Saturday February 14, 2009

Our school offers guided trips almost every weekend in and around Italy that we had the option to sign up for (extra fee of course). The only one I chose to do was a weekend trip to the Venice Carnivale and surrounding islands. Our bus left from a park about 30 minutes away (walking) from our apartment…AT 4:45AM! We wanted to split the cost of a taxi four ways but when the time came to call for a taxi of course there were none in the area. We had to book it across town carrying bags, which quickly became heavy, through the cold empty city in order to make it on time. Once on the bus we quickly fell back asleep for the four hour bus ride to the Venice ferry port.

Around 9:30am we boarded our first private ferry boat and crossed the Venetian Sea to arrive at our first stop, Burano. It was an absolutely gorgeous day outside…not a cloud in the sky. Venice is known for being dreary and rainy sometimes (which is how I remembered it from my first trip) but we couldn’t have asked for better weather. Burano is a small quiet island packed with brightly colored houses. Historically the homes were painted different colors to differentiate between property lines and today homeowners are required to maintain the same historical colors. Burano is also known for its lace but our professors let us in on the secret that most of the lace on the island is imported now. We wandered around soaking in the charm and after about an hour departed the island by ferry.

Our next stop was Murano, famous for Murano glass. We entered the island directly through the private dock of a local glassmaking company. Our group had a private glassblowing demonstration and then spent some time browsing through the gallery. A lot of students stocked up on souvenirs but don’t get your hopes up…I didn’t buy any. We had some more free time to explore the city and grab lunch. For the sake of time and money we opted for a pizzeria but it ended up taking longer than we would have preferred. Italians are SLOW…my professors are always late, services of any kind take forever, and schedules shouldn’t even bother to exist…I like itJ. We ended up having to scarf down our pizzas at light speed and request the check as soon as they were delivered just to get out of the pizzeria in time to make our ferry.

From Murano we headed to Venice. The island was beautiful as we approached with the sun shining on it. My last trip to Venice ended in wrong turns and missed ferries so I was a little hesitant to embrace the tricky island upon my return. As we got off the boat it was already evident how crowded the island was going to be for the Carnivale….the week of celebration before Lent literally meaning “farewell to meat”. Venice holds the largest celebration in Italy that draws visitors from all over Europe. The official start wasn’t until Sunday but there were a few events scheduled today with plenty of people already dressed in their Masqurade costumes. Our professors led us on some back streets so we could avoid the crowds trying to get between places but it was still a zoo. The trip wasn’t meant to tour Italy but rather experience the Carnivale so we only stopped by the Rialto Bridge and went in St. Mark’s Basilica. St. Mark’s is covered almost entirely with tiny gold and stone mosaics which was amazing. Sorry we couldn’t take any pictures inside.

After a day of fighting crowds in Venice we took the ferry back to the mainland to check into our hotel. On the ferry back we were stuck standing and after being on our feet and awake for 12 hours it was not the most pleasant end of the day. Our hotel was interesting…it was a 3 star hotel with some funky décor…its everyday tassels and mirrors combined with Valentine’s Day and Carnivale themed decorations made it quite unique. I had my own bed and that’s all that mattered. Once everyone was checked in and cleaned up we headed to a famous Venetian restaurant (I still need to figure out the name) for a traditional Carnivale dinner. Antipasto: speck, radicchio, and a mushroom and cheese pastry. First course: Gnocci with duck sauce and white lasagna. Second course: Brunello braised beef with polenta and potatoes. Dessert: Tiramisu (originated in Venice) and strawberries with cream. It was all very good and RICH…some better than others but of course a multi course meal for 50 people is difficult to prepare. It was a 30 minute bus ride back to the hotel and I’m pretty sure everyone passed out on the ride home from a food coma.