Venice

When we first boarded the ferry to Venice I was surprised at how Venice really was a floating city, right in the middle of nowhere pretty much. The buildings were old and colorful as ever, just like I imagined. The first aspect of Venice I didn't predict was the fact that there were no cars at all and that everyone traveled by foot or boat. Looking into the windows of the buildings it sort of felt like you were looking at a fake movie set such as the ones in Universal Studios. You don't really see people living there, you only see street venders and shop owners but no one seems to be in the homes. I found it sad when told that only 60% of the residents are actually occupied in such a beautiful and historically rich city. 

Some of my favorite parts of the trip were when we visited St.Mark's Square, the opera, and getting lost for a two hour run. I loved seeing St.Mark's Square all flooded in hindsight even though I hated it at the moment. It was cold and miserable, but I'm really glad to have experienced. I can't believe local businesses in the area have to deal with that regularly. Also, St. Mark's Basilica was by far the most beautiful church I have ever personally seen and certainly lived up to the hype. The opera of Don Giovani was also an unexpected pleasant experience for me, being that I have a hard time sitting still for more than five minutes and am not the biggest fan of musicals. I found myself in awe of the building itself as well as the talent on stage, even though I have no experience in singing I can appreciate it. 

Lastly, on our last day in Venice I thought I had the misfortune of getting lost right before we were suppose to leave. Before we were lost however we ran to the other side of the island and discovered a beach on Zatarra Street. From here we could see another island resembling Venice which I'm still not sure what it was. It was much more quiet and peaceful on this side which I found calming and was by far my favorite part. From here we decided to cruise inside a few churches, a market, and a couple residential backyards on accident before I fully freaked out about our time constraint. Once we arrived back home with 15 minutes to spare I could finally relax and reflect on my amazing planned and unplanned adventures in this city.