May 8th - Arrival in Italy!

We arrived in Venice around 10:30, got situated in our hotel, cleaned up a bit (after 14 hours on a plane you feel pretty gross) and hit the town. There was no way we were going to miss out on a day in Venice just because we were tired - the Tylenol helped a bit last night, but how much quality sleep can you really get on a plane?

This was our first hotel room. It looks like a normal American hotel room, however, look a little closer and you will notice that there are two small beds next to each other to appear as though they are one large bed. Also, those pillows were normal sized, and the bed was exactly as wide as each pillow. That left about 3 inches on either side of my arm when I lied on my back. They were sooo small. Another thing that you cannot tell from this photo, the right hand wall was a mirror (probably in attempt to make the room appear larger) and that painting in the upper right hand corner? It was cut in half and pushed up against the mirror so it reflected in order to make it look like a full painting. hahaha good technique. I thought it was clever.

Venice was everything that I imagined it to be! Every picture I've ever seen of this place is exactly what it is! That never happens - only when you're in Italy. There were nothing but alleyways and water canals, cobblestone walkways, beautiful homes with decaying bright colored stucco, brick showing underneath, and contrasting colored shutters framing every window. Plants were hanging from every window and balcony and vines scaled the walls. As you wind through a maze of alleyways, you randomly happen upon a courtyard with live music, open shop windows, planter boxes with huge shade trees, benches, and people jabbering away in Italian. Clothes lines hung between every building, pigeons were everywhere and everything was just perfect. I wanted to soak in every sound, smell, and sight.

This was my first look at the Grand Canal! Isn't it just perfect??

With water canals instead of roads, this required bridges to be everywhere :) I loved it. And the metal work on every handrail? Gorgeous.

I cannot even explain how much I love alleyways, old brick, arches, and cobblestone!

Really?? Does it get any better than this??

When I said narrow alleyways, this is what I meant. It's a good thing all doors open inside... Before I left my dad said don't go down any alleyways at night - this would mean I would have to stay out of Venice at night! I may not have taken his advice... shhh!

Our first stop in Venice? Gelato. It was pretty good but I'm not a huge ice cream fan. I got pistachio flavor. It ended up being the only gelato I ate the entire trip. We enjoyed it while we watched the boats heading down the canal with a gentle breeze and 75 degree weather. Perfect.

Every shop was lined with hand crafted masquerade masks with exquisite beading, feathers, and detailing. I don't know what they Italians use them for but I wanted one!

For lunch we enjoyed a delicious Italian panini on the steps of some beautiful bridge.

On our very first day in Venice we got to see the most famous bridge in Italy - the Rialto Bridge. Can you believe it was built in the 1500's??

 And guess who just happened to be in Venice riding a gondola down the Grand Canal that day? The Pope. Naturally. (he's the little red guy in the middle of all those security boats) The craze he created was a bit much to me. He seemed more like a celebrity than a man representing Christ - unless that's not his purpose, I don't know. It's not every day you're stuck in a swarm of people in Venice all trying to see the Pope, so I did as the Italians and took a picture. 

After a long day of walking and soaking in the sights, we headed back to the hotel. We were so exhausted I even witnessed one of the students fall asleep standing up on the bus :) I couldn't have asked for a better first day in Italy.