Venice & Carnevale

Friday morning Erin and I boarded a train for Florence, to squeeze in a little shopping before we met up with the rest of our schoolmates in Venice. She found herself a leather jacket (yay!) and I found a few souvenirs/gifts that I'd been looking for. We arrived in Venice around 3pm, and immediately began shopping for the perfect masks. To learn about the origin of Carnevale, click here. I found two that I absolutely LOVE! We wandered around some more, settled into our hostels, and then ventured back out for supper. Traditional Venetian cuisine (as you may have expected, it being a sea-front city) is seafood. We ate linguini with spider crab. YUM! Friday night was pretty quiet, as the main events of Carnevale didn't start until the following night.

Saturday morning, we slowly made our way through the streets of Venice, exploring the shops along the way. Venice is best known for it's masks and it's Murano glass... so shopping was a necessity. Upon arriving in the main square, I must admit I went a little camera happy... But how could I help myself with sights like these?

I also discovered how having a dSLR causes people to automatically assume you are a professional photographer. As I was making my rounds, snapping pictures of everything beautiful, I discovered these two:

And was approached afterwards by the non-costumed gentleman to ask for my card. My card? Yes, so he could get the picture from me... Luckily a friend of his had also captured the picture and we left it at that. However, it was a curious (and slightly ego boosting) encounter.

Shortly before dinner we all headed back to our respective hostels, donned our fancier masks and dolled up for the evening. Pizza for supper, and a night of enjoying Venice festivities! This included more masquerades around San Marco square, concerts, and plenty of partying. The thing about Venice at night (as we discovered) is that it is MUCH colder... I suppose that may be due to the water. Throughout the evening I managed to earn the nickname "Little Orphan Annie". Why? I have no idea, but how could you resist such a cute face...

Sunday morning, we HAD planned to meet up back in San Marco square, where the main festivities took place. Little did we know that Sunday had even MORE celebrations than did Saturday. Not exactly a prime meeting place, we discovered it was a little like searching for a needle in a haystack. After playing "sardines" - literally (and not the version of hide and seek) for a solid hour, we gave up and headed to the train station. Luckily, most of our group had planned on the same train time and I had found my way back with around 5 minutes to spare. I'd say the entire morning counted as one of those adventures I could have gone without.

The last adventure of the weekend, and probably one of the highlights, was arriving in Camucia to see Sergio waiting.

Not for us though. Contrary to popular belief.

But, he was kind enough to offer that we could squeeze (all four of us) into the backseat of his little Mr. Bean car. Our other options were to call a taxi or wait for the bus. So we all piled in, and got very familiar with each other. Haha. The first thing I did upon arriving in the hostel was microwave my leftovers. Somehow in the rush between trains and figuring out how to get home, I forgot to eat between 10:30 am and 6 pm. Kyra was one cranky bear, at least on the inside.