Feb 16-18: Venezia

My return to Venice was a glorious one. This time, it was a school trip, the weather was perfect, and most importantly, it was Carnevale. Carnevale is celebrated all over the world, and Venice is the happening spot for it in Italy. When I arrived in Venice I saw why. The city was packed with thousands of people, many wearing fancy costumes and masks. It was an incredible environment.

The busride to Venice Friday morning was somewhat of a letdown because I had such high expectations. It was my first weekend trip with the school of the semester and I was ready to relive the good times we had during last semester's long rides. Instead I ended up on the smaller bus and we ended up watching some strange movie with Jennifer Anniston where she has an affair with Jake Jilenhall. The megaphone that we bought back in Rome made the trip this time, but the batteries were almost dead.

We were staying in Fusina, a town across the water from Venice. Our "campsite" was literally a trailer park, and all the guys ended up situated in one quad together. Even though it was only 2 in the afternoon and we were just getting situated, things were already getting pretty rowdy and we were all pretty stoked about our living situation for the weekend.

After getting moved in, I took the boat into the city to see some of the town and experience the festival. The blue canals were filled with boats and the narrow streets were lined with people. Venice is a surreal atmosphere, and if you've never been there, you need to go. There's nothing else in the world like it. We walked around for a while, went to Saint Mark's Cathedral (which is absolutely incredible inside with many gold mosaics), then got a little bit of food thanks to the one euro hamburger deal at McDonalds. I picked up a bottle of wine for the evening and then ended up sitting on a dock with John and Engel that was tucked away in one of the many canals. As the sky grew darker, we made our way to San Marco for the evening festivities. There were flame jugglers, comedians, and a live band. We danced and had a great time until we had to catch the bus back to Fusina.

The next day was pretty much the same routine, which was great, except that this time we bought a waterbus pass and visited one of the islands next to Venice. It was great and the weather was perfect. We danced again at San Marco and then caught the bus back. When we got back we partied in the trailer park.

All in all, the return to Venice was such a blast. It was nice to get back to the school trip routine and Venice is definitely one of my favorite cities.