Everyone needs to go to Venice at least once in their lives if not more. I left for Venice bright and early on a Saturday morning and got there in the afternoon. It was a gray day but the magic of the city with the canals and bridges was still there. We went on a guided walking tour and saw some of the main sights of Venice like Piazza San Marco, Saint Marc's Basilica, the gates of the city, and Doge's Palace. We got a restaurant recommendation from our tour guide and got some amazing white wine, seafood spaghetti and calamari. Later on we ventured out on the town in our masks. It was so fun going in and out of the little alleys getting lost only to find out you've been in a circle. Getting lost in Venice entails you running into something even more beautiful around the corner so it wasn't ever a burden. Nightlife in Venice shuts down at 9pm usually but during Carnival it goes super late 12am wooo! (Like your schedule mom!). We went into a few bars and then we wandered in Campo San Margherita which had a DJ in the piazza and lots of dancing. We had a blast and danced off the cold!
We woke up to mild weather and blue skies on Sunday, a first for us in Italy. Sunday morning was the opening ceremony for Carnival. The angel/dove descended from the bell tower down to the center of the piazza. They played Hallelujah and everyone was so excited for it to start. We then went into St. Marc's basilica to see the beautiful mosaics. They were incredible so detailed, breathtaking. We also got to look out on the piazza from the top and saw the sea and crowds of people. I could have sat up there all day. I was totally amused. When I left the church there were people singing and dancing and they asked me to join in so I had a dance with a semi toothless man and then me and kelsey joined a conga line.
We walked around the city and then went shopping at the stands near Rialto bridge. The little shops selling Murano glass jewelry were perfect for souvenir shopping! Then it was time for gelato and a nap. Back to San Margherita for another night of dancing in our masks. It was so fun experiencing this famous festival first hand. I didn't ride a gondola because they were super expensive but I think its okay because I danced in a conga line...at carnival...in Venice.
Monday afternoon we went to Verona where Romeo and Juliet is set. Of course I rubbed her breast for good luck, check facebook! We saw the fictional balcony and the Roman ruins in the city including a still standing and functional coliseum.
The week following was a little crazy including having my credit card compromised, shut down of my internet, snow storm and fake losing my camera. Little things are difficult here because of the language barrier but finally everything has been straightened out. I'm grateful for meeting good friends here, who are always there for you with a glass of white wine when things get tough.
Friday afternoon we left for Dusseldorf (Germany) and Amsterdam. Word to the wise: Budget airlines are called just that for a reason. We left our apartment at 2pm and 3 buses, 2 trains, 1 plane and 11 hours later we arrived at our hotel in Dusseldorf, whew! We made the best of it with our prepacked sandwiches and on our bus from Weeze airport (read BFE haha)to the city center we met this really interesting middle aged man who was from California but moved to Southern France and has met the Dali Lama. It was really amazing and humbling. It almost made me not want to complain about the following chain of events...
Saturday morning our train was set to leave Dusseldorf and head to Amsterdam at 11:13am. It was delayed 5 minutes, and then 15, and then 3 hours (or so they said in English.) We went to Altstad (Old City) for beers and lunch (Cajun fried and nachos a little taste of the south!). When we came back we saw that we missed our train and had to wait until 4pm for the next one, just kidding that one also delayed 70 minutes. We sat in the train station and enjoyed some German pretzels and beers, what else were we to do? Meanwhile Karneval was going on and there were tons of people in crazy costumes headed to Cologne for the celebration.
We finally boarded our train to Amsterdam and got to the city around 8pm. We freshened up and hit the town. One of the funniest sites was these urinal stands in the street for people to use at night. Had a giggle fit about that one haha. We found an Australian pub with great drink specials and met these 2 girls who were living in Amsterdam. One was from Australia and the other was from Milan. They were interesting and told us alot about Milan night life. At the end of the night after drinks and dancing we hit up McDonalds of course. It was well needed and really fun to go there.
In the morning we went into the Anne Frank House. It was very interesting and emotional. We got to go into the rooms and climb the staircases. It was really chilling but a great experience. Afterward we ventured into Dam Square and looked at a lot of little shops. A'dam had great souvenirs! Then around 10:30am we ventured into the red light district. The windows were lit along the street and it sure was interesting! Amsterdam gets a bad rap for being all about drugs and prostitutes but it was really pretty with the canals and bikes and bridges. I really enjoyed the city. The rest of the day we walked around ate little treats and experienced the city. I want to go back in the warm weather but I loved it for sure.
Monday morning we woke up and went to Karveval in Dusseldorf. There were streets lined with bratwurst and beer vendors and costume stands. We each bought a little something festive to wear around for the day but we were still severley under dressed in the costume department! Lots of people had on farm animal costumes and colors and all sorts of crazy get ups. It was really fun and everyone was super duper drunk haha. We had bratwurst and beer in the street and froze to death. We left the city center at 2pm and then went back to Torino.
Our school organized a trip for us to Ivrea to see the historic orange throwing battle. It was insanity! People were pelting oranges at each other and there were horse carriages going through the piazzas going to battle. It was really fun and I threw an orange at my friend haha. Lots of pictures are coming up. We're going to Rome in 2 days so more tales to come. I miss everyone at home! xoxox
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