Carnevale di Venezia: Live in Color

 Venice!... or Venezia if you are Italian :)
This is probably one of the most popular places in all of Italy, known for its 100's of bridges, beautiful water ways, gondolas, and of course for its Carnevale Masks. What is Carnevale you ask? Well it is pretty much like Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but this is where it all started. It is a festival that lasts around 2 weeks at the end of January and beginning of February, and as you will see from my later pictures the people really go all out for it!

I was fortunate enough to be in Europe during the correct time of year, but also to be able to see the highlights of Venice during its most famous festival. I went with a couple of friends/roommates on a tour group called Bus2alps, which bused us from Rome to Venice. It was an interesting experience (at least the bus ride with this company). I've ridden for my share of long hours in the same vehicle, but this was slightly different. Not only did we leave at around 7 a.m. and return around 5 a.m. the next morning the bus was not necessarily the most comfortable thing to ever ride in (with about 50 college kids). Needless to say it was an experience, and a cheap one compared to what it could have been.

 But once we finally got to Venice around 2:30 in the afternoon it was a sight! A little chilly being 7 hours north of Rome and surrounded by water. I was glad I had my gloves, scarf and winter coat.

The only way around this city was by a water bus, which is basically like the transportation in Rome but slower and on the water (Tickets for these are not checked, so you may not even need to buy one, which is the same for Rome because I hardly ever pay for the bus... It's not like they check..oops!).

 I took quite a lot of pictures which I have to share because of the incredible town/city that is Venice. It almost reminds me of Grand Haven, MI a little bit (besides the fact that this city is over 2000 years old and has buildings that old too!). It reminds me of home a bit because of the water and that EVERYBODY has a boat and that it is the most convenient way to get around (I saw no cars here, like Mackinaw Island!). But nonetheless it was beautiful as I hope some of my pictures were able to capture.

View of the main area from the water bus

Some of the famous Gondolas!

 OK, these gondolas were pretty cool. But unfortunately I did not ride on one... The reasoning for this is that they are SUPER over priced, apparently they have a sort of monopoly in Venice because in order to drive one the driver must be pure Venetian (Which there are about 30,000 people that actually live there year round so its not a huge pool of people). They were charging around 100 euro just to ride in one of these things, although it would have been super awesome I just didn't want to spend my money on it. Especially due to the fact that it was cold, as in 40 degrees in the sun cold. Which does NOT make me want to go ride on the water in an uncovered boat... This is one experience I will save for the summertime.

More gondolas!

One of the many water ways through the town

Once we actually stepped off of the water bus and onto the main city part of Venice we met up with my roommate Rachel, who was staying the entire weekend here. At this point what we had to do now was go and get Venetian Carnevale Masks, these were the original things mind you. These stores that sold masks were EVERYWHERE, but Rachel took us to one store that you could watch them being made. The masks were so intricate and beautiful it was hard to choose just one. They were also surprisingly inexpensive, which made me happy!

During this festival one would feel strange not wearing one of these ornate masks. Once we had picked out ours it felt like the most normal thing to wander around and meander through the tiny streets of Venice wearing a Carnevale mask.

The lady hand making the masks in the store.

Some of the handiwork, and definitely not even the most intricate!

More intricate masks and gondolas.

 The pathways and waterways were breathtaking, this city was basically an island but nowhere could I find actual land that wasn't a part of a building. It was amazing because the tides change so much here that some paths become completely covered with water. It almost looks as if the people that built this city actually built it right in the middle of the water!

The next couple of photos were my personal favorites because it really captured the spirit that is Carnevale that would not be seen around Venice at any other time during the year. People went all out on their costumes, it felt as if I was transported back in time to an era with much grander outfits and stern faces.

Me with a lion, and I'm wearing my mask!!

Beautiful Church in San Marco's Square

A different view of the church

 

 Only a water bus ride away from the main center of Venice is the island of Murano, famous for its glass blowing. It was not as crazy as Venice, a little more laid back with less people but still breathtaking. The glass shops lined the main street and they were crazy intricate creations. Yet, this glass was again overpriced. I wasn't too keen on buying earrings worth 89 euro just to say they were made of Murano glass (which is apparently some pretty high end glass, but I also didn't want anything to break on the plane ride home either...).

Me with my mask on the island of Murano home of the famous glassmaking merchants.

Some of the Murano glass work I could actually take a picture of.

Random cute windows

More of Murano

Famous Venetian water ways

My roommate Rachel and I with our masks and hot juice to keep us warm (It was a cold day it even started snowing!).

Once we finally headed back to Venice it had gotten pretty cold and my phone had died to save some of its battery because it was so cold. We also tried to find the famous Rialto bridge, which proved more of a task than the rest of the trip. We asked directions to this specific bridge at least 10 times and when we finally found it, it was worth it to see but it was also fairly dark so the normal pictures that I could have gotten did not turn out too well. After that trek we went to go head back to the bus and make our way back to Rome, and good thing too for at the time we started to leave it started to SNOW!