Venice!

So this weekend I went to Venice, which is one of four API trips that we have this semester. First off I would just like to say that Venice is not what I had expected. I thought it would be nice, but it turned out to be amazing. We had to get up super early on Saturday morning to take a bus to Venice. We got to Venice around 10 in the morning and immediately got on a boat to take us over to the city. The boat ride itself was nice. So many old building and churches to look at as we sailed over. We went to Venice for their Carnivale. I don't think I was quite prepared for this Carnivale before I got there. You could see the massive amounts of people in San Marco square before we even pulled up to the dock. Once we got off the boat we were broken up into smaller groups and we were lead by a tour guide through the city. We pretty much had to fight our way through the crowds and it was really hard at times to follow our tour guide. She had this long stick with a blue flag on the end of it and that was the only way we could spot her in the crowds. We went through San Marco square, which at the time was flooded becuase it was high tide at that time. People had plastic bags tied around their feet so that they could walk through the water. Our tour guide took us down many side streets, most of which were crowded, but not all. I feel like at the end of every street we would just end up at some small square, but I had no idea where I was half the time I was there. During the tour we got to see a ton of gondolas, boats, and crazy costumes. For the Carnivale everyone dresses up in crazy, elaborate costumes. Some of which are the traditional costumes and masks, but others are just random. We saw people in animal costumes, guys dressed as girls, scary costumes, etc. Basically it was like their Halloween. It was really funny. And of course being there I had to buy a mask to fit in haha. Once our tour was done our tour guide left us in some square in the middle of the city, so that was fun trying to get back through the crowds. Although I didn't care becuase I had just eaten a plate of fried seafood and had a glass of champagne so I was good. We had to leave the city by 4 to go check into our hotel, which was a 4 star hotel. Very nice. After we showered and got some rest we went back into the city on the train and really got a taste of Carnivale. That night I went to dinner with two of my housemates at some small italian resturant in the city. I think we stayed there for about 2 and a half hours and we racked up quite a bill, but it was worth it. Once we got some energy we went out to explore again. There were so many lights, so much music, and so many people. Everyone was having so much fun. We were basically walking through the streets of Venice singing for hours. We some how made it through the crowds and confetti and got back to San Marco square where they had almost like a concert set up. We weren't there long before we decided that we should probably make our way back to the train becuase we needed to catch the 1230 bus back to the hotel. We gave ourselves about an hour to get to the train and we used every second of it. Venice is really just one big floating maze. We got so lost and I don't even think that the people that live there really know there way around. We kept asking people how to get to the train and the would just laugh and say "you are going by foot?" That's how we knew we were no where near the train station. So we went in the complete opposite direction and walked and kept asking people and we felt much more confident in our direction when people didn't laugh at us when we asked. I think we walked through the whole city in that hour and I have never been so happy to see a train station in my life. It was about 1215 and we got to the train station, ran in, struggled with the ticket machines, but were able to get our tickets and we sprinted to the train. I have no idea how we even made it back to that train, but it was a lot of fun getting there haha. The next morning we went to explore some of the other islands. First we went to Murano, which is famous for their glass making. We go to see them blow glass and the man made a horse out of the hot glass in about 30 seconds. Apparently it took him 20 years to master that and he has been working with glass for 40 years. After we saw the glass show we had a chance to go walk around in the store and look at all the glass, it was so nice. The next stop on the trip was Burano. I have never seen so many colored houses in one area before. It looked like a fake town from a movie or something. Burano was much less crowded and it was nice to just walk around at a nice pace. It was definately what you think of when you think of a small italian village. Overall I would say the two days we spent in Venice felt like a week. We saw so much in such a short period of time and I love it all. I just wish that Venice was an easier place to get around, but in the end that was half the fun!