Pooped on, Bones in my mouth, and Gondola Rides

Welcome to my weekend in Venice!

Just riding on the train was soo cool because once we arrived to Venice it was just surrounded by water! I was in shock the whole time I was walking around and noticing how water basically surrounds everything! I just couldn’t ever imagine living there and thinking oh let me go to work…and getting on a boat to get there! There are no cars there! That’s something I am not use to! 

So we got to the hotel Perone Gerone (I think) to set our luggage down and then we were off to find a place for lunch! On they way there we walked through a fish market and we were going on our merry way when a seagull came flying by kind of low. And next thing I know I had poop on my shirt and on my new purse! It was disgusting! Dana also got pooped on at the same time…I am pretty sure it was going everywhere! Of course everyone stood around and took pictures of us freaking out about getting pooped on and I have yet to see those photos! But supposively if you get pooped on you are suppose to get lucky! So hopefully this is true! Then we made it to this cute restaurant called Osteria  Trattoria. It seemed pretty hipster. Like the menus were handwritten on recycled paper. We ate outside underneath a tree and lanterns! It was really very cute and so peaceful! I got the Max pizza which had gorgonzola and sausage on it! (Another side note about the birds….there are pigeons EVERYWHERE! And they legit will just walk right up to you. Like at lunch, there were pigeons just under our seats!) Then after the relaxing lunch we went to a jewelry shop that had beautiful glass jewelry! I got two pairs of earrings! Then we decided that we wanted to go find this little bakery that we had seen as we were trying to navigate through the tiny streets to find the hotel. (Another side note: there are so many turns and little tiny streets all throughout and all of the building are so close to one another!) So we got to the bakery and I got a cream puff…it was alright because it had a chocolate inside and I was really hoping for just cream. But oh well!) Then Alissa, Dana, Kelly, Kara, and I just wandered around by the main canal and we decided to just pop a squat and watch boats go by. So we first sat down on this dock and then some of the girls got worried that they were getting a splinter in their bottoms so we changed spots! We stayed there for a long time just relaxing and soaking up the views of Venice. Then we decided to take a little gondola for fifty cents across the canal to get to the other side. This was very interesting! Because once we got to the other side, the gondola guy taking our money fell in love with Kara. He was like “stay with me” as he was holding her arm and then he started to fake kiss her arm. It was really very strange and all we could do was laugh! But after the adventure with the gondola man we went into lots of shops. We went to a mask shop called Ta Kala, and then we went to stopped at this cute stand selling paintings of Venice. It was such a perfect afternoon! Then we successfully navigated back to the hotel and we changed and went out for dinner. We again sat outside (basically we couldn’t get enough of the wonderful weather) and we got these veggie pizza roll ups and we got Belini’s. (which supposivly Venice is known for!) They were both very good! Then after dinner we went to a jazz bar. There really was no jazz to be heard and there were bras hanging from the ceiling. But the bar was supposedly known for having great mixed drinks…but I didn’t get one.  Then I headed back to the hotel to get a good nights sleep because I knew I was going to get up early the next morning.

            On Saturday I woke up at 7:00 because I was going to go to the Doge’s palace. I went to get a great breakfast. Yogurt and a roll with cheese and actual American coffee! Yah! Then I left with Alissa, Kelly, and Kyle to the palace. Since we left so early, they was no one there! St. Marc’s square was empty!! It was really very cool to come out of the museum and see if filled with people. We walked around the palance and saw many rooms! Every room had really gaudy ceilings with paintings and the walls all had fabric on them. We learned that there was a fire throughout the building during the 1500’s  and many of the rooms were ruined and many of the paintings had to be redone. To complete many of the new paintings there was a contest to see who would get to be commissioned to do the work. We also saw the largest oil painting in the world! It was HUGE!! There were many rooms throughout the palace that really had no purpose. How would that be to be so wealthy that you can build rooms and not have a purpose for them. I was also amazed by the massive fire places. Then we got to go into the prison which is basically attached to the palace. I thought that was strange to have a huge prison connected to a massive palace. And we walk through the bridge of sighs; this was where the prisoners would get one last look to the outside world and they would look to their family on a bridge across the way. This was a very interesting experience! When we got out of the palace there were tons of people there! It was around 11 so we headed back to the hotel.  Outside our hotel there is this huge market of people selling fruits and veggies! It looked so good!! So we decided to all get some for lunch that day! It was great to be eating fruit! I had forgotten how much I love summer fruits!

