Venezia: Day 4

Today we woke up in Mestre, which is just a short train ride away from Venice.
We took the tram to the island, and got to run amok in Venice after taking our group picture.
The group of the day was Sam, Bex, Alyssa, and Mia. We quickly tried to get away from the touristy areas, and tried to “get lost“ in Venice. Our first money spending spot was at a fruit stand. I bought these mini strawberry things. They weren’t quite strawberries, but they looked like strawberries. The sales people stressed me out. They didn’t want us to touch any of their fruits (I wanted to choose my own fruit) and they seemed in a rush to get people checked out. I also bought one plum. Gayle bought a container of regular strawberries, and we all got to eat one. They were delicious. After the fruit stand, we wandered towards some of the quieter areas in Venice, and a few of us stopped at a souvenir kiosk to buy postcards and magnets. Eventually, we wondered far enough that we found one of the Canal bridges that had basically no one on it and no one around, And that’s where we stopped to take our canal bridge photos. We wandered for quite a bit longer and eventually ended up in a slightly busier area but not totally touristy, and decided as a group that we wanted to go on a gondola ride. The gondola ride cost €120 so we each paid €24 per person, and it was worth every euro. Our gondolier, Elia was great and told us more about how you become a gondolier. I knew they had to go to special school, but I did not know that they had to be Venetian. We also talked to him about how Venice is sinking, and how it could be underwater within the next 50 to 100 years, which would be a damn shame because I love this city. Our gondola ride took us around some of the quieter canals, and eventually into the grand canal, where we got to see the Academy and The Natural Museum. It was very cool. Venice was a lot busier than it was the first time I came. I imagine it’s because it’s summer now and not winter off-season.
After the gondola ride, we wandered again and ended up lost in a residential area where we came across a dead end. We ended up finding our way back more or less without a map. Eventually, we went on the hunt for food and we ended up down the same path that the hotel I stayed at last time was on , and I found the lips that I posted on my Instagram “Top uposted photos of 2024. Unfortunately it’s just like half a pair of lips. We eventually found food and I got seafood risotto. By this point my feet hurt so bad from all the walking that we were doing.
We stopped in one of the leather purse stores, and I bought a little pink coin pouch for my euro coins. Alyssa bought a purse that’s similar color to the one that I got last time, but with brown accents and Bex bought a brown and cow hide bag.
We planned to eventually go into Saint Mark Cathedral, but didn’t end up going in because the line was very long. Instead, Alyssa and Bex bought scarves in the square. Sam immediately stole one of their scarves and wore it for a little while. The cathedral was absolutely gorgeous from the outside. It was huge and very ornate. I don’t remember seeing it the last time I was in Venice. We of course wandered a little bit longer and came across a bell tower. At this point it started to rain so we just kind of hung out in the square. We got up to go get gelato and got caught by a square salesman. They put birdseed or something in Sam’s hands, so that all the pigeons would come and sit on him, and so a couple of other people did it, and then they tried to charge us, but it was really hilarious. So they said it was worth it. We did go get gelato after that, I had a cup of chocolate gelato. After gelato, we ended up getting kind of lost again. We were in some quiet alleyways, and we came across a few lion statues. We of course took pictures with those. We also saw a really cute dog that almost let us pet it, but then he ran away. We walked to another square, and then laughed our asses off because we were making Sam mad, and we tried to take a picture with the phone on the ground and it did not turn out very good. Next. we were starting to head back towards our meeting spot since we were supposed to meet at eight to get back on the tram to go back to Mestre and on the way, we passed old wild west, which is an American themed restaurant in Italy. I needed to use the bathroom, so I figured if we went inside and I bought a Coke or something I could use their bathroom. I bought a Coke for like four euros and use their bathroom which reminded me of home- it was dirty lol. I remember seeing old wild west near the hotel in Rome, but we didn’t go in. This time we went, and it was like sitting in a revolutionary war themed Cracker Barrel. We sat there for probably about an hour and a half. Sam got an Aperol, and we just kind of hung out and yapped. When we left old Wildwest, we headed back towards our meeting spot and the tram, and by the time we got there, we decided that we were ready to go back to the hotel. So we got on the tram before eight P.M. On the tram, I sat next to a Scottish couple from Glasgow. I asked them if they had a good day, and we talked about what we did. They were very nice, but I couldn’t fully understand the husband. He had a very much Brave type accent. When we got back to the hotel, we changed and then decided to go out and get dinner. Sam chose a restaurant that was only like two minute walk from the hotel, which was nice. I had spaghetti with duck Raghu and it was amazing. I love duck. I also got a Mojito with my dinner, and it was also amazing. My favorite quote from that dinner was Mia saying “we’re gonna get arrested because we are so ugly”. context on that: we went to this kind of fancy restaurant in our pajamas. Overall, I had a great day in Venice and still Venice remains one of my favorite cities in Europe. I really want to go back for the carnival sometime. We still have plenty of cities left to go on this trip, so it could be dethroned. But right now, it is still my favorite.Read more