17 december 2010 - venezia

hello faithfuls :)

i hope that christmas preparations are going well! we've finally come to the last italy post!

venice was something out of a fairytale and pretty much a monument in itself. we arrived late tuesday evening by train and stepped out of the station to find a boat stop for the boatbus! we took the boat down the grand canal to our stop right near the rialto bridge. since it was already dark, we headed straight to our hostel which we again lucked out on! it had more of a hotel feel which was a bonus. we headed out for dinner and gelato before getting to sleep early.

on wednesday morning we woke up to walk around and see venice. it was so much fun to wander around the enclosed island city without worrying about getting too lost. the adorable bridges and quiet little canals, all without a single car were so beautiful. we went in countless shops with pretty glass and intricate (that's right, levs) masks. i wanted to buy/wear one all around the city but restrained myself.

so. cute.

 

unfortunately, our bad luck continued since dec. 8 was the feast of the assumption, a major holiday in italy, so st. mark's basilica and tower were closed. we did get to see the method of dealing with "high water" in venice which was fun!

fun, right?

at noon, my good friend, mattea, arrived by boat! she is studying in bologna for the year and was kind enough to come visit us for the day. i have missed her tremendously and we spent the evening catching up. the rain forced us indoors but we had fun nonetheless.

isn't she adorable?

we went to an early dinner and sat in the outdoor section of a restaurant on the grand canal that had been flooded that morning. we again sacrificed our dignity to buy from the "tourist" menu. hard to beat a 3 course meal for 15euro!

we said goodbye to mattea, had more gelato and sleep and woke up to travel to lugano switzerland, our last journey of the trip!

lugano is right on the border between italy and switz and was absolutely beautiful. one of emily's friends goes there for school and let us stay in her apartment. we took an afternoon trip to como, italy as well where george clooney apparently has a home. we didn't see him, sadly.

saturday consisted of a series of train rides starting at the ungodly hour of 4am. we finally arrived back in galway, exhausted on saturday afternoon. it was an amazing trip and all week, emily and i have been reminiscing about our days of carefree pasta eating :)

miss you all! (countdown 2 days until eileen and mom are here!!!)