Venice

**There is a LOT of information and there are a TON of photos in this blog post.  Sorry if I bore those of you who are not my family members to pieces, but its hard to shorten my description of the most beautiful city in the world! **

Venice is probably one of the most beautiful, romantic, picturesque, breathtaking places I have ever been in my life.  Even despite the first rainy day and the fact that I was sick the second day...its beauty and quaint canals continued to charm my heart.  Life on the water was so normal there, unloading and loading vegetables and crates of milk from the boat to the dock.  Locals getting into their scuzzy 40 year old boats to get from point A to point B.  Pausing for touristy gondolas floating by with singing gondoliers perched on the stern of their boats.  It all seemed so routine.  

We stepped out of the train station and basically onto the grand canal.  We had to take a Vaporetto or water taxi to get where we were staying.  It was pouring down rain and my suitcase was soaked through at this point.  (Of course they are not nice paved roads in Venice it is mostly cobblestone with huge watery puddles so every time I rolled my suitcase through one it would only get worse.)  We couldn't really understand the directions we scribbled down before we left for the words were dripping across the page, and I remember at that moment being so frustrated.  I just wanted to get to the hostel, change clothes and air out my suitcase.  Our hostel was located just on the other side of the Rialto Market, one of the main spots to hit in Venice.  The Rialto bridge connects San Polo to San Marco, the other must-see spot in Venice.  The market was mostly masks and tourist items, which didn't interest us much...but the bridge was a feat in itself, towering above the water stable enough to hold hundreds of tourists and shops...built right onto the bridge!  

Being cheesy, as usual.

View from the Rialto bridge onto the grand canal.

Olive focaccia=heaven on earth.

After a change of clothes and a much needed spot of olive focaccia, we spent our first couple of hours getting lost, winding in and out of hundreds of passageways.  Some leading to dead ends, others leading to a new piazza, and if we wandered long enough, we would end up at some magnificent church...guaranteed.  I can't even begin to count the number of exquisitely decorated, detailed, magnificent churches we went into over our trip.  I kept thinking...."Are there even enough people that live here to fill all these churches?!"  

Typical Venetian Canal.

Oh the bridges...

Cutest sign I have ever seen!

Gondola ride for 2? Yes, please.  

We eventually found our way to San Marco's Square, one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen.  The bell tower hung high in the sky and the Basilica was the star of the show with its gold painted ceilings and byzantine design.  It was completed in 1617 and boasts Saint Mark's relics on the inside. 

Saint Mark's Square

We walked around in search of special activities for Carnival/Mardi Gras celebrations but because of the rain, most of the activities had been cancelled.  We kept our eyes peeled for our must-not-miss, the FOUNTAIN of WINE.  I had in my head a spectacular old fountain beaming to the brim with an earthy Italian red wine from the Barbera region.  Laura had imagined a small fountain on a table top where people poured you a glass of wine from the fountain.  If we could find a happy medium, I think I would have been satisfied.  We had no such luck finding it on such a dreary day.  

With it being rainy, we decided to take a short trip out to Murano island, which is perhaps one of the most famous glass making areas in the world.  You know all those glass candy pieces that sit in your grandmothers living room in a dish?  Those are more than likely Murano glass.  We were too late to catch one of the free glass making demonstrations, but we did get to catch an empty factory hall.  Glass is still made today as it was hundreds of years ago, using wood burning fires and blowing technique.  Murano is one of the biggest of the Venetian islands, with a population of around 5,000.    In 1291, all the glassmakers in Venice were forced to move to the island of Murano, in order to control fires and mishaps.  It has been known for many things over the centuries, but glass is now its leading export, and Murano glass is very well known all over the world.  

Now that's my kind of garden.  

On display on the island of Murano.

Can you imagine dusting this tiny glass orchestra?

Another 'glass' garden.

One of my favorite displays....love how these look in a window!  

Mom...this ones for you.  

This chandelier appears black from a distance, but when you get up close it is a very deep purple....its incredible!! It is made up of over 260 separate glass pieces!  

The Dolomites which you can see from the North side of Venice. 

The Dolomites painted with a beautiful pink hue from the approaching sunset.

Day 2:  Mardi Gras!

