Venice, Italy

I really liked Venice. I came in with no expectations (sort of on purpose), and was kinda blown away by the city. There are no cars allowed, only boats. Venice is not exactly a living city; there are  residents, but the overwhelming majority of the city is dedicated to tourism. I.e. Venetian mask shops every ten feet (seriously) and more people walking with cameras than not. Lucky for you guys, I was one of them! I loved taking pictures there, and I kept doing that thing where I take a dozen pictures of the same view - which always tells me that I really like that view. And I took a LOT of photos.

We (Marika, Anna, Marika's friend Krystle and I) stayed in Mestre, a suburban town northwest of Venice, where apparently a lot of people that work in Venice live. We bussed into Venice each morning and spent the full day in the city, wandering through the narrow streets (thats kinda the only thing to do) and eating gelato (an average of two a day, obviously) and trying on masks (dozens) and taking photos every three minutes and eating Italian everything. I think Venice is my favorite city I've visited in Europe, after Copenhagen. SO beautiful, and especially pleasant if you come to terms with the swarms of tourists around every corner.

Some photos, taken with the DSLR and my iPod:


^Hi, wonderful canals everywhere.


^The Grand Canal, I believe.


^The girls taking pictures of the Grand Canal, as we do.


^Old and pretty buildings everywhere!


^Venetian masks. I didn't particularly like masks before Venice... by the time we left I was dying to buy one. And I did. One of those crucial accessories, you know.


^Marika bought one too.


^All the water in Venice was this milky turquoise. Do they dye it?! I swear they dye it...


^Had to get a nice, cliché photo of a gondolier and a gondola.


^Chocolate gelato. I'm pretty sure this one was bought at 10:45am... I love vacation.


^More canal shots. Truly couldn't get enough.

And these photos of me below were taken by Marika. I like them so much that I stole a few to show to y'all. I just feel so Italian in them. Or I mean, I feel like I'm doing all the things I should be doing as a tourist in Italy. Which is definitely not the same thing as being Italian, so nevermind.

For example:


^Ate a crostini with prosciutto crudo and sun-dried tomatoes.


^Ate an unhealthy amount of gelato. (Wait till I tell you about Florence's gelato festival...) And yeah, I might have just been holding Marika's gelato as well as mine so she could take a picture, but I did eat a lot of gelato myself, I promise.


^Took a jumping picture in Piazza San Marco with Anna. A tourist must, really.


^Looked at old old old serious serious serious and beautiful catholic churches.

^Tried to take a picture with a gondolier without him noticing. Failed, he noticed. 

^Ate tiramisu at sunset on the water. That's some genuine sugar-induced joy on my face. 

I'll say it again, I really loved Venice. Seeing as how we went to Italy two weeks before finals, I was expecting to be stressed, anxious and distracted for most of the trip. But somehow, I had a wonderful, stress-free time in Italy. I kinda thank Venice for that; it was our first stop and it was just so fun that I didn't even have time to think about school. I also thank Marika and Anna - such good travel buddies and friends.

Stay tuned; gonna post photos of Florence and Cinque Terre today, too (hopefully). 

Going home SATURDAY! Crazy. 

♡ Maddie