Last night Meryl and I ate dinner and sat by the water just soaking in the sights of Venice at night.
It was lovely...
Today was even more fantastic...
Today was even more fantastic...
But before we get to all those wonderful stories we just wanted to document this little beauty.
Meryl's bed is on the left. Mine is on the right.
Normally people would probably think the opposite given our personalities...
We just thought this was pretty hilarious because our rooms liked just like this all four years of college too :)
Ok so today we happened to be in town for one of the biggest events of the year!
A boat race is held on the grand canal once a year and boats from every country are allowed to join. Most of the boats seemed to be from European countries and a lot of the boats were just local clubs and families wanting to get in on the action.
A boat race is held on the grand canal once a year and boats from every country are allowed to join. Most of the boats seemed to be from European countries and a lot of the boats were just local clubs and families wanting to get in on the action.
My ultimate goal today was to be mistaken for a gondolier- I was feeling very sailor-y in those stripes.
P.S. This is the straight version of my hair in Europe. I even got out a brush and tried to iron it out. Fail.
Everyone had themes and colors all over their boats
This guy was just pedaling along
These guys had awesome hats.
My favorite group was the pink ladies. They all had to be over 60 and they had awesome outfits.
People gave them a really big cheer when they come by.
Seriously, what's not to love?
It was like a parade on water
Don't exactly know what's going on here. As far as I could tell this guy wasn't injured...
He was just planking on the front of his boat while the rest of his group rowed - very classy.
There were a few crashes (This was pretty understandable. There were hundreds of boats and not everyone had a ton of experience)
The best part was listening to relatively good-natured yelling- each person in a different language :)
Our attempt at getting the boats in the background
So many of the boats were rowed by older people. They were studs.
This disgusted me so much I had to take a picture.
It is a well-known fact you do not just put your feet in the waters of Venice.
Don't they understand how dirty that water is?
They will be getting some sort of disease for sure.
This kid was cute- AND smart enough not to put his feet in the water.
It was such a family event- I loved the family teams competing. The mom is obviously managing the whole affair perfectly from her seat.
Another crash...this one took a little while to untangle.
Apparently, I was avidly watching the proceedings.... I was like a 7 year old basically.
I love boats :)
The pirate boat
The American boat!
We tried to cheer for them, but they didn't seem to care...they were too busy singing "Happy Birthday" at the top of their lungs... I have no idea why.
The view from the Rialto Bridge of the boats on the Grand Canal
This old guy looked like he would have loved to be out there with them.
After the boat race we made our way to St. Marco Square again
Here we are waiting in line to see the Basilica
Good thing I brought two pairs of sunglasses
So inside the Basilica you are technically not supposed to take pictures...
But I had to sneak one in.
The ENTIRE ceiling is covered in millions of tiny tiles and most of them are gold.
I LOVE GOLD.
It is beautiful, is it not?
Ok I had to take another one...these aren't very good cause I had to be sneaky, but you can see the gold and the tiles- simply amazing.
Meryl also thought the floor was pretty fantastic.
Each tile was made of a different type of marble.
Ok so the rest of our day didn't consist of much, but I can't even begin to tell you how perfect it was.
Other than getting hit on by random Italian men and eating gelato we basically just walked around getting lost on the streets of Venice and I took pictures to my heart's content.
I took about 330 pictures on two different cameras. Meryl took less than half than that :)
Here are some pictures from the day!
I told you I was feeling very nautical today!
As you can tell I get a little obsessed with doors and windows... some people might find this a little odd, but I think they both have a lot of mystery behind them...and they just look interesting- (at least to me) so now you know why there are so many pictures of them!
The Bridge of Sighs
Above the Basilica
Dinner tonight consisted of margarita pizza and gnocchi in pesto sauce.
I was in heaven- best food in Italy so far!
Our last stop for the night was sitting on the Rialto Bridge eating gelato and talking about how much we've loved our trip so far.
We are off to Cinque Terre tomorrow- but we are really going to miss Venice!
Love,
Ale
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