So Nice in Venice

So here we go with the story of our spring break. As usual, I'm sure each post will be lengthy so pace yourself if you're reading them. I will go day by day just like usual. Hope you enjoy!

We started the trip like I said we would, at around 3:15 am Vanessa and I walked to the bus stop to get a night bus to Victoria Coach Station. The bus didn't come for a while and then it went by a longer route than I thought it would. Plus it dropped us off two blocks from the Coach Station. It was 4:03 am when it dropped us off and the coach left at 4:10. We basically ran there with all of our luggage but made it just in time. That made me think of the time in the Grand Canyon when my mom and I wanted to catch a bus and she had me run ahead and tell the driver that my mom was coming but we had to wait for her (mom, you know what I am talking about). If we would have missed that coach, we probably would have missed our plane which would have been VERY bad, obviously. Anyway, we made it. The coach ride to Stansted Airport was uneventful. We got to Stansted and went through the whole check in process. Vanessa had to have her bag looked through beacuse she had forgotten that she had a fork in her backpack. She had brought a bunch of broccoli with her in her backpack to eat and I was hoping that the guy would pull all of it out, but he didn't which was extremely disappointing. So we got on the plane and flew over the Alps which was really sweet. I can't wait to visit them later.

We got to Treviso Airport which is still 40 minutes away from Venice so we took another bus. The bus passed by very Italian looking houses and then went across a really long bridge into Venice. We got off the bus and made our way to the hotel. It was €50 per night and was pretty much the smallest room I had ever seen (picture2). There was only one bed (a little awkward for the two of us but we made due). Our bathroom was across the hall. We got the only room with a balcony over the square outside the hotel which I was happy about. The balcony overlooked a church and stuff (picture 1). Vanessa ate some of her broccoli for lunch and I had a panini sandwich. That is a sandwich with some kind of bread (foccacia, a bun, baguette, whatever) with some meat (usually proscuitto, an Italian type of ham) and some cheese warmed up. I had them just about everyday for lunch and they were fantastic. I ate it on our balcony over looking the square.

Anyway, we left and just went strolling around the area just south of our hotel (picture 3). The paths are like mazes and there were canals all over the place and it was fantastic. The neighborhoods we walked through were called San Croce and San Polo. It was really hard for me to not look at a map and just walk around. It was fun to walk into a campo (small square) where people congregate and then suddenly walk into a small alley which was dead quiet. We got lost a bunch of time and seemed to be walking in circles so we decided to make our way to the Rialto Bridge. This is a bridge over the Grand Canal that has shops on it and is very cool to look at (picture 4). We looked at all the shops and seemed to find a lot of the same souvenirs. Those being Murano glass and Carnivale masks. Murano is an island off Venice and Carnivale is a festival that happened a week before we got there which is like Mardi Gras. We trudged over to Piazza de San Marco (St. Mark's Square). This is the most famous part of Venice. St. Mark's Basilica is here (picture 5) which has some of the most famous mosaics in the world on the ceiling. We walked inside of it but only at the free parts. I loved the mosaics. We talked about going into Doge's Palace (another super famous building with a ton of history located on St. Mark's Square) but it was an art museum and we both were feeling tired. Amy, you will be happy to know that St. Mark's Square is famous for its copious pigeons. Seriously there were just tons of them. Vanessa was scared that one would poop on her (I was too). People were feeding the things and stuff. I thought it was kind of disgusting but to each their own. We rested for a bit on the Lagoon facing Isle de San Giorgio (our view is picture 6 with some gondolas in the foreground). There was a painting in the Wallace Collection (a museum we visited for Art History) from this exact spot. I thought about going up to the top of the bell tower of the square but it €8 and I wasn't all that into it. I wish I would have now. Oh well. I will come back some day and do it. That and ride in a gondola. The gondolas were €70+ for like an hour and neither Vanessa nor I have that kind of money so we didn't do it.

A girl at the hostel in Edinburgh told us not to pay for the Vaporetto (water bus) because they never check so we didn't. No incidents to speak off. So many people were getting on it would have been impossible to check. It took off from right by St. Mark's Square (behind Vanessa in picture 7 is the square with the bell tower and Doge's Palace). The bus continued on the entire length of the Grand Canal from St. Mark's Square up to the train station which was by our hotel. There were a lot of Palazzos (Palaces) along the canal and they started to all look similar by the end which was bad but true. The ride was kind of cold in the shade. This was Vanessa's favorite part of the day. We sat in the back with the sun setting on the Grand Canal (picture 8). Back at the hotel, Vanessa napped so I walked around which was nice because it was dusk and most of the tourists had left so it was real Venetians walking around.

I came back and got Vanessa and we walked around and found a place to eat. I had a polo patty (polo is Italian for chicken). Vanessa had an olive wrap. We walked around for a while looking for some chocolate and wine. This took a long time because of indecisiveness on both our parts but we eventually got some and had it back at the hotel. I loved the white chocolate we got. It was a nice Valentine's Day (Vanessa with chocolate and wine in a plastic cup picture 9, classy). I also got some strawberry gelato for €1 which was amazing. I LOVE gelato. Its sort of like ice cream but better. I read a little bit then went to bed.