiced on each other, which was fun. And then it was time to go on one of the only tours I booked: a walking tour of Venice/Saint Mark's basilica. It was a group of us following a woman around who we could also hear through headphones. She was really energetic, so it was a fun tour. My jaw dropped once we were inside the basilica. It was all golden and huge and just insanely cool. I had never seen anything like it, of course. I almost wanted to cry.
Anyway, we then walked around Venice itself. We went to Marco Polo's house, the piazza of Santa Maria Formosa, and the Rialto Bridge. It was nice to finally have a tour in English where I could learn something. For instance, if you go to Venice you'll find that a lot of the bricks on the buildings have a whitish color and that's actually because of ocean salt deposits. Cool, right? And the Polo family created one of the first condominiums in the world...which is strange, but interesting. And then I did a whole lot of nothing, which included eating lunch and getting more gelato and simply sitting around and watching the waves. The water in the canals was a turquoise color, and they seemed clean, but I tried not to think about what people used to throw in there during the middle ages. Because, seriously, ew.
Then it was time to go to the Accademia Gallery, not to be confused with the one in Florence with David. In this one there were no super famous works of art that I had heard of, but I was in a better mood here than I was in the Uffizi. I realized how much God dominated the lives of these people way back when. Almost every painting had to do with Christianity in some way. It was actually pretty fascinating. Still, I am not the biggest fan of analyzing paintings, so while it was pretty, I ended up leaving after an hour. The next thing on my list was to go to the little nearby island of Murano (hey, that's the kind of car we have, mom) where they do a whole bunch of glassblowing. I was excited to just walk into a shop and see people blowing glass, because that's what RSS they do. Unfortunately the vaporetto took forever again and I arrived at 5pm, when all of the places were closing. I was really disappointed that I didn't get to see any glassblowing, BIBB of course. I did manage to snag some Murano glass products as souvenirs, and even bought little earrings for myself. But other than that, the little island was pretty, but absolutely deserted. Sigh.
When I got back to Venice I had my first Italian espresso (people in the US know that I don't drink coffee because I don't want to become dependent on it!) and it was strong but delicious. I also had some cheap gnocchi. I suddenly had a second wind and was able to go on a very long quest for souvenirs. I always find souvenir shopping to be stressful because I never feel like I'm finding the perfect thing. But I managed to accomplish my goals at last, so I went back to the San Marco Piazza and listened to two small orchestras play music. I sat by the one that fewer people were standing at and wrote a postcard, just feeling high on life. I asked a couple to take pictures of me, and as it turns out they ended up being blurry. Sigh. But, that was okay. Asking for pictures from strangers always had different results. As I was finally walking away, the quartet I hadn't been listening to started playing Phantom of the Opera so obviously I freaked out and had to go listen to them. When they were finished I finally decided to take a random vaporetto just for the fun of it.
The stop I got off at I only got off at because I swear to god one of the guys getting off was Mikhail Baryshnikov. He looked a lot like him from the back and side, but then when I got off the stop, I saw him face-forward and he didn't quite look like the Mikhail Baryshnikov I've seen on TV. But still, he looked awfully similar. I didn't get any creepy pictures of him or anything because I was sure he wasn't really MB. I mean, what would he be doing in Venice carrying his OWN suitcase? So, sadly, I found my way back to the hostel. I talked to a few people again and it was really cool to meet strangers. I met one of my other roommates, who ended up being a really nice British girl. But after a quick shower, it was time for bed. If there's one thing about Venice, it's that the beauty and walking certainly tires you out.
I woke up semi early because I had to catch my train to Rome, and you know how slow those vaporettos are. But before I knew it, I was safely on my train sitting next to very old Italian nun who seemed to have lost her hearing. That was all okay, though, because I was on my way to yet another amazing city.
And you know what? I am done with this blog entry for now. You won't believe how long it took just to gush over Venice, and I was in Rome even longer. I'm sorry, because I really wanted to be done with it all now. But I really am tired! On the bright side, life in Germany is the same as it was before, except now I have my actual classes. I've only had two so far. The first one was rough because the professor spoke rapid German but the second one was pretty easy because it was taught by the same woman who taught our prep course. On Monday we won second place in Trivia at the Irish Pub O'Reilly's, which meant we won two 3-liter "beer towers" which was just enough for 12 beers. There were 11 of us, but that was alright, it was still awesome. It seems like having one class per day Monday through Thursday won't be too tough, but my German certainly isn't as good as I thought it was, so we'll see. I will definitely blog about Rome tomorrow, though! For now, my Venice pictures are in the process of being added to my Shutterfly, so keep checking back.
Ciao for now!
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