Venezia, pronounced "Ven-ET-sia" not "Ven-EEZ-ia" - they're quite particular about it - was fantastic, as you probably could have guessed already. The only downside was that it was pretty cold, especially coming from swimming in the sea the morning before, but otherwise everything was wonderful. I love the history of the place and wandering through tiny alleyways which would lead you to beautiful squares and churches. We did a lot of wandering and stumbling upon things, which I think worked in our favor. It's also great to wander around at night, especially going into Piazza San Marco when all the crowds have completely disappated and there's just a few tourists and guys trying to sell you weird light up Sky Dancers [..if you didn't grow up as a girl in the 90's
this is a Sky Dancer.]
But, I'm not going to bore you with pithy descriptions.. they don't really do it justice. So here are the photos, hopefully they'll make you want to go to Venezia.. as if you didn't want to already.
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View from the room of our hostel.. They gave us our own private room in an extremely nice building..
The bridge you can see here is called 'Tre Archi' aka 'Three Arches' |
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| "This is plaster coming off the side of a building," states Captain Obvious. |
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| Peppers for sale at the street market. Pretty to look at, not so pretty when trying to ingest them. |
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| Wombies.. (L to R) Abby, me, Melissa/Mussels |
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| :) The weather was nice and sunny though.. it just sucked if you stood in the shade. |
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| Windows.. very artsy of me, I know. |
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| The Grand Canal |
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| A pretty bridge/canal. |
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Masks! The history and relationship that Venice has with masks is fantastic and completely intriguing.
I think masks are ugly and I was tempted to get one just because I like the stories behind them.. |
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| Followed all these handwritten, tiny graffiti-ed signs to the Piazza.. Sketchy at times but it worked! |
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| Close up on doorway on the side of the Basilica. |
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| Basilica di San Marco! So gorgeous.. I wish it didn't have scaffolding on bits of it though. |
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| Evidence of bro-mance in medieval times.. |
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| Look at these knockers! |
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| The top of the Basilica |
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| A nice lamp post. |
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| I think this uploaded weird but I can't tell.. Haha. At any rate: gondolas! |
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| Canal alley |
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| On the gondola ride! (With the rather attractive gondolier.. heh heheh) |
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| Street art in one of the canals. |
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| Wearing an official gondolier hat. (Alternatively could be a Madeline hat.. "We love our bread, we love our butter..") |
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| View of a canal on the gondola ride |
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| Venezia flag |
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| Looking up from the gondola. |
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| "And this is a fine specimen of a wall and plant," declares Captain Obvious. |
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| A square we stumbled upon while wandering around. |
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| MAMA LOVE YOU |
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| Art by our hostel |
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| Almost a sunset... |
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The Punta della Dogma at night.. this was built in gratitude by the survivors of the Black Death, which wiped out
a massive quantity of the population. |
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| Cappucinos and croissants to start the morning.. :) |
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| Bellini.. a good way to start the evening. It's a drink specific to Venice; Prosecco with raspberry and melon. |
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| The island of Murano, where all the glass blowing happens. |
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| Glass sculpture in Murano. |
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| A glass winged lion in Murano. |
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| Churches. Haven't the faintest idea what they were called because we just kind of happened upon them. |
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| Another square. |
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Ponte dell'Accademia.. This was meant to be a temporary bridge built in the 1930's, but it was so well-liked
they just decided to keep it. |
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| A view off the Ponte dell'Accademia. |
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| Sunset on the Adriatic Sea. :) |
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| More sunsetttt. :) |
Soooo yeah. Venice was a great way to cap off a wonderful holiday, I couldn't have had a better time if I had tried. I even got a middle-aged Italian man who stopped in his tracks and applauded and complimented me on my sock/flat combo by pointing, clapping and then saying "Very nice!" ..True story.
Anyways, my next post will be about my trip Oslo, Norway of which I just got back from this morning.. If you don't have to take 7am flights, I would suggest to not take 7am flights. Anywhere. Ever. Gahhhh. Sleep beckons, so until the next post..
xx
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| The Swiss Alps as seen from the plane window. |
