Bienvenue à Paris!: Venice

Buongiorno! I write you this blog post with a heavy heart, after having to leave the most beautiful place in the world! Venice, Italy. I can sum up my 3 days there in one word: food. I can definitely say I experienced italian culture because I ate all the pasta, pizza and gelato they had to offer and I don't regret one bite or one pound gained.

I arrived Monday morning with my friend after a quick one hour flight over the Alps.

pretty cool

Despite it being a Monday, we had to fight our way through crowds of tourists to find our Bed & Breakfast, not that we cared since we were in awe of the beautiful scenery, canals and gondolas everywhere we looked! After having found the address of the B&B, we were hesitant since this was the door in a tiny, skinny alley that greeted us.

However, after going inside we were kindly greeted by a cute little chinese couple who ran the B&B literally out of their home. The homey atmosphere in a quiet location was perfect! We also had breakfast one morning with the others who were staying there from Austria and China (who spoke perfect English; one of the people from China had even been to Janesville, WI).

Back to Venice!!!!!! Not having any real plans, we spent 3 straight days wandering, taking in the views, and eating. It was perfect. Such a peaceful, beautiful place. 85% of the people on the streets appeared to be tourists, but what was refreshing was that most Italian people we spoke with did not or barely spoke english! The struggle was amusing for both parties. At restaurants we basically just pointed at the menu, however every restaurant helpfully offered menus in 5, 6 or 7 languages. On the subject of food, feast your eyes on everything I got to feast :)

we love pasta

we did try Italian pastries and honestly, they can't compare to Paris <3

of course we had to have a cappuccino in Venice

pizza with spicy salami; best pizza i've ever had (and I'm not just saying that since it's Italy)

ravioli

tiramisu and lemon cake

we had gelato every day. I'm not ashamed

So clearly I ate pretty well and was never disappointed. However three straight days of pizza, pasta and gelato can definitely make you appreciate a nice, simple bowl of cereal upon arriving back at home :) OK next best thing after food. The beautiful architecture and canals!!!!!

The last two pictures are my favorite! And yes, it was this incredible every day! Such a picturesque city <3 We also visited Piazza San Marco, the biggest/busiest plaza in Venice, with more beautiful buildings.

Last but not least, our GONDOLA RIDE. This was my favorite part by far. After talking with a few gondola-owners we found one who would give us a student discount and hopped on in! We did a big loop through beautiful small canals and then a quick ride through the Grande Canal. It was so fun!!! Also very entertaining since we were stuck in gondola traffic almost the whole time, and all the drivers knew each other so they were shouting across canals at each other in fast italian. I loved it!