Venice time

It’s Venezio day! Woke up nice and early, but there’s not much room for yoga in the hotel so I just did a mini practice then a nice meditation. Breakfast was at 7:30, so we headed downstairs with high expectations. I always forget that “breakfast” for Italians is pretty much just coffee and a pastry - which is exactly what we got. It’s so funny how Italians view nutella in the same way as butter or jam..it’s ALWAYS available in little packets. For breakfast even! Being college students, we stashed a few extras (pastries and packs of nutella) in our purses for later in the day.

St. Mark's Basilica

We took a train to Venice from Padua, which was about a 45 minute ride. I slept for most of it. The first 3 hours in Venice we took a loooooong walking tour, which was really cool, but also very very VERY cold. We walked all over the different islands that make up Venice. Apparently there are around 128 islands, all connected by bridges that make up what we know as “Venice”. So cool! We went through the Jewish Ghetto, lots of Campos (what they call squares, or Piazzas, in Venezio), through St. Mark’s Basilica and St. Mark’s Square (pigeon attack ah!), and ended at the Ponte di Rialto. 

By the end of the tour everyone was frozen (the wind from the water wasn’t helping) and we were ready to warm up somewhere inside. Tara, Lo, Katie, Ally, and I walked to a little ristorante that we saw near the bridge and were soooo glad to de-thaw and get a good meal. We each got a glass of the house wine, which helped with the warming process, and I tried the tortellini. SO. YUMMY. It was just what we needed to rejuvenate ourselves from the chilly weather.

our masks! with the mask painter!

After lunch we walked around the shops to check things out. My goal for Venice was to find a mask to hang in my room. Check out the history of the masks at wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venetian_mask. We found some great ones for really cheap at a little store in the labyrinth that makes up Venice. There was a big window out front with a man hand-painting and decorating masks. Mine had little music notes on it which I liked because I love singing and musica. The notes represent the opera in Venice. It also has a little painting of the bell tower and a gondola. I love it, can’t wait to bring it home to remember this amazing little city!

Venice was a lot different than I remember from when I came in middle school. All my memories were little snapshots of things we had done when I was here. It was cool to put all those snapshots together and remember Venice as a city instead of as little moments. It was so gorgeous, even in the freezing weather!

My favorite part of the day: this little old man playing with a HUGE bubble maker thingy. He was so excited!! Every time he made a big bubble successfully he had the most amazed and proud look on his face. Check out the video (I accidentally set the camera in black and white, but I actually like it more..it gives a nice little “memory” perspective) at this link: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1563919949260&comments. There's a pic below, too. So adorable. I could have watching the guy for hours. Watch his face, you'll understand.

on the Rialto Bridge

We made our way back to the Rialto Bridge and took some pictures here. It was such a great view, exactly what I think of when I think of Venice. After asking directions more than once, we got on the right track and began to head back to the train station. We needed our little afternoon pick-me-up, so we stopped in a little cafe to get some pastries and a capuccino. It was a such a precious little shop. We had been told by one of the tour guides to try frittelle, which was their “carnival” specialty. So I got a couple of those to go after being recommended which type to get by the bakers. We grabbed a capuccino there too, and it was just what we needed to warm up! It was so cold that a stop every 30 mins (minimum) was necessary.

capuccino saving me from frostbite. yum :)

Once again rejuvenated, we headed back to the train station. We finally found our way back and met up with the rest of the group at our meeting time, then rode the train back to Padova. I sat next to the cutest old Italian lady who was doing everything in her power to communicate with me and the other girls in the row...even though she spoke zero English and we speak .001 Italian. It was precious. Somehow we got across that we were studying in Rome and she got sooo excited for us. She went off for about 20 minutes, nodding at me and smiling as she talked. I smiled and nodded and said “si” every now and then to pretend like I knew what she was talking about (I guess the “parle un poco Italiano, non capisco” didn’t get across). What a lovely little lady.

On the bus from the train station to the hotel, about 20 mins, we had a little mini singing session..it’s an all girls (well, except for the 2 boys) trip, what do you expect! Rested up for a couple hours at the hotel before our pizzeria dinner. We all walked over to the Oktoberfest pizzeria (random name for an Italian pizzeria) and each got to choose our own “personal” pizza - although I could have easily split it with another person. I got the spicy salami yum yum yum. Ate up then headed back to the hotel to get some good sleep for Verona tomorrow! The plan is to pack up the in the morning then drive to Verona for the day. We’ll be home around 11 tomorrow night - earlier than I expected which is good so I can prepare for another week of classes!