Just to give you a little recap. I decided to go on the opening week of what is known as "Carnevale". This is a time in Venice when people of all ages come together and get dressed up in a carnival-like fashion. I'm sure the history of carnevale has changed a lot since it translates to "farewell to meat". Either way, it's a time of fun and my travel buds, Akshay, Jonathan, and I definitely found plenty to enjoy. We all had a bit of a rough start but things ended up turning out really well. I'll give you a little update about each day...
Friday: After getting off our train ride that lasted for 7 hours, it was now 5am in Venice. The only person, besides us, that occupied the dock in front of the station was a man posing on a Calvin Klein poster across the river. It was totally empty and we finally found out how to get to our hotel. We had to take a waterbus! These are basically ferries that replace the use of busses since we had to go from the main island to our hotel. Unfortunately when we got there, we found out that our hotel wasn't open yet since Friday was opening day for carnivale, and the only time that the hotel was open was for this event. We were given directions to call the manager, but this telephone game ended up being a long one that consisted of a series of calls to four other people. We decided to just go to a cafe and wait 2.5 hours until we were able to get into the hotel room. The gentleman at the front desk was nice. He later asked us for the payment, and I couldn't help but giggle to myself as he stapled the euros and taped the change onto our receipt. Classy no? =D
It didn't take us too long to get back to the island but we did spend a lot of time walking in the rain. It came down all throughout the day. Nonetheless, we did find some cool museums and churches to into. We got lost quite a bit in different plazas but just like in Rome, when you get lost, you find something else. I do remember snacking quite a bit in Venice. The pastries were delicious. The food.. meh.. we found out that if you aren't willing to sit down and have an expensive meal, then you'll end up getting food that has been microwaved. =P . The rest of our day there was filled with shopping up and down streets filled with vendors that had masks of all sorts. I think the best part was being able to see Venice at night. I do wish it was lit up more at on the streets but the Grand Canal was gorgeous:
The Three Musketeers and our masks!!
Saturday was filled with some drizzle but we started to understand what the big deal of Carnevale was about. Today was the day when everything was basically set up. There were mini parades, magic shows, theatre plays outside on stage, carnival games set up, and the best part that made me feel like I was in Venice were those sitting around playing music for us to listen to as we walked around. It was a different world, and as we hopped around taking pictures of people, we also got to hop into the Palazzo Ducale. If you ever get to go to Venice.. please go to the Palazzo Ducale. It's huge and the paintings on the walls are beautiful. I can't remember the last time I had ever seen paintings look so 3-D on a flat surface. Palazzo San Marco was great with it's golden ceiling but Palazzo Ducale stunned me much more with it's size and highly detailed artwork.
This was part of Palazzo Ducale. It's the "Giant's Staircase" featuring Neptune, Mars, and yours truely with a happy yellow balloon.
This was our last night in Rome and we spent it soaking up the Venetian fun that surrounded us. Venice isn't too much of a party city though. You can't make noise after 11pm but we did manage to find this rockin band playing in a plaza and we danced in the crowd with other people that were out to have fun.
Sunday was our last half day in Venice and it was SOOO sunny! It was amazing. I was so thankful I was able to witness how amazing this city was in the sun. 
This is my mask that I placed on a bridge by our hotel right after checking out.
You just gotta love the kids that dressed up for Carnevale. =] Esp. this little sheep.
The entire city just came alive in the sun.Yes, it did smell a bit, but so what? It was amazing, and I envy those that were able to relax on a gondola ride down the Grand Canal as my friends and I left for the train station. Venice is truly a gem and I highly recommend it as an incredible date spot to splurge at. I mean come on! Spending a day on an island with amazing pastries, water all around, gondola rides down the grand canal, dinner sea side, and the amazing sights to share with someone on a bridge.. any of Venice's 455 bridges really. =] This place sure can remind you of what fairy tales can be like. I don't think I'd be able to live here, but I wouldn't mind visiting again. Oh! And for some more pictures please check out facebook! I wish I could have taken pictures of the museums but they weren't allowed. My DSLR wouldn't be easy to hide either. I hope you enjoy what I did get to take pictures of though! Muah!* Ciao!
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