Venice

Friday morning the whole group left for a weekend in Venice. It was about a 5-hour bus ride. I heard it was beautiful, but I slept for all of it since I stayed out late the night before. Once we got there we had to take 2 big boats to transfer to our hotels. I shared a room with 3 other girls who will also be my roommates in Rome. After we checked in, we separated into smaller groups to visit the Chiesa S. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari with paintings by Donatello and other people I didn’t know. Then we saw the Scuola di San Rocco, and finally the Accademia museum (paintings by Giorgione, Tiziano, Veronese, Tintoretto). My Dad would’ve liked it, but everyone there was so miserable! It was cool being in Venice but I have never been so cold in my life. It was probably 10 degrees and 30 mph winds (I may be exaggerating a little). Friday night I felt sick so I just stayed in after a group of us went out to dinner. Venice is kind of creepy at night when you are walking with just one other girl, because nothing stays open past 11 except for one club and nobody is around. I’m sure it’s a lot better to be there when it’s warmer though! Saturday was more fun. We went to St. Mark’s square and had great tours of St. Mark’s basilica and St. Mark’s museum. We also went to Museo Correr after that. I also got some nice Venetian glass souvenirs for someone special (Mom). Walking back to the hotel we were mesmerized by this really cute boy, I mean really beautiful gondola, so we went on 30-minute ride. It was only 20 Euros each and it was worth every penny. Definitely something I will never forget, the views were incredible! We heard Carnivale was having their pre-opening ceremony that night, so everybody bought masks to wear to it. We pregamed at the hotel, but it turned out that we pregamed through the Carnivale ceremony! Typical Americans. By the time we got dinner and were about to head over there, we heard it was over. Apparently it normally lasts longer but not many people came this year since it was so cold, and next weekend is when it really starts. We went to the “Raging pub” after dinner, and it was completely empty until about 60 of us showed up there. When that closed we went to the only club that stays open late, “Piccolo” which means “small”. It definitely was small (About the third of the size as Sandbar),but we all had a fun night. Sunday I checked out of my hotel and had 4 hours to kill until we would leave, so me and some other girls went to the Guggenheim museum and after that just hung out. I stayed awake for the bus ride back to Florence, and it was so pretty! The mountains were covered in snow, it was beautiful. I'll try and post pictures later. Now I’m back in Florence, it’s good to be back but I did love Venice. I definitely want to go again sometime in my life, but when it’s warmer.