Day 25: Venice- Touring, Eating, and Boat Rides!

After breakfast in the morning (well, actually I slept through breakfast... Too many mojitos the night before), we took a walking tour of Venice with Meghan, who runs the hostel. She was terrific- she's from Canada but has been living in Venice for a year and has read tons of books on the history and culture. So she was a great tour guide. One of the first places she took us was the Jewish ghetto, which is historically known as the first ghetto in the world. Centuries ago, Italians sequestered the Jewish people into this part of town. At night, they would close down the canal bridges so that none of the Jews could get out of the area at night. Hundreds of years later, the Nazis showed up and organized all of the residents in the square below and evacuated over 200 people from the area. After WWII, only four of those people returned to the area. Today it's a memorial to the hundreds who didn't survive, and many Jewish families still live there.


Next we just continued to tour, not really on the lookout for anything in particular since we'd already seen the big attractions the day before. One thing that I've noticed and loved about Italy is that you always see little dogs just hanging out in the middle of the street, stretched out and enjoying the sun. They have collars, but no leashes, and no owners in sight. Meghan told us that their owners are often the owners of local shops who just let their dogs hang out outside during the day. So cute!








We took a short little gondola ride across the grand canal. Gondola rides are THE THING to do in Venice, but they're super expensive... Like over $100. So we did the cheap alternative... 50 cents for a 5 minute long ride across the canal. I know it's not the same as the pricey one, but I felt like it was a pretty good deal considering the money saved, and I can still say I rode in a Venetian gondola! The building that we rode to, in the photo below, is the building that Johnny Depp jumped off in the movie The Tourist. Love himmmm!





That same building houses a huge fish market, and is also surrounded by lots of fresh fruit and vegetable stands. Some of the fish looked terrific... Others looked inedible and kinda scary. Some were seriously bigger than my dog, and I'm not even exaggerating.











We bought some fruit, then went to one of Meghan's favorite coffee shops in the city. We had hoped to get a table and sit for awhile, but of course the sitting fee was really expensive. That was an adjustment in Italy: if you stand while you eat, it's free... If you sit at a table, it'll cost you!





Next we got some gelato. Ok, I'm writing this post about 10 days after the fact and I've had a lot of gelato between now and then, and I still think that this one was my favorite of all: limoncello flavored. It was so good! Creamy lemon, with a sugary sticky gooey lemon swirl. So. Freaking. Delicious.


Ooh, I also found my future home, so that was a big perk! Green with green shutters and a green door... Pretty cute huh?





Then we had a pretty funny encounter with a little girl running a lemonade stand. There were two little stands side by side, so we figured they were friends. Meghan bought a cup from one, but then I felt bad for the other girl so I went over to her table to buy a cup from her. Turns out they weren't friends; they're competitors! And the girl I bought from charged TWICE AS MUCH for her lemonade... Which, by the way, tasted terrible. But I gave her a break since she's probably only 9 or so.


We kept wandering around, with Meghan showing us some of her favorite places. This one was one of mine- a big "glass ass" featured in the front window, with a funny little sign on the wall:





We also saw our fair share of wine shops. I really need to figure out the rules on flying it back to the US with me, because it'd be great to take some home to Mom and Dad!


The tour was pretty much over, so Meghan and Bjorn headed back to the hostel while me and Taylor kept walking around because she had to leave town in a few hours. We found a really great place for a late lunch, Pane Vino Rialto. I had fagottino pasta filled with smoked cheese and walnuts, in a creamy cheesy walnut sauce... I think it was honestly my favorite pasta dish so far... Maybe in my entire life. It was that good. There was also a great little two-man band playing while we ate. Taylor and I decided it was a perfect Italian moment- incredible pasta, great weather and patio seating, and a wonderful little Italian duo playing happy little songs across the street.








I went back to the hostel with Taylor because she had to go catch a plane to Paris, then I went to the train station to make my seat reservation for getting to Florence the next day. I didn't have any plans for the evening, so I just decided to walk as far as I could and then hop on one of the water buses back to my hostel. I tried a meringue from one of the shops I passed. I'd been eyeing them ever since I got to Venice because they're everywhere and they're huuuuge! Turns out, unfortunately, they're not so good. Like pure sugar in brick form. Kinda gross, actually. Oh well!


I also took another gondola ride across the canal, so now I can say I've been on TWO Venetian gondolas. Woot woot!





For a few hours I just wandered through the streets, getting lost pretty frequently but enjoying myself regardless!








I made it down to the Piazza San Marco again, and decided to take a nice long boat ride back to the hostel from that point... It was a nice way to get a a grand canal tour of Venice without having to pay for the expensive gondola. And my timing was perfect- right at sunset!




















After my boat ride I went nearby and picked up a little pizza, then ate it back at the hostel and met my new roommate from Hong Kong. We hung out in the hostel kitchen and chatted for awhile, and Meghan brought us a bottle of Marsala wine.


Marsala wine is DEADLY. 18.5% alcohol, if I remember correctly... But I might not remember correctly, because the girl from Hong Kong didn't drink much so I had to make up for her ;) it was great though, I had zero trouble falling asleep that night!


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