Before I had stepped foot in the Montarina or tasted a Doner Kebab, I knew I was coming to Venice for Carnivale, Venice’s version of Fat Tuesday. We booked this trip long before we ever came to Europe or knew each other. Since our whole group was going to Venice this weekend it was a pretty exciting time for everyone leading up to the actual weekend. 

When we stepped out of the train station and into Venice, the first thing we saw was the Grand Canal, Venice’s main method of transportation. We hopped on a water taxi and headed to our hostel which happened to be in a little tiny alley. One of the first things I realized about Venice was the odd smells and that everything is packed into little tiny alleyways. I guess that’s what happens when you live in a little city with canals as streets.

After getting settled in we headed to Rialto Mercato to get geared up for the weekend. Being the proud American that I am, I immediately bought an Uncle Sam hat. I figured not only would I stand out and get alot of strangle looks but I would also be a great

landmark when we got lost in the crowds. Nobody got lost so I think the hat served its purpose. After finding our masks to match we headed back to get ready for the night.

That night we headed to San Marco Square expecting a huge gathering of people burning gondolas and doing other rebellious things but it just turned out to be us. After a brief photo shoot we walked home and called it a night.

The next morning we headed back to the square to see the Doje’s Palace, the Basilica, and the general buzz for the weekend. This time there were a couple thousand more people all with painted faces or carnivale masks on. Unfortunately, there were a few more Uncle Sam’s there. We toured the Basilica and were able to go on the terrace and over look all of the square.

David, Brandon, and I on the terrace. Note the woman taking a picture of us in the background.

After having some pizza with french fries on it for lunch we did a little shopping at Rialto Market. I picked up a few things for my family and just went around checking out the different masks at each of the stands along the way. 

The view of the Grand Canal from Rialto Bridge.

That night we met up with some of the other Luganoers and made a pasta dinner consisting of heart and male unit shaped pasta, I wasn’t happy but I ate it. After dinner we hung out for a while playing cards and joking about the trip so far. As usual, we went to an Irish Pub for a few drinks before grabbing Doner Kebabs and heading home.

The next morning we got up and checked out of our hostel to head over to the small island of Burano before heading home. On our walk over we decided to be super touristy and hop on a gondola for a little ride around the city. We figured might as well do it now, who knows if we’ll be back in Venice again before it’s under water. 

The gondola ride was super relaxing and it was very cool to see how the gondoliers are able to navigate the canals and narrowly miss running into walls and other tourist filled gondolas.

After our ride we got on a boat and headed to Burano, a small island off of Venice known for its colorful houses and lace making. We had heard about this island in our Italian class so it was interesting to actually see it in person. We had lunch in Burano and just walked around checking out the little shops and all the different houses. Personally, this may have been my favorite part of visiting Venice and one of the things I’ve enjoyed most being over in Europe.

One of the things I liked most was a small art shop exhibiting all the work by one single artist. The artist was a young man who painted the different scenes of the island. His specialty was creating a painting and intertwining a mosaic made out of pieces of glass from Murano, a nearby island that specialized in making glass. If I had a big enough wallet I probably would have bought one of the paintings for my future bachelor pad. After stopping in we got back on the boat to return home and go back to Lugano. It was a strange feeling leaving the little island knowing there is a pretty good chance I will never come back.

The trip to Venice was one of my favorite weekends yet, and Venice is definitely up there for being one of my favorite cities so far. On the way back home from Venice it finally hit me that this trip is about half way over. I had so much time to wait and think about my family visiting and then going to Venice, that for them both to have come and gone already makes me realize I’m gonna be back on my couch in no time. That’s a pretty scary thought for me right now.

On that note, back to the fake life, I’ll try to update on second break when I get back from Brussels.