Venezia

I can't believe I almost forgot to blog about Venice! This maze of a city that is the setting for countless movies and books was so fascinating and different from anyplace I have ever been.  We took a train to Venice and stayed in a hostel down a narrow road on the main island in Venice. When we first got there, we walked around and explored Venice, hitting the main spots like the Rialto Bridge and St. Mark's Square. We got lost multiple times, but it only showed us more of the city. Later that night, we found a place that sold wine on tap and we fueled up on wine for the entire weekend. For dinner we found pizza and sat by the canal, drinking our wine and eating pizza.

The next day, we decided to take the water bus to Murano, an island known for their glass. We watched a glass blower work his magic, then walked around the island shopping for glass souvenirs and exploring more. In the afternoon we returned to the main island and decided we would splurge on a gondola ride. It's usually around 80 euros for an hour long ride, but we negotiated it down to 60 euros, which ended up being 10 euros per person. Since our travel group consisted of four girls and one guy, our gondola was quite a sight to see.

After the gondola ride, we decided to utilize the winding streets of Venice by performing an "existentialist experiment," a fancy term for flipping a coin to decide what direction we should walk in. The coin eventually led us to an architecture exhibit by Van Brandenburg, an architect from New Zealand. All of his ornate and detailed pieces were either 3D-printed or made from paper, which made everything even more impressive. It was so inspiring to see these beautiful and functional pieces of art. Seeing this exhibit honestly made me question why I didn't go into architecture instead of accounting. After leaving the museum, we continued the experiment and somehow ended up back at our hostel.  Funnily enough, we made it back to our hostel faster and easier by following the direction of the coin than by following a map. Only in Venice.
That night we continued drinking our cheap Venetian wine and ended up going to a piazza in Venice where students usually hang out. We even met American students who were studying abroad in Venice.
 The next day we checked out of our hostel and made our way to St. Mark's Square. The line for that was too long, so we decided to check out other attractions. We ended up going into the Doge's Palace, which was beautiful and impressive. After walking around for a few more hours, we made our way to the train station to catch our train back to Milan.

A lot of people have done Venice on a two day weekend or even a day trip, which are both very doable. However, the best parts of our stay in Venice were the times when we didn't have a place to go or a tight schedule. We simply wandered around the city, drinking our wine and eating our pizza and exploring the nooks and crannies of Venezia. I really want to come back here one day when I have more money to spend. The hotels along the canals look beautiful and the restaurants are nice, but pricey. Venice is a beautiful place that I cannot wait to return to one day.
ciao, Noel