Carnevale

Wednesday (2/18) was the beginning of one of the most amazing trips of my life. I got up at about 10am and quickly packed my stuff. At noon I met up with Amanda, Rosie, Melissa, and some other girls who's names escape me at the moment. We caught a bus from the underpass to the train station, a bus that I nearly missed. At the train station we printed off our tickets from the terminal and headed over to our platform. When we got to our platform we had about 15 minutes to spare so we just chatted and took some pictures. During one of these little conversations I made some comment about a passport and suddenly Amanda's face lit up. She had forgotten her passport, which meant she wouldn't be able to go on the trip unless she went back and got it. There was no way she could go back and get it and still make our train, so we frantically tried to come up with some sort of plan. I had remembered from looking online that there was another train to Liverpool leaving about 1 hour later, so we told her to go back and get it and try to catch the next train. She hurried off to catch the bus back to the university while the rest of us stayed and waited for our train.

Our train ride was in 2 parts, first from Lancaster to Wigan which was about 30 minutes, then from Wigan to Liverpool which was about 1 hour. We arrived in Liverpool right on schedule with about 2 hours till our plane was to leave. At the train station we met up with another girl who was a friend of Melissa's and the 6 of us grabbed two taxis to the airport. When we got to the airport we went straight to check in and then got a bite to eat and some snacks to take on the plane. We went on ahead to our gate and waited there for Amanda to arrive. Ryan Air, which is the airline we were flying with, has a strict policy of checking in 40 minutes prior to departure. As we sat at the gate and the 40 minute window passed, we still hadn't heard from Amanda. With about 30 minutes left until our flight left, I got a call from Amanda who was standing at the check in counter on the other side of the airport. The Ryan Air people told her she would not be able to get on our flight because she was too late to check in. We couldn't believe it. After all the crap she had gone through to try and make this flight she was only 10 minutes too late and couldn't board. It was ridiculous because we hadn't even boarded yet and we were sitting at the gate. Those of us who were at the gate went on ahead and boarded our flight. Just before the plane started taxing out to the runway I got a message from her that said she was going to catch a flight to Milan and then a train to Venice and meet us there later in the evening. The rest of us were relieved to hear that she hadn't given up and just gone home.

The flight from Liverpool to Venice (Treviso), which is an airport that is about 45 minutes away from Venice, was about 2:20. When we got to Treviso we grabbed our stuff and headed for a coach that would take us to Venice. The bus dropped us off on the island at a place called Piazzale Roma around 9pm. We stepped off the coach and took in the sight of the Grand Canal at night, it was amazing. While we were taking in the sights I got a call from Amanda and she said that she had made it to Milan but there weren't any more trains running to Venice for the evening, so she was going to get a room for the night and catch the first train out in the morning. After talking to Amanda we huddled up to formulate a plan for the rest of our evening. I was staying at a place called Camping Fusina and all of the girls were staying at one called Venice Rooms, which were not close to each other at all, so I said goodnight to the girls and headed off on the journey to my hostel.

I was told by a lady, who was working the ticket counter for the buses, that I had to catch 2 buses to get to my hostel; one from the island to the mainland railway station and one from there to my place. When I was riding the first bus I didn't notice the railway station as we went by. I kept on riding and then the bus stopped and said that it was the end of the line. I had to get off the bus in some area of the mainland with no idea where I was. It was freezing and nothing was open because it was now about 10pm. I stood around waiting to see if another bus would come and then finally decided to start walking in the direction of where I thought the railway station was. I walked for about 6 or 7 blocks until I saw a Blockbuster which was actually open and an ATM near it which was good cause I had no euros on me. I got some cash and as I was heading towards Blockbuster I saw someone waiting at another bus stop so I went over to see if the bus I needed stopped there. Luckily it did and a few minutes later the bus arrived. I rode it a few stops back to the railway station and hopped off to wait for my next bus. I ended up waiting 40 minutes for the next bus cause it only comes once an hour. About 30 minutes later I arrived at my destination. I checked in at the reception desk and trekked down the road to my bungalow. Thankfully when I got there I found that the space heater was on high and the room was fairly warm. My hands were shaking so bad from the cold it was hard to take my jacket off and unpack my backpack. It was handy that, since I had a double room all to myself, there were 4 big wool blankets all for me. I curled under all 4 of them in all of my clothes and passed out.

