Here is a post about my weekend in Venice! I basically just spilled out the contents of my memory onto this blogpost, so I am sorry if its rough or if I ramble a little bit!
A week and a half ago, we skipped class, boarded a Ryanair plane for the first time and headed to Italy for the weekend.
I can't believe I just wrote that sentence.
Thursday
10 AM- Got to the airport, checked in, boarded a plane. Sat by Ellen and listened to Nessun Dorma, That's Amore, and Oh This is the Night while squealing the whole plane ride across Europe. Sound girly? I couldn't care less.
We passed over the Mediterranean and the Alps. The view from the plane was INCREDIBLE.
Got to Milan, found the train station, and spent our three hour layover eating at an Italian restaurant.. owned by Chinese people. Yes, the menu was quite the assortment of everything from lo mein and teriyaki chicken to spaghetti and calzones. Still, it was delicious! Also funny to realize that our Spanish no longer was useful in Italy!
Boarded the TRAIN! It was a beautiful 3 hour train ride from Milan into Venice. I had never ridden a train before and loved how smooth and comfortable it was. We may or may not have also pretended like we were on our way to Hogwarts. Ellen got elected to be Hermoine.
The train took us all the way into the island. Just like Madrid, we totally freaked out once we got out of the train station. Wouldn't you if this was the first thing you saw?
Walked through the streets in the moonlight, crossed picturesque bridges, and explored shadowy alleyways to find our perfect little hotel for that first night. It was cute, tiny, and the perfect location.
We got settled in to the hotel, and then left to go meet up with Jacob, who was coming in from Liverpool! The best part of this weekend was meeting up with other OBU students studying in Liverpool and Salzburg! Asaf and Josh were pretty excited to see their bro that night and it was so incredible to be meeting up with an OBU friend... in Italy!
After picking up Jacob that night, we just explored the city a little bit! We walked around, found a restaurant, sat outside, and ate the best Italian food I have ever had! Concerts were going on everywhere, and everyone was in the street because it was the first night of CARNIVAL!
About a month ago, when we randomly picked a weekend to go to Venice, we had no idea that it was the same weekend as Carnival! And actually, I am pretty sure that none of us really even knew what Carnival was. Before we left for Venice, my host mom and Rusty's host mom had both mentioned to us individually that there was a big festival going on in the city.. but we had NO idea of the size, scale, and fame of Carnival! The whole idea of the celebration is pretty much the same as Mardi Gras, but it lasts for several days.
It was so cool.
People of all ages, even whole families, were dressed up in the most elaborate costumes I have ever seen! They would dress up and walk around, sometimes just standing around in St. Mark's Square so that people could take pictures of them. There was also a huge contest for the best costume. Vendors were selling masks everywhere, and if people were not wearing a costume, they were wearing a mask!
You could also buy bags of confetti for a euro, and people would walk around, throwing it on others as they passed by!
Then, we picked up Emily, Rusty, Victoria, and their new friends from their school in Austria-- Greg and Margo! The suspense was killer as we waited outside the train station to meet them. Suddenly, there they were! It was SO surreal to be greeting and screaming and hugging them right there by the water in Venice!
We dropped off their stuff in a holding room at the hotel. Then we took a water taxi to St. Mark's square. I loved being out on the water, passing by all the old beautiful buildings and watching people in speedboats pass by us.
We saw St. Mark's Basilica! It was amazing.
Probably the oldest church I have ever been in. I couldn't get over all the byzantine mosaics everywhere. They were so huge, and detailed. It looked like they were paintings, but as you got closer, it was easy to see that they were all tiny pieces of stone! It was also cool because the church was SO OLD!
Brynn, Asaf, and I paid a little extra money to go up to the second floor of the basilica. Saw more artifacts and mosaics up close. I licked the thousand year old basilica wall. And we also saw the four golden horses that have something to do with Napoleon.. I honestly can't remember why it was so important but everyone was talking about how famous they were. Also, we got to go out on the roof of the basilica and look down over everything. While we were out there, the bell tower clock started ringing, which was cool.
Rusty, Jo, and I had a lunch of pizza. Then we went back to the square and coaxed the very tame pigeons into our hands. Can't believe I did that.
The most incredible part about this whole trip was the fact that when were were planning it, we had no idea that it would be the weekend of Carnival!
If you don't know what Carnival is, look up "Carnival Venice" on google! There is the huge one that happens in Brazil every year, but the second biggest, most famous, and oldest Carnival happens every year in VENICE!
