Day 41 We embarked on our journey to Venice Thursday afternoon with a few unexpected bumps in the road. Wednesday night as we were packing and doing laundry for Venice we decided it would a good idea to leave both sets of keys in our room which automatically locks. This mind you is happening at about 10:30 at night and the front desk lobby is only open Monday through Saturday 9am-12pm and 2pm-7pm...convenient right? Anyway so after brainstorming ways to get into our, some of which included scaling from the fifth floor balcony of our friends room to out fourth floor balcony and also trying to call the manager of the apartments who does not speak english at all, we decided that we should just sleep in our friends' room across the hall, thank god we all have 4 beds in each room. So we sleep till 9 and then went to the front desk and successfully got into our room where i took a quick shower finished packing and headed to the airport. As Lauren and I are waiting in the terminal we notice not very many people are around us and as it gets closer and closer to boarding time not many people are gathered. We originally thought that since I had seat A and she had seat D that we were not sitting together but we soon discovered that our plan which had propellers was only 4 seats across and we were indeed seating together. The plan was not even half way full and as we took off we knew we were in for a bumpy ride. The decent up was very shaky and the whole time Lauren had to pee and the seatbelt sign only went off for about 20 minutes. Our second plan did not have propellers but it did only have three seats across and was a little smaller but a smoother ride. On the second plan that landed in Venice we traveled over a series of beautiful mountains that would puncture the clouds at some points, it was a gorgeous view and before I knew it we were flying over islands and were about to land in Venice. Once we got to Italy we found our way to the hotel bought the ferry passes that we would use to get around and bought our museum passes. We also had some Italian dinner of course and explored the mainland where we were staying.
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| Destination=Venice |
Day 42 On the list of top 10 things to do in Venice, getting lost is number 1! And I am not lying look it up. We did this everyday at least once. Most of the main "roads" are actually canals. If gets confusing because you will be walking and all of a sudden get to a dead end where a building is right in the edge of the canal so you have to back track. It is worth getting lost though it was how we discovered the hidden treasures of Venice. The narrow alleys that would be creepy in America are breathtaking and are lined with unique buildings with each a different facade. We didn't use the ferry much that day because we figured we were 2 intelligent girls with a map but we were mistaken Venice will take you on a adventure even if you have mapped out a path and are positive it will work. We finally found our way to the San Marco square which houses the Doge Palace, San Marco Basilica, Clock Tower and much more including SHOPPING!! The Doge Palace was a beautiful building with a lot of detail and history. It is well know for its prisoners bridge which goes from the palace across a canal to the building on the other side which is the prison. San Marco church was another building highly decorated with gold and beautiful paintings and works of art. A piece of art that is hidden in the back of the church and is extra money was a beautiful gold canvas with jewels that form people known in religion and other important symbols, it was mesmerizing. The first day was a huge success and we both fell in love with the city. The first treasure we found while getting lost was a masquerade mask store. Venice is known for their masquerade balls and many fake imitation plastic masks are sold around the island but we found a shop where the locals buy their masks so of course we had to have some.
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| Gondolas |
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| View from San Marco Square |
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| San Marco Square, Doge Palace and San Marco Church |
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| Clock Tower |
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| Prisoners Bridge |
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| Pizza of course |
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| Entrance to Doge's Palace |
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| Gathering Room Doge Palace |
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| Entrance to Courtyard of Doge's Palace |
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| Walking along one of the big canals |
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| Dead End |
Day 43 There are other Islands right near Venice that are only a ferry ride away. The three islands are Murano, Burano and Torcello. Murano is known for their glass blowing, hence Murano Glass. Burano is know for their lace and Torcello is like a ghost town know for it's graveyards, parks and creepy fun feel. We decided to dedicate this day to going to all the islands.
We went to Torcello first where we went into an old basilica and saw a graveyard next to it and also went to an archeological museum. We saw the famous devils bridge which is said to have been made by the devil himself because there are no records of it ever being built and it has to sides so you can easily fall of it into the canal.
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| Devil's Bridge |
Burano was next on our list and once we got there we didn't want to leave. Burnao is known for it's original lace and its brightly colored houses. The streets were lined with lace shops and the island had a friendly inviting vibe. We went to the lace museum there and saw some amazing pieces of lace from different parts in history. The complexity of the lace was really astounding and we bought some at one of the local authentic shops. Also Burano is know for a doughnut shaped pastry called a bussoli, that tastes more like a cookie but is absolutely amazing. Lauren and I tasted a chocolate covered one and a regular one and still bought a bag to take back because we couldn't get enough of them.
The last island of the day was the one and only Murano Island. We had been looking forward to this for weeks and were beyond excited. Right as we got off the ferry a man directed us towards a glass blowing demonstration where we later saw a Murnao glass blower at work. He made it look so easy as he pulled the hot glass and made a horse figure and a vase. Later we went to the Murano Glass museum where we saw both modern and historic glass. We saw everything from jewelry to city models made of glass and everything in-between. We then embarked on a task that would take us half the day...shopping for glass. We quickly spotted that there was fake glass mostly made in China and there was real Murano glass made by authentic Murano glass blowers. The glass had a sticker of authentication if it was true Murano glass so of course it was more expensive but the quality was superb compared to the fakes. We splurged and bought our family and friends some unique gifts that we would probably never have a chance to see again. So mom if your reading this you are gonna be so excited when I get home! Cause everything i saw I wished I could get you. Both Lauren and I kept saying throughout the whole trip through Venice that we wished out moms and grandmas could have been there because they would have loved it.
At night when we got back from the islands we went to San Marco at night it was beautiful and very lively, Of course we got ourselves some gelato and dinner and had a relaxing night by the water.
