Gondola girls

Where the night vision of the city leads you to dark ally ways of forgotten color. The night is lit by the colored lights hung by strings of rope. The water follows you as you walk by bars, bakeries, and ports of boats. Never knowing what house you are surprisingly passing. Houses that have belonged to Mozart and Napoleon. 

The culture and history surrounding the city of Venice are like no other. Poles of striped colors standing straight in the water have great significance. Here, the candy-cane-like striped poles are particularly striped with the colors of the royal families. The poles are placed in the water as a personal parking place for the boats that the family-owned. As you make your way in the water you will pass ports filled with boats.  You can see taxi boats taking locals and tourists to restaurants that serve the best fish and pasta dishes. Known for the ports and fish that fishermen catch you will be eating some of the best fish. 

A day trip in Venice. A girl's trip that was planned for 2 and then eventually to 5. I needed to do something the first weekend back. Whether it was something close or far I wanted to escape the awkwardness and silence that the campus had brought. Everyone was still getting used to being back and seeing each other on campus so things were still a bit awkward. 

Planning the Venice trip was a lot of fun. It was me, Mellak, Giulia, Lexi, and Emma D. We all gathered in Mellak's room and started googling what to do and what trains were available on Friday. Emma had found a gondola boat we could take and a cool museum that was supposed to be a must-do. So she created an itinerary and booked the gondola. We booked the fast train for 8:20 because there were no transfers. 

Out the door by 7, I caught up with Lexi and Mellak. We planned to walk to the train station because we didn't want to pay for a cab or get caught using the bus without a ticket. Luckily we got to the train station 5mis before departing. 

We sat in our seats and I watched as we passed city after city until we made it to Venice. The weather in Venice was cold and cloudy. But it was still very beautiful. The scenery that our eyes were witnessing was something we'd never seen. Only ever in movies. As we walked down those steps that lead us out of the train station we directly hit water and bridges. Houses of color popped out and balconies of arches were laid out with shutters of forest green. The first thing that Giulia said was "omg this is just like Spider-Man." We all giggled a little as we made our way to a cafe. We needed coffee and fast. 

We walked through small alleys of colorful buildings. Passing water and a lot of churches. We had coffee and croissants at a small cafe. We talked for what seemed like forever about our childhood and our winter break. We all agreed that Shake cafe has the worst coffee ever.

After we left the cafe we walked a bit more through more allys of art, designer brands, and small jewelry stores. We found a really cute balcony where you could see gondolas passing under the bridge and the colorful walls of the buildings that are around. So we did what any teenager would do and we took a bunch of pictures.

Finally, we made it to San Marco and watched the boats sail on the water and people watched couples in the gondolas. Our first mission was to tour a museum, Doge's Palace. We entered this palace and all of us toured the beautiful hallways full of gold art and wooden doors. We stood in awe of the paintings that were above our heads. Later on, realizing that below this beautiful palace was a prison where cells of iron layed and colors of gray and black darkened the rooms. We felt like we were in a horror movie. We contrasted the difference between what we saw at the top to what we were witnessing at the bottom.

After the palace, we checked the time to make sure we had enough time to grab lunch. We went to the Illy cafe to grab lunch. We all ordered a sandwich and we were not disappointed at all it was so good. We still talk about those sandwiches. We tried to rush through lunch since our appointment for the gondola was soon. So we walked fast to where we were supposed to meet. We got there and a mean lady informed us that we were too late. So Emma got on the phone and asked for a refund or a later time. We sat on the steps in Piazza San Marco as she waited for the refund to go through. We decided it would probably be best to just find another boat to pay for. So we walked near the water and found the nicest guy to take us on a boat ride. He showed us where Mozart lived and Napoleon. Giulia was shocked by what her eyes were witnessing because these were things we learned about in high school. And now we are seeing it up close. 

-- Giulia is probably one of the nicest people I have ever met. She is sweet and funny. Her energy matches yours. She is always there for you and ready to grab a cappuccino at any time of the day. Her fashion is a 1. She is always there to hype you up when you need it. Her camera roll on Instagram is iconic so if you make it on there you are pretty cool. She loves Drake and Frank Ocean and can talk about Drake for hours. She's a right hand and a go-to. --

The gondola ride was amazing and something we will never forget. 

We were feeling the need for a spritz so we walked into this nice bar and ordered some drinks. They were really good and definitely needed. While we enjoyed our drinks Giulia's dad texted her and told us to go to a bar where the Bellini was invented. He told her that this was a must and we needed to do it. So we made our way to the bar. Sat and ordered 4 bellini's and when I tell you this was the best drink I've ever had in my life I am not joking. Giulia told us that it was on her dad and we took a selfie and sent it to him.

As the sun went down and the moon came out to shine we continued to walk the narrow allys of Venice. Laughing in the streets and watching the calming water.