A little piece of me...

So if there is one thing that Venice made me realize, it was my love for being near the water.  It made me appreciate all that Seattle and the Pacific Northwest has to offer with its beautiful landscape.  Since I have been in Italy, I really haven't been near any water at all.  Venice was seriously Seattle or any city surrounded by water on crack! Most of you know that Venice is a city with roads made of water and it is one of the most amazing things that I have ever experienced! Being by the water made me realize that I may never want to live away from the water again.  It was simply soothing, calming and a lot cooler temperature wise, which I was thankful for since I've felt like I am melting just about everywhere else in Italy.

A girl from my program named Andrea and I took off for Venice Thursday afternoon in order to get there Thursday night by 8pm to see Coldplay in Mestre.  Mestre is a city just 10 mins bus ride outside of Venice on the main land.  We didn't have much planned for our trip besides making it to the concert and where we were staying for the night.  I like flying through life by the seat of my pants so to speak so winging it was perfect.  I feel like I have learned a lot since I have been here traveling because so much of it has been unplanned.  We got to the train station at about 2:45pm and looked to the board to see when the next train to Venice would be leaving.  Thats when we saw that there was no time posted. Crap.  So I walked through the train station to find two guys wearing some sort of uniform that looked like they could have some answers for us. One of the guys, Nicola, told us to catch a train to Bologna where we would then transfer to Venice. He thankfully was also heading that way so he helped us make it there. Once we got to Mestre, we checked into our hotel and grabbed a bite to eat at a little pizzeria in town.  Everything from the time we got to Venice until we left was go, go, go! Finishing din and jumping in a cab, we made it to the concert venue just in time for Coldplay to come out onto stage.  I'd seen them a few summers ago with one of my best friends, Lindey, but seeing them in Italy was something seriously magical.  I cant explain the feeling I get when I'm at a concert screaming along with the artist that I'm watching with thousands of people doing the same- its a weird high for me.  Here I have attached the setlist for the show. I think "In My Place" was my favorite of the songs that they played.  What was really silly was that all of the Italians surrounding me knew the lyrics to all of the songs but sang them in their cute little Italian accents, I loved it.  Andrea and I met two guys our age from Naples who spent the concert with us.  One of the guys named Mario was so sweet and kept boosting me up on his shoulders so I could see above the crowd and take some pictures.  He kept telling me "Come with me to Napoli, Come with me to Napoli!" Fat chance my friend.  After the show I bought a souvenir shirt (which I normally NEVER do) because it was in Italian and said the name of the festival and Coldplay on it.

The next day was when Andrea and I ventured into Venice for the day.  We started the trip off right with  a delicious pastry and cappuccino just as the Italians do.  Mine was probably one of the most expensive meals I have bought yet, but was worth EVERY penny. It was some sort of fig yummy-ness but cost me $6 euro, expensive for a pastry.  We then wandered around Venice snapping photos since both of us are taking photography classes while we are here.  Both of us were eager to go off the beaten tourist path which lead us to the sea.  There we met a very nice Italian man named Dino.  He told us to catch a water taxi to Burano which is a small island off of Venice.  Burano is a very colorful town known for lace making.  I fell in love! I bought a souvenir there of course...  I got a scarf, handmade of linen and embroidered with silk and organic cotton. It is simply beauuutiful! After walking around and having lunch on the water, we took a watertaxi back to Venice.

Once back I bought a few more souvenirs and took some more photos.  I was so disappointed because both of my camera batteries had died at this point but thank god I had my iPhone and it takes quite good pics.  I bought a mask that would match my room, since Venice is known for these.  Andrea and I raced back to the hotel after this to get our luggage and catch a train back home to Florence.  Thats when we realized we had missed all of the trains back that night and the soonest out was 3 am! So we booked it and stayed at the hotel for free that night since we made friends with the owner, Gocce, while we were there. He loved us! :) So very tired and low on sleep we made it back to Florence at about 6am.  Just hours before our program took off for Verona and Lake Garda. That update is soon to come! (sorry for the novel, Venice was just too amazing to cut anything out!) I think its safe to say that I left a little piece of me in Venice, Italy.  I HAVE to go back. Xoxoxox