Venice

We arrived in Venice after an early morning flight from Nice and with the help of a really nice woman on our flight we purchased bus tickets from the terminal to get into the city.  Navigating Venice was quite confusing at first, we were laughing the whole time while we were lost that all of the street signs and bridge names have been removed so that all of the water taxis can have a monopoly on getting around the city.  With bags strapped to our backs, we were winding through tight streets, up and down bridges such as the one pictured above.  After asking several locals, including one really nice man who called the hostel for us, we found our way to our hostel and dropped off our bags.

We then set off to explore the immediate area while waiting for our check-in at 2:00pm.  Venice was very beautiful and it was tempting to snap a picture at every bridge.  At first we thought the city was huge, and tried to wander away from our hotel.  Just as we all were beginning to think that we had ventured far away after 30 minutes of walking, we turned a corner only to discover that we were right back int he main plaza of our hostel!

Along the way, we found my picture of a Venice street performer!  If you look at his face, he is clearly posing for the picture.

I also did not realize that masks were a part of Venetian culture.  This is a picture of the shop window of my favorite store featuring them, with all hand-painted and carved masks.  I debated buying one and getting it on the plane by wearing it, but figured that airport security wouldn't appreciate it...

I was also obsessed with this floating fruit stand that we found on our walk.  Hearing about the concept of Venice is completely different than actually being there.  There isn't a single car, and the entire city gets around by boat or walking up and down from bridge to bridge.  There were boat taxis, boat ambulances, etc. but I was still waiting to see a boat school bus :)

After checking in and taking a quick nap, we decided to venture further and find the Piazza San Marco.  This was the bridge that we had to cross, the Ponte dell'Accademia, over the Grand Canal.

With Rob as our guide as usual, we made it to the Piazza San Marco.  Pictured in the background and below is the Basilica di San Marco.

Here was a spot that we found just around the corner from the Piazza San Marco on our way to a famous bar in town, Harry's. 

We made it to see Harry's but didn't stay for a drink because a basic mixed drink was 20 Euros!  It was still cool to see and we wandered back to our hostel to get a delicious Italian dinner of pasta, pizza, and wine at a place near our hostel.  Of course, we followed it with a taste of Venetian gelato.

We spent the majority of our second day wandering around Venice.  It was funny because when we first arrived, it was completely overwhelming.  We were tired, carrying backpacks, and completely lost and it felt like the city was a huge maze.  However, we soon discovered on our second day after getting our bearings that the city is actually quite small and it's pretty hard to get totally lost.

Once we were tired of walking, we decided to hop on a boat and take a ride up the Grand Canal to see the rest of the city from a different perspective.

This is a picture of one of the bridges that spans the Grand Canal that was featured in pictures and post cards everywhere across the city.

After another carbohydrate-loaded meal, we took one last stroll around the city at night to take in our last hours in Venice.

Overall, Venice was a great experience where we got to see an example of a small European city.  I was fascinated by its uniqueness and the friendliness of the locals and was very glad I got the opportunity to see it.  We then packed our bags and headed over to the train station to take an overnight train to Rome.  As a cute old man in the train station who was on his way to visit his family for Easter told me, "Venice --- petite, Rome ----- GRAND".