We arrived outside of Venice around 5:15 PM and figured out how to get tickets in Italian to the correct train station on the actual island of Venice. Our hotel is just across the Grand Canal from the train station so it was pretty easy to find. We got settled in our room and then found a café close by to have dinner and drinks at. We had a really nice waiter who talked to us about California and complained to us when some girl came in off the street and asked him to open a bottle for her. We wanted to take a gondola ride so we asked him where we should go. He told us that gondola rides were really expensive, and even more so at night. For night he said they would start at 120 Euros and during the day it would probably only go down to 100, maybe 80, Euros. But he told us that he had friends who were gondoliers and he might be able to get us a discount. We decided that it was too expensive for us since we had only planned to spend 50 Euros on a gondola ride.
Today we spent the day exploring Venice. We started out kind of early in the morning to try and beat the crowds to Piazza San Marco. We took the Vaporetto, a large boat and the Venetian form of a city bus (since there are no cars in Venice), all the way along the Grand Canal to Piazza San Marco. It was so cool to ride down the canal and look at all the buildings lining it. We got there a little after ten and it was already busy. We got in line for St. Mark’s Basilica right away, but it didn’t take long to get in at all. The basilica was very impressive! It contains huge domes filled with Byzantine mosaics. Byzantines were highly praised for their skills in mosaics and seeing them up close I can see why! The backgrounds are all gold which shimmers with the light and gives it an other-worldly feeling and the artists were able to give the figures dimensions and shading by just using small tiles of various colors. We then paid a little money to go upstairs and actually be at the same level as some of the mosaics. We were also able to go outside on the balcony that overlooks Piazza San Marco. The view was amazing!
We then headed back to the Piazza and walked around the outside of the Doge’s Palace. It is a really pretty building, with its pink marble and ornate columns. We went in search of the Bridge of Sighs and found it to be encased in a giant advertisement. It was really weird.
The piazza has two famous cafes and we went to one, Caffe Florian, for a real Italian cappuccino. Claire tells me it was a very good cappuccino. We then walked around the Piazza. We had no idea there was so much shopping there! We looked in tons of glass shops full of amazing chandeliers and other glass sculptures. Venice is known for their glass. We also explored a little bit outside of the piazza where we found even more glass shops and tons of mask shops. Their masks are so ornate and beautiful! I could look at Venetian glass and masks all day! (Which we pretty much did.) We headed back to the piazza for a quick lunch before heading to the Academia, an art museum. On a side note, according to Nino, no margherita pizza should be over 4 Euros.
We decided to walk to the Academia and cross the foot bridge over there- the only wooden bridge that crosses the Grand Canal. On our way there a Gondolier approached us for a gondola ride. I was very proud of myself for asking how much it was in Italian, but then he started talking to me in Italian. All I got was “80 Euros” so I said no. He then said “60 Euros” in English and I said no again and he walked away. It was only then that I realized how close to our gondola ride budget that was and Claire and I decided to see if he would take 50 Euros. He did! We couldn’t believe it. He was really friendly and gave me his hat to wear and even proposed marriage because we were both 21. I turned him down gently and he gave us a nice tour around the canals. He told us all about what it takes to become a gondolier. It actually takes two years of school and they learn all about the history of Venice, languages, and marine biology. He also told us that gondolas are only made in Venice. We went down one of the smaller canals and he asked me if I wanted to try steering the gondola. I said yes and carefully climbed up to the back of the boat, afraid that I would fall into the water. I discovered that I’m not very good at steering a gondola ( I’m pretty sure I didn’t actually move it at all), but it was a lot of fun to try. 
After our gondola ride we went to the Academia. It was bigger than I expected. I was most excited to see Giorgione’s La Tempesta, a painting I have studied in multiple art history classes. It was really cool to see it up close. We strolled through the rest of the Academia and then headed outside to look for a patisserie that our guide book had recommended. It ended up not being anywhere near where it said it would be so we decided to just go to the Rialto Bridge instead. We walked to two different Vapporetto stops and neither had open ticket windows so we ended up having to walk all the way to the Rialto Bridge. By the time we got there our feet were killing us. We walked over the Rialto Bridge, which originally was the only bridge spanning the Grand Canal. It now has a bunch of shops on it which was kind of weird. We took a break from walking and sat on some stairs in a small piazza and pigeon-watched for a little while.
We decided to head back to our hotel and drop off the day’s purchases and then have some dinner. We picked a restaurant the was right on the canal. It was a bit pricey, but it had a great view. We had a really weird waiter, but the ravioli was good and it was fun to eat right on the water. After dinner we walked around hunting for a pastry shop. We didn’t find anything and on the way back we were accosted by a knock-off purse hustler. I liked a light purple Dolce & Gabbana purse so I let him tell me the price. He said 65 Euros. I told him all I had was 30. He kept asking me what I could give him over 50 and I kept saying 30. Eventually I said I could do 35 Euros and he threw out the paper stuffing and put it in a plastic bag, saying “Don’t tell anyone the price. You can’t tell anyone.” I didn’t feel right about buying it because I was kind of thinking I liked the yellow one better and I didn’t know how I would pack it in my suitcase so I told him I couldn’t do it. He was so desperate for a sale by that point that he told me he would give it to me for 30 Euros and then noticed I was looking at the yellow purse and said he would give that one to me for 30 Euros. I agreed and he again threw all the paper out and stuffed it in a plastic bag with the same warning to not tell anyone. It was such an intense experience. I couldn’t believe it had just happened. And then I couldn’t believe I had haggled it to half price!
That bag is as big as you are babe!!!
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