Venezia

Ladies and gentlemen, here is Venice!! After we spent the afternoon/evening in Verona we got up early the next morning to make our way to Venice. We walked to the main piazza in Verona and found a taxi stand, only after finding a delicious cafe with coffee and croissants to go! (This was exciting for us because a lot of places here don't do coffee to go...it's weird!) So off to the train station to buy our tickets to Venice. We had some issues with the self service machines but eventually everyone got their tickets. We took the fast train to Venice so it was only supposed to be about an hour to get there. Unfortunately it's Italy and everything runs on Italian time, even the trains, so our train ended up being about 30 minutes. As we crossed over the lagoon separating mainland Venice from the islands of Venice I knew we were getting close! The train station let out right onto the grand canal on the North West side of the city. So our adventure begins! We began to head towards Saint Mark's square and the other big sites in Venice but soon enough, I didn't know where we were on the map. The streets in Venice are narrow, winding and many are not marked on maps. Luckily there were signs that pointed us in the right direction. So we wound through the streets stopping at bridges for pictures of canals and gondolas as they passed. Before we even made it to our first site of the day, we were starving, so we stopped at a tourist trap for lunch. The food was decent enough, but the price was through the roof. 

After lunch we found the Rialto Bridge crossing the Grand Canal and did some souvenir shopping along the way. Just a little bit further down the road we finally found Saint Mark's square. We ended up spending most of the rest of the afternoon in this area. We walked around and took lots and lots of pictures before heading inside of the basilica. Stephanie and I decided not to go in since our shoulders were not covered and they were going to charge us to buy a piece of paper to wear inside. We told the rest of our group that we'd meet them outside by the tower when they were done. Well about thirty minutes later I found Mike and April, but they had lost Jessie. Somehow between the basilica and the tower, they got separated. Mike ended up saving the day after scouring the piazza, he found her. Our lines got crossed when we told her we'd meet at the Tower. We were just relieved to have our whole group back together!! At this point we split up, Mike went up the tower and the rest of us went to look at the water, sit in the shade and get gelato! After 

After gelato, we were all hot, tired, sick of the crowds of people and ready to head back to Verona for the evening. We walked along the water and decided that since we didn't take and 90 Euro gondola ride, we would take a water bus back to the train station! Honestly that was the best part of Venice. We got to see it from a different perspective as we traveled up the Grand Canal. We encountered a fire boat, an ambulance boat, gondolas and other personal boats along the way. The architecture was amazing and the colors were gorgeous. Some houses would have docks in front of them, others just had steps that led straight into the water. Venice was one of my favorites cities because it is so unique. Aside from it's incredibly touristy areas, I think Venice would be a lovely place to come and stay away from the hoards of tourists that flock to it's main sites. I would love to come back and visit some of the other islands like Merona (known for their glass blowing) and Burano (known for their lace). 

When we got to the train station we decided on the 5:50 train back to Verona. We all split up to get tickets at the self service machines, so after Steph and I got our tickets we headed over to find the rest of  our friends. Poor Jessie, had her money eaten in a machine so she had to go talk to customer service. As we were standing there waiting (Mike and April didn't have their tickets yet either) I happened to think, what time is it since I hadn't looked at a clock in a while. It was 5:45, we only had 5 minutes! YIKES! There was no time for the others to buy their tickets in time so we said a quick goodbye and ran to our train. After a quick ride home, we walked from the train station in Verona to the apartment so we could see some more of the beautiful city. We found the old Roman colosseum and another one of the main Piazzas in the city. When we got back to the apartment we waited a little while for the others to get back, but we weren't sure what time they would make it. As it got closer to 8 o'clock our tummies began to rumble. We decided to leave a note and go find food. Fortunately on our way into town, we ran into Jessie, Mike and April walking home!

We ate dinner and then headed home after a long, exhausting day! We were so excited on Saturday to finally make it home to Siena and have a few days to relax before classes started back. Considering all the trains we took and traveling we did this past weekend, it is a miracle we all made it back in one piece!