When we got off the train after a short ride from Florence to Venice, we took a second to try and figure out where in the world we were supposed to go. The streets of Venezia are either a) canals, which require lots of tall bridges to cross, b) extremely narrow, c) extremely narrow and under construction so that you have to walk across wooden planks, d) extremely narrow and really crowded, or e) all of the above. This is why, when I look back, I wonder why on earth we thought we should carry our 50+lb bags, 25+lb backpacks, and purses a mile across the city instead of paying a few extra euros for a water bus ticket that would drop us off near our hotel.
The first bridge we crossed, and Venice's most famous, the Rialto Bridge:
So, we decided to get a workout and carry these ridiculously heavy bags all around town, because of course we couldn't find the hotel in the super twisted streets (Thank goodness Nick is great at reading maps, because I definitely inherited my mom's sense of direction, or lack thereof). When we finally got to Hotel Marconi after an hour-long epic journey, we were oh-so-nicely informed that the hotel was having water filtration problems, so they had moved us to a different hotel that was a "ten minute walk" away. They had one of their employees carry Micah's and my bags, and he somehow carried both of our huge suitcases while sprinting through the city, dodging tourists the whole way. I mean it; this guy was FAST. We basically had to run to keep up, and I couldn't catch Micah's eye because we would both start cracking up, and if we did we knew we wouldn't be able to keep up. Poor Nick and Mukul had to carry their own heavy suitcases, and of course, it ended up being a "15 minute sprint" instead of a "10 minute walk." By this time we were all sweating big time. Did I mention we were in long pants and nice shirts with sleeves because that's the dress code for the churches we were planning on going into?
Anyways, it worked out okay, because when we got there, we think they had upgraded our room to some sort of suite, because it looked like this:
After we put our stuff down and freshened up a bit, we headed over to Piazza San Marco, where we toured the Basilica di San Marco (another church-ha!). Instead of paintings, it was covered from floor to ceiling with millions of beautiful mosaic tiles forming pictures and designs.
Then we decided to walk around on the coast for awhile, watch the gondolas, and get some gelato (of course). We found the best gelato shop of the trip thus far, so that was the one we kept going back to during our stay in Venice. Then we went to see another church, the name of which I can't remember at the moment because they're all starting to blend together-they're all so amazing! Finally, we hung out some more by the water before dinner. After dinner we went back to Piazza San Marco to hang out because they have these really cool "dueling bands" at restaurants on opposite sides of the square that play alternate songs and "compete". Here's one of them:
So it was a pretty great day. Venice definitely has a more beachy, more vacation-ish feel than Rome or Florence, and I loved every second of it (well, after we dropped our bags off at the hotel haha)!
DAY 2
We started off Day 2 with a trip out to Murano, a really cool glass-blowing factory. This time we took a boat, and it was MUCH easier. We got to watch them design and make some glass vases.
Nick and Micah on the boat
Some guys working on the Murano glass
After visiting the factory, we went shopping on the island and looked at all of the ornate glass products that the shops had to offer. Then we went back to the main island and Micah and I shopped some more while Nick and Mukul hung out. We headed back over to the train station around 6pm, had our last Italian dinner, and boarded the train to Salzburg! Ciao Italy!
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