Venice Carnevale

Ciao!

Yesterday morning, we left our house at 7:05 am to meet the Florence For Fun student travel agency at the train station for our trip to Carnevale in Venice. We were scheduled to leave by 7:30, but didn't get on the road until 8:30 because they were so poorly organized with checking in about 100-150 kids. We arrived in Venice around 12:30 instead of 11:00 as originally planned. There were no spaces left for our busses in the parking lot, and that was really annoying. I think the guides were able to sense our aggravation because as we were leaving the bus, they pushed our leaving time back from 6 pm to 7 pm. All settled.

We boarded a water taxi to take us to Venice from the mainland, and it was a perfect day. The sun was bright and there was just a little haze from the water. It was so beautiful. I took a few pictures from the boat.

When we arrived in the main area of Venice, Maggie, Andrea, and I immediately bought masks. I chose a gold and white one, with white feathers and lots of glitter. Of course, I saw many others that I would have wanted too, but I could only afford one. Carla had brought a mask with her, and neither Kevin nor Jeff were remotely interested in sparkly, feathery masks. I guess that's understandable. We walked to San Marco where the major festivities of Carnevale were taking place. There were lots of people walking around, completely decked out in 16th and 17th century costumes and masks. (I was able to recall the names of all the parts of the costumes thanks to my History of Costume course.) Others had less-traditional costumes. I was intrigued by a man who was wearing a snail body so that it looked like he was riding it. There was also a man dressed up as a Playboy, which was kind of gross. There was a human sun that was so bright, I had a hard time looking at him with the real sun's reflection. It took a very long time to walk through the Piazza because the whole place was shoulder-to-shoulder people. On our walk through, I stopped and fed some pigeons. There are so many that if you bent down gently with some crumbs in your hand, they'd come right over and peck them off! I tried it, and it was fun :)

We got across San Marco and strolled around for a while, admiring the canals and taking pictures of all the gondolas. I didn't realize that there were so many! While we were gondola-watching, one came by with a couple in it. The woman lifted up her hand to show us her ring. Her fiancee had proposed to her on the gondola on Valentine's Day! Sooooo cute! We clapped for them :)

At 3 pm, the agency with which we had come had set up a glass-blowing demonstration for us. Carla wasn't interested in coming, so she got herself some lunch while Maggie, Kevin, Jeff, Andrea and I went to the demonstration. Usually, most of the Murano glass is made on the island of Murano which is right off the main island of Venice. This place was mainly just for demonstrations and it's huge number of showrooms. It was really cool though. The glass-maker made both a vase and a horse, and he made it look so easy! It's crazy how they do it! After seeing the actual blowing process, our guide brought us to a chandelier room and explained they way they change the colors of the glass using the natural elements. The chandeliers were absolutely amazing and the information was pretty cool too. Then, we were free to look around for a while. I couldn't afford anything, but their stuff was beautiful. It was so expensive because this store guaranteed that everything was hand-made. It also looked like a pretty famous store, as there were TONS of rooms with all different types of things.

After the demonstration, we scooped up Carla and started to do a little glass shopping. At the first store, I was terribly offended by one of the men who worked there. I was in search of small earrings in the form of a ball, so when he asked if I needed help in English, I responded in Italian (because I need the practice, of course!) that I was looking for earrings in the form of a ball. He rudely responded to me very quickly in Italian, thinking that I wouldn't understand him. He said, "it's better that we speak in English because your Italian is a disaster." I looked at him and said "Excuse me? Then you don't need my business." And I walked out. After the fact, I thought of a million other things I could have said to that guy, but I suppose my choice of action was sufficient. Maggie and Andrea were both with me and were equally shocked by how easily and nonchalantly he offended me. They also left immediately, following behind me. The next store I went to, I found my earrings and a few other things I wanted. HA. Serves him right. What he said is still bothering me, but Maria Pia assures me that my grammar is perfect and that all I have to do is learn more vocabulary and speed, which I'm already aware of and don't mind working on.

After our shopping spree, we visited the Rialto Bridge and took a few pictures. It was swarming with people, so once we had gotten our photos, we left. Then, we found a little place to eat near one of the canals. The food wasn't out of this world, but it was just as tasty as we had wanted. I had spaghetti with red sauce and mini shrimp. I had read that the seafood was very good, so I wanted to try it. I don't think this place was the most ideal restaurant for seafood, but it wasn't bad.

We left dinner at around 6:30 and bought some Bellini in bottles. Bellini is a champagne and peach juice drink that is very famous in Venice. We pretty much ran all the way back to the boat dock with these bottles because we feared that the boat would leave without us. However, we should have learned from the experiences that morning because we arrived around 7:15 pm, and didn't leave until around 8:15. Fortunately, it didn't matter to us. It was a beautiful night so we drank our Bellini and took a few pictures. When the boat came to get us, Maggie ran into a high school friend on board, and two foolish American girls tried to pretend to be French to Kevin. It didn't work because they couldn't speak French very well, and their fake English was absolutely stupid. Also, when Kevin called me over and said "Hey Elsa, you remember a little French right?," they got very nervous and turned around. How can an American think that they can fool another American? We all know that we stick out like sore thumbs.

Anyway, we got back to the bus around 8:30 and I passed out immediately. I missed 5 calls from my Dad during the ride (sorry Dad), but I got back to him when I woke up in Florence around 11:45 pm. Andrea and I decided to take a cab because the next bus wasn't scheduled to arrive until 12:30 am. We had a little trouble getting a cab because while we were figuring our plans, there was some kind of trouble between the cab drivers and a group of African men. They were all arguing and calling each other racists until the cops came over and broke it up. After that, the cab drivers got back in their respective taxis, and we went home.

I really enjoyed Carnevale. It was such a unique experience. It's amazing how much effort these people put into their costumes. It's really something special to see and I would recommend everyone to go if they ever get the chance. I hope that I can go back some day. It's most certainly classier than the American Halloween!

A presto!