As you can imagine the first thing we saw when we got out of the train station in Venice was......water, a lot of water. On top of Venice being a town on water, it was raining...so literally there was water everywhere. After we got out of the train station we hoped on a water bus and headed towards our hostel. It was of course my very first water bus ride and even though it was raining I loved it! Here are just a few pictures of the ride.
After we checked into our hostel (which was NOT so "happy" this time), our Czech professor Jan (pronounced Yan) decided to take us around a bit and show us some of the squares. I was of course completely lost with all the small winding alleys and little bridges we had to cross, it was beautiful though.
Katie and I on one of the small bridges on our tour.
Here is the main square where we stopped to take one picture and the group left us resulting in Katie, Lisa, Hayley, Abby and I almost getting lost in Venice within the first two hours of arriving. There were also pigeons everywhere and I hate beyond all imagination birds, so I wasn't too fond of this square.
One guy was even letting all the pigeons land on him. I'm not going to lie I almost threw up after seeing this.
This was the big church in the main square. We toured it the second day, but I took the picture the first day when Jan was showing us around.
This is when Lisa and I stopped to take a picture for the Marketing Department at UNK and got left and lost. Of course Miss. Katie had to photo bomb it, but at least she's good looking so she didn't ruin the picture.
Eventually we found our group and we all split up to do some individual/smaller group site seeing. The picture below shows the water rising into the alley/street/sidewalk area. It's crazy to think the whole city is literally sinking.
This picture shows the amazing view from the main square, and if I do say so myself I feel like this picture would make an excellent postcard. :)
After wondering for a bit a group of 13 of us made reservations at a restaurant close to our hostel and had a wonderful meal. My plate is the one right below (I only had vegetables as I think I've developed some kind of gluten sensitivity or intolerance. Not the best thing to have when you're in Italy, the country of pizza and pasta.) Then the next picture is of the group all enjoying the fabulous meal.
The next day we all met and did some museum and church touring and then had lunch and the rest of the day was spent in small groups wondering Venice and just emerging ourselves in the Italian culture.
For lunch Lisa, Katie and I finished a liter of wine with our meal. It wasn't cheap, but hey "when in Rome"...or Venice I guess. :)
Katie and I decided to start collecting bracelets from every city we went to/will go to. Let me tell you, I don't know if my arm has room for anymore bracelets. I love them though. They provide great memories of the adventures we had in each city.
I guess a huge cultural thing in Venice is an annual masquerade party they have. They all wear extravagant masks and dresses and party for like a week. Katie and I had great fun picking out our unique mask even though it wasn't easy. I think we did a good job though.
And of course after wine and shopping we had to do some more site seeing. The way the city is just built on water amazes me. It's sad to think one day it will all be gone, but also cool at the same time to think that I actually got to see it.
Then on our last night in Venice we had a nice meal with Jan and got to learn all about his background and family. He's a great guy and seems like an even better husband and father. I can't thank him enough for taking time out of his schedule to take a bunch of loud Americans around Italy.
Finally on our last morning in Venice we did one more tour and then ate at a small cafe that had great food and for once wasn't over priced. Plus on top of that I got this.....
ICE!!! Literally this was the second time in over a month I've seen ice in Europe. Beverages and usually warm and if they do happen to be a little cold you NEVER get ice with your drink. I'm an ice-aholic so this was a good day for me.
After lunch we headed to the train station to split up into a smaller group of just a couple girls and head to ......ROME!!
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