Thursday, December 10, 2009

Staying Afloat in VENICE!

Due to rescheduling and delays (Vueling is THE worst airline I have flown the entire semester), Tori, Haley, and I didn't get to the heart of Venice until about 3 p.m. This may have been a blessing in disguise, however. We stepped off the bus and it was a torrential downpour. (As if the city on canals needs any more water... I think the original words to "Ironic" were "It's like rain, on your trip to Venice) We managed to find the water taxi that took us to the stop closest to our hotel. This would have been a cool experience had we been able to see out the windows. I guess to make up for the crappy weather, we totally lucked out with our hotel. It was the nicest room I have stayed in this semester. Plus, with our college-student mentality and cunning intuition, we each only paid €17, including breakfast. What a bargain!
After checking in, we didn't want the weather to stop us from seeing the coolest city in the world. The three of us geared up like we were battling a hurricane, and set off to Saint Mark's Square. Despite the rain, Saint Mark's Cathedral was still a beautiful sight. We took a few photos, but were cold and wet. We found warmth (and food) in this stereotypical Italian ristorante. As expected, we all ordered pasta dishes and alcohol to lift our spirits. This dinner definitely fulfilled expectations. My penne pasta with spicy sauce was incredible, as was the girls' penne with pesto and gnocchi bolognese. After dinner, we couldn't handle the rain anymore and turned in for the night.
The next morning, we were planning on leaving for Florence around 9:30 am, so the three of us got up at 6:45 in hopes of seeing a dry Venice. After a quick, but delicious, breakfast, we stepped outside to a beautiful morning (Thank God!) We put our backpacks and game faces on and saw as many of the 118 islands of Venice as possible. We headed to Saint Mark's again for the authentic experience (trying our best to not take a picture at every canal) and were not let down. The bay near the cathedral was glistening and we could actually see the surrounding islands. After snapping some quick pictures, we headed to Rialto (the Venetian market on a bridge) but found it closed. This was probably for the better considering we had little time to catch our train. Thanks to well-labeled signs, we booked it through Venice and made it to the train station on time. Unfortunately, the train we wanted to catch to Florence was sold out. After one of the most stressful 20 minutes of my life, we were able to buy tickets for Florence through Bologna around 11 am. The three of us took advantage of this time to see more of Venice and appreciate its grandeur. After some Italian gelatto, we caught our train and left Venice in our wake.....

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