Italia: Il Terzo Giorno: Venezia

I must explain something. Or state something. Venice is my favourite city. Ever. I mean, San Francisco is obviously my favourite city in the U.S. And yes, this takes into account New York. I am not a fan, despite what some of ya'll might try to convince me of. Mostly because once I spent about a zillion hours in the cold there because SOMEONE locked the keys in the trunk. And once when I was seven or so SOMEONE took my picture when I did not want it taken! Also, Times Square is just a bunch of ads. And really, if I want to look at Ads I can flip through a magazine.It's cheaper and doesn't involve navigating around people walking slowly.

Anyway, Venice is just so beautiful. So. Beautiful. And I have wanted to go there since I was in elementary schoolish (Although back then I thought it was pronounces like Venus). I once even tried to convince my parents to move there-I looked up a list of the most expensive cities in the world, and found that San Francisco was ahead of Venice, so of course we could afford to live there and it made perfect sense to move!

Finally, a couple of years ago I got to go with the Fam-Bam, and it was ahmazing! But I have always wanted to go back.

Basically, all this explains why I was so willing to get up early for a 7:30AM train to Venice from Milan.

Normally, I would be so excited I would have butterflies. But I think this time I was pretty much paralysed by excitement. I also handed the conductor the wrong ticket, which was a little umburrassin.

The day before, I had bundled up to walk about Milan and this had ended up unnecessary. So I decided to learn from my mistake and only take my jacket, rather than jacket and hoodie.

Of course, I get there and it is freezing cold and rainy. Perfect.

First thing I see from the train station

I would also like to point out that I went there without a map. Which is crazy because we all know what happens when I get lost and don't have a map. Although I guess a map is really not that helpful in Venice anyway.

I decided to pick a direction and go with it. There was no sight I was dying to see, and was a little exhausted of touristy things from the previous day. I spent most of the morning seeing signs pointing to Piazza San Marco and walking in the exact opposite direction.

Eventually, I stopped seeing signs for Piazza San Marco and Ponte Rialto. I got so lost I saw cars. In Venice. I'm still not entirely sure where I was at this point. All I know is that I was FREEZING. And dripping wet. But I was also convinced that if I had made it through Scotland this long without an umbrella, I could go a day in Venice without one. So I avoided the umbrella men and continued to be wet.

Even with the rain. And the overcast sky. And the flooded walkways. Venice was just gorgeous. And I was so happy. And in absolute awe.

Little gates to keep the water out-cool! I had
been wondering how shops and houses don't
fill up like little boxes.

At this point I figured I should stop in somewhere to eat and warm up. After doing the same thing I did in Milan the previous day in which I was so worried about making a fool of myself that I had to keep walking and telling myself "the next one I'll go in", I finally went in somewhere.

After much deliberation, I ordered tortellini.

Alright, so most (though I sincerely hope all) of you know I am a vegetarian. I have been for 20 or so years, and it is not something I am willing to change for anything or anyone.

Well. I ate meat. Accidentally. I think. "I think" refers to I think it was meat, not "I think" it was an accident. 

You see, it didn't occur to me to ask what the tortellini were filled with. I know. A rookie mistake.

So there I was eating the tortellini, and it was covered in sauce so all I could really taste was tomato. Then I ate a plain tortellino, and well, it tasted strange and unfamiliar.

When I tell this story, the next question people always ask is "Did it taste good?" With an expression on their face that assumes my answer to be something along the lines of "Yes, it was delicious and I'm crazy for not having realised this sooner-I will definitely change my ways!"

It did not taste very nice. It was very salty, I would say. When I realised that the taste was unfamiliar, I cut open a plain one to see what the filling looked like. It was brown. Not that I am uber-familiar with meat, but I decided that I could conclude that between the unfamiliarity and colour that it was filled with meat.

Of course, then I was faced with a problem. Do I keep eating this? I was really hungry. And had only take a few bites. But also, I'm a vegetarian and do not each such things. Also, if someone doesn't eat meat for even just a few years, their body often rejects it when they start eating it again. I couldn't imagine how my body would take it after a roughly-vegetarian roughly-twenty years.

But also, I did not want to be impolite.

