Spring Break: Venice

Monday started with another very early morning. Elliot and I had to be at the train station in Paris by 5:00. We left our hotel at 4:30 in the morning to allow plenty of time to walk to the large train station where our train to the airport departed from. This time the train to the airport was on time so it wasn't too stressful. On the train I was reading my travel book on Venice. As we were getting off at the airport stop, a girl about our age approached us. She said she saw me reading the Venice book and that she was from Venice. We figured out we are on the same flight and she asked us if we minded if she followed us to the correct gate in the airport. She also told us that we could ask her any questions we had on Venice. Her English was very good. The checking of our luggage, security and finding the correct gate were all easy and stress free this time. The girl from Venice was named Francesca. She was in her first year at University, studying engineering (don't ask me why she needed our help finding the right gate). She was very helpful with questions about transportation, directions and etc. Francesca was quite comical too. She warned us that no one in Italy would speak English. I thought this was strange since she was so good at it and said it was her favorite subject in school. The flight from Paris to Venice took a little over an hour. Francesca offered to help us get on the correct public bus to the island, which was cheaper than the coach services. I didn't want her to have to wait for us to get our luggage and go through customs and told her so. However, she insisted that she didn't mind because the only thing waiting for her at home was studying for physics. She thought Paris was freezing too and told us that Venice would be a lot warmer. Unfortunately when we stepped outside it was chilly. Francesca said that the weather was not normal, as 5 days prior she was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. It was nicer than Paris though and NO rain! I asked her if the cold streak would last long or if the the next day would be warm. She told me she didn't know, this weather was not normal so maybe it would snow the next day. Elliot thought her comedy was hilarious, especially making fun of my questions! Francesca got us tickets from the desk in Italian. Although Italian is a lot like Spanish I didn't understand any of what she said. The bus ride to Venice was interesting. Francesca rode with us about halfway before she got off on her stop to head home. We thanked her greatly and she instructed us to just stay on the bus until the last stop. After Francesca's stop the bus started to get really full. There were so many locals squeezing on the bus. Everyone was standing shoulder to shoulder and more people kept getting on the bus. Elliot even told me he didn't think it was safe, but I wasn't getting off at this point. I bet there were more than 50 people on the small bus. Elliot and I were the only tourists on the bus too. I started to wonder about Francesca's directions. Eventually we made it to the last stop and everyone poured out. Here we began to see Venice, other tourists and the grand canal.

We walked across a huge foot bridge to the actual island of Venice. It was gorgeous. I instantly fell in love with this place. Right in front of us was the grand canal that runs through Venice. All along the canal were wonderful little buildings, shops, restaurants and more. There were lots of boats and gondolas cruising down the canal in every direction. Our first order of business was to find our hostel. It took us a few minutes to find the entrance, but it was really close to the area where we were dropped off and crossed to the main island. The entrance to our hostel was right on the grand canal. As typical in Italy, we already knew our room would be a few minutes walk from the entrance in another location near by. Again it was too early to check in , but at least we could leave our luggage and go explore. Below pictures in Venice of the Grand Canal and side canals.


We started off wondering along the grand canal. Everything in Venice is based around the canal, as it is the only way of transportation on the island. We actually saw an ambulance boat, police boat, and food and linen being delivered by boat. There were absolutely no cars after we crossed the huge foot bridge, only boats. I loved this aspect as did Elliot. The first thing we did was buy some pizza for lunch. There were pizzerias all over. Welcome to Italy! The slices of pizza were huge, delicious and cheap. We continued to walk along the grand canal. There were many side canals off the grand canal with small foot bridges to cross them. It seemed like there were a million opportunities for a great picture. Everything was so picturesque. I can't explain how original and beautiful this place is. Venice easily became my favorite place that I have ever been to in my life. There are only 3 main bridges that cross the grand canal, so if you want to cross the canal you need to walk to one of the bridges or go across by boat. Elliot and I had crossed one of the main bridges on our walk. A gondola ride across the grand canal only cost a half of a Euro. Elliot and I decided to try this out since we needed to get back across to go to our hostel and it was cheap. They fit about 10 people on the gondola and 2 gondoliers/oarsmen rowed us across. It only took about 2 minutes to cross the canal, but it was fun. Below pictures of gondolas along the canal and one in action!


After we got back across the canal we walked back to our hostel and checked in. The woman at the receptionist desk led us about a block to another building with about 5 rooms and bathrooms. This was our nicest room with a refrigerator and television. It was nice to freshen up after traveling for so long. Next we set out to explore the side of the island that our hostel was on. Again we got lost among all the alleys and canals. We would often come upon a stream of tourists and follow them in the direction toward a cathedral or plaza. There were tons of little plazas all over Venice. We decided to try some gelato, which is famous Italian ice cream. It is slightly different than American ice cream because it isn't kept frozen, just cooled. There are other differences that give it an amazing taste too. Gelato comes in all sorts of different flavors. My favorite flavors were fragola, which is strawberry, and caramel. Elliot enjoyed the chocolate, nut and mint flavors. It was so delicious. We walked around for quite a while eating gelato and exploring the island. We found the Santa Maria Gloriosa church. It was very grand and impressive. When we asked Francesca what the best thing to do in Venice, she told us to just get lost. We found out that it is impossible not to get lost on all the side canals and streets in Venice, but it is also very easy to find out which way to go. There are little yellow signs everywhere pointing the way toward the main plazas, canal, and attractions. Venice is very small too, so before you walk too far you will run into water, which is either the canal or the edge of the island. We got pizza again for supper as we explored all over. We called it an early night again this night as we were tired from getting up at 4:00 and there is not a whole lot of night life in Venice. Below pictures of Elliot and I on a side bridge in Venice.


