I had been very excited to travel to Venice. As far as traveling in Rome I knew I wanted
to see Florence and Venice. Florence was
one of my first trips and because the weather in Italy had been
uncharacteristically atrocious for the first part of the semester, I waited and
made Venice one of my last trips.
I will
admit that I am a planner. I love to
make to-do lists, post-it notes are my friends, and I think I read more travel
guide books this semester than half of my study abroad program combined. So when I researched Venice I was surprised
that there was not actually much “to do.”
After my day in Venice though I realized that that’s the beauty of
Venice.
Many of
my trips have been large group affairs, but I went to Venice with only one
other person. My friend Molly and I took
the overnight train to Venice because that is what college kids on a budget do
when they are studying abroad. I was unable
to get overnight train tickets coming back-but that’s a story for another
day… Anyway, unfortunately poor Molly was very sick and I was a bit under
the weather as well. Both of us were on
several intense Italian antibiotics that had been prescribed to us by a somewhat
eccentric doctor. (His name is Dr. Shoe
if you translate it in Italian) The
train ride was a bit rough, but nevertheless, at 5:30 A.M. we arrived in
Venice. I know what you’re thinking-why
5:30 A.M.? Well, I wanted to have enough
time there because I was not spending the night. Why?
Because hostels in Venice are PRICEY and I was a college student on a
budget.
Two
important things to note about Venice are that it is literally underwater and
that there is not much of a population.
The bottoms of several buildings are underwater and we joked around that
the city would soon become the next Atlantis.
(EXCEPT IT’S NOT A JOKE.) Perhaps
this is part of the reason why there is not much a population… In reality this
is only a small part of the explanation.
Basically, Venice is a tourist city.
The people who live there run the tourist trade, so it does lack the
authenticity and charm of many other Italian towns and cities.
When we
arrived, Molly and I wandered the streets of Venice all by ourselves, save for
one man who wanted a picture with us.
Clearly, we were looking quite lovely at five-thirty in the
morning. We watched the sun rise over
the Rialto Bridge and wandered the empty streets and piazzas. Later on when places opened for the day we
went to St. Mark’s basilica, a music museum, and then proceeded to get lost ALL day. It is incredibly easy to get lost in Venice,
but is also incredibly fun. A map will
not help you there. Molly humored me and
rode a traghetto, the cheap fifty euro cent alternative to the gondola! (It literally takes you across the canal in a
gondola. The catch? It only lasts thirty seconds.) Molly and I ate some new Italian foods and
tried the Bellini fresco, supposedly
the famous drink of Venice. This
information was obtained from a peer of mine so I’m not sure how accurate it
is, but it sounded accurate so I HAD to try it.
I then found out that it is actually served many places in Italy, but
for the sake of this blog entry we will pretend it was an integral part of the
Venice experience, because it was an integral part of my Venice experience and
probably (silly, I know) one of the best parts of the day.
At the
end of the day Molly and I parted.
Venice had been one of the main reasons Molly wanted to study in Italy
so she stayed the weekend and visited some of the surrounding islands. I took the train back to Rome and slept for
most of the journey. The crazy Italian
antibiotics were hard on me, and I don’t think the Italian train conductor had
ever seen someone sprawled across the hard plastic chairs in such a
manner. I didn’t even hear the screaming baby behind me until the
last half hour of my journey. Though, I
did hear two American parents berating their child for drinking the tap water
in Italy. (Ridiculous)
All in all, the day was wonderful and I’m glad I was able to
see the city before it literally disappears.
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