Italian Adventures: A Weekend in Venice

I got up at 4:45 AM and we left the apartment at about 5:20. We were the first people at the meeting point, I think we got there at 5:35 when the meeting time wasn't until 6. But Emma and I wanted to make sure we got to sit near the front since we get motion sickness.

Waiting for the bus

Our bus driver’s name was Alfredo and he liked to put on party music and dance, it was a lot of fun haha The drive to Venice was gorgeous! We drove through snowy mountains and saw the sun rise in Bologna. Before we could enter Venice, our bus driver had to get a pass to drive into the city, then we headed to the ferry dock. We took the ferry into one of the ports somewhat near to San Marco (famous church in Venice). Then we had a two hour guided tour through the streets.

First Views of the Streets

Venice is absolutely beautiful! But the streets are tiny and all over the place, many have the same name and end randomly. There are also tons of canals. The tour was interesting, we saw many different things and ended up over the Ponte Rialto, the bridge over the Grand Canal.

People Dressed up for Carnivale

View of a Canal

After the tour was over, we went in search of food, then we all bought masks. We made our way back to San Marco (no easy task, but at least there were lots of signs). The church was amazing! There are mosaics all over the ceilings. The remains of Saint Mark are also kept in San Marco - the Venetians stole them from Alexandria and smuggled them in by hiding them under pork. We got to see them from a distance, but it cost 2 euro to go up close.

Masks! :)

San Marco

Outside San Marco

After San Marco, we made our way back to the ferry which again was rather difficult because of the huge crowds of people in town for Carnivale. We took the ferry back to the dock and then boarded the bus. We drove to our hotel and checked in. Then we had a couple hours to change and relax for a bit before heading back out to Venice for the night.

On the Ferry Ride Back to the Bus

We took the train back in which put us on the complete opposite side of the city from the morning. That was a bit confusing, but we followed signs and found a restaurant to eat dinner. We had to wait 20 minutes, but the food was amazing. I had spaghetti carbonara I had spaghetti carbonara which was really good! It had a lot of pepper, a bit too much for me, but it was still amazing. Mary got a calzone that had fresh tomato sauce on top of it. I tried some and it was sooooooo good!

At Dinner

After dinner we headed back to San Marco square and took some pictures. On the way there, we crossed the Rialto bridge at the top, there were people dressed up as The Beatles with fake instruments, playing and singing along to Beatles songs, which was really fun.

With The Beatles

In the square, we looked around at all the people dressed up. There was lots of music playing and a stage where things had been going on. We then walked back towards the train station. That was a bit stressful because we weren’t quite sure where we were going and it was pretty late. But we made it back safely and bought our tickets. We had about 30 minutes to wait for the train, but we were all so exhausted that we just stood around the station waiting. We made it back to the hotel and after jotting down some things in my journal, I went to bed.