Venice - Carnivale

Saturday Feb. 6 - I woke up at 6 a.m. to shower and get ready. I was running around like a maniac because I thought I gave myself enough time to get ready, and I didn't. It was 7 and I still had to pack for Rome, do my hair, pick out something to wear for that day, fix my water bottle for the bus ride, and leave by 8. We made it to the train station in time. We checked in and loaded onto the bus. It was me, Charlotte, Bolling, Stef, Kelly and Ross. Peyton didn't come because she wasn't feeling well. =( It was about a 3 hour bus ride so we got to Venice around 12:30. We started drinking our homemade mixed drinks about 30 minutes outside of Venice. Mine was disgusting but bearable (peach tea and vodka). There was a HUGE line for the boat that takes people over to San Marco. A man came over to the 6 of us just as we walked up and asked if we wanted to ride in his water taxi for 50 euro. So we did! It was such a tiny boat. We sat inside and looked through the foggy windows on both sides and looked at the gorgeous views of Venice. We couldn't believe we were finally there.

Carnivale is like Italy's Halloween/Mardi Gras. There were so many people dressed up in costumes and their faces covered with elaborately decorated masks. I took a lot of pictures, but the color is really bad because the sun was setting. There was a children's area, set up much like a circus. There was a skit going on with carnival music playing on an elevated stage and there were girls making cotton candy all around. Me and Kelly shared some, it's not colored like it is in the states. It was just plain white, and so delicious! We walked around a bit, the roads and alleys are extremely tiny. We were walking around window shopping and trying to find somewhere to eat. We walked into a pizza place and it smelled like straight up B.O. I was literally gagging. There was NO WAY I was eating in there, I had lost my appetite just as I entered the door. We left, obviously, and found another little pizza place to eat at. It was really good! Me and Charlotte split a Margherita pizza and we all drank Pinot Grigio. The service was AWFUL. Our waitress was fighting with the owner of the restaurant right in front of our table. We were being rushed the entire time, and then we were basically thrown the bill and told to get the F out.

On our way back to the piazza, me and Kelly stopped into a store FILLED with blown glass. We were on a mission to find glass rings and wine stoppers. My fingers are way too small for these pre-made rings, so I didn't get one. Kelly basically bought out that store! When we were in there, the old men that worked there were joking around with us. One of them was asking me if I knew what was really in my water bottle because he said that he saw a man outside the store peeing in one. My peach tea and vodka looked exactly like urine! Then they proceeded to bring out a HUGE glass penis filled with gold flakes. They told us that it was "true Italian size" It was VERY inappropriate, but really really funny.

I found an awesome wine stopper in the piazza, not for me...it's a present =) Everyone was really drunk by this point - except me and Bolling. NOT okay. I had to throw out my bottle of tea and vodka, it was disgusting and was so sweet I had a headache. I stopped at a bar and bought a 3 euro bottle of bianco wine and started sipping on that a bit (it was disgusting too). We split up for dinner. I met up with a friend I met when we all went to Interlaken and we ate at a cute little restaurant right on the river. I had my first glass of prosecco then.

We kind of just walked around the rest of the night. We didn't have any luck finding the crazy parties, but at the end of the night we found a hole in the wall bar that was really chill. We found it because we literally were walking in circles. Word to the wise: don't follow any of the street signs in Venice, the arrows point to each other. Me, Kelly, Bolling, and Ross took a B-52 shot before we all left. It's basically 4 kinds of alcohol all layered on top of each other then the bartender lights it on fire and you suck it really fast through a straw. It was crazy! I was so scared I was going to suck up the fire and burn my throat! We had to go back to the buses around 1 a.m. We parted ways and I was off to ROMA that night!