Jennifer L | Blue Wave Studio

venice was – in one word – breathtaking. it’s got its own distinct character and is definitely one of its kind in the world. i had seen the classic picture of venice on postcards with the houses and the water and the gondola in the water, but i had no idea that that kind of scene is in venice everywhere – not just a selected scene from the city.

there are no cars in venice – only boats and lots of people walking so we did a lot of walking around the city.

when julie and i arrived, it was about 4:30pm in the afternoon, but it was almost dark and raining. the shuttle from the airport to venice took about an hour and we were dropped off with no idea where to go (i guess that will be a theme for this trip). our book told us to take the waterbus to our hostel, but lucky for us, they were on strike. so speaking the broken italian and english from our phrasebook, we realized that we found out that we had no choice, but to walk to our hostel (or pay the really expensive watertaxis).

one thing about venice – if you don’t have a map, you’ll get lost. if you have a map, you’ll still get lost. venice is literally a big maze and you really feel like mice looking for cheese and it was even worse in the dark. both of us had asked the locals for directions three times and still were lost (and i swear that we’re not THAT horrible at directions). had we not happened upon our street, we would have freaked out having to roam around the dark alleyways which was pretty much what venice was all about.

the hostel turned out to be fairly nice and we had our own bathroom which we found out later was an upgrade. franco, who was the night assistant at the hostel, was from argentina and he was a pretty cool young guy and chilled with the clients in the hostel and even went out to bars with the clients. he shared some of his white wine with us and others – it seems customary to sit around and drink wine at night. at one point though, we noticed he smelled of pot, although it was probably after his shift.

our first day in venice was much better than our night because we could actually tell where we were going, although still getting lost. we browsed the market stalls and since we were there for a few days, we got a chance to price shop. many of the shops sold the famous masquerade masks, glass, and pashmina scarfs.

we also had a chance to price compare the gondola rides. we even inadvertently bargained down the price because we were hesistant when approached by one gondola service; he gave us a 10 euros off if we went with his service at that very moment. it was a little sketchy feeling because the gondolier took us down a side street (although most streets in venice are side streets), but all was well once we hit the canals and the skillful gondolier (we like to call him stefano) took us around. apparently, it was a family tradition and he had been doing it for four years. he was nice and at one point, plopped his cheesy gondolier hat onto julie and we took pictures.

we also visited the piazza di san marco (st mark’s square) and it was so amazingly breathtaking to step outside a narrow street and see such a huge square with the basillica di san marco on one side and a campanile on another.

the basilica was just so impressive with all its artistic mosaics even on the ceilings of its multiple domes – your mouth just totally drops at seeing such a magnificent and huge structure devoted to religion.

next to the basillica is the palazzo ducale which has the doge’s palace inside. one might recognize its replica as the exterior of the venetian in las vegas. i even made the mistake in saying “it just looks like the venetian in las vegas” when julie corrected me that it is the venetian las vegas that looks just like the palazzo ducale.

another helpful tidbit we learned from our guidebook (yay frommer’s) is that in italy there is this notion of a coperto which is a cover charge – you basically pay extra to sit down and it’s cheaper if you stand or take it to go. so we had food to go or standing as much as we could. we had tramezzinos which were triangular sandwiches with their crusts cut off and they were yummy. one notable place is the cantina do mori where i had a proscuitto e funghi tramezzino which was so delicious.

i didn’t realize until very close to us leaving for our trip that we would be in foreign countries in which we would have to learn the language or just not be understood. luckily julie had a phrasebook that we could practice from. unfortunately, after it having been about two full days in italy, julie and i realized that instead of saying “how much?” we were really saying “what?” or “how?” – we’re still not sure. that really made a lot of sense because at the grocery store, when i had supposedly asked how much the big bottle of water i was holding was, both the store stockperson i had asked and a customer kept saying “no gas” to me. i finally resorted to speaking english which apparently he understood and flashed the price using his fingers.

although this trip has been only a few days so far, we’ve had a chance to meet sooo many people from different parts in the world particularly from the hostel where people come and go. strangely enough we have met a highly unexpected number of people from california. we also met a few guys studying theology in rome, after which who will be ordained priests. funny though, i just couldn’t picture the guy who said “tight” in reference to doing something (as in “that would be tight”) becoming a priest. one night, a belgium couple whom we had just met at breakfast, had asked a whole bunch of people from the hostel to go to an art exhibition at a bar they found out about. so nine of us from the hostel, went to kler cafe, a pretty cute and trendy bar to see the art exhibition of sonia ross. we had a great time especially since we had free italian red champagne – my first time seeing it and drinking it – and it was very tasty. trying to head back to the hostel was another story as julie, me, and another person tried to trace our steps back remembering notable things we saw (kids playing, a storefront, a sign, a church, colored lights, distinctive small bridge) – you really have to have your detailed observations skills turned up a couple notches. julie and i were saying how we should be well prepared for the chinese new year’s treasure hunt this year after having had to navigate our way through venice.

venice was absolutely beautiful and i really loved the city. it’s my favorite city in europe so far, but then again it’s the first and only city i’ve been to so far.

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