It was so cool.
People of all ages, even whole families, were dressed up in the most elaborate costumes I have ever seen! They would dress up and walk around, sometimes just standing around in St. Mark's Square so that people could take pictures of them. There was also a huge contest for the best costume. Vendors were selling masks everywhere, and if people were not wearing a costume, they were wearing a mask!
You could also buy bags of confetti for a euro, and people would walk around, throwing it on others as they passed by!
Friday
We ate breakfast at the hotel and practiced our few Italian phrases with the super sweet lady making breakfast. (gratzie, prego, bene, parli inglese, dove posso trovare il bagno.. we had all the bases
covered).
Then, we picked up Emily, Rusty, Victoria, and their new friends from their school in Austria-- Greg and Margo! The suspense was killer as we waited outside the train station to meet them. Suddenly, there they were! It was SO surreal to be greeting and screaming and hugging them right there by the water in Venice!
We dropped off their stuff in a holding room at the hotel. Then we took a water taxi to St. Mark's square. I loved being out on the water, passing by all the old beautiful buildings and watching people in speedboats pass by us.We saw St. Mark's Basilica! It was amazing.
Probably the oldest church I have ever been in. I couldn't get over all the byzantine mosaics everywhere. They were so huge, and detailed. It looked like they were paintings, but as you got closer, it was easy to see that they were all tiny pieces of stone! It was also cool because the church was SO OLD!
Brynn, Asaf, and I paid a little extra money to go up to the second floor of the basilica. Saw more artifacts and mosaics up close. I licked the thousand year old basilica wall. And we also saw the four golden horses that have something to do with Napoleon.. I honestly can't remember why it was so important but everyone was talking about how famous they were. Also, we got to go out on the roof of the basilica and look down over everything. While we were out there, the bell tower clock started ringing, which was cool.
The three of us explored around the square more until we met up with the group. We walked around the square, watching people and dodging pigeons.
We walked over the Rialto Bridge a billion times. The first time, we didn't even know what it was. We just thought it was a pretty bridge!!
There were people EVERYWHERE! On every single bridge, people crowded to take pictures of everything! It was irritating.. until I got to the top of the bridge and realized how beautiful and picturesque it was!
Rusty, Jo, and I had a lunch of pizza. Then we went back to the square and coaxed the very tame pigeons into our hands. Can't believe I did that.
Saw the Bridge of Sighs
Walked through the Rialto Market
Half of the group stayed on the island until later that night, because they were going to head back to Milan the next day to see more sights. Jo, Rusty, me, and Emily headed to the mainland earlier that night to find our new hostel (hostel prices on the island shot up on that weekend, so we decided to stay at a place on the mainland).
The Hostel
The Hostel
Was a campground.
It was cheap. 11 euros a night, which is a bargain, considering that the rate of our hotel on the island the night before jumped to 50 euros a night when the weekend started.
But it was February. It was freezing. And we had to walk outside to go shower, eat, even go to the bathroom. All the hostel rooms were basically tiny little trailer/cabins spread out on a campus type grounds. However, it was a neat hostel, and once again, it was fun to be sharing facilities with people from all over the world who were staying there as well.
That night, Tori, Emily, Jo, me, and later Rusty all hung out at the pizzeria at the hostel for a few hours. It was nice to catch up a little bit, talk, laugh and just have a small piece of Ouachita community there with us in Italy.
Saturday
We left the hostel at 8:00 am the next day to catch the ferry to the island. We spent the day exploring the crowded city, watching people, and taking in all the festivities.
To start off the day, Rusty got his hair cut at Rick Steve's favorite barbershop in Venice!
That afternoon, we met up with the other half of the OBU kids (we had split up into groups since our total number was a whopping 15 people) to have some pizza before they headed on to Milan. Johanna and I had decided to spend the entire weekend in Venice, since that was the plan of the Austrian kids, and we wanted more time with them.
After saying goodbye to the other half of the group, Tori, Em, Jo, Margo, and I sat for awhile longer at the pizza place and enjoyed some more great conversation. I loved getting to share experiences with each other. I thought it was pretty humorous that while we were in Italy, Jo and I kept accidentally trying to use Spanish, but Emily and Tori kept trying to use German! It was so strange to come together from two completely different places and swap stories about the different cultures we have been engaging in!
Rusty and Greg met us at the pizza place and we set out to explore more! We walked through the city until we reached the Santa Maria della Salute church, which we entered and looked around in. It was beautiful.
