L'ete a Paris: Venezia, Italia!

Well Thursday night we decided to go out to this place called Club Mix, which is free Thursday nights for international students, for our classmate Megan's birthday. It was a lot of fun! We had the whole club almost to ourselves when we got there at 11 and were able to just goof off. Then it filled up pretty quickly and we all just danced and had a lot of fun. We headed back at 12:30 thought because we had to get up at 4:30 to head to the airport for Venice!

Yes thats right, 4:30 meaning by the time I got back and actually fell asleep I only got 3 hours of sleep. Needless to say we were all exhausted. It was just Abby and I going to Venice but three other girls were also going to Italy on the same flight so we all stuck together. We went from the metro, to a bus, to the plane, to a bus, where we parted ways with the other group at the train station and hopped on our 12:30 train to Venezia! So tired! So I slept most of the way, once again. Its getting easier and easier to sleep in these weird positions hah. Though my back is definitely starting to hate me for it! Once we got off the train in Venice it took us a few minutes to orient ourselves and figure out how we were expected to navigate the canals to find our hostel haha. You take the water shuttle of course! Its a good thing I don't get sea sick!

Our Hostel was in a great location. It was a five minute walk from the well-known Rialto bridge and right behind the clock tower in San Marco's square. As for the condition it was in, thats another matter entirely! haha. We got the true hostel experience this time. There were holes in the floor that they just covered up with the carpet so we kept stepping in potholes as we navigated upstairs to our room. We were in room number 105 which was on the 3rd floor right across the hall from room 208. Interesting right? haha. The beds were clean enough, the pillows felt like they were just large sacs of flour. They were so heavy! The wardrobe in the room was falling apart, and there were no screens on the windows (there aren't usually in Europe) so the mosquitoes invaded the rooms at night and I got eaten up! The room was small and a bit run down but it served its purpose so thats all I can ask for. It was also really easy just to run in and drop off a bag of souvenirs if we didn't want to carry it because it was right around the corner from all of the tourist shopping spots.

We easily spent the majority of our time split between looking out at the water and in the different shops. There were just streets and streets of shops full of the most beautiful things. Murano glass is what they're known for so it was everywhere and the things they can make with glass is incredible! We just kept getting distracted by how beautiful everything was! I spent so much money! hahah. The first night we got some dinner and then just explored. I had the cannelloni ricotta e spinaci! aka yummy pasta! We just walked around to the different shops and sat by the water while we digested our first Italian meal! We saw that a concert was being set up in the center of San Marco's square so we bought a bottle of Bellini and just sat on the steps of the church waiting for it to start. We knew all of the songs but couldn't remember who sang them. It wasn't until we looked it up later that night that we found out it was Sting! We accidentally stumbled across a Sting concert in San Marco's square in Venice...Oops? haha Amazing!

We turned in early the first night to try and catch up on some sleep the night before. Then we slept in until 10:30! haha. It was the first time I've slept in since the first weekend we were here I think. It felt great. We got ready and were out the door soon enough though. We decided to explore more toward the Rialto bridge that morning. There were street vendors everywhere by the Rialto bridge! I didn't buy anything from them because everything was kind of cheap looking and my friends had told me to be careful where you buy the Murano glass from because some people will try and scam you, I figured an actual store would be safer! Then we started spending money left and right! haha. It was just all so beautiful! I found a t-shirt that says I heart NY on it (just like in NYC) but then the NY is crossed out and it says Venezia over it..too funny! So I bought one. :) Then we went for a gondola ride!

It was kind of expensive but we were able to talk the man down a little bit and we decided it was worth it. You can't go to Venice and not go on a gondola ride! It was amazing. So peaceful just floating around and the man rowing our boat was your stereotypical large and loud italian man. He kept telling us about the history of some of the buildings but I could only half understand what he was saying through his accent! He was really nice thought so I tried to nod my head and act like I appreciated it, which I did, I just couldn't understand him haha. It was really interesting to be able to see the city from that perspective. It just made everything so much more beautiful viewing it from the pretty blue/green water! For lunch we got pizza! It was good but I was surprised at the lack of flavor to their tomato sauce. I expected some serious garlic and pepper to it but it was rather plain. We ended the night just walking around, finishing our shopping, and eating lasagne and gelato by the canal.

The restaurant by the canal was pretty touristy and I regret going there. But it was only 8 euros compared to the 14 for lasagne everywhere else. Now I know why. It was extremely bland, and cold on the inside. I wasn't the only one displeased with the service though. There was an Italian man sitting next to us and he was with an American woman. He was obviously showing her the city and everything. Its polite to wait until a person finishes their salad before bringing over the next course but the servers here didn't do that because it was a really relaxed place. The man started arguing with the waitor in Italian right next to us. Now in Europe right next to you means literally in the chair next to you, you sit with other people sometimes, its just how it is. So it was kind of awkward but at the same time I was enjoying it cause I wasn't happy with my food either! haha. We just sat around the water for a bit and then turned in early because we had a busy day of traveling the next afternoon.

We checked out of our hostel at 10:30 and di d some more shopping! I bought a bright pink Venecian mask for my room at home! I'm still not entirely sure what the significance of them over there is, but the masks are apparently a really big deal. Then we decided to just walk along the canal in a different direction and explore some more while we killed time...of course I got sunburned! While on our walk I was hunting for a place that had spaghetti and meat balls. The owner of one restaurant told me that I would not find it anywhere in Italy because it was just not done. "Just meat sauce-a, no-a meatball-a." Well I finally found one so there! I wanted to buy him one so I could throw it in his face, he was quite rude about it.

Finally we had to go torture some pigeons in San Marco's square. Its another must while in Venice. So Abby kept running through them while I got one to eat bread crumbs out of my hand! It was crazy! Its claws kinda tickled my hand but its little beak was kinda sharp! We got so distracted by the silly birds we almost missed the water shuttle, but don't worry we made it. We got on the train and everything fine, and when we got on the bus it just so happened that the other group of girls were on the same one! So we spent that hour ride to the airport exchanging fun stories from our trips. Then came the scary part. The line for Visa checks was extremely long. It took 45 minutes to get through which left us only 25 minutes to get through security and find our gates before our departure time! It got kind of tight but we made it without any problems. We actually had to take a bus from the gate out onto the tarmac to board the plane. It was very strange. In any case we made our flight and arrived back in Paris in time to pack quick and then get up early the next morning to head to Normandy for our World War II excursion.

C'est la vie a Europe? haha