Monday, August 10, 2015

Europe Trip 2015 (pt. 4 - Venice)

This contains some excerpts from my travel diary. 


05/29/2015
Even though our transition from Milan to Venice was a little bit crazy, we learned some valuable lessons and we had some good moments. Venice is unlike any other city in the world; there are no streets. There are canals. There are no cars, there are boats. That being said, we thought that groceries would be exuberantly higher than Milan. So we made the mistake of purchasing groceries and lugging those with us. We made it the Metro on foot, and we were able to get the Central Station, and catch our train to Venice. We still weren't sure how our TrenItalia ticket worked, but all we had to do was show our printed copy. We met a nice American family on the train ride to Venice. The dad was working in Europe, but they were about to go back to the states. So they were trying to inhale as many European experiences as possible.

When we got to Venice, I was in awestruck. It was so beautiful and so surreal. It was super hard to navigate, and I got us very lost. Every bridge we crossed required us to pick up our heavy suitcases, which took its toll after 30 minutes
So many staircases...

Bridges, canals, plazas, and streets all had little plaques. It was confusing...

We were so lost, that Summer was like, "Daryl, it's about time that you call the host." Right as Summer said my name, an Italian women stuck her head out the window and said, "Dayreel?" She looked at us and excitedly told us to meet her around the corner. Little did we know that she was our host! We were late and she was a little bit worried. She heard Summer call my name and she had found us!
End journal entry

Venice has some amazing sights! A definite must, is St. Mark's Square. There you will find St. Mark's Cathedral, the bell tower, Palazzo Ducale, dueling orchestras at night, and more! It is definitely a romantic place. 
The view from the bell tower is incredible!

View from the bell tower

View from the bell tower
Outside St. Mark's Cathedral
Inside St. Mark's. The ceiling and walls are covered in gold!

St. Mark's has a treasure room. When Summer heard treasure room, she thought that it would look like a pirate's booty, a room filled with wooden chests, overflowing with little gold coins and shiny gems.

Palazzo Ducale on the outside

There were so many ornate ceilings! I've never seen something so beautiful

Inside the Bridge of Sighs. This was often the last sight a condemned prisoner would see of the outside world.

Bad tourists are locked up!

The prisons of Palazzo Ducale were huge.


But, of course, the entire city itself is an attraction. You can just lose yourself in the city, and have a great time!
Outside the bridge of sighs

There are many mask stores! Lots of them have menacing plague doctors, showing off the outfit of the day!

Masks make a great souvenir!
A Medusa mask! How frightening.
St. Mark's at night is gorgeous!
Dueling orchestras in St. Mark's Square are awesome.
It may cost 100 euros for a 35 minute ride, but it is totally worth it! Totally take a Gondolo ride while you're here! Make sure to not go to a crowded spot. Our guy even whistled!



It was so sad leaving Venice. There's no other city that captures the imagination quite like Venice. Every bridge, every canal, every building is amazing. It's beautiful decay. I want to return someday. Our leaving was much more smooth than our arrival. We used the public boat bus, which had a stop right next to our apartment, and it dropped us off right in front of the train station. It was also very cheap. On a map, the apartment seemed walking distance from the train station. We learned the hard way that the public transport was easier.


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