So....I made myself eat half of it, remembering a story in which my dad went to Japan, and was given VERY fresh fish (he swears it was still moving) and ate it anyway because that is what you do. I copied his coping method of sticking pieces in the back of my mouth and just swallowing. But mostly, I drank a lot of water and ate all the bread.

After this, the waiter asked if I wanted a cappuccino  Now, it was well into the afternoon at this point. And like any good traveler, I had looked up things about the country I was travelling to and had learned that ordering a cappuccino after noon is not something that is generally done. But also, he offered it and I was still shivering, so I had it anyway.

After this pretty eventful meal, I started walking around again and decided that I really would like to visit the Bridge of Sighs as the last time I was there is was covered in the canvas stuff used on scaffoldings and made to look like the bridge. The only way I knew how to get there was through Piazza San Marco. So, although I spent the first half of the day avoiding the square, I spend my second half finding it. 

After following signs, and backtracing my steps to avoid flooded streets, and crossing the lovely Rialto Bridge I made it!

Trust me. I know how lucky I am to have friends when I make
faces like these!

The sky had dimmed at this point, but the square was still lovely! I was also freezing again, so I decided to get a move on and find the Bridge of Sighs, then make my way back to the train station, then from there find dinner, then back to Milan!

Finding my way back to the station was harder than I thought it would be. Remember how I had no map? However, I had looked at a map in the restaurant, and thought I could find it from the Rialto Bridge so I made my way back that way. 

Fo realz I am so happy I have friends.

Now. We all know how fantastic I am at rotating maps in my head. Haha, right.

So, I ended up on the exact opposite side of the city as I wanted to be. And as beautiful as Venice is, and as much as I like the small streets and alleys, at this point I was more creeped out and really just wanted to find my way back to the station. Luckily there was a vaporetto stop nearby that would take me right to the station.

Now, I was not entirely sure where to pay. Or how much it was. Or anything at all. So I asked a man standing in the hut where I would pay for the vaporetto.

He said something like "A bordo, o si può anche non pagare" (On board, or just don't pay). I think I made a horrified face, although it is hard to tell because my face muscles were so frozen, because he laughed.

When the vaporetto came, I still couldn't figure out where to pay. But I had read a sign about a 50 euro fine if you didn't, so I kept walking around the crowded boat trying to figure out where to drop coins into! Eventually it became so crowded that I had to stop wandering around like a lost chicken, so I stood in place holding my breath and hoping that no one would check for tickets. I was breaking the law. They would never let me back in the city!

Dramatic, much? Yes.

Finally, we made it to the station and no one came around checking for tickets. At this point I only had about an hour and a half until my train left. I had looked up directions to Ae Oche Pizzeria (which I had gone to with the parental units and sibling the last time we were here) at the restaurant this afternoon and started speed walking in the right direction. 

Even with the map picture on my iPod. And walking directions. I got lost. You see, street names on the map do not always correspond with the ones in real-life. After wandering in circles, I found the tiniest little street that you had to duck to go through because it was also a tunnel, and found the pizzeria.

From here it was pretty smooth sailing. I had known what I wanted when I came in. When I went here with my parents we ordered this pizza with pesto and it was pretty much the most delicious thing I have ever had. Ever.

Now, my dad will tell you that when we went here together that the waiters kept popping their heads in to give me looks. First of all, this is not even true, he just says it to umbarrass me. But also, I really hope this is not true because it defs did not happen this time and had it been true it would be quite the self-esteem blow and maybe a sign that the raccoon-eye makeup, black clothes, and semi-permanent scowl (it comes out after 14-22 washes) was working for me. 

The pizza was so good, but I had such a food baby and could
not finish it!

After I ate and had a food baby, I had to run to catch my train. For the most part I did not get lost on the way back, which was a relief. However, when I sat down in my seat on the train I did not feel too fantastic, and I did not know if it was the meat, the running on a food-baby, or the cold. Because after a long cold day, I looked like this:

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer had a very shiny nose!
And if you ever saw it, you would even say it glows!

Well! At least I made it! I was exhausted when I got back to the hostel, and as much as I was looking forward to visiting Florence the next day, I was not looking forward to the 7:15 train time!