Lauren tried to play the Harry Potter theme song through her iPod headphones but it wasn't the same.
So, we resolved to listen individually to the theme song while watching the sun rise over the Apennine Mountains.
But we got to Venice bright and early so we could have two full days there! Here is the all-together-tourist picture we took immediately after getting into the city:
And there were street vendors selling these beautiful masks everywhere. I think we tried some on at every store.
And since I know you're really here to see photos of Venice, I will let these speak for themselves:
We perused the side streets for a while and then headed to Piazza San Marco. Here are my lovely mask-clad roomies in front of the Basillica:
Inside the Basilica:
Facing away from the Basillica you can see the Ala Napoleonica, straight ahead, which Napoleon had built in the early 1880's to house a state ballroom; to the right is the "Procuratie Vecchie," owned by some rich people way back when, and to the left is the "Palazzo Ducale" or Doge's Palace, I beleive.
This clock has been in use since 1499, and the archway underneath it leads into a maze like series of streets and tunnels and bridges (oh my!) called the Mercerie.
To the left was the gulf of Venice:
I wish I could say what those beautiful buildings on the islands are but I couldn't find any information about them in English. The Piazza was full of Pigeons and performing artists and tourists:
And in case you've been keeping up with my other posts, I found the source of the confetti!
No, really. You can buy huge bags of it and parents get them for their children to entertain themselves with on the walk home from school or the store, or in this case, huge festivals. . It's not considered littering.
As night fell all the little allys were lit up:
We still hadn't found ourselves masks, so the hunt was on:
While very cool, I think that one might be a bit much for him. I picked out a bunch that I thought mom might like and took pictures for her:
And I thought this one suited dad, even though he may not agree:
We finally settled on ours (but of course I forgot to take a picture) and then headed back out into the night:
We were just walking down an empty street in Veniceand a woman in that center window was singing opera:
And Heineken was putting on a little show, even though no one seemed to be there:
And again, in case you're been keeping track, I found yet another creepy mannequin:
Haha. As well as some good advice from a soap store:
They may or may not understand what that translates to. But people over here could stand to see it.
Now, I'm going to take a brief intermission to introduce Lexie:
She is our "peer advisor" who lives with us and she is awesome. We call her Mommy, because she cooks us food, brings us snacks for the train, schedules trips to Venice complete with hotel reservations and transportation that involve no work on my part whatsoever, helps us with absolutely everything, and in general kicks ass. She also has this incrediibly floral umbrella that can be seen from long distances to keep 7 crazy teenage girls together. This is who you've been temporarily replaced with Momma! Haha.
The next day, we woke up bright and early again to take a boat tour of some of the surrounding islands: Torcello, Murano, and Burano:
On the way we passed the Italian naval Academy. Look Wei! I think it might be even worse to be on an island staring at Venice but completely cut off from it. At least Annapolis is psuedo accessable.
Shortly we landed on Murano, the home of the famous murano glass factory:
When we walked in I thought for a second we were in Edward Scissorhands' house:
I couldn't understand a word of what our tour guide was saying so I had no idea we were stopping at a glass factory. But that soon because fairly apparent as this amazing man turned this...
...into this:
Wow! He did that in about 10 minutes. It was really one of the coolest things I've ever seen. He poked and prodded it and shoved it in fire and smacked it against tables and suddenly it was a horse.
Then we headed off to Torcello:
Haha Miss Chu can make anything lively but I'm afraid without her this place was a little down in the dumps. It was beautiful to visit but I can't imagine how desolate it must be to live there. The island consists of just one road of houses, a few shops, two restaurants, this church, and lots of flat swampy fields. I did befriend a goat:
But all in all I was pretty happy to leave Torcello behind:
Then onward to Burano. I have to idea what Burano is known for, but each building is painted another incredibly cute color, with a matching little boat. Again, it's like being in an Italian version of Edward Scissorhands' neighborhood:
That last one didn't quite have the same effect I was going for. And we did run into a few familiar faces:
Well, it's his back, but still. The we headed back to Venice:
And found "Seth Kallen and the Reaction" advertisements!!! No not really. But this looks just like Seth's logo! 'Cept it's pink. I like it pink. (http://www.sethkallen.com/ if you want to compare or listen to awesome music by my friends)
That got "In The Bright Lights" stuck in my head for hours, so Seth and Adam, just so you know, someone was whistling your song in Venice. I suddenly remembered I needed to take a picture of my mask for mom:
And then, oh so sadly, it was time to head home. But not before we linked hands and ran around through the huge crowd in San Marco that had gathered to watch a show. Our "Chain of Fools" as Lexie so aptly put it!
Sunday we went to Viareggio - but I'm too lazy to post those pictures tonight. Soon!
Love, Kate
[Travel information: If you want to stay in the actual city of Venice, you need to book well in advance. Give yourself about a month if possible. We stayed a ways away at a nice hotel called the Villa Dori (http://www.villadori.com/en/index.htm) They have their own shuttle service into the city and to/from airports and train stations, which was a little on the expensive side but very reliable. The have a nice jazz club downstairs, which was great, because Venice shuts down at 10pm. Not night life there. Clean, good service. We had a good experience there. However, it would be quite thrilling to wake up in the heart of Venice. Venice is a walking city - no cars are allowed in the city center so make sure to bring comfortable shoes! You'll be walking everywhere, and Venice is big. You most definately want to see the Piazza di San Marco and walk into the Basilia (which is free.) Gondola rides are $60 - we passed but it's a one-of-a-kind thing to do if you are there. We went during carnivale so most of the "things to do" were going on outside - concerts, vendors, performance artists, etc. If you can find a walking tour of the city, I think that would be worth it. I greatly enjoyed my stay there but was frustrated by the fact that I didn't know what most of the beautiful buildings were around me. In fact, I passed right by the orphanage where Vivaldi wrote many compositions and only found out what it was later. We did take a boat tour of the surrounding islands (20 euros), which was very relaxing and interesting, but I would probably suggest staying in Venice. (Although the Murano Glass factory demonstration was pretty awesome.) There are boat tours of Venice as well. Many tourist towns in Italy cater to tourists and speak English, but Venice is so popular that our boat captain was actually relaying each bit of information in Dutch, French, English, German, Italian, and Spanish. Of course she was speeding through all of these so everyone could hear it while we were actually next to what she was talking about, and she didn't speak English as well as some of the others. I actually heard more of what she said in French than in English, haha. The experience was worth it but it was not as informative as I personally would have liked. Venice is definately a destination, not a day trip. Take a three day weekend and enjoy yourself there. As far as getting there, I would say by a ticket at the train station in advance and get there early in the morning. It was a four hour ride I believe - we left at 6ish and got there in enough time to have the full day to enjoy. Split between five people - my hotel cost us each 20 a night. Some friends stayed in a Hostel in Venice that was lovely - safe and clean and fairly spacious. I would recommend trying to find one of those. I use www.hostelworld.com to find out rates, room size options, and read reviews.]
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