Venice. It reminds me of those romance novels, or something you would hear from an elegant man in a black suit talking to his beautiful wife about vacation plans for the summer. It reminds me of gondolas, and men in striped shirts, and love. Pure, unadulterated love...
…and believe me when I tell you that it was everything I imagined and more. I fell in love the moment I stepped out of the train station and nothing could possibly compare. But that’s later. Shall we start from the beginning?
Michelle and I woke up around 7AM and walked in the hot, hot heat of Civitavecchia to the train station. Another student named William (Billy) came with Michelle and I because he wanted to hit up Venice instead of Rome (I didn’t blame him, although I had never been to Rome). We took this really hot train (took about 1.5 hours to arrive in Rome), and then proceeded to get lost in Rome’s gigantic train station. Although it would have been very cool to see the Vatican and the Trevi Fountain…we had to meet Jenna (our other roomie at Behrend) in Venice because she had already purchased the hotel room. As soon as Billy, Michelle, and I bought our tickets to Venice, we had to run all the way to platform 1 before the train left us. We ran from platform 23 to 1…and I don’t run. We made the train and passed through Florence and Bologna and finally arrived to the much awaited Venice 5.5 hours later.
At the train station, Jenna jumped out into our arms and we reacquainted with each other. We walked to our hotel which was about 15 minutes away, walking distance. Venice is like Disney in the way it puts a spell over you. After making your way through the herds of people, several canals are in front of you, beautifully constructed bridges await you, and this surreal feeling that life brings to this city brushes against you as you make your way through the narrow alleyways. We passed fruit markets and beautiful people and several stands where painters were trying to reconstruct the magic of Venice.
Our hotel room was absolutely amazing. There was one large bed (which Jenna, Michelle, and I all shared), and one random twin bed in the corner which we reserved for Billy. The ceiling was painted with a mural of blue skies with trees and birds in the distance. We opened the wooden shutters on the windows and breathed in a sigh of contentment. Our room overlooked a canal and several people in boats drove on by, waving and smiling to us as we looked down. A gorgeous stone bridge stood to the right of our room, and laundry hung outside to dry on the left side.
Then I realized we had a balcony, which made the room all the more magical. We set our belongings down and proceeded to eat real Italian pizza at a café that we found on the way to the hotel. I ordered pizza with mushrooms, ham, and artichokes and was greatly surprised when the waiter brought an entire large pizza out just for me. I didn’t know whether to thank him and chow down, or open my mouth to make sure I was still paying the right price for an entire pizza. I did both, and the pizza was really great. We walked around the back streets of Venice after dinner, watching the sun set on the harbor and relishing in the fact that we were in one of the most romantic places in Italy.
On our way back to the hotel, we found a casino and decided to tour around. There was no sign of guests, nothing at all like Las Vegas or Ontario…it was dead empty. But we heard some music and followed the beautiful sounds to a large garden with patio lights and tables. There was only one table full of student-aged people, and two men were playing the guitar/singing on a stage. The scene was so remarkable, with the patio lights setting the mood and reflecting off the stage.
When we returned to the hotel, I plopped myself on the balcony with my journal (if you were wondering what this balcony looked like…well, I could sit horizontally on the balcony and fit perfectly. No chairs would fit, and it felt like a cocoon, but it was lovely). I wrote and watched the moon slide easily over the buildings. Several fishing boats lulled on by, and it was the most serene, peaceful night I’ve had in a while.
A few words from my journal that night, words that must have rang incessantly on my heart as I sat there in the moonlight. “My heart actually aches for this place, this place of wonder and awe and magical landscapes. The canals are such a large part of the magic – it’s kind of a cliché to romanticize Venice, but it’s all true. This is truly the city of love.”
I don’t know if everyone would agree that Venice is the most magical place in the world. After all, I am only one person and I am nowhere close to seeing the entire world, but from what I have seen and from the places I have been…I wouldn’t have traded Venice for anything, not Rome, not Maine, not even for a Klondike bar. Ha. :P
Ciao!
A.
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