After being unable to find a reasonably priced hostel in the Netherlands for this weekend, we decided to look elsewhere for an adventure. Finally settling on Venice, we figured it'd be fun to see the famous city of canals, take in some renaissance art, and enjoy authentic Italian food. We were right.
Our journey started Friday morning with the train (as most of our excursions do, as it's definitely the best way to get around Europe). Again, this was mostly uneventful. For most of the journey, we had a private compartment and enjoyed lounging around in style while admiring the beautiful Italian countryside. We had to reserve seats for the last train taking us into Venice, though, as apparently any trains from within Italy require reservations and an extra 7-10 euros. However, this wasn't a huge deal and after crossing a long bridge from the mainland, we made it to the island of Venice.
This would have been perfect, had our accommodations for the weekend actually been on the island itself. They were not. This was really my fault, as I had booked the hotel and hadn't bothered to consider writing down the directions or address beforehand. After wandering around for a bit and talking with a helpful man at the train station, we came to find out that our hotel was actually in a suburb of Venice called Carpenedo, approximately 20 minutes by bus in the other direction.
With this we bought bus tickets and climbed onto what I can safely consider the single most uncomfortable experience of my entire life. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Italian bus system, it's much like the bus system anywhere else in Europe, except the drivers don't seem to leave until the vehicle has absolutely been packed to the brim with people. For somebody with a huge bag on his back and carrying another, this proved to be extremely unpleasant, as I also had the misfortune of standing in front of the machine that people needed to access to validate their tickets. I was glad to be off when our stop arrived, to say the least. We checked into our hotel and enjoyed a pizzeria down the street that served some of the best pizza I've ever tasted, then turned in, preparing for the long day in Venice ahead of us.
After enjoying the complimentary breakfast at the hotel and cramming into another packed Italian bus, we arrived in the same place we started the day before and set off through the streets, looking for something cool to see. For those unaware, Venice is basically a maze, with winding streets that jut off in random directions and more than a few that frustratingly end in abrupt dead ends. Nevertheless, we managed to eventually come upon the Scuola Grande San Giovanni Evangelista di Venezia (that's a mouthful). It was a large building filled with amazing works of art, as well as statues and holy relics. The walls and ceilings were also adorned with paintings, including one massive ceiling painting of the apocalypse. We spent about and hour there admiring the work and then decided to press on, making a brief stop at a nearby mask shop to admire the various handcrafted works of paper-mache art.
From here, we made our way toward the Piazza San Marco while attempting to follow the confusing signs and winding streets. After a good amount of walking, maneuvering through crowds in narrow alleyways, and crossing the Rialto Bridge, we finally made it. This place was absolutely packed with people. It was insane. Just tourists. EVERYWHERE. Being from Flint, we were probably overly paranoid about pickpockets and traveled in tight formation to prevent any valuables from being unceremoniously snatched away. Probably a little overprotective, I'll admit, but it was kinda fun traveling in a borderline Spartan formation through the thick crowd.
The Basilica of St. Mark was absolutely packed, and we were sure the wait was going to be long, so we didn't even try to get tickets to check it out. Instead, we waited in line to check out the Campanile that was right next to it. Surprisingly, though the line was long, it moved pretty fast, and soon we were at the top of the tower, admiring the bells and the amazing view of the island of Venice.
After coming back down, we wandered around for a bit before finding ourselves at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. Before heading inside, however, we noticed a small Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit across the street, and decided to check it out (being mostly engineering students and all). It was fun being able to see full size replicas of many of his inventions, and even more fun being able to operate some of them and see how his ideas played out in motion. When we finished, we headed across the street to the Scuola and paid our entrance fee, only to find out once inside that pictures were prohibited. Jon and I decided that this was a bit unfair, and devised our own elaborate system of hiding behind each other and snapping discrete photos. We had to quit after a while, as I think security was beginning to catch on, as shortly afterward they went from napping in chairs in the corners of the rooms to patrolling the place as they were supposed to.
From here, we continued to wander the city, this time looking for dinner. We settled on a traditional looking Italian restaurant on the Grand Canal and had an amazing dinner complimented by two jugs of the house wine. It was a wonderful experience, and some of the best Tiramisu I'd had yet. After dinner, we decided to head back to Carpenedo and look for a bar to finish off the evening. After walking down the main street for about 45 minutes, we ultimately settled on the bar across the street from our hostel. Kind of a pointless endeavor in the end when you think about it...