I was so excited to celebrate Mardi Gras/Carnival in one of the most traditional cities in the world.  I brought my own mask from Paris, to avoid tourist prices of the ones in Venice.  Unfortunately, they had some really beautiful masks to choose from and I was in turmoil on whether or not to buy one.  If it's one thing Venice knows about its how to take your money (such an expensive city) so I stayed strong and stuck with my black feather mask from home.  

We made our way immediately to San Marco's Square to scope out more Carnival events.  The sky was bright blue without a cloud to be seen and I was a happy camper.  As we were walking along we almost stumbled past the wine fountain...yes...we found the FOUNTAIN of WINE.  It was everything I hoped it would be.  Although we didn't get to walk up and stick our glass underneath the lion's mouth, I suppose for sanitary reasons I was okay with it.  The fountain was huge and red wine poured from every single corner!  It was quite possibly the highlight of the trip.  

There were lovely people dancing about in costume, some really cute, others very creepy.  I find the whole face mask very scary looking, and although that's typical Venetian style, I would never sport that look.  The city of Venice pays people to walk about through the crowds dressed from head to toe in Carnival gear.  It seems silly, but really added to the atmosphere!

Next on our agenda was a gondola ride.  I couldn't leave Venezia without having spent some time in a gondola!!! I knew that my Mimi would be disappointed if I didn't.  The hostess at the hostel said that in summer they can be as much as 200 euros, so we were hoping for something a little less.  We asked around to several different gondoliers, but we couldn't find anything for less than 40 a person.  At our last try, he told us it would again be 80 euros total for a 30 minute boat ride and we had to decline for 40 euros each just wasn't in the budget.  As we were walking away, another man ran up to us and said he has another couple who would be interested in sharing so that it would be 20 euros per person.  Heck yea!  It wasn't ideal to have to share our romantic gondola ride and we didn't even get to sit in the two romantic seats but we were just happy to be on a gondola sailing through the narrow canals of beautiful Venice.  

Our gondolier.

It was beautiful winding in and out of the canals of the sinking city, and I gotta tell you, the sinking city could use a little upkeep.  No wonder its sinking.  The walls are crumbling, the buildings are moldy where the water laps up all day, and the bricks are falling off of the docks used by the locals.  It doesn't stop it from being magnificent, and you don't realize it unless you are on a boat in the canals.  It also doesn't seem to bother the locals, for there is no restoration work going on anywhere....so I suppose, if it sinks, it sinks.  I'll just be glad I have been there.  

Yes, they do wear striped shirts and straw hats with ribbons.  This is not a myth.  

You can even outfit yourself like a gondolier!

And yes, this is for real.  A 2013 gondolier calendar.  In America, we have calendars of firemen so why wouldn't Venice have a calendar of gondoliers?

We climbed the bell tower after our boat ride, well, we didn't climb...we took the elevator.  The view from the top was spectacular on such a sunny day.  There was a 360 degree view of Venice.  All the canals and separate islands...including a view of the mainland.  

The toro that was burned later on that night.

After a quick pizza lunch break, we settled in at San Marco's square for the mask contest, the revealing of the "Maria's" and the "lion" flying across the square.  The description in the agenda was literally "Venice's lion" flying across the corners of San Marco's square from the stage to the top of the bell tower.  I was thinking a person dressed like a lion, Laura was thinking a stuffed animal....turns out both of us were wrong as the flag of Venice features a lion and it was the flag flying up to the bell tower.  It was beautiful and even saw a few tears from a few Venetians who came to witness the "lion."  

Pizza!

Flag flying across Saint Mark's Square

I had to miss out on the concert put on by the Hard Rock that evening because I just wasn't feeling up to par.  I did, however, meet Laura for the "closing ceremonies" of Carnival on the grand canal.  At 11:30 there was a silent parade of candle-lit gondola's and the burning of the toro.  We were lucky to have seen the toro from the bell tower earlier that day, because we couldn't see much out on the water at midnight.  The parade of gondola's could have been much better...I wasn't very impressed with the showing, but the toro was really neat.  There was a bit of trouble lighting the toro, and unlike in America there was no back-up plan, so I think we were there waiting for the blazing bull a little longer than expected.  

Gondolier sailing past the torched toro.

After the closing ceremony, all that remained of Carnival in Venice were some much too drunk pre-teens and a ground covered in confetti.  We were sad to say goodbye to one of the most splendid, gorgeous, transcendent cities in the world Wednesday morning...but were excited to move on to our day trip to another country-snowy San Marino!