Venezia la Città di Acqua

Venice the city of water…so before coming to Venice I had no idea what to expect but all I knew was that I was sure it was going to be beautiful and I was sure right. I took the train to Venice but first we got off at the train stop on the main land of Venice and when we saw no water we knew we were in the wrong place so I just needed to hope on the train for one more stop. Once I stepped outside this train station I knew I was here because I was greeted by the Gran Canal, or the main waterway in Venice. I was immediately awestruck by how different and beautiful Venice was it was unlike anything I have seen in my life or could have imagined. I took the number 1 waterbus down the canal to the hostel. Before leaving for Italy I had downloaded free podcasts of Rick Steve, who is a travel book writer, onto my ipod and I had one for a Gran Canal tour so I decided to try it out. I would defiantly recommend doing this for all your trips because the audioguide was timed perfectly and it pointed out various buildings to me along the way. Did you know that Venice is home to over 400 bridges or that the city floods on average 100 times a year? I know now you have useless facts but it was nice to actually learn about the city as I was seeing it.

Canal in Venice

We took the water taxi to our hostel stop and got a little lost finding the hostel but eventually found it and checked in Then we went to this pizzeria right next door to get some lunch. I just had a margarita pizza, or plain pizza. There were tons of people outside in the square because everyone was celebrating some university graduation or something. All the girls were wearing wreaths of what looked like ivy around their necks and people were dressed in crazy costumes. Also, some people were having baby powder poured all over them so this provided entertainment for me during lunch. Next I took the water taxi to St Mark’s Square, which is the center of Venice and is where all the pigeons are.

Group in St. Mark's Square

I am not a fan of birds but thanks god there were not too many when we were there. I walked around the square and learned how Venice used to be the trading capital of the world between Europe and Asia, which can be seen in the architecture. By the time we got to the square St. Mark’s Basilica was closed but we took the elevator to the top of the bell tower. The reason there was an elevator is because the tour feel down in 1902 and had to be rebuilt so a elevator was installed. Also, St. Mark’s Square is home to the first digital clock. In the square we meet up with other Loyola students who were studying abroad in Copenhagen but were in Venice for the day. It was nice to see other Loyola students and hear about their semester.
After going around the square Alanna who went to Florence for Carnival told me of the bar called Harry’s Bar, which was where the first Bellini was made. We decided to check it out and Callie and I were the only people to order them because they were kind of expensive but we figured when were we planning on being in Venice again. The drinks were delicious and completely worth every penny. Then we headed back to the hostel to change for dinner. My Mom’s friend who gave us the pasta restaurant in Italy also recommended a place in Venice. Unfortunately it had closed but there was another restaurant it it’s place so we decided to check it out. I got pasta with pesto sauce, which was delicious and then this apple strudel pastry that was amazing. The waiter, Alesandro, was really nice and after dinner bought us all drinks at the bar next door. We hung out for a while but the city of Venice shuts down pretty early and the bar closed at midnight. We took the waterbus back to the hostel but since it was a night bus it did not stop at all the places so we had to get off at a different stop and walk to our hostel. Everyone who went to Venice warned that the streets were really confusing so we were worried. We though we got really lost but were actually only a turn away from the hostel but getting back was an adventure to say the least.
The next morning we woke up and grabbed some breakfast before heading back to St. Mark’s square to go inside the Basilica, which is said to be home of St. Mark’s bones who became the patron saint of Venice after two Christians stole his body and placed it in the church. The basilica was breathtaking with all the influences of different cultures. The outside was made up of elements that had been taken from various other countries, for example of bronze horses stole from Constantinople or the Greek pillars. The inside of the basilica was fully of Byzantine mosaics that depicted various bible scenes. I went to the top to look out on the balcony of a view of St. Mark’s Square.

St. Mark's Basilica

After the basilica we wanted to go to the Dodge’s, or ruler of Venice, palace but there was not enough time. The palace was a pretty light pink and white on the outside and had no surrounding wall to demonstrate that the Dodge was not afraid of his people. Also, the columns on the palace all portrayed stories in the top. The one we saw was a story of a couple falling in love. Next we did what everyone in Venice has to do. We took a gondola ride. It was a lot of fun I though a couple times that be were going to tip over but out gondolier Tony knew what he was doing. We were able to go through all the little side canals of Venice and experience the city. The ride lasted for about 40 minutes and then we made sure to get a picture with Tony before leaving. Then we took the water taxi to Murano, which is where the famous hand blown glass is made. We were able to see a demonstration and it was unreal to watch someone turn an extremely hot piece of melted glass into a horse within a matter of minutes. I bought some really pretty earnings and then headed back to Venice to grab out things before lunch.
We headed to the train station a little early to grab lunch but I guess it was a weird time because most of the restaurants were closed because it was around 4pm. I just grabbed a slice of pizza from some small pizza place that of course was still good because we were in Italy. Then once again grabbed some gelato before boarding the train. So for the train from Venice to Milan we decided to buy regional train tickets because they were cheaper and we needed a little rest so we did not mind the longer train. However, we were unaware that with regional tickets it was necessary to validate the ticket before hand, which proved to be a problem. When the people came around to collect the tickets they said that because we did not validate we were going to be fined 50 euro each. We tried to explain to them that we did not realize this because on our other trains we did not need to validate because there were Eurostar trains. Finally, we were able to talk them down to only making us pay 25 euro each since we explained that we were college students and did not have a lot of money. I was written a ticket for the fine, which I plan on keeping in order to remember this event.