On Wednesday night, we went to a recommended resturaunt with the crew for a quiet night before our early train to Pisa. Ended up not being so quiet when we overindulged in the "Free House Wine to Students" deal that Dante's had. Needless to say, our 7:30 Meet Time came way too early. JD made the ride memorable to all aboard.
We arrive in Venice around 11 to find 50 degree weather and torrential downpours. When I told James that they were calling for rain while I was in Venice, he wittily replied, "Hope it doesn't flood." We were supposed to walk to our hotel in San Marco Square, about a mile and a half from the train station. With our bags and without our rainboots, this proved to be too big a feat. Lucca hailed a water taxi for the 15 of us and we arrived at our hotel the only way appropriately: by water. Our hotel was in PRIME location, surrounded by the high fashion stores and less than 100 feet from San Marco Square, the largest square in Venice. And when I say hotel, I mean more like apartments. Caroline, Keena, Emily, and I had a 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment with kitchenette. We had a few hours of free time so that we could circumvent the rain for our 4 hour walking tour scheduled for later in the day. Lucca warned us that the Venetians aren't particularly known for their hospitality and advised us to stay around the tourist resturaunts. We may have taken this a little too literally in our lunch date at Hard Rock Cafe on Saturday, but on Friday we ate a pizza, had a rude man yell at JD, and have a waitor who very well could've been on drugs put ketchup on the other table's fries, for them. After a 20 min nap at the hotel, we met in the lobby for a walking tour... in the sun. Although it remained windy and chilly, Caroline commented that it felt like football weather. I couldn't have agreed more. In a Florence "Fall" where high temperatures haven't dropped below 85, the football weather was refreshing. But after 2 days of it, I'm glad to be back with the warm Florentines.
Lucca strolled us around Venice, stopping at a few locations to explain the importance, but for the most part, our tour gave us the ability to get a feel for Venice at large. Afterward, we took a promised gondola ride. We had been going since 7 am that morning, and finally sitting down to relax and enjoy our surroundings made me realize how freakin' lucky I am. Gondola rides, as cliche as they are, are something that everyone who loves Italy has to do once in a lifetime. Well, as we were riding along, we were finally doing it. 20 years old in Italy for 5 months. Pretty awesome.
Afterward, Milva and Lucca had arranged aVenetian meal for us. 5 courses. Seafood platter (obvi my favorite), bruschetta, vegetable lasagna, veal, salad, and potatoes, and gelato and fruit to finish! When you start a meal off with 3 pieces of bread, 5 courses are a lot to manage. We then headed back to our "apartments" where I decided to relax in the bathtub, go find some WiFi, and watch some CNN before heading to bed.
Another early morning greeted us with a free breakfast buffet. We then met a spunky little tourguide and headed to the Doge's Palace, San Marco Cathedral, and the Prisions. I've never so many gold ceilings in my life than in the Palace and the Cathedral. Absolutely beautiful. Afterward, we headed to a Murano glass factory, ironically in Venice, to have a glass blowing demonstration, listen to a mini-lecture, and visit the showroom. If the glass wasn't so expensive, I would be coming home with Christmas ornaments for all. That afternoon, we were left to fend for ourselves for about 5 hours. With our subpar experience at lunch the day before, we decided to cut our losses and indulge in some American cuisine for lunch. I happily hate buffalo tenders and french fries on the second floor of the Hard Rock Cafe that overlooked a canal full of gondolas. The girls then went for an afternoon of purusing the narrow streets of Venice, stopping in any shop of interest. After an assortment of afternoon snacks we headed back to the hotel to meet the rest of the group to walk to the Jewish Ghetto. In the Venetian dialect, "gheto" means to sequester, throw away, or set apart, a definition that coined the usage of the word "ghetto" all over the world. During the early 20th century, the Venetian ghetto appealed to Jews all over Europe who were living in isolation and injustice. Venice separated the Jews, but offered them financial opportunity and protection. Although Venice wanted to be the Christian city model, officials also wanted the revenue that the Jews provided. Venice is a city founded on commerce with truly capitalist tendancies, and when they thought of the Jews, they saw dollar signs. We happened to tour on Yom Kippur so a few children were playing in the main square, but for the most part, the ghetto was quiet. With only 2 exits, the Venetians used to force the Jews to lock themselves in at night and Venetians patrolled the canal surrounding the tiny island. It was an eerie feeling to be walking through there, like I was infringing on someone else's space, although it is now open to all.
We made it back to the train station an hour before our train left, so we say on a ledge beside the canal and people and boatwatched. I didn't find Venice to be as intimate or romantic as I had expected. The narrow streets and hundreds of small bridges were packed with tourists and sometimes we literally had to push our way through the crowd or simply stand in line. October is high season in Venice and we could definitely tell by the number of people. Our tourguide said that she's been giving tours for 11 years and 11 years ago, there were 11 million tourists to travel to Venice. Last year, there were 22 million. In a decade, the number has doubled and unfortunately, Venice doesn't have the space for them to spread out. It made us all appreciate to be living in Florence, still a small city in comparison to Rome, London, or Paris, its comfortable but not claustrophobic. Less than 2 weeks until my Mom, Dad and Ross arrive! Ciao!
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