Venician Lifestyle

I am currently in Venice, having arrived safely yesterday (March 27)!


We started our month of journeying leaving Maastricht the 27th at 4pm heading towards Venice, Italy. As you come to find with most travels, unexpected things will happen. Flexibility kicked in at 2am March 28th. There was a slight confusion with the train we were on and how it switched over to Venice. No worries, I think we all slept about 2 hrs that night.


The lack of sleep affected us all but not enough to take away from the awe of Venice. Immediately stepping out of the train station my jaw dropped. The Grand Canal was literally right at my feet!


We hopped on a vaperetto (water bus) after having bough 3 day passes. Once we stepped off our stop, our temporary landlord chauffered us to our Venician apartment.


Venice is captivatign the moment you arrive. It may be due to the fact that it feels like an above water Atlantis. I'm still amazed how all these structures were built on river sediment gathering while trying to flow into the Adriatic Sea.


After being on a smelly train for 18 hrs, we all needed about 20 min to feel alive again. Once we were all ready to go, Venice called us to explore!


First we found St. Mark's Square (about 20 min walk from our flat). Hungry and in the mood for authentic Italian, we found "Pronto Pizza", a delicious pizza place off in one of the cute alleyways. The pizza slices were huge and cheap! MMMM.....


Back to St. Mark's Square. Not as big as I had pictured but still nonetheless impressive. We went up the bell Tower in the square and experienced the best bird's eye view of the city.


Also in St. Mark's Square sits St. Mark's Basilica. The Basilica itself is awe-inspiring. So much history lies within this cathedral , church, and basilica (yes it is all three!). Upon entering the first thing you experience is jaw dropping grandeur. The entire (and I exaggerate nothing) building is decorated in mosaic tiles telling the story of Jesus and St. Mark. The tiles have a gold leave background that make the tiles shimmer as if it were pure gold. Maybe King Titus's (the king who touched things and they turned to gold) palace looked like this.


Then we took a nice relaxing vaperetto ride down the Grand Canal. We stopped at the Rialto Bridge to eat a delectable Italian dinner. MMMM...it is probably a good thing I am not permanently living here, because I would eat my way through. Seriously, everything is delicious.


After dinner the weather turned to rain, so we ran by a local gelato place. Gelato is everywhere! And everyone makes their own version! And it is all reasonably priced. So of course I treated myself to some authentic Italian gelato. I had strawberry (that had actual strawberries in it) and tarimasu (which tasted exactly like it). Earlier I had tried a local gelato that I do not remember the name of because I could not pronounce it. Whatever it was, oh my was it good. I think I will try and find that place once again.


Today was Europe's time change. So we are all now 7 hrs difference once again. The weather is rain and cold; a good day to just chill out. But we did not want to waste the day. So we headed to the island of Murano. Murano is known for its glass blowing. There is a glass blowing museum that we were quite impressed by and then headed back to the main island of Venice. The glass blowing was neat, but the products are very expensive. Cold and soaking wet, we were more than ready to leave.


Early tomorrow I head to Naples, Italy. For now, I am off to explore more of Venice is in the wet weather. Did I mention that Venice is shaped like a fish? I find that quite hilarious. I apologize for no pictures for now. But to see pictures of me and that I have taken, please go to my facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=204773&id=569900047&l=3d8cb569b2 , http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=206545&id=569900047&l=ff70a467b9 , http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=210718&id=569900047&l=43c735dba8 , http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=214169&id=569900047&l=29b499df90. More to come at a later time! PS I apologize for grammar and spelling mistakes. I am pressed for time at internet cafes, and the keyboards are much different.

Daughter of The King,
Kaitlyn