We then sat on the steps of the church and looked over the water to the other side of the canal. After we rested, Jo, Rusty, and Margo decided to head back to the hostel for a little bit of time, while Tori, Emily, Greg and I explored the city more.
We said goodbye to them and began our adventurous afternoon and evening.
We left the church and spent a good chunk of time being "Venetian" in a little coffee shop. It was nice to just sit, talk, have some tea, and watch people in costume come and go from the shop.
When we felt up to it, we left the shop to explore more. We walked past a stripe shirted gondolier taking a picture with some people and decided that we needed a picture with him. He graciously agreed, and when we were done, asked us if we would be interested in a gondola ride. Gondola rides are pretty pricey (around 80 euros) and after dark, prices jump to 100- 120 euros a trip.
The sun was setting behind us and we had already agreed before hand that we would rather save our money than take a ride, so we hesitated when he asked us. After about 5 seconds of awkward silence, the man says "I make you a special deal. 60 euros for a gondola ride." Half price, which meant 15 euros between the four of us. At twilight. There was no passing that
up. So, the four of us jumped into the gondola and off we went. Claudio, the gondolier, was also a wonderful tour guide
and gave us a brief history of the city and also pointed out interesting sights that we passed by. We saw the University of Venice (had no idea that existed), traveled down the Grand Canal, saw
several sights from the movie The Tourist,
saw the huge fancy hotel (also from the Tourist, I think)
where they were preparing for the huge all night party that evening (the entrance fee was 1000 euros and Claudio told us that there were sure to be many famous people there), and we also saw the workshop where all the gondolas in Venice are made. The water was calm, the sights were serene and picturesque, and the lights of the city reflected off of the water, mirroring the stars. It was worth every single penny... I mean euro.
Claudio told us that his father and grandfather had both been gondoliers as well. He also told us that the gondoliers are unionized, they are also required to go to a gondolier school for two years before beginning work, and also for some reason, they are no longer allowed to sing while they paddle, unless they are a certain type of gondolier. If they sing, they can get in trouble with the union! He also told us that gondolas began about a thousand years ago, and were used as transportation for rich people. Like a rich man has a limousine driver who lives on his estate, the wealthy families who would live in Venice would have a gondolier who lived in their house and would take the man in the gondola whenever he needed!
When our ride was coming to a close, Claudio asked us where we would like to be dropped off. This night was the biggest night of the Carnival celebration and we were wanting to stay later to see more of it, so we asked him what was the best place to go for the night. He gave us directions to where all the college students would be. We hopped off the gondola, paid the man, and headed to the next part of our adventure!
We found the square where all the young people were, walked around, then headed to our meeting place to pick up Jo and Rusty.
The energy in the city was growing and growing. At that point, more than half of the people out and about were wearing costumes, and the other half were in masks. It was so fun to put our masks on and look completely normal. Also funny to see all the creative costumes. We commented on the fact that unlike halloween in America, the people dressed up chose to be clever with their costumes instead of skanky. The fact that it was thirty degrees outside could have had something to do with that as well.
There were some really creative costumes. At one point when we were walking around, we stopped when were realized that Victoria was no longer walking with us. We looked back and saw her struggling to get out of a big net that a few guys in jumpsuits had thrown on her! All of a sudden, we heard the Ghost Busters theme song, and another guy in a khaki jumpsuit jumped out of nowhere with a huge boombox on his shoulder, playing the music! They pulled out a leaf blower and started blowing it in her face (although I think the idea in the movie was to suck up the ghosts, not blow huge amounts of air in someone's face)! Then, all of the sudden, they let her go and ran away!
We wanted a picture of them, so we started following them, but as soon as they looked back and saw us, they started running faster! I think they thought we were mad at them! We finally were able to communicate that we wanted a pic, so they came back. It was hilarious.
Other creative costumes were two guys wearing big boxes painted as Italian speed limit signs. When, they plopped down on the side of the street, people started running past them (like they were "speeding") and the road signs would yell HEY! HEY!
Then you had these guys. They were just.. creepy.
Anyways, the coolest moment happened later that night as music played in the street and the six of us threw the last of our confetti in the air! We watched it fall down all over us and all of a sudden, the sky flashed, thunder clapped.... and it started to SNOW! Of course, this freezing weather called for gelato.
We watched people for a little longer, Greg and Rusty met a random guy from where they live in Austria who is working to keep Venice from sinking, saw some more crazy costumes, and then decided to call it a night.
