carnivale!

I LOVE VENICE

friday we woke up at 6am to catch the 720 train to termini. the snow was coming down really hard on our way to the station, and for some reason the train from albano was delayed. we were taking our jackets off and laying our bags down because we were all soaked from the snow when a girl got on the train and recognized us as americans (how she could tell, i don’t know?). she was really excited because apparently she doesn’t know many americans. she is in high school and she’s from milwaukee. she has been living in albano with a family since september and she’s there for a total of 10 months. now, this is the second american high schooler that we have met that is an exchange student living in italy for a year. where do you find these programs? i am jealous, i wish i could have done something like that. she is nearly fluent in italian. she says it took about 4 months for her to really understand and communicate easily. the family she lives with doesn’t even speak english. there is one other american student at her school, but she’s the only person that speaks english too. sooo jealous.

lots of snow in albano

we got to termini late and had about 5 minutes to catch the 845 train to venice, so we sprinted to, of course, the other side of the train station (termini is huge). we arrived at the train in time, huffing, when the man standing outside of the train reminded us that every train in italy requires a reservation, which we did not have. ugh…. taking our money any way they can, right?

so this wasn’t that bad. there’s a train that leaves every hour at a quarter til for venice, so we decided to go make our reservations and get food. after spending 10 euro for our seats, we got some bagels (first bagels we’ve seen in europe!) and waited for the platform number to appear on the screens. once we saw it, we headed over to the train. we hopped on and didn’t see what car we were on, so we sat in some seats thinking maybe we were around the right ones? nope. we heard some americans and turned around to find some boys saying that we were in their seats. they were with a girl who was carrying vera bradley, so we knew they were from the south. she turned around and there was a “tri delta loves st. jude’s” button on her backpack, same as the one i have! come to find out, she’s a tri delt at alabama (delta love in italy…)! cydney, who went to alabama her freshman year and is a zeta with a lot of tri delt friends, actually knew this girl, had gone through rush with her! so thankfully she pointed us in the direction of our correct car. 4 hours later we arrived in venice!!

venice trumps every other city i have been to thus far. venice is the most beautiful, coolest, awesome, cleanest, most fun place yet! i knew it the second i got off the train and the sun was shining that i was going to be obsessed. we walked out of the train station and there were people in costumes, face painting, singing and dancing. i guess it’s the florida girl in me to get beyond excited when i see water? it was like a jolt of energy to see it. i was like a little kid at disney world, repeating over and over how excited i was. we walked over to the water taxi station and bought a one-way ticket to san marco zaccarria, and waited for boat n.51. my first boat ride in venice was great, duh.

cydney and i at the water taxi station

we arrived at the station and got off to the entire strip along the water covered with people in costume, stands of masks and things, beautiful restaurants and hotels. we walked to our hotel where we met up with krystle, katie, and courtney (they had flown there because they didn’t have eurail passes to use for the train). once we cleaned up and changed, we headed out on a mission to find seafood and masks.

costumes!

there were a ton of native americans at carnival

we ended up eating at a small restaurant that was not too expensive (venice is expensive expensive expensive, but worth it). i just got a margharita pizza and wine because i wasn’t ready to throw down for my meals yet. this is where we learned that servers in italy get really angry if you’re just sitting with a group that is eating. courtney, krystle, and katie had already eaten, but me, heather, and cydney hadn’t. of course they’re going to sit with us. well, this doesn’t go over so well with italians. apparently that’s rude to sit with your friends? because they huff and take away the place settings and utensils! and are pissed the rest of the meal. sorry….

once our stomachs were filled, our next order of business was masks! i found a simple one that everyone was telling me i had to get. so i got it. we all got some masks and wore them the rest of the night. we saw a ton of interesting costumes, our favorite being two men in drag who we ended up seeing multiple times, even again on saturday. we went to san marco to see what exactly was going on and ran in to giant insect floats roaming the square. weird? there was music blaring and stages set up everywhere with a cool little bar area on the side. we watched the bugs go around the square and then wandered around in some stores. we found glass rings, which was another requirement for the trip. i got one that i really love.

the drag queens we kept seeing

i think jordon and i will wear something similar to this to the wedding?

giant ant

saint mark's square

decorations

all of us in front of this giant lion made out of grass, fruits, and vegetables

after spending the day amazed by costumes, glass, and masks, we walked toward the higher-end area of venice. we starred in chanel, burberry, armani windows, until we decided we were so hungry at about 830 that we needed to find food immediately. we found another restaurant that wasn’t too expensive and packed (always a good sign). we waited for a seat while we starred down the cases of food. i ordered the shrimp scampi once we sat down, and expected a big plate of grilled shrimp tails. wrong. my food came out and it was about 6 butterflied shrimp, heads still attached. mmm… thankfully i wasn’t too hungry so this was enough for me, but who would be full after that? a 6-year old, maybe? this is also where i realized that when you order in italy, you only get what you order. in america you order shrimp scampi and you get a full plate of multiple shrimp, and a couple of sides. i miss our unhealthy, obese-size portions that cost much less than italian’s expensive miniature plates. oh well, i still love italy, even if they starve me.

