Today was Venice. We were up early (of course!) and boarded the bus to Venice. Traffic out of Florence was not good and we arrived very close to the time our train was supposed to arrive. BUT we made it!
The train ride into Venice was scenic. The walk into the center was long and fast, as walks always are with Matteo! It is OK though. I figure with all of the calories we are consuming, he is helping us to maintain the status quo and not come home too big!
We arrived into the city center with a limited time to eat. Helen, Darlene, Jan & I jumped at the first place we could. It turns out we ended up eating right on the canal. It was beautiful and my pesto was delicious.
We had a nice walking tour with our guide… though the term “walking tour” is starting to give me anxiety! Venice really is a cool place. We visited several key places including St. Mark’s Square, or Piasa San Marco as it is known in Venice.
We saw a really unique bookstore called Liberia Acqua Alta. Books were in boats throughout the store and the atmosphere was really unique.
There are also several cats in residence!
After our walking tour, we, of course, took a gondola ride. Very touristy, but… come on! What else are you supposed to do your first time in Venice?? It was so scenic and relaxing.
I loved it and am glad we did it! It is such a different perspective. The only way to actually get around the city is walking and of course boat. There are not even bicycles! So why not go for a boat ride??
One of the interesting points was learning that the main city square floods 150x a year! Most people just don their plastic boots and go about with life. If it is really bad, the city breaks out the planks for people to walk on. After all the water I have experienced in my basement, I could not handle that!
Our guide also discussed several of the things that Venice is known for… One is Venetian glass, also known as Murano glass. The other is Carnevale di Venezia (Canival of Venice). The residents wear extremely elaborate masks & costumes similar to what we in the U.S. would wear for Mardi Gras. In the past, the Venetians actually celebrated for upwards of six months!! However, in recent history they have cut it down to a more manageable 3 weeks 🙂
In any event, it means that there are some BEAUTIFUL hand made masks available. There are of course mass produced ones too. So many windows displayed these masks along with beautiful costumes. Some of the outfits had absolutely gorgeous details! The stories behind carnival were also intriguing. In short, the masks gave people the ability to get away with whatever they wanted without being identified… sort of a “What happens at Carnival, stays at Carnival…” type mentality. I have a feeling that Carnival, at least back in the day, would make Vegas look like church camp!
We did have some free time after the gondola rides (that is when several students and myself ventured to the bookstore). After that we had a VERY fast sprint to the train station. It was a 30 minute walk and we made it just in time. I think moving our large group was starting to stress out Matteo!
We did manage to catch our train and meet our bus to go to Padua, the small town we were staying in. It looked like such a nice little town. I was disappointed that we were not able to stay and explore the next morning (as the original itinerary had said. All in all, a nice day! Venice is very nice and I would love to go back!