Venice by Day

"Venice by day, Venice by night. 

Right where I am is terrifically right!"

The final stop on our Italian tour was amazing. We took the train in from Florence at 9:30 in order to spend as much time in the city as possible. As always, the first thing to do when arriving in a new city is to find the hostel. This hostel was A Venice Fish Hostel. Cute name, not so cute hostel. It was deja vu of our France hostel experience when we rang the bell and no one came, followed by the worker sticking his head out the window and coming to get us. Like our French hostel, we also walked into a room that was barren and looked as if under construction. This could not be good.

He took us up to the hostel and it was kinda nice. He us to a place to put our stuff because our room was not ready, so we changed there and then went out to explore Venice.

"And this is the Grand Canal. 

Its resemblance to life is not obscure. 

It is filled with the milk of human kindness, 

in spite of the fact its really a sewer. 

But don't let that spoil your moral. 

Its still a grand canal."

I was talking to my father and he agreed that the neat thing about Venice is it is the Venice you dream of. Everything is old with picturesque canal running through; it was like stepping back in time (except for the motor boats going everywhere). We window shopped on our way to the bus station where we were going to investigate how to get to the airport in the morning. Finding this out proved to be quite a feat as it took us to three separate buildings but finally we got our answer and purchased a bus ticket for tomorrow.

And what is the quintessential thing to do while in Venice? Why, take a gondola while humming selections from Nine: The Muscial of course! We found a gondola and paid a decent amount to be rowed around for about forty minutes. Our gondolier was fifth generation and you could tell that he enjoys his work. He even picked flowers for us while rowing along. Brittany asked him if he knew any songs that he could sing and he said that he did not have a good voice, would Brittany care to sing instead? She said she was in the same boat (literally) but I had a decent one. I suppose it didn't matter if I had a decent voice or not but when asked to sing I have no choice but to unleash my diva and perform. I stood up and performed my new go-to song, "On My Own" from Les Miserables, right in the middle of a canal in Venice on a gondola. Needless to say, it was an amazing once in a lifetime moment.

"And he is a gondolier.

Seeking love is the center of his life.

Though he never will go as far as wedlock.

That would really annoy his present wife."

The rest of the gondola ride was nice and peaceful, although much less epic. We saw the house Casanova lived in and went into the Grand Canal (which prompted much more Nine humming from me). It was indeed grand. Our gondolier told us that the canals are only 2 meters deep. At one point, a bridge was so low hat he essentially had to turn the gondola sideways to fit underneath.

After drifting through the canals of Venice is was time to shop! Venice is famous for its glass and Carnivale masks so we had plently of fun browsing and buying souvenirs for ourselves and people back home. Next stop was the Rialto Bridge, which is a large bridge with shops on it that crosses the Grand Canal. We had beautiful views from there and spent our time soaking it in. We even went to a small cafe on the banks of the canal and sat there for a bit.

Masks

Glass animals

Rialto Bridge

The Grand Canal

Next stop was Piazza San Marco, the biggest square in Venice. There was a giant church at one end but nothing to amazing. The worst part was there were tons of pigeons and I am not a fan. After witnessing San Marco Square we headed back to the Grand Canal area to get dinner on its banks.

Venice By Night coming up; studying is taking it out of me.