             Once we met back up with the group, we were off to find a water "bus" to take us to the glass island of Marano. Being on the boat was a great way to see the beautiful city of Venice! It was kind of a long process getting to the island just because the boat had to make stops so people could get off at certain places. Once we got to island is was very small and all the shops had the exact same things in them! So I kind of had mix feelings about it...it was beautiful and cute but I just can't believe they all had the same stuff (necklaces, wine stoppers, glass figurines). When we first got there we watched a glass blowing demonstration. They made a beautiful vase and a horse. And then for the finale, they guy was blowing up the glass until it popped and shattered. The ending was very shocking! haha! We wandered around the island and got lots of gifts for friends and family. Then we stopped for lunch. Lots of people shared a pizza but Dana and I shared a Carazi salad. We didn't want to eat too much because we were saving up for our delicious fish dinner that we had planned! Paying for our group lunch was very interesting because everyone split meals and we all had to pay with coins. We ended up counting the money like seven times and we ended up leaving a mound full of coins. The waiter was probably not too happy to get that! After lunch we took the water bus back to Venice and we all got ready for our fish dinner we had planned. (we had seen this cute little fish restaurant when we were wandering the streets and we were determined to go back to it!)

          Dinner was an experience. First off, we walk in and the waiters and waitresses all have on tuxes. So that got us a little worried. Then we get to our tables and it has a tall red candle, flutes of champagne, and a red rose. Then we were REALLY worried! Everyone was staring (not that that is anything different!). Then we really didn't know what to get from the menu. I got grilled sole. I figured since it is a white fish I would be fine....so the food comes out for four of the people at my table. Katie and I were forgotten about I am pretty sure. So by the time everyone finished we received our meals. Then I took my first bite sole and was FULL of bones. It turned out to be o.k. I felt very healthy eating it so that's a good thing! But the funniest thing happened when the waiter came to pick up by dish. He said "how was it?" and so I replied "good but kinda boney" and he responds "thank you" and walks away. Clearly he did not understand what I was saying! So since it was basically just the fish we decided to get taramasu to split. That was delicious!!! I couldn't get enough! haha!  After dinner we went to this little square that was such a happening place below our hotel! It was very fun and we ended up getting drinks for free! And we got to meet some cute Italian guys! But we left them to go hang out by the water. After hanging out by the water we headed just upstairs to go to bed! That was such a busy day!
      Then on Sunday, we all got up at around 9 and were up and out the door by 10:30/10:45! Gotta soak it all in! This was such a relaxing day! And it was so nice to be in the sun all day by the water. It really just made me feel like it was summer! The day consisted of Kelly, Dana, Kara, Alissa, Jo-Elle, and me wandering around the shops that we wanted to go back to. Then we headed to St. Marc's square and just sat by the water and watched people, boats, and gondolas. I got a huge TOM'S tan. haha! We also bought little ham,pizza rolls and we decided to sit on some steps at St. Marc's square. So we were almost done with our food and then some man who patrols the area came up to us and told us that we couldn't sit there. haha good thing we were almost done! Oh and I forgot to mention that in Venice there was a huge rowing race on Sunday! People from all over were there! People from France, Switzerland, Holland, Ireland and many more! It was so cool to see them row by! So we watched them for a lot of the day! But after relaxing by the water we headed back to the hotel to head back to Rome! We left Venice by 4:15 and we made it back to Rome by 9:30!