We did run into a slight problem at the bar though. None of us spoke Italian, and the bartender didn't speak English. We feared the night was over, until she called over a gentleman named Paolo to help us order our drinks. His English was a bit rough (and he made fun of Matt for acting mousy and quiet, which I thought was hilarious), but we were able to get our drinks without much hassle. He then insisted on paying for our first round! He was awesome. We sat outside and enjoyed our drinks and as we were almost finished, he invited us to come drink with him and his friends. Needless to say we did, and ended up staying at the bar well after everyone had left, talking about the differences between Italy and the United States, politics, social issues, and pretty much anything else we could have carried on intellectual conversations about. Around 1 AM, we finally had to say goodnight and head back to our hostel to turn in and prepare for the long journey home the next day.
The rest of the trip was uneventful, save for a pissy conductor on the train back to Ulm who got upset with us for having our feet on the seats. He threatened to kick us off the train, which in our minds seemed pointless on his part, as it would have only set us back an hour or two rather than stranding us in a foreign country, the fear of which I'm sure he was attempting to exploit in us. We didn't get kicked off the train; just apologized and later joked about his inadequacy issues. Overall, it was a great trip (just like pretty much all of the others).
And now, pictures! Enjoy!
First view of the city from the bridge after the bus stop.
The Grand Canal!
At first we thought this was a luxury gondola or something. Then we realized that a lot of them look like that.
Entrance to the Scuola Grande San Giovanni Evangelista di Venezia.
Jon and Matt admire some statues and column decoration.
The building had some nice columns.
And yet another entry in the "Ryan Imitates Statues" series.
This place was pretty big. Jon is included here for scale. And to look dashing.
The architecture here was beautiful.
This was the main floor the the top room. There was amazing artwork in pretty much every direction we looked.
Ceiling art!
I forgot what this was supposed to be a painting of, but it looks pleasant.
More ceiling art!
That altar supposedly holds the wood from Christ's cross. Also, the floor in here made the whole room vibrate depending on where and how hard you stepped. That was kind of freaky.
More crazy ceiling art.
This was the first in a series of paintings that depicted the travels and miracles of the cross of Jesus Christ.
Apparently the cross cured ailments and excised demons and stuff.
They used this to carry the cross.
I believe this was a painting of the cross banishing a demon from a man's body.
This was the mask shop we stopped in.
Plaster casts used for making masks.
The owner made all of these himself.
The owner of the mask shop, decked out in one of his creations.
St. Mary of the Friars
Umm... Wat?
St. Mark's Campanile.
The Piazza San Marco.
Flat Sarah and I get a picture outside of the Basilica.
Matt, Jon, and Chris in front of the Doge's Palace. We weren't able to get in here either. The lines for the major attractions were just way too long.
The Campanile is pretty daunting when you're looking straight up at it.
Bells! Giant freaking bells!
What a beautiful city.
There was a commencement happening in the Piazza when we were there. I don't know what school has their commencement in Venice, but that's pretty awesome.
Being able to look out and see the sea was spectacular.
Jon and Boba Fett enjoy the view from the top of the Campanile.
Me taking a picture of Jon, who's taking a picture of Chris, who's taking a picture of... My head hurts...
There are always more statues to imitate.
At first, I thought this was the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. It isn't, but it still looks cool.
THAT'S the Scuola Grande di San Rocco.
The Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit!
Sadly, the helicopter was one of the things we couldn't play with.
Infinite mirror room!
Ok, this is pretty trippy.
Da Vinci's model of the ideal city.
Well, now we know how Flat Sarah got flat...
Old scuba gear looks creepy and awesome.
Matt questions the feasibility of Da Vinci's water walking skis.
Archimedes Screw! It made the most horrible sound ever...
We couldn't play with the glider either....
I feel like Da Vinci came up with designs for pretty much everything.
I doubt this parachute would work too well...
Automatic crank operated hammer.
This was supposed to be a portable piano. Yeah, right....
This device demonstrates the magic of ball bearings.
It's a tank!
And a machine gun! I think.
Da Vinci really liked his war machines.
This evil-looking device was actually for harvesting wheat.
Sneaky pic from inside the Scuola Grande di San Rocco. This place was too amazing looking to not sneak a few pics.
Awesome statues are awesome.
More discrete statue pics.
This room was incredible. They had mirrors available for looking at the art on the ceiling without hurting your neck. Or blocking the security guards' view of you taking pictures. Whichever you prefer.
Giant mural of the crucifixion of Christ.
Another large painting of Christ carrying his cross up the hill.
We went back to the mask shop and had some fun. I think I'd make a pretty good plague doctor.
Jon would too.
Oh yeah, totally pulled off the Casanova look.
Jon and Chris enjoying the wonderful dinner on the Grand Canal that ended a fantastic trip to Venice.