they were all eating in the cafes around saint mark's square

which these cafes are the nicest little places i have ever seen

bellini!

my shrimp scampi

with our heads basically on the table because we were so exhausted, we thought we’d go back to the hotel and pass out. little did we know that the festivities in saint mark’s square were just getting started. as we walked through the overcrowded square, we noticed there was some sort of show going on? so we got closer.

i have never seen a drag show (or whatever it was) until venice! there were men completely head-to-toe dressed as women singing/performing for everyone. it was some sort of contest for the best drag performance! probably the most ridiculous one was some man did mary poppins. correct me if i’m wrong, but i don’t find mary poppins sexy whatsoever. he/she, along with his/her montage of men, sang supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. but my favorite was the one who sang it’s raining men. he/she was definitely the best performance. the others just strutted around the stage in their stripper heels, while this one was actually dancing! and he/she had “slave” men who were attached to these giant balloons. the funniest thing is that the majority of them are singing american/english songs, which a lot of the people there don’t even understand the lyrics. it was so entertaining. we would have stayed for the whole thing if we hadn’t been so tired. i will never forget my first drag show in venice, italy… who would have thought?

this really awesome glass shop

everything costs around like 8,000 euro

that tiny ballet slipper was the most expensive at 10,000 euro

i love the paint brush seat

it's raining men

krystle and i with some jazzed up ladies

the next day we were up early to keep exploring. we wandered around, which we learned was the best thing to do in venice because the streets are so small and confusing that using a map is completely pointless. just head toward the people and you’re guaranteed to find something good. saturday was insane. there were so many people everywhere that we had to fight to get anywhere. half way through the day we decided that a gondola ride was a must. we found out that they charge for the gondola, not the amount of people, and since we had 6 it came out to 15 euro each. so we went and got a bottle of bellini (apparently this is a really big deal in venice because every single store has a bottle of it in their windows) and got on a gondola. it was definitely worth is. it was really relaxing and fun to see venice from a different perspective other than walking through the streets. plus, our gondola man was very entertaining. he pointed out all of the big sights, such as casanova’s house, and joked with us.

big beautiful famous bridge

packed full of people

it probably took us 20 minutes to get across

view from the bridge

p.rez relaxing

us on the gondola

after the gondola, we really just kept wandering around to see more carnival action. more costumes, more fun. carnival is really awesome. it is an upscale version of mardi gras. the costumes are insanely detailed, and it’s really clean. italians aren’t wild like americans, so it’s really family-friendly. there were a lot of children that dress up for carnival, which was really cute. there was alcohol, but people weren’t getting drunk. the only people we saw drinking out of wine bottles on the street, acting annoying, were americans.

my friends getting lots of candy at the huge candy stands

all of us

courtney and i got this drink that they make which is hot wine. it was good

we ended up at a good restaurant for dinner where i got the pizza americana, which is a pizza with french fries on it! our server made a face when i ordered it, but i don’t think they understand that we don’t have that in america. i have never in my life eaten a pizza with french fries on it. whatever, it was delicious. of course we had to get gelato after dinner in saint mark’s square. we also went to see what was going on in the square, which was just music and dancing.

noah's arc

pizza americano

all of us at dinner

here we encountered our first italian pick-up. these two stereotypical italian boys started talking to us. mind you, they don’t really speak english. one understood a little bit, but not really. he was all over krystle, asking if he could kiss her. it was hilarious. they had horrible hair, spiked-up, with their leather jackets unzipped to see their lack-of chest hair, because they were only like 18. ive seen plenty of attractive italians who dress really well because overall they do, but these two looked like they were straight out of mtv’s jersey shore. they wouldn’t give up asking us to go to the disco-tech! but finally we got rid of them. i think they eventually got the feeling that we weren’t interested.

so today we had to sadly leave venice. we took the very scenic boat ride of 35min back to the train station where we got to see a lot of the parts we didn’t see on foot. venice is gorgeous. i can’t say more good things about it. the majority of people there speak english because of the tourism, which always makes getting around easier. every little thing there is beautiful, and the city alone is amazing. all of those buildings built on tiny islands connected by thousands of bridges are a wonder. it’s the best.

my piece of artwork i got of gondolas

same artist that mom and dad have in our casa

arrivederci venice
venice is the best.

even the train station/train is top notch. normally in a train station you have to look on the inside of the train to find the car number, but venice train station has signs hanging from the ceiling of the platforms that are numbered with the car number. so easy. and the train we rode today was really new, clean, larger overhead space, and more space between the seats to put luggage. it’s just better. we also saw a man wearing an fsu hat so cydney asked if they were from florida. turns out that this man and his wife are from tampa, their neice is an alpha chi at auburn and heather knows her. small world. his dad played football for auburn back in the 50s. that’s what i like to see, the auburn family taking over the world. war damn eagle!!