Tuesday was our full day in Venice. We decided we were going to really discover the island this day. It was a wonderful day outside and the sun was shining. We started off the morning by crossing one of the main bridges over the canal. We got some very good fruit pastries for breakfast. Elliot also had a piece of pizza. Then we went to the train station and ordered our tickets for the following day to go to Florence. Next we bought an all day pass on the Vaporetto, which is Venice's water bus. It is the main form of transportation around Venice. It is very similar to a bus system with routes and stops, except these are boats on water. An all day pass cost 16 euros, which was kind of expensive, but definitely worth it. There were different boats that took different routes and stopped at various places along the grand canal. After a little studying, the vaporetto system was very easy to figure out. We got on the boat that made all the stops along the grand canal first. It was great. The boat ride was smooth and the stops were efficient and fast. We got to see all along the grand canal. We got off at the San Marco district. This district is the most popular area in Venice and overloaded with tourists. All of the biggest tourist attractions in Venice are within the San Marco district. We saw the San Marco Basilica, a great medieval building which was constructed in 832 to house the body of St. Mark. Everything on the basilica was over the top. Elliot and I were greatly impressed. Right beside the basilica was the Palazzo Ducale, which is a beautiful gothic building home to Venice's various offices of state for almost a thousand years. Another great sight in this area was the Civico Correr Museum. All of these famous sights were located in the San Marco plaza. In the middle of this plaza was the giant, detached belltower from the San Marco Basilica called the Campanile. There were lots of shops and places to explore all around this area too. We did find this part of Venice to be more expensive than the 15 minute vaporetto ride to our part of Venice. We headed back to our side to get some lunch. Then we rode the vaporetto to the final stop. This actually took us to the other side the island where we came from on the bus to the airport. We walked in this area for a while before heading back. Next we went to the big market in Venice. Although this didn't compare in size to the markets in London, it was still very interesting. There were an excellent selection of bright red tomatoes and strawberries. Elliot and I got a bundle of strawberries to share. The fish portion of this market was quite smelly so we didn't hang around too long. A lot of people asked me when I got home if Venice smelled, being on the canal and all. However, Elliot and I didn't think it smelled bad at all. I am sure much consideration goes into keeping the canal clean and fresh smelling. Below pictures of the San Marco Basilica and Palazzo Ducale. In the last picture is one of the walking bridges that crosses the grand canal. You can also see a gondola going under the bridge. On the right side there is a boat, which is a vaparetto, the water bus we took all around.



This day was full of a lot of exploring again. It was so fun to just walk around until we ran into something exciting. We visited the two other bridges that cross the grand canal. We also rode the vaporetto all around the island, taking everything in. We ate even more pizza and gelato. Venice had Kit-Kat gelato, which was another of Elliot and my favorites. We also did a little souvenir shopping. Murano glass is extremely popular in Venice. Elliot got a Murano glass clock and I got a little gondola figure made of glass. There were also a ton of glass beads and jewelry. Surprisingly, the small pieces and figures of glass were not very expensive at all. After supper we went back out and rode the vaparetto at night. It was fun to see the entire island lit up. The weather stayed wonderful all day and we both got a little sun burnt. Francesca said we had to try a Spritz, which is a typical Venetian drink. I can't even tell you all the things that were inside, but we found a local pub and Elliot tried one. I thought it was awful and I don't think Elliot was too fond of it either. However, we were glad we tried it and got to experience a little Venice nightlife. A lot of the locals just sat outside the pub with their dog while they had a drink beside the waters of the canal. Below picture of the amazing pizza!

Venice was mine and Elliot's favorite place. We were talking to a Brazilian couple in our hostel and they said they loved it too because it was like no other place in the world. It was so true. Venice is like one of those place you read about or see in movies and think you will never go to. If you have some spare time and some extra cash, I highly recommend Venice. It was one of those once in a lifetime experiences.

I apologize for being so far behind on my blogs. I went to Ireland this weekend and have just been so busy (I do have schoolwork too!) I am going to try to update all of them this week as well as one about Ireland. So check regularly! There is an interesting thing taking place in the UK and Europe right now, for those of you that haven't heard. Iceland's volcano that is erupting has caused all of the UK and much of the rest of Europe to ground all flights since Thursday evening because of volcanic ash in the atmosphere. It is quite the situation over here and people that are stranded are going absolutely nuts. My program director is currently stranded in the States, as he was there visiting Central College. Due to all the backlog he doesn't even know if he will make it home in the next week! I was supposed to go to Spain this coming weekend, but I doubt that will happen now. I just hope this all gets cleared up before my Mom and Aunt Karen come! I will keep you posted on all the events!