One of my favorite things about living in London is its
proximity to everywhere else in Europe. Where else in the world are there so many
different cultures, all with their own unique history, sandwiched into such a
small geographical space? I flew here on January 4th with the full
intent of seeing as many of the world’s greatest cities as possible, and
blowing every last cent in the process. I quickly had booked trips to Italy,
Scotland, Paris, Greece, and Ireland. I didn’t except the start of my travels to
come so quickly, but sure enough Venice has come and gone.
I
packed four days of stuff into a severely tiny Vera Bradley backpack. (After this
trip I invested in a “backpacker’s backpack”.) My fellow travelers and I were
definitely thrown some curveballs throughout our trip but they only added to
our entire experience. Five of our group’s of seven woke up at 3:00 a.m. to
catch a 6:30 flight Milan. After landing at Malpensa Airport we took a train to
the city’s center. Once we got off the train and stepped out into Milan I was
in disbelief. “Oh my gosh, we’re in Italy! I can’t believe we are in Italy!” I
repeated over and over again. I’m pretty sure my friends were getting annoyed
with my obnoxious excitement.
The
next few hours were spent walking about Milan and within the first two hours I
was able to cross “eat pizza in Italy” off my bucket list. The restaurant was a
huge tourist trap. There was even a boy who looked as if he’d just stepped out
of Mary Kate and Ashley’s “When In Rome” standing outside trying to sell the
restaurant to us; but the food was out of this world non-the-less. After
spending the day exploring the Fashion Capital of the world we headed for the
train to Venice, but not without stopping for what would be the first of many
gelatos.
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Eat pizza in Italy - check!
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Upon
arrival in Venice I was purely running on adrenaline. My back hurt from
carrying my bag all day and I was exhausted from going non-stop since 3:00 a.m.;
but none of that mattered because I was in Venice! We bought our transportation
passes for the weekend and tried to find the right bus that would take us off
the island of Venice and to the restaurant where we planned to meet with the
last two girls of our group. Before I continue, let me say that Venice possibly
has the most unorganized bus system of anywhere in the world. They don’t tell
you where the bus is stopping or what stop is what and they never check for
tickets. Hearing from many people that the Italians are some of the friendliest
people ever, I asked a local girl if she knew where our stop is. Of course she
told us that we were on the wrong bus. We got off at the next stop only to find
out we were on the right bus all along. But now we were off of the island in
Venice on a fairly dark and uninhabited street at 9:30pm in a foreign country.
Did I mention I had the only internationally working phone? We had no way of
reaching our friends to let them know we were lost. After two hours of getting
on and off three different buses, walking over two miles, and getting pizza
from the only open place we could find we were able to get a hold of Maurizio,
the landlord of the apartment we rented. Maurizio had met our friends at the
restaurant as planned and brought them back to our temporary Italian villa. He
was kind enough to make a second trip to find us and drive us back to safety.
Once the door opened to the apartment there was a series of running hugs as we
were reunited with our friends. Our journey was scary in the moment but I now
look back at it as one of those funny travel movies filled with a bunch of
obstacles. On day two we rose early to begin our time in Venice. Maurizio
kindly offered to give us a lift to the bust stop but made a detour to the main
house on his property where he showed us his huge screened in porch, where he
likes to host parties with his guests in the summer, and a liter of week old
puppies. Us being the girls we are we went crazy over the puppies. Staying in a
local’s apartment may not have been the most traditional way of traveling to
another country but it added something to our trip that a hotel or hostel would
not have been able to. We got to see first-hand what real Italian country life
is like and we received the amazing hospitality that Italy is known for.
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| Emily and my room |
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| Our dining/living room |
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| Our kitchen! |
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Our kitchen!
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The
remainder of the day was spent walking around and exploring the city on water.
We were so immersed in the island’s beauty that every time we walked over a
bridge we all stopped to take pictures. I probably even took multiple photos of
the same place without realizing. For breakfast we found an adorable Italian bakery
with the most delicious pastries. The weekend we visited coincidentally
happened to be Carneval di Venezia. People everywhere were wearing masks and
others were dressed in elaborate costumes. Most were elegant gowns and attire
from the 16th and 17th centuries, but every now and then
I saw a herd of cows or the Simpsons. Of course I had to join the bandwagon and
buy a carneval mask.
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| All of us in our Carneval masks! |
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| One of my many pictures from a bridge. |
Our
next day was a little more structured. We started our morning at the same
bakery as the first day and then we were off on the Vaporetto del Arte, a boat
tour up the Grand Canal. The view of Venice’s colorful buildings from the canal
was amazing! I have never seen a more vibrant and gorgeous city. After, we went
inside the famous Saint Mark’s Basilica. The walls of the basilica were
completely covered in the most breathtaking paintings. The next up on our
itinerary was a gondola ride. How could I possibly go to Venice and miss out on
the gondolas? Our gondolier, Christian, was another quintessential friendly and
outgoing Italian. He sang to us a bit but mainly answered our questions about
his life in Italy. We learned that he has been a gondolier for 20 years and
would love to visit the states. New York is his number one place to visit so he
was very excited when my sister and I could tell him all about it.
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| Christian, our gondolier! |
That
night we ate our last dinner in Italy and savored every last bite. Before we
headed back we stopped for cannolis and wine to take back to the apartment. As
soon as we tried to head back to the bus station it began to rain, thunder, and
lightening. We were all in a panic because we had no shelter and couldn’t find
our way back to the bus. A little elderly man saw us looking lost and in
generous Italian fashion he asked us if we needed directions. By the time we
reached the bus it was snowing too. I will forever remember Venice as the place
that had thunder, lightening, and snow all within the same hour.
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| Last dinner in Italia! Spaghetti with seafood! |
The
next morning we only had a few hours before our flight home so we said our
goodbyes to our guardian angel and new friend Maurizio and our Italian villa.
We decided to spend the last of our time in Venice bidding adieu to the food.
Within two hours we had an entire day’s worth of food: Italian pastries, an
entire pizza with wine, and gelato. These foods summed up our time in Italy so
we felt it was only right to end our trip with them.
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| Carneval di Venezia! |
Before
I knew it we were on the plane and heading back to London. I am so grateful to
have been able to experience Italy’s culture, people, and food. I hope to make
it back there soon but until then, arrivederci Italia!
