Gondola Ride with the Girls
And just
when I thought I had seen the most beautiful places in Europe, I went to
Italy...and fell in love. Sadly not with a gorgeous Italian man, but the
scenery, food, architecture, people, language which was good enough for me.
Wednesday after class we headed off to Venice, a city that from the
beginning was on my "Must See If Possible" list. We landed and
took a bus from the airport, and were greeted by the most magical city I have
ever been to. Not going to lie it took me until morning to realize that
cars weren't allowed at all in the city, but you can definitely feel the
difference with people wandering the streets and no constant sound of engines.
We laughed as we made our way to our Bed and Breakfast because they told us to
take the "green bridge," as we learned the next day on our gondola
ride there are 415 bridges in Venice...clearly the B&B missed that! We made
it though and were greeted by the most adorable little Italian home. They
showed us to our HUGE room (by college kid standards), where we had an espresso machine and a bathroom
bigger than my bathroom at home.
We changed and headed out to try and
find a restaurant Da Mamo. The taxi system in Venice is like a ferry, and
not the simplest system. Luckily we had gotten a book made for college
students in Venice that helped to map out routes to key locations. We
found the restaurant next to the Rialto Bridge, and here we had an amazing
traditional Venetian meal. We got free appetizers, and then three pasta
dishes to share. AMAZING SEAFOOD. We tried a dish that's pasta and
cuttlefish with black octopus ink sauce, it looked scary but it was so good. The waiters
were hysterical and we got free lemon cello shots and a dessert shot in a
chocolate shot glass. It was a nice change from France where you get exactly what
you pay for. Here comes a funny side story that will be important later...we
decided to mess around and pretend it was one of our friends birthdays (the
waiters knew it wasn't it was just funny) and so we sang some ridiculous
birthday song and went on our merry way....little did we know we would be in a Florence Pizza Shop and bump into a couple from that night who wished my friend a happy birthday! Small world... 
We got a great night sleep and the
next morning we were greeted by how colorful the city was! It was breathtaking!
Off we went to see Peggy Guggenheim's personal collection of art, and after
seeing plenty of Pollock and Picasso we went to Saint Mark's Square. I got a
pop up book of key places to see in Venice, and so we ran around like tourists
looking for the spots in the book! Once we reached Saint Mark's we saw the
infamous pigeons! This was where it got really fun :) I could post an entire
album of pictures, but after fooling around there we headed to the bell tower.
From the top we could see all of Venice, and the surrounding islands. It was truly breathtaking. After that we headed into Saint
Mark's Basilica, where I saw the incredible The
Pala d’Oro, a Byzantine altar screen of gold. It is covered in thousands of
gems...literally. Just a few include 1,300 pearls, 300 emeralds, 300 sapphires,
400 garnets, 100 amethysts, plus rubies and topazes. Looking at it you are
greeted by a mosaic of Jesus surrounded by his apostles
and numerous other biblical stories. After lighting a
candle (in Italy I had to break the one in every church rule or I would've run
out of money..sorry Nan :) ) 
We saw the Doge's Palace, which housed the
supreme ruler of Venice, and the Bridge of Sighs which got it’s name because it
was the last view of the city prisoners had while they were being shipped off
to jail. Then after walking around and doing some shopping we decided to take a
Gondola Ride. Although these are expensive little boat rides, it was one
of my favorite moments of the entire trip. Our gondolier was a born and
raised Venetian and we even got to see his home! We road down the Grand Canal,
as well as smaller other side canals which was where you got the real feel of
Venice. We learned that most homes have two doors, one street side and one
water way entrance, and that out of the 415 bridges only 4 run across the
Grand Canal, so there is a 50cent shuttle that men have to row back and forth all
day long to get people from one side to the other if they are not near a
bridge! After eating amazing gelato and trying on so many Venetian Masks our
faces had glitter stuck to them we headed off to the train station to go to
Florence!XOXOX From Paris 
We changed and headed out to try and
find a restaurant Da Mamo. The taxi system in Venice is like a ferry, and
not the simplest system. Luckily we had gotten a book made for college
students in Venice that helped to map out routes to key locations. We
found the restaurant next to the Rialto Bridge, and here we had an amazing
traditional Venetian meal. We got free appetizers, and then three pasta
dishes to share. AMAZING SEAFOOD. We tried a dish that's pasta and
cuttlefish with black octopus ink sauce, it looked scary but it was so good. The waiters
were hysterical and we got free lemon cello shots and a dessert shot in a
chocolate shot glass. It was a nice change from France where you get exactly what
you pay for. Here comes a funny side story that will be important later...we
decided to mess around and pretend it was one of our friends birthdays (the
waiters knew it wasn't it was just funny) and so we sang some ridiculous
birthday song and went on our merry way....little did we know we would be in a Florence Pizza Shop and bump into a couple from that night who wished my friend a happy birthday! Small world... 
We got a great night sleep and the
next morning we were greeted by how colorful the city was! It was breathtaking!
Off we went to see Peggy Guggenheim's personal collection of art, and after
seeing plenty of Pollock and Picasso we went to Saint Mark's Square. I got a
pop up book of key places to see in Venice, and so we ran around like tourists
looking for the spots in the book! Once we reached Saint Mark's we saw the
infamous pigeons! This was where it got really fun :) I could post an entire
album of pictures, but after fooling around there we headed to the bell tower.
From the top we could see all of Venice, and the surrounding islands. It was truly breathtaking. After that we headed into Saint
Mark's Basilica, where I saw the incredible The
Pala d’Oro, a Byzantine altar screen of gold. It is covered in thousands of
gems...literally. Just a few include 1,300 pearls, 300 emeralds, 300 sapphires,
400 garnets, 100 amethysts, plus rubies and topazes. Looking at it you are
greeted by a mosaic of Jesus surrounded by his apostles
and numerous other biblical stories. After lighting a
candle (in Italy I had to break the one in every church rule or I would've run
out of money..sorry Nan :) ) 
We saw the Doge's Palace, which housed the
supreme ruler of Venice, and the Bridge of Sighs which got it’s name because it
was the last view of the city prisoners had while they were being shipped off
to jail. Then after walking around and doing some shopping we decided to take a
Gondola Ride. Although these are expensive little boat rides, it was one
of my favorite moments of the entire trip. Our gondolier was a born and
raised Venetian and we even got to see his home! We road down the Grand Canal,
as well as smaller other side canals which was where you got the real feel of
Venice. We learned that most homes have two doors, one street side and one
water way entrance, and that out of the 415 bridges only 4 run across the
Grand Canal, so there is a 50cent shuttle that men have to row back and forth all
day long to get people from one side to the other if they are not near a
bridge! After eating amazing gelato and trying on so many Venetian Masks our
faces had glitter stuck to them we headed off to the train station to go to
Florence!XOXOX From Paris 
Your posts from Europe are so enchanting! Grazie for sharing! Will you get to see Milano? If so let me know. I can see if my wonderful and very dear family friend, Camilla can meet up with you! xo
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