Carnivale, Masks, and the Macarena!

This excursion to Venice, Italy had to have been one of my favorite trips with the school thus far! It is one thing to visit the canal filled city of Venice but to go during Carnival is one experience not to be missed! First day we set foot in Venice I could already tell it was busier then the time I had visited previously. The streets were full of people and there were crowds on the bridges trying to get from one place to the other! Granted, Carnival didn't start til Sunday but people wasted no time getting here and there were already people in elaborate masks. We all felt rather under dressed!

Case and point, this guy!

We first visited Saint Marco's Square, one of the main piazzas on the island of Venice where you can also find the Dodge's Palace as well as St. Mark's Basilica. This was were the stage and other festivities were being set up for the upcoming Carnival. We were informed that if we wished to see the "Flight of the Angel", the introduction ceremony for Carnival, this was were it was going to happen. The chosen angel would leap from the St. Marco's square bell tower and glide down to the stage set up on the other side of the square via zip line, which sounded amazing so I definitely made sure I would stick around for that! After getting us to St. Marco's Square our chaperons Stefano and Franco turned us loose on the city to do what we wished for a couple hours.

Rachael, Cara, and I sitting by the water on this beautiful day!

After our time in Venice, we took a trip to Murano, the island famous for its glass making factories. Much to my delight I got to go to a different glass factory then the one Grandma and I went to last summer so I got to see other techniques and products. It definitely didn't have alot of the fancy glass bottles and cups the other one did though.





An hour later found us in Burano, an island famous for lace work, it was soooooo cold there with the sun setting so I didn't take many pictures I'm sorry to say. Couldn't feel my hands!


I can't get over the brightly colored homes here, they are all so full of character! This island was probably one of my favorite places because the locals were so pleasant, if you started a conversation with them they would tell stories about Burano and about what traditions they have for Carnival as opposed to what they do in Venice! Instead of gelato I got ciccolate caldo (hot chocolate!) and it was like drinking liquid chocolate, definitely kept me warm till we had to leave.

Masks at our Venetian dinner, why not?

Evening found us at a restaurant outside Venice were we had a typical Venetian meal with actual locals. So much food to be had, it was amazing any of us could finish anything! Naturally I was enjoying the food and forgot to take pictures of it all, visit my roommate's blog for dinner details here!Lots of wine, lots of food, and alot of dancing! I am pleased to say there was at least one song I knew how to dance to and that was the Macarena, which is surprising it was played because the locals had no idea how to dance to it. The best part of the evening I think was showing them how to dance the Macarena, Venetians and Americans dancing it out together made it a grand time! We even got Stefano and Franco to do it too! I wish I had good pictures of all this but the light was so dime my camera pictures are blurry, so until I can get the video to convert so it will upload to Youtube you'll have to take my word for it!

Day two was jamb packed with alot of stuff to do and see before we had to head back to Florence. First thing to see was the Peggy Guggenheim Museum of Venice, a museum of contemporary modern and futurist works of art strictly kept in Venice with famous pieces by Piccaso, Dali, and Mondrian. No pictures were aloud but even I was enthralled to see all the works and I'm not a huge fan of Futurists or Cubism. After the museum we all had to book it to St. Marco's Square to see the Flight of the Angel.

I have never seen so many people crowded into a tiny square as I have being here for Carnival, it was down right claustrophobic trying to get a spot to see the event but worth the experience of seeing the start to carnival! Getting unpacked after was a nightmare though, I'm sorry to say my mask was a casualty of trying to keep from being squished or loosing my purse to close quarter pick-pockets. I made up for it though but getting my face painted with my roommate Rachael by a man dressed as a pirate from Rome!


The rest of the day was spent admiring people's creativity in costumes and masks, Venetians really get into this sort of thing! It was like our Halloween for them.

My favorite shot I took in Venice!

Overall I got to do everything I wanted to do and had a fantastic time! We did not ride a Gondola but I am perfectly okay with that, it is an experience I got to share with my Grandma when I went with her to Venice last Summer.

Venice Summer 2010

Hope all is well stateside! Midterms are in two weeks so I will be hitting the books rather hard in order to do well since there are very little grades to be given in my classes. If you want to check out my designs and thoughts on sustainability in my studio class check out the link to my design blog.

Ciao!