Day 44 Sunday was our museum and shopping day in Venice. We bought a Venice card which gives you admission to almost all the museums for free and discounts on the other ones and we also get discounts at stores. We went to the Natural History Museum, Palazzo Mocenigo, which was a mansion but was turned into a clothing museum and it displayed all different fashions from periods in time, and the Museum of Modern art and Oriental art.
We had heard about a tower where there was and elevator you could take to the top and from the top you could see all of Venice, so we decided to get it a shot. We were pleasantly surprised to find an amazing view you could not find anywhere else but at the top of a high building since Venice is very flat and had no places where from the land you can see below. We could not only see Venice in its entirety but we could also see the three island where we had traveled the day before.
After the Museums and the elevator tower we went to see the Rialto Bridge. There are only four bridges that cross the major canal and the Rialto is the most famous. It has a beautiful view and the bridge houses shops. On the other side of the bridge we discovered a side of Venice we had never been with many unique shops. We found a leather shop where everything was hand stitched and made right in the shop. We saw the girl making a wallet and found she spoke English so she told us she was an apprentice and that it was just her and the master that made all the items.
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| Rialto Bridge |
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| View from the Rialto Bridge |
Day 45 Our Last and final day in Venice we went into the city one last time to hit up some last shops and one more museum. We went to the Naval Museum first, it was five floors of endless boat models and historic uniforms and pictures. We looked so out of place with all men walking around but it was awesome. After that we walked around Venice and did last minute gifts and said our goodbyes to the city hopefully not forever.
Day 41 We embarked on our journey to Venice Thursday afternoon with a few unexpected bumps in the road. Wednesday night as we were packing and doing laundry for Venice we decided it would a good idea to leave both sets of keys in our room which automatically locks. This mind you is happening at about 10:30 at night and the front desk lobby is only open Monday through Saturday 9am-12pm and 2pm-7pm...convenient right? Anyway so after brainstorming ways to get into our, some of which included scaling from the fifth floor balcony of our friends room to out fourth floor balcony and also trying to call the manager of the apartments who does not speak english at all, we decided that we should just sleep in our friends' room across the hall, thank god we all have 4 beds in each room. So we sleep till 9 and then went to the front desk and successfully got into our room where i took a quick shower finished packing and headed to the airport. As Lauren and I are waiting in the terminal we notice not very many people are around us and as it gets closer and closer to boarding time not many people are gathered. We originally thought that since I had seat A and she had seat D that we were not sitting together but we soon discovered that our plan which had propellers was only 4 seats across and we were indeed seating together. The plan was not even half way full and as we took off we knew we were in for a bumpy ride. The decent up was very shaky and the whole time Lauren had to pee and the seatbelt sign only went off for about 20 minutes. Our second plan did not have propellers but it did only have three seats across and was a little smaller but a smoother ride. On the second plan that landed in Venice we traveled over a series of beautiful mountains that would puncture the clouds at some points, it was a gorgeous view and before I knew it we were flying over islands and were about to land in Venice. Once we got to Italy we found our way to the hotel bought the ferry passes that we would use to get around and bought our museum passes. We also had some Italian dinner of course and explored the mainland where we were staying.
We went to Torcello first where we went into an old basilica and saw a graveyard next to it and also went to an archeological museum. We saw the famous devils bridge which is said to have been made by the devil himself because there are no records of it ever being built and it has to sides so you can easily fall of it into the canal.
The last island of the day was the one and only Murano Island. We had been looking forward to this for weeks and were beyond excited. Right as we got off the ferry a man directed us towards a glass blowing demonstration where we later saw a Murnao glass blower at work. He made it look so easy as he pulled the hot glass and made a horse figure and a vase. Later we went to the Murano Glass museum where we saw both modern and historic glass. We saw everything from jewelry to city models made of glass and everything in-between. We then embarked on a task that would take us half the day...shopping for glass. We quickly spotted that there was fake glass mostly made in China and there was real Murano glass made by authentic Murano glass blowers. The glass had a sticker of authentication if it was true Murano glass so of course it was more expensive but the quality was superb compared to the fakes. We splurged and bought our family and friends some unique gifts that we would probably never have a chance to see again. So mom if your reading this you are gonna be so excited when I get home! Cause everything i saw I wished I could get you. Both Lauren and I kept saying throughout the whole trip through Venice that we wished out moms and grandmas could have been there because they would have loved it.
Day 44 Sunday was our museum and shopping day in Venice. We bought a Venice card which gives you admission to almost all the museums for free and discounts on the other ones and we also get discounts at stores. We went to the Natural History Museum, Palazzo Mocenigo, which was a mansion but was turned into a clothing museum and it displayed all different fashions from periods in time, and the Museum of Modern art and Oriental art. 
We had heard about a tower where there was and elevator you could take to the top and from the top you could see all of Venice, so we decided to get it a shot. We were pleasantly surprised to find an amazing view you could not find anywhere else but at the top of a high building since Venice is very flat and had no places where from the land you can see below. We could not only see Venice in its entirety but we could also see the three island where we had traveled the day before.
After the Museums and the elevator tower we went to see the Rialto Bridge. There are only four bridges that cross the major canal and the Rialto is the most famous. It has a beautiful view and the bridge houses shops. On the other side of the bridge we discovered a side of Venice we had never been with many unique shops. We found a leather shop where everything was hand stitched and made right in the shop. We saw the girl making a wallet and found she spoke English so she told us she was an apprentice and that it was just her and the master that made all the items.
Day 45 Our Last and final day in Venice we went into the city one last time to hit up some last shops and one more museum. We went to the Naval Museum first, it was five floors of endless boat models and historic uniforms and pictures. We looked so out of place with all men walking around but it was awesome. After that we walked around Venice and did last minute gifts and said our goodbyes to the city hopefully not forever. 
