After getting maybe an hour of sleep, and not knowing whether the bus strike in Roma would stop my travels, Danesha and I set off for Venice.
To our surprise, we not only made it to Termini, the main train station in Roma, but we were able to purchase tickets, and board a Eurostar to Venice. The trip was 4 hours long! Luckily, I slept through most of it!
When we arrived in Venice, it was cold and raining. Still, we could sense that we were somewhere special. Apparently the strike was not just in Roma. It affected all of Italy! Both the water buses and the regular buses weren’t running until 4:30pm! And so, we decided to grab lunch… which also ended up being our dinner on the famous Grand Canal! Though the weather was miserable, it was still rather nice.
When we finally got to our bed and breakfast on the outskirts of Venice, we were exhausted! I mean… we had just been in Africa for a week, I had gotten sick, and oh yeah… an hour of sleep just doesn’t cut it… even for me! Though very far from anything, it was nice. We had our own room and bathroom. Considering we had booked the night before, we were quite pleased.
When we awoke around 7:30pm, we could see weren’t going anywhere. It was dark. We were still tired, and we had no idea if the buses were even running. And so… our first day was a bit of a bust.
We awoke the next morning fresh and ready to start our day! We were greeted with breakfast, and then made our way back to the main part of Venice. After reaching the main area, we bought 24hr passes for the water buses, which are Venice’s main form of transportation. These passes took us everywhere… including our next stop, the hostel we were staying at Saturday night. We got off at the San Marcuola stop, and began to search for Residence Maddalena. When we finally found it, there was a note on the door… “Danesha Weever, I will be back at 12:00.”
And so, we decided not to waste any time, and began to walk around. Quite shortly after we decided to sit down and have a cappuccino, and look at our map. Since we had some time to kill, we decided we would try and make our way to the Jewish Ghetto, and possibly see the museum. Not thinking clearly, I had forgotten it was Shabbos! Sure enough… the museum, synagogues, and everything else was closed. Still, it was nice to see the Ghetto Vecchio, and see that Venice has a thriving Jewish community.
Sure enough, when we made our way back to the Residence Maddalena, there was another note… “Danesha Weever, I will be back at 1pm.” This time, we decided to wait it out not to miss her again. Around 1pm, we were greeted by Clara, a very eccentric Italian woman who I fell in love with. She greeted us with open arms and took us through some back alleys to show us where we would be staying. The hostel was quite nice. There was only one other mystery girl in our room, as well as two other rooms, a living room, and a bathroom to share for all of the above. It was tidy, and included breakfast!
After putting our stuff down, we practically ran out the door! We had no time to waste if we were going to get everywhere we wanted to go. Next stop? Murano Island! This is the island famous for the Murano Glass. We took a water bus all the way down the Grand Canal! It took a little bit of time, but the ride was beautiful, and the sun even came out! I fell in love with our bus/boat driver… Apparently, all the good looking men are hiding in Venice! He was sooo good looking! Molto Bello!
When we arrived on the island, we headed straight for the glass museum. Though not quite large, there was much to see. Unfortunately, we could not take pictures! Fortunately, the stores we were in that followed did! It was so cool to see what one can do with glass… everything from chandeliers to little animal figurines. I even bought Blanche a tiny lady bug for her new apartment!
Since the glass blowing place was already closed, our next stop was San Marco’s Basilica. Mi amore, my love, was on our water bus again. As he recognized me he said Ciao. We were in such a rush though… on my way out, I said, “Ciao Bello,” and smiled. He smiled, and we went our separate ways. I guess better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all. Haha Anyway, back to reality… San Marco is the most famous church in all of Venice, and for good reason. It is stunning! Ok… maybe there’s more to it. Unfortunately, the doors closed right in front of our faces and all we could see was the beautiful facade. It was still well worth it though. The basilica is covered with cold and mosaics that would impress even the most unimpressionable person. We also saw the bell tower, and San Maria. As we had a chance to walk around the grand piazza and look at things we can’t afford, I wanted to buy everything for my mama… let’s just pretend I did, shall we? It was so beautiful… the masks, the jewelry, the glass… just breath-taking!
On the way back to our general neighborhood, we jumped on the wrong water bus and went all the way to the Venice Lido stop, which is the Venice Beach stop. Then we went all the way back up the Grand Canal… watching the sunset… passing all Venice has to offer along the way. Around the Rialto Bridge, Venice’s most famous bridge, we jumped off to take a gondola ride. Our gondola driver explained to us that the Rialto Bridge was once the center of commerce, and the highest point in Venice. He also took us past Marco Polo AND Casanova’s house. We also got to see the grand opera house! It was quite a perfect spot we picked to jump off one boat and into another. Lol
On our way back, we strolled through some more shops, and enjoyed the sights. The masks in Venice are amazing. Each one is a work of art. Eventually, we made our way to dinner, and then back to the hostel. There we met our third “girl…” I put girl in quotes because Libby was my mom’s age… and though mom turns 29 every year, Libby doesn’t. lol She was very nice though, and we became friends. :)
In the morning we woke up at what we thought was 8am… SURPRISE! It was Daylights Saving. We only realized it, though, when we were dressed and quite awake. And so, after Clara set us straight, we were off into town to buy our train ticket. Our train was leaving at 10:45ish… and so we had a little more time to grab breakfast and look around. At breakfast, we met some nice girls from Canada who were backpacking. They too, were headed to Rome today.
As we walked around and looked at more glass and masks, we couldn’t help but miss it. Venice was spectacular, truly a sight for everyone to see. Still… Roma awaits… and although Venice maybe special, a piece of my heart will always be in Roma. <3
And so, we jumped on our Eurostar, and made the 4 hour trek back to Roma…
Signing off,
Ciao Bella…
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