Venice for Carnivale

Due to some internet issues a few of these posts have been backlogged- but I am working on getting them all up.

Well rule one I learned during this trip- Do not take night trains in Italy- it is not worth the money saved. It was as scary as everyone made it out to be. Thirty one of us from the program decided to go to Venice this weekend, and 7 of us bought a train tickets together. There are supposed to be 6 people in a cabin, but for safety reasons, we decided to all cram into one and take shifts sleeping.

We finally got into Venice around 5am. Venice is a confusing place to navigate- from what I understand even a lot of the locals do not know the the streets and simply meander in the general direction of their destination. It was still dark when we left the train station, but the canals and bridges were really pretty. We found our way to our hostel eventually, only to learn we couldn't even drop our stuff off until 9am. We found a little cafe where i had some of the most amazing fresh juice my lucky lips have ever met. We then decided to enjoy the sunrising over the main square - San Marco and were greated by the first of the people that dress up in elaborate costumes. A vendor explained to us that people come from all over to wear these costumes that they spend all year designing and creating. They love taking pictures with people and are really hoping to get noticed by professional photographers. After stumbling back to hostel from sheer exhaustion we were informed that we couldnt even check into our rooms until after 5pm- not cool, but it was carnivale so what can ya do? We decided to then take over their common room by sleeping all over the floors and couches- do not think they were too found of us. Jess and me booked together and got put in one room where I made the bed and laid out all of my things to later be told that i needed to move to another room- 4 hours later. This hostel really did not know how to deal with having this many people, they were nice but really understaffed. They did make us free pasta though :-) On Saturday we ventered to Morano- where they are famous for making hand blown glass. We watched a demonstration and shopped around the cute island. The ferry ride to and from the island was really pretty. I am so proud of Jess- she did not throw up once.

We then walked through the crazy crowded San Marco square again before heading back to our hostel for dinner. We got ready and went out and saw some live music in our masks. I wore a silver and pink cat mask in honor of my beloved Rico back home :-) It really was not as crazy as I thought it would be. There were a lot of families out. I was expecting crazy/party/mardi gras in new orleans type of party- but this was much more tame. I still really enjoyed the atmosphere and all the costumes. Sunday was Valentine's day and we even went on a romantic sunset gondola ride around some of the canals. It was so romantic and I got share it with Jessica...awww. I really loved Venice and would like to go back some day when it isn't so crowded with the Carnivale tourists- which I was most certainly a part of. The train ride home was pretty intense too. When we first arrived at the train station there was a DJ and a party going on-which was a great farewell from the city, I like to think it was just for me. When we got onto the train there were three men in our cabin, who did not want to move out of it and then came back ten mins to look for something they has lost. They then proceded to sit outside our door for a majority of the night. But we all made it home with everything in tow. All in all a great and beautiful weekend.