Ugh there's too much to say about Venice and not enough time to write all of it. I'm gonna try to keep it brief. So there were six of us going to Venice...me, Jenah, Kristina, Trish, Lindsay, and Elaine. We all reserved a hostel several weeks in advance. but when we got there (mind you it was Fri the 13th) it turned out that we reserved for March instead of Feb by accident. Carnivale is the busiest time of the year so all the hostels were completely booked. We all started freaking out and coming up with places we could possibly sleep at...like the train station or the boats. Then the guy, Gustavo, who works at the hostel, was being extremely nice to us, and told us that we could have one room. We agreed even though we knew it would be extremely uncomfortable. We had one big mattress for six people to sleep on. That mattress may have been big enough for three people to comfortably fit, but definitely not 6! So we were all spooning for two nights. We didn't have any space to even shift an arm...but at least it was nice and warm. Btw, Gustavo charged us the full price, 27 euro (which is more expensive than most nice hostels charge). But we were just happy to have something...he could have easily told us to get lost.
Usually me, Jenah, and Elaine would split up from the other three girls because it's too hard to walk around with 6 people. I did more walking in one day than i have ever done. We literally walked from 9 am to 1 am without even returning to our hostel. The first day (Fri) was beautiful because it wasn't carnivale yet, so it wasn't as crowded as the next two days. We were able to walk around and enjoy ourselves without being bothered by thousands of tourists. Jenah and I separated from the other three girls after lunch and we went to the main piazza (San Marco). There we went to the church, which was incredible, but a bit overdone. There was sooo much detail on it...sculptures and gold all over the place, and all the columns were extremely intricate. Then we just walked around and got lost a bunch of times. Jenah is great to travel with. She's very entertaining, funny, and easy going. We met up with the other girls for dinner and had some 5 euro pizza (we each had a whole pie). It was amazing! I dont think authentic Italian food exists in Venice. Everything was way too touristy and overpriced. It took us about an hr just to find that one pizza place that was decently priced. Then Elaine joined us after dinner (she arrived in Venice much later because she took the wrong train twice!). Venice doesnt really have any nightlife as well. We went to a pub in Piazza Margherita but everyone in the piazza was just chillin outside even though it was like 30 degrees outside.
The next day was Carnivale and it was crazy, and touristy, and so much fun. Jenah, Elaine, and I walked around some more. There were thousands of people EVERYWHERE. you could not escape the crowds, even in the tiny little streets. I got some hot vino on the street but it was kind of weird. Jenah got some coffee, and the woman put salt in it by accident, instead of sugar. It tasted soooo nasty. Jenah went back and told the woman, and she didn't believe her until she tried it herself. The theme of Carnivale was 6 senses, so all around Venice they would have an area that focused on one of the senses. The one we were concerned about was Taste of course. However, by the time we made it to that area, all the free food was gone. They were giving out free wine and a bunch of other stuff, but we missed all of it because we arrived literally twenty minutes after it started. I purchased a bag of confetti (that's an italian word btw...i never knew that). We were hanging out in San Marco, drinking wine, taking pictures with people in crazy costumes, and throwing confetti everywhere. After we used up our whole bag of confetti, we just collected a bunch from the ground and reused it. THen at night, there was a crazy dance party outside in one of the smaller piazzas. A lot of people were dressed in costume and they were dancing to techno beats. Obviously we joined them and it was so much fun!
On Sunday, it was even more crowded than Sat, so we just walked around and barely took any pictures. Jenah and I took the local train back, where we had to transfer in Balogna. The train was really packed and Jenah ran in to find seats. She found two, but this old man told her in Italian that they were taken, and she told him that he's not allowed to save seats on the train. So we sat down there anyway. The two people who he was with sat down across from us, and he stood because there were not enough seats. So then Jenah and I felt really guilty and awkward for making an old man stand. After debating for a few min, we finally got up and told him to sit down. From Venice to Balogna we had to stand the whole time (over 2 hrs). At least our conscience was clear. We thought we would be able to take a nap on the train since we got very little sleep that whole weekend, but that didn't happen.
This weekend was kind of blah. I didn't travel anywhere. Friday I had a site visit to Siena with my Masterpieces of Art class. It was ok...we went to a few churches as always and just walked around a bit. Siena is really beautiful, and I'm sure it would have been a great trip if I had friends going with me. I don't really know anyone in that class except for this girl Emily, so it wasn't as fun as it could have been. Then Saturday I just relaxed, Skyped, and went to the painting studio to get some work done. Sunday I wanted to go do some site seeing but my roommates have been sleeping in the whole weekend so I couldn't count on them to go with me. Yesterday, Katelin woke up at like 2:30 pm and today she was still sleeping when I left at almost 1 pm. So I decided to hang out with Emily (not the one who is in my masterpieces class...but she is Jackie's good friend from home). It was the first time we hung out outside of class and we had a really fun time! We went to the Pitti Palace, which is the palace where the Medicis and the Grand Dukes used to live. It had a bunch of really beautiful artwork that they collected over many generations. The palace was huge and each room was crazy decorated with beautiful frescoes and gold sculptures on the ceilings. Emily and I then went to the Boboli Gardens, which are right outside of the palace. They also belonged to the Medicis. The gardens were beautiful but I could only imagine how much nicer they will look in the spring time when everything is blooming. The second we entered, it got gray outside, so that was really disappointing. I'll definitely have to come back next month, especially because it's free to get in. On our way back there was a carnival going on in Piazza Signorina. there were so many people, and confetti everywhere! There were also these performers doing some crazy tribal dances on stage.
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