(2/19) I got up around 9am and headed to the Internet bus at my hostel. It was a double decker bus with computers on the top level. After checking a few things online I caught my 2 buses into town, which took about 1 hour in total. I arrived back in Piazzale Roma and met up with Rosie and Amanda, who had just arrived. We walked around the northside of the city and met up with Melissa and the other girls. After getting a bite to eat Amanda decided she wanted to drop her luggage off back at their hostel so Rosie and I went with her to do that. It was about 1:30 roundtrip to drop the luggage off and get back to the city. Back in the city it was time to do some real sightseeing in the daylight. We just picked a direction and started walking. We passed through alleys and over bridges and through beautiful little squares nestled between the buildings. All along the way you could see that Carnevale was in full swing. People in full costume and mask, shops selling masks, and street performers gallore, it was truly a sight to behold. We worked our way from the north part of the city along the eastern part and down to the southern part to Piazza San Marco.

The piazza was buzzing with all manner of people; tourists taking pictures (aka me), locals, and those in costume. At the eastern end of the piazza is Basilica di San Marco, which is a very impressive church. Next to it is the Doge's Palace, which is where the mayor of Venice used to live. Near there is a bell tower, which you can go up in for a about 8 euros. Amanda and I went up to the top of the bell tower to take some great photos. We hung around this area for a few hours and then worked our way through the center of the city back towards where our day had begun. Along the way I bought my first mask. When we were near our starting point we found a nice little restaurant where we stopped for dinner. The meal was delicious, I had Spaghetti Aglio e Olio, which is spaghetti with garlic and olive oil. We had some wine with the meal as well, which was also pretty good. The combination of food and exhaustion from walking all day pretty much knocked us out. It was about 7pm and we decided to catch the bus back to their hostel. I hung out with Rosie and Amanda back at there hostel for about 1:30 and then decided to make the trek back to my own place. In total it took me 1:45 to get back to my place from the time I left theirs. When I got back to my bungalow I threw on my headphones and looked through my travel guidebook. After about an hour I decided to call it a night so I could do it all again the next day.

(2/20) I woke up a bit earlier than the day before so I could stop by the restaurant at my hostel and get a real breakfast before I headed back into town. After breakfast I hit up the Internet bus again for a few minutes and then caught the buses once more into town. I got to town I hadn't heard from the girls yet about when we were meeting up so I decided to just start walking in the opposite direction as the day before. I worked my way around the western side of the city and then up through the center to a bridge called Ponte Rialto. The area surrounding the bridge was teeming with shops and stalls selling all variety of things. As I was walking I spotted a stall selling masks that caught my eye and I ended up buying my 2nd mask. I wondered around for about 1 hour or so when I got a message from the girls to meet up. I took the reverse direction of our path from the first day and caught up with them near the train station on the island called San Lucia. They only had about 2 hours to spare until their train left so we didn't wander too far. Most of the time we spent window shopping and getting lunch. Around 2pm we headed back to the train station and the girls got on a train to Bologna where they would catch a plane to Birmingham and then another train to Lancaster.

Here are pictures from the first half of my time in Venice:

Carnevale 1

Carnevale 2

After they left I called Rachel Kubacki, a friend from home who is studying abroad in Bologna at the moment. Rachel and her friends were coming into Venice that day and I was going to meet up with them later in the afternoon. Her and her friends were staying at the same hostel as me and when I called her they were on the bus to the hostel to drop their stuff off. This meant I had about 1:30 until they would be back in the city. I walked to the opposite end of the city which was the waterfront on the very south. Our hostel offered a water taxi service every hour to the city which took about 30 minutes. I hung out on some steps near the water soaking up the sun for about 45 minutes while I awaited their arrival. Around 3:30 they arrived via water taxi. I gave Rachel a big hug and introduced myself to her 3 friends. This was the first time I'd seen someone from home since I left, except for through Skype.

