Italy: Venice

So, we got home from Holland Monday night around 7:00. Kason had Spring Break that week so Tuesday ended up being a vacation-recovery day (basically, sleep and laundry. That's it) Then Wednesday we finished laundry and packed again. Unlucky for us, our dryer broke Wednesday so, we were lucky to have clean clothes to pack. Still unlucky for us (a week later, I STILL don't have a working dryer...) Anyway: Wednesday we packed again and got ready to leave for Italy on Thursday morning. It was crazy. 

We took the train to Italy as well. The DeutschBahn has had some killer deals lately! And Brad loves the luxury of sleeping while we travel. Check this out, we were lucky enough to find a compartment that wasn't reserved so we snatched it up and the chairs, lay out to make a bed so, naturally, we all had to try it. I felt like we were having a slumber party! 

The views through Austria were gorgeous. Most of the mountains still had lots of snow on them and thats when we decided we probably should snowboard the Alps while we're living in Europe. But, that's another tale for another time. These mountains kinda sorta made us homesick for Utah. Then we remembered we were going to Italy and all was well. 

We originally got into Verona and then had to take a train to Venice. We were trying to be frugal and bought the inter-city train. Well, 2 1/2 hours later, we're finally pulling into the Venice station. On the way BACK to Verona, we bought the fast train and got there in an hour. Definitely worth the extra 25 Euro. 

Our hotel in Venice was awesome. It was a couple doors down from the train station. Plus, our room was two-stories! We thought it was pretty neato. 

The only reason I love this picture is because of Kason. What is he doing!?! He cracks me up.

That night our room was really warm so we left the windows open. Friday morning, I woke up with about 17 mosquito bites - on ONE arm. Didn't even consider the possibility of being eaten alive by blood suckers. I looked like I had leprosy. Fact.

As soon as we got checked into the hotel we went out to explore Venice at night. It's a pretty awesome city. And if you get lost, you can have the ghetto areas, all to yourself. In the Rick Steve's book he says "The best thing to do in Venice, is get lost." And we definitely got lost alright. But, thankfully, it's an island and we couldn't get too terribly lost. It was actually really fun to just stroll around and enjoying the city lights. Venice is only water. All their transportation is done by boats and bridges. You can only drive your car to the very shore of Venice and then you have to rely on the water boats. Pretty awesome. 

We got some authentic Italian Pizza:

And of course gelato!

Brad asked, "How many times are you going to take a picture of the Grand Canal!?" 

Umm ... it's so so pretty! And just screams, "VENICE!" So, I had to take 4 or 5 (or 15). Such an awesome view. 

While we were walking along the canal, a little boy accidentally kicked his soccer ball into the canal. It was pretty funny. Thankfully a gondola driver came and saved the day. 

Somewhere along our stroll we ended up next to the prison. I wasn't too keen on that idea but, I think we circled it a couple times before we finally figured out which direction we needed to go. We somehow, thought it was a great idea to explore Venice at night without a map. Whoops. Not a good idea. 

Look, a couple more Grand Canal shots ... 

Friday morning when we went out, it was probably in the 50's, which to US, was super warm since Germany had been in the 30-40's. We were out in capri's/shorts and short sleeved shirts while all the locals were bundled as if they were expecting a blizzard. We're talking down jackets, scarves, beanies, gloves ... all for the beautiful 50 degree weather. It was pretty hilarious watching people stare at us ... I am pretty sure they were thinking we were a bunch of crazies! It cooled off a bit before it warmed up again but, the day ended up being in the 60s WITH sunshine. Beautiful! 

Ignore the wardrobe (scarf) malfunction ... ha! 

We hopped on a vaporetto (water taxi) to head to St. Mark's. Kason had been talking about riding one for weeks beforehand, so he was pretty excited. 

While we were going, we passed the loading dock for all the boats. It was pretty cool to see their delivery system there! 

If you ever go to Venice, buy your entrance to the Basilica in advance! You can do it online and I think for our family it was 3 Euro. Definitely worth it to skip the line that probably would have wasted an hour. (Normally it's free to go in) We couldn't take pictures inside but, these domes were outside of the actual church and they looked exactly like the mosaic domes inside the church. The gold was beautiful! 

The pigeons are everywhere there! And they're fearless. Lots of people had them crawling on them, sitting on their arms or their heads. Brad and Kason tried to lure them in with snacks but, apparently our goodies weren't good enough for them. 

The clock tower for the Basilica: 

Gondolas are naturally everywhere. If I weren't such a cheapskate, we maybe would have ridden one. But, I just couldn't swallow the 80+ Euro price tag. The Vaporetto was just fine. 

This is the Bridge of Sighs. On the right is the old prison and back in the day criminals who had been convicted would walk across the bridge, on their way to prison, and get one last look of Venice before being stuck in a jail cell. Therefore, it's name the Bridge of Sighs. 

The masks: 

I loved the masks. I didn't think I would. But, they were beautiful. In the 1700's when Venice was a party town of Europe, masks were very popular to preserve the identity of the nobles that wanted to go out and party, but didn't want to be seen doing it. So, they would wear masks! To this day, the city is known for their mask making. Some were very plain and others were so extravagant! It was fun to look at all the different designs and imagine what type of people would wear them, peasants, dukes, servants, etc. We wandered, trying to find a mask that both Brad and I loved but, we never did find one that we absolutely loved. Finally, we just settled. And now I have mask buying remorse. There are definitely prettier masks than the one we ended up with. Guess that just means we will have to go back to Venice someday...

Here are a few masks that I thought were so beautiful! 

They're so mysterious and glamorous! I just love them!!!

We, of course, had to try some on!

Kason loved the ones with the long noses, he ended up getting this white one: 

While we were walking around, searching for a mask, we passed this couple all dressed up in the 1700's attire. We realized, after we took the picture, that they were just tourists who had rented the clothes. Thank you, random tourists, for letting us get a picture with you guys! 

The Rialto Bridge is one of 4 bridges that cross the Grand Canal. The Rialto Bridge is the first of those that was built! Through the middle of the bridge or souvenir traps ... er, I mean shops. And of course, there are so beautiful views of the Grand Canal!

Such a goof! 

He's got the Filipino squat going on, while watching the boats.

Kason loves to help take pictures and he took this one, which I thought turned out pretty neat! 

Traveling with him is so much fun ... 

Oh! And there's the world famous, Rialto Bridge

The rest of the pictures are just random photos around Venice that we took as we were wandering. Venice had always been a dream vacation of mine so, getting to go was amazing. It's very touristy but, it's also very beautiful. Italians are amazing people, so friendly and easy going. I could listen to them speak Italian all day long. It's a beautiful language.

Beautiful language, beautiful people, beautiful sights and ever so delicious food ... 

(I actually think this is the Grand Canal, again) I just love it, so much! 

After we finished up with Venice, we headed to the train station so we could catch a train to Verona. And wouldn't you know it? They were on strike! Not sure why the transportation system in Italy seems to always been on strike while I'm visiting but, thankfully, the strike didn't affect us this time since we were taking the Regional train. So, we hopped on the train and headed towards Verona, Italy!