That Sinking Feeling...

And so we were off to Venice! We ended up in the train station Saturday morning and we made our way to the hotel to drop off our things. At this point we went to see some of the free sights in Venice, which was important! We went to shop around the Rialto Bridge and then made our way to our Gondola ride! We met the boat at their dock and they took Emily and I, as well as a group of three other tourists, on the gondola. It was a cold and windy day, but the waters were so lovely. From there we went to see some churches around the city, and in particular the Santa Maria Gloriosa Dei Frari. It was a deceptively large church on the inside and the architecture and artworks were all very detailed. It was another underrated church on the top list of the trip.

BOAT AMBULANCE

Frari

That evening we went to a restaurant right around the corner from the Frari. There, as a recommendation from Gabby in Florence, I decided to get a drink called Spritz. Spritz was created in Venice, and apparently packs a punch. When I asked the waiter which Spritz I should get, he replied in broken English: "These ones are weaker. Usually they are for girls. These ones are strong. Like men." Classy... I decided to humor him, and got the "Man's drink." It was frilly, bright orange, and tasted like grapefruit, which I had absolutely no problem with.

The next day we had very little to do. The big things on the list were St. Mark's square, the Basilica, and finding Emily a Venetian mask! First thing's first. St. Mark's Square. Last time I was there, there were thousands of pigeons and few people around, so we got to feed and hold them. This time around, it was quite the opposite. There were so many turists (and people selling Selfie Sticks) that almost all the pigeons were gone. It was a bit of a disappointment. Still, we queued for the Basilica and made out way inside. Everything was lined with golden mosaics, which was beyond description. Everything was so ornate and would have gleamed in the sun. Everything was made of dark marble which was a positive and a negative. It was a spectacle to behold... yet it cut out all the light in the church so the gold could not reflect too well. All in all, it was a fabulous church and worth the wait.

On the other hand, we have the tower outside of St. Mark's Basilica. This was not worth the wait... The line took us maybe an hour standing out in the roaring wind (because St. Mark's Square is by the docks) until we finally got to the ticket booth and elevator. The sign on the door said "Cold and windy." We all laughed. "Good thing they told us that now! HAH! We could have used that tip an hour ago!" We were all so wrong. So, so wrong. So naive. So young. Winter was coming, and we knew not what was in store at the top of this tower... The doors to the tower opened at the top and we were instantly whipped against the wall. The gale force winds almost threw us off of the tower and pierced through to your very soul. So we did the only thing we could... We took pictures and lined back up for the elevator down.

BOAT AMBULANCE ON A CALL!

Then we got to sleep early that night because we had an early flight the next morning. We had to wake up at 02:30, to leave by 03:00, for a boat taxi at 03:40, for an hour long trip to the airport, for a plane at 06:30. St. Mark's is actually quite lovely in the middle of the night. What a rough morning, but we were on our way for a long layover in Brussels and the few days together in Copenhagen.