Driving back to the hostel in the taxi, watching the snow fall in huge flakes, I just couldn't believe I was getting to live such an adventure.
The next day, we camped out at a coffee shop for awhile, walked around, watched some more street performers, and said a sad goodbye to the Austria friends. It was hard saying goodbye to such good friends after an amazing weekend, but I felt beyond thankful that we were able meet up with them for a few days.
Again, it was incredible to meet people from a completely different country in a place like Venice for a weekend. It was so fun and I am glad we got to share it with them.
After the Austria group left, Jo and I went to a coffee shop, reflected about the weekend a little bit, and then boarded our own train back to Milan. We were proud that we were able to travel smoothly by ourselves to meet back with the rest of our group. Definitely a grown-up moment.
So all in all, it was a weekend to remember. If you get the chance, go to Venice. It is definitely all that it is cracked up to be. Sometimes if felt like it should be an amusement park, not a real city. Not having any cars in the city was surreal as well.
So that was it! Definitely not the ideal blog post to describe this experience, but I felt like I needed to crank one out before I forgot everything about this trip!
It was by far the best weekend I have had since I have come to Europe and I am so glad I got to share it with so many OBU friends.
Here are some pics of some of the costumes we encountered, as well as some cool sites and fun times!
It was cheap. 11 euros a night, which is a bargain, considering that the rate of our hotel on the island the night before jumped to 50 euros a night when the weekend started.
But it was February. It was freezing. And we had to walk outside to go shower, eat, even go to the bathroom. All the hostel rooms were basically tiny little trailer/cabins spread out on a campus type grounds. However, it was a neat hostel, and once again, it was fun to be sharing facilities with people from all over the world who were staying there as well.
That night, Tori, Emily, Jo, me, and later Rusty all hung out at the pizzeria at the hostel for a few hours. It was nice to catch up a little bit, talk, laugh and just have a small piece of Ouachita community there with us in Italy.
Saturday
We left the hostel at 8:00 am the next day to catch the ferry to the island. We spent the day exploring the crowded city, watching people, and taking in all the festivities.
To start off the day, Rusty got his hair cut at Rick Steve's favorite barbershop in Venice!
That afternoon, we met up with the other half of the OBU kids (we had split up into groups since our total number was a whopping 15 people) to have some pizza before they headed on to Milan. Johanna and I had decided to spend the entire weekend in Venice, since that was the plan of the Austrian kids, and we wanted more time with them.
After saying goodbye to the other half of the group, Tori, Em, Jo, Margo, and I sat for awhile longer at the pizza place and enjoyed some more great conversation. I loved getting to share experiences with each other. I thought it was pretty humorous that while we were in Italy, Jo and I kept accidentally trying to use Spanish, but Emily and Tori kept trying to use German! It was so strange to come together from two completely different places and swap stories about the different cultures we have been engaging in!
Rusty and Greg met us at the pizza place and we set out to explore more! We walked through the city until we reached the Santa Maria della Salute church, which we entered and looked around in. It was beautiful.
We then sat on the steps of the church and looked over the water to the other side of the canal. After we rested, Jo, Rusty, and Margo decided to head back to the hostel for a little bit of time, while Tori, Emily, Greg and I explored the city more.
We said goodbye to them and began our adventurous afternoon and evening.We left the church and spent a good chunk of time being "Venetian" in a little coffee shop. It was nice to just sit, talk, have some tea, and watch people in costume come and go from the shop.
When we felt up to it, we left the shop to explore more. We walked past a stripe shirted gondolier taking a picture with some people and decided that we needed a picture with him. He graciously agreed, and when we were done, asked us if we would be interested in a gondola ride. Gondola rides are pretty pricey (around 80 euros) and after dark, prices jump to 100- 120 euros a trip.The sun was setting behind us and we had already agreed before hand that we would rather save our money than take a ride, so we hesitated when he asked us. After about 5 seconds of awkward silence, the man says "I make you a special deal. 60 euros for a gondola ride." Half price, which meant 15 euros between the four of us. At twilight. There was no passing that
up. So, the four of us jumped into the gondola and off we went. Claudio, the gondolier, was also a wonderful tour guideand gave us a brief history of the city and also pointed out interesting sights that we passed by. We saw the University of Venice (had no idea that existed), traveled down the Grand Canal, saw
several sights from the movie The Tourist,
saw the huge fancy hotel (also from the Tourist, I think)where they were preparing for the huge all night party that evening (the entrance fee was 1000 euros and Claudio told us that there were sure to be many famous people there), and we also saw the workshop where all the gondolas in Venice are made. The water was calm, the sights were serene and picturesque, and the lights of the city reflected off of the water, mirroring the stars. It was worth every single penny... I mean euro.