After talking for a few we headed straight for Piazza San Marco. When we arrived in the piazza they were just about to start a "Best Costume" contest. Rachel and I walked over near the stage where the show was going to take place and her friends headed off to see the basilica. We watched the show from beginning to end, which took probably an hour. There were so many great costumes, it was a lot of fun. After that we walked down to the waterfront where Rachel and her friends each bought masks. The day was starting to get late and the sun was fading fast on the horizon, so we began to work our way towards the restaurant where we would have dinner. We stopped to shop a bit near Ponte Rialto along the way. It took us a while to find the restaurant, which was hidden down an alley. The place had a reputation for seafood so we each got some sort of seafood in one of our 2 courses. The food and the wine were good and it felt great to be off our feet for a while. After dinner we worked our way through the alleys and squares along our way to the bus station. We stumbled upon several dance partys taking place in various squares throughout the city. It was sad that we didn't have much time to stop in party, cause we had to make sure we got back in time to catch our bus. We caught the first bus to the railway station and then looked at the time for the next bus to Camping Fusina, which wasn't coming for about 35 minutes. Since we were a group of 5 we decided to hop in a taxi instead of waiting for the bus. When we had loaded up the taxi we looked out the window and saw a Chinese guy walking around by himself, so we invited him to share our taxi. With 6 people the fare only cost 4 euros a piece, which was well worth saving 30 minutes of being freezing cold outside. Back at our hostel we went and hung out in the girls' bungalow for a bit and drank some wine. After about an hour I headed back to my room and crashed.

(2/21) Saturday began with another breakfast at the restaurant at the hostel. With a full stomach it was off to the water taxi to go into town. The dock was packed with people and when we tried to get on only Rachel and two of her friends made it. It was alright though cause they called another one up, so me and Rachel's friend Lauren caught the next one. We reunited at the dock in town and headed back towards Piazza San Marco. Along the way there was a woman doing face painting so Rachel got her face done. After that we continued on to the piazza. When we got there they were preparing for another costume contest, but we decided not to stay and watch this one. We walked back to the waterfront by the Doge's Palace like we had the day before and joined up with Rachel's friends who had split off when she was getting her face painted. When we met up with them we decided to break into 2 groups, Rachel and her friend Lauren wanted to go up in the bell tower and the rest of us wanted to tour the Doge's Palace. The Doge's Palace was pretty neat, it had a nice courtyard and all the rooms inside were filled with beautiful artwork. Near the end of the tour you get to cross the famous Bridge of Sighs, which leads into the prison on the other side. After the tour we regrouped and walked along the waterfront away from the piazza in search of lunch. We ended up stopping for pizza at a cool little restaurant in some alley. After lunch we were craving gelato so we scoured the nearby alleys till we found a place that sold it. With all of that out of the way we decided to take a vaporetto, water bus, from the southern end of the Grand Canal all the way to the north end which was where the train and bus stations were.

The water bus was exactly like a city bus only in boat form. People were packed like sardines on that thing and it was hard to get a spot near the edge so you could see the sights. Luckily for me I'm fairly tall so I could see alright, but the girls were struggling. Every time that thing would stop, which was about every 2-5 minutes, about 5 people would get off and 10 more would get on. It was definitely an experience. We got off at the stop for the train station on the north end of the island. Rachel and I went inside to check train times back to Bologna cause we were leaving later that night. We found a train that was leaving around 8:30, which gave us about 2 hours to go back and get our stuff and come back to catch the train. We headed straight for the bus station to get back to our hostel. When we got to the railway station on the mainland we decided to catch a taxi instead of waiting for the next bus. We were beginning to wonder if we were gonna make our train so when the taxi got to our hostel we told him to wait a second while we grabbed our stuff and he gave us a lift back to the railway station. The taxi was a huge time saver and we actually ended up making a train that left earlier than the one we were trying to make. So, after 3 days it was time to say goodbye to Venice. It was the most beautiful city I've ever seen and I can't wait to go back with my sisters during my Easter holiday break.

More Carnevale Pics:

Carnevale 3

Carnevale 4

Carnevale 5