Section 2

Section 2: Venice
We left for Venice on Thursday last week.  We had to take two (or was it three?) trains to get there.  It was a long trip, but not too long (unlike another train traveling day we had, more of that later). We got to the train station in Venice and had to take a water bus to the other side of the city where our hotel was.  The water bus system was pretty cool since it travels around all of Venice and takes riders wherever they need to go. So, we took the water bus over to the other side of the city and on the way got to see the whole city including Saint Mark's square, which is the biggest tourist sight in Venice.  Once we got off the bus, we got lost, since Venice is extremely confusing and has so many winding streets that don't connect through.  We got lost a couple times, but the one on the way to our hotel was the worst.  We were lugging heavy suitcases and by the end of it we were all exhausted.  With no time to rest, we went out and about to see sights though!

Saint Mark's 

Now that you have gondolas on your mind, I need to tell you about the gondola we took.  It was really cool and relaxing.  We sat on red, velvet, fuzzy seats and road through the canals.  We got to see the main large canal that was near our hotel, Saint Marks's, and many beautiful buildings.  It was my favorite part of the trip.

Waiting for the gondola 

The rest of the time in Venice was spent riding along the canals on the water bus, eating some tasty gelato, and having great seafood.  Dani, Ryan, and I went to Murano, which is where they do the glass blowing.  Unfortunately, there was not much to see because a lot of the stores were closing once we got there and there wasn't any glass blowing going on.  But, it was a beautiful and relaxing ride on the water bus.  We discovered a really good french place to eat that evening and we all had great dishes.  My sister got eggplant parmesan and I had spaghetti with clams, and we shared.  My mom had the same as me, Ryan had ravioli with spinach and ricotta, and my dad had quail. Yes, quail.  He went all out since it was his birthday. 

Another place that we really liked was the bar next to our hotel.  Surprising, they had the best meatballs I have ever had.  They also had fried meatballs, cheese balls, and fried zucchini.  It was all fried food, and I loved it because fried food is hard to find here in Italy! 

Venice was gorgeous and a lot of fun, but Cinque Terre was where we went next and it was my favorite place so far while I have been studying abroad! 

Coming up: Section tre (three in Italian for all you unworldly people like myself haha)