Thursday morning was our last day in Florence, so we just wandered around shopping through the market. It felt like a very genuine foreign country experience. The markets are a little less intense than walking through Mexico, for example, but the street sellers are worse. They lay their little sunglasses and knock-off Prada bags out on white sheets and if you even glance towards the ground they’ll follow you for a good 25 feet. But it’s a lot of fun to barter with the merchants and vendors. We had to be to the train station around noon in order to catch our train to
Venice at 12:30. While we were waiting at the train station, we were all huddled in a circle surrounding our luggage and a bunch of us were just sitting on the ground relaxing. Apparently large groups of young American girls (and a few boys) gathered in a train station draws the attention of the Italian police. A few police officers walked over to our group and started demanding to see our passports. Other Americans were coming over to see what was going on, and asking why they were interrogating us. The police said that it was a routine check, which caused the other Americans to argue that the police hadn’t checked any of them. Erica Whitehead pulled me and the rest of our train group away from the main group and we just pretended not to be involved. It was pretty intimidating though. They were writing down the names and passport and social security numbers and messaging over
radios. It was a little bit scary. But there was nothing we could do about it except tell them that our train left in twenty minutes, after which they would assure us that they would be done by then. Once the police released everyone in our group we got on the train just fine (much better than the first fiasco from Rome to Florence) and began our 3 hour train ride to Venice. The Italian country side is so beautiful…everything you would dream of and expect to only see in pictures. It was so phenomenal to just stare out through the window. The unearthly beauty continued all the way into and throughout Venice. When we walked out of the train station, we were facing the Grand Canal with the city front across from it. It was a great welcome to the city. We got on a water taxi at the train station (which proved to be another fiasco because 5 of us were not able to get on the first taxi) to take to our hotel stop. Luggage in hand we crowded onto the boat and hiked through Venetian side streets to get to our hotel. Our hotel was a true case and point to never judge a book by its cover. It looke
d like another shabby Italian building from the outside, but when we got inside, it was spectacular. Our walls are covered in white patterned fabric, our bed is beautiful, and there are dark stained exposed beams across the ceiling. The breakfast room is also incredibly pretty. They chairs and tables are all covered and wrapped with white fabric, all of the food is served on fancy trays (and the food is great, by the way), and the service is excellent. Darrin informed us when we checked in that this is our nicest hotel throughout the whole trip, and I am definitely not disappointed. We took a quick half hour to freshen up, and then met back outside so that Darrin could show us all how to get to the Rialto Bridge, which is the bridge that crosses the Grand Canal, and it serves as sort of the meeting spot of the city. We did some picture taking and shopped around the bridge a little bit (blown glass and ceramic masks are everywhere). Kylee and I and a few other girls were pretty exhausted from the train ride, so we just got some dinner at a cute little outdoor street restaurant and then headed back to the hotel to catch up on some homework and get to bed a little earlier. Overall, I think Venice is my favorite part of Italy that I’ve seen. The infrastructure design is incredibly unique (as I’m sure most people know, there are no cars or main streets, it’s all boats and canals), the city is filled with its own independent culture (the glass blowing and the sea atmosphere), and the overall vibe of the city is just really relaxed, laid back, and care-free!
Thursday morning was our last day in Florence, so we just wandered around shopping through the market. It felt like a very genuine foreign country experience. The markets are a little less intense than walking through Mexico, for example, but the street sellers are worse. They lay their little sunglasses and knock-off Prada bags out on white sheets and if you even glance towards the ground they’ll follow you for a good 25 feet. But it’s a lot of fun to barter with the merchants and vendors. We had to be to the train station around noon in order to catch our train to
Venice at 12:30. While we were waiting at the train station, we were all huddled in a circle surrounding our luggage and a bunch of us were just sitting on the ground relaxing. Apparently large groups of young American girls (and a few boys) gathered in a train station draws the attention of the Italian police. A few police officers walked over to our group and started demanding to see our passports. Other Americans were coming over to see what was going on, and asking why they were interrogating us. The police said that it was a routine check, which caused the other Americans to argue that the police hadn’t checked any of them. Erica Whitehead pulled me and the rest of our train group away from the main group and we just pretended not to be involved. It was pretty intimidating though. They were writing down the names and passport and social security numbers and messaging over 
radios. It was a little bit scary. But there was nothing we could do about it except tell them that our train left in twenty minutes, after which they would assure us that they would be done by then. Once the police released everyone in our group we got on the train just fine (much better than the first fiasco from Rome to Florence) and began our 3 hour train ride to Venice. The Italian country side is so beautiful…everything you would dream of and expect to only see in pictures. It was so phenomenal to just stare out through the window. The unearthly beauty continued all the way into and throughout Venice. When we walked out of the train station, we were facing the Grand Canal with the city front across from it. It was a great welcome to the city. We got on a water taxi at the train station (which proved to be another fiasco because 5 of us were not able to get on the first taxi) to take to our hotel stop. Luggage in hand we crowded onto the boat and hiked through Venetian side streets to get to our hotel. Our hotel was a true case and point to never judge a book by its cover. It looke
d like another shabby Italian building from the outside, but when we got inside, it was spectacular. Our walls are covered in white patterned fabric, our bed is beautiful, and there are dark stained exposed beams across the ceiling. The breakfast room is also incredibly pretty. They chairs and tables are all covered and wrapped with white fabric, all of the food is served on fancy trays (and the food is great, by the way), and the service is excellent. Darrin informed us when we checked in that this is our nicest hotel throughout the whole trip, and I am definitely not disappointed. We took a quick half hour to freshen up, and then met back outside so that Darrin could show us all how to get to the Rialto Bridge, which is the bridge that crosses the Grand Canal, and it serves as sort of the meeting spot of the city. We did some picture taking and shopped around the bridge a little bit (blown glass and ceramic masks are everywhere). Kylee and I and a few other girls were pretty exhausted from the train ride, so we just got some dinner at a cute little outdoor street restaurant and then headed back to the hotel to catch up on some homework and get to bed a little earlier. Overall, I think Venice is my favorite part of Italy that I’ve seen. The infrastructure design is incredibly unique (as I’m sure most people know, there are no cars or main streets, it’s all boats and canals), the city is filled with its own independent culture (the glass blowing and the sea atmosphere), and the overall vibe of the city is just really relaxed, laid back, and care-free!
No comments:
Post a Comment