A year ago today I was leaving my beautiful life in Europe to return to the routine one I live in Chicago. It makes me so sad to look back on the amazing times I had in London, Sweden, Italy, etc. So, for the one year anniversary of my return to the United States I am writing a blog entry about my trip to a place I have wanted to visit since I had first discovered travel: Venice, Italy. My sister and I both had wanted to travel to Venice for as long as I can remember, the city on water! The gondolas! the food! My grandmother on my mom’s side is 100% Italian, and has always taught us to embrace our Italian blood (even though we are also Greek and Irish). Well last year – May 24th, 2014, I moved out of my previous residency of Marylebone Halls in London England, and the following morning my boyfriend, Elliot and I boarded a 6 AM flight from London to Venice, Italy.
When we arrived at the airport in Venice we purchased a three day travel pass – this is a GREAT idea – it covers the buses and water taxis or “vaporettos”. Water taxis are pretty expensive, so for three days we got more than enough use out of our passes. We took the bus from the airport to the center of Venice then hopped on the water taxi that took us to our hotel. We were staying at a hotel on a different island, Lido. One of the main things about the water taxis, they get extremely packed, and if you are not accustomed to it the Italians may have a different outlook on personal space than Americans or even the English. My boyfriend discovered this the difficult way when an Italian boy crowded too close behind him and touched his backside. To say he freaked out is an understatement. We arrived in Lido and checked into our hotel, I believe we stayed at Villa delle Palme. It was a fairly nice hotel, which included breakfast in the morning and a roof, which we climbed up on and got an amazing view. We walked around Lido and grabbed Pizza for 2 euros and of course, Gelato! We then took the Vaporetto to Venice and visited San Marco Campanile, a tower which we took the elevator to the top of. Yes, I, the biggest pu$$y in the world went to the top. It was beautiful and terrifying, of course. There are a lot of gypsies in this square, and fare warning A LOT of people I know had been pick pocketed in Italy – more so than any other country. The gypsies kept bothering Elliot to buy me a rose so he decided to tell them than I beat him and than I am allergic to flowers – they still bothered us. We checked out a few churches then found an area with several bars that had outdoor patios right on the canal. We sat and enjoyed wine while watching gondolas stroll down the canal. The only downside was that we were basically attacked by pigeons. We explored the city a bit before heading back to our hotel for a nap. Here is another word of advice: There are people selling knock off handbags everywhere even outside of a fucking Chanel store. It was hilarious to watch them because there would be a bunch of them who would all grab the bags they were trying to sell and run once the police came near, be smart, don’t get caught buying a knock off bag. After our nap we looked for good Italian pasta but were lured to eat at a restaurant that had outdoor swings and had TERRIBLE pasta. After this we went to bed.
The next morning we woke up and had breakfast at the hotel. We then explored the city of Lido (I am not sure if it’s exactly a city or an island) we checked out the supermarket, bought some wine for later, then took the vaparetto to Venice once again. We visited St. Mark’s basilica – I was given a piece of cloth to tie around my waist because my dress was too short, oops – you are allowed to go on the roof which provides a great view. The basilica is so gorgeous too, I love the art and architecture. We then wanted to go on a gondola – which are 80 euro no matter what, whether there are 1 of you or 4. Word of advice* if you are young and poor try and find an older couple to split the cost with – 40 and 40! You’re welcome. The gondolas are run buy the city so there is no negotiating the price. The gondola driver was cool and told us a lot about the city but he grew quiet shortly after I asked if he had ever fallen into the canal. I think I had upset him. But guess what? He had once, only once he said. We then got gelato from La Boutique del Gelato which is said to have the best gelato in Venice. We then walked around and explored the city some more, putting a lock on Ponte del academia. We tried one of the best meatballs I have ever had at Osteria al assessia – it is NOT a tourist type place at all, it is hidden down a back alley basically! The wait for food was too long I believe – but you could order food from the counter so we got a meatball to split. Amazing. We then had dinner at a nearby restaurant with outdoor seating ( I can’t remember the name) but the food was great I had pesto spaghetti – the seating was a bit cramped tho but we got to know our “neighboring” diners really well! Afterwards we went back to our hotel and went to sleep because we had our flight to Athens Greece the following morning.
Venice was everything I imagined it to be and more! My five-year old self would be so ecstatic to know that I actually had the chance to cross off one of the biggest items on my bucket list… riding a gondola through venice! 🙂 The gondola driver told us in the later months in the year the water level gets very high, the levels have honestly risen so much over the years, this is not just a ploy to get tourists to visit the city. Try and see Venice before it’s too late!
Runaway Blond 