Claudio told us that his father and grandfather had both been gondoliers as well. He also told us that the gondoliers are unionized, they are also required to go to a gondolier school for two years before beginning work, and also for some reason, they are no longer allowed to sing while they paddle, unless they are a certain type of gondolier. If they sing, they can get in trouble with the union! He also told us that gondolas began about a thousand years ago, and were used as transportation for rich people. Like a rich man has a limousine driver who lives on his estate, the wealthy families who would live in Venice would have a gondolier who lived in their house and would take the man in the gondola whenever he needed!
When our ride was coming to a close, Claudio asked us where we would like to be dropped off. This night was the biggest night of the Carnival celebration and we were wanting to stay later to see more of it, so we asked him what was the best place to go for the night. He gave us directions to where all the college students would be. We hopped off the gondola, paid the man, and headed to the next part of our adventure!
We found the square where all the young people were, walked around, then headed to our meeting place to pick up Jo and Rusty.
The energy in the city was growing and growing. At that point, more than half of the people out and about were wearing costumes, and the other half were in masks. It was so fun to put our masks on and look completely normal. Also funny to see all the creative costumes. We commented on the fact that unlike halloween in America, the people dressed up chose to be clever with their costumes instead of skanky. The fact that it was thirty degrees outside could have had something to do with that as well.
There were some really creative costumes. At one point when we were walking around, we stopped when were realized that Victoria was no longer walking with us. We looked back and saw her struggling to get out of a big net that a few guys in jumpsuits had thrown on her! All of a sudden, we heard the Ghost Busters theme song, and another guy in a khaki jumpsuit jumped out of nowhere with a huge boombox on his shoulder, playing the music! They pulled out a leaf blower and started blowing it in her face (although I think the idea in the movie was to suck up the ghosts, not blow huge amounts of air in someone's face)! Then, all of the sudden, they let her go and ran away!
We wanted a picture of them, so we started following them, but as soon as they looked back and saw us, they started running faster! I think they thought we were mad at them! We finally were able to communicate that we wanted a pic, so they came back. It was hilarious.Other creative costumes were two guys wearing big boxes painted as Italian speed limit signs. When, they plopped down on the side of the street, people started running past them (like they were "speeding") and the road signs would yell HEY! HEY!
Then you had these guys. They were just.. creepy.
Anyways, the coolest moment happened later that night as music played in the street and the six of us threw the last of our confetti in the air! We watched it fall down all over us and all of a sudden, the sky flashed, thunder clapped.... and it started to SNOW! Of course, this freezing weather called for gelato.We watched people for a little longer, Greg and Rusty met a random guy from where they live in Austria who is working to keep Venice from sinking, saw some more crazy costumes, and then decided to call it a night.
Driving back to the hostel in the taxi, watching the snow fall in huge flakes, I just couldn't believe I was getting to live such an adventure.
The next day, we camped out at a coffee shop for awhile, walked around, watched some more street performers, and said a sad goodbye to the Austria friends. It was hard saying goodbye to such good friends after an amazing weekend, but I felt beyond thankful that we were able meet up with them for a few days.Again, it was incredible to meet people from a completely different country in a place like Venice for a weekend. It was so fun and I am glad we got to share it with them.
After the Austria group left, Jo and I went to a coffee shop, reflected about the weekend a little bit, and then boarded our own train back to Milan. We were proud that we were able to travel smoothly by ourselves to meet back with the rest of our group. Definitely a grown-up moment.
So all in all, it was a weekend to remember. If you get the chance, go to Venice. It is definitely all that it is cracked up to be. Sometimes if felt like it should be an amusement park, not a real city. Not having any cars in the city was surreal as well.
So that was it! Definitely not the ideal blog post to describe this experience, but I felt like I needed to crank one out before I forgot everything about this trip!
It was by far the best weekend I have had since I have come to Europe and I am so glad I got to share it with so many OBU friends.
Here are some pics of some of the costumes we encountered, as well as some cool sites and fun times!
VENICE!
Loved it! I can just hear you squealing! You certainly packed it in. What a blessing to get there during such a special festival! I know you will never forget this trip. Thanks for sharing!!
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