Venezia, Italia

I've always wanted to go to Venice. The fact that the city is sinking is crazy, but every picture is so gorgeous. Venice is just as I imagined and everything I had hoped. Everywhere you look is a postcard.
We arrived in Venice Thursday night around midnight and it didn't seem like Italy at all while we were riding on the coach to town because it was dark and we couldn't see a lot. My friends that had arrived a day earlier booked a hostel for us and gave us directions to find it. We took the water bus since there are no cars in Venice. When I saw all of the canals and buildings, it finally hit me that I was in Venice. The bus was interesting because the driver just goes down the main canal and stops for a bit at each stop. The ticket cost about 6 euros, but in comparison to a water taxi (which costs 50-80 euros) it was a deal! There were 4 other girls with me and we got to our hostel and there was no one at the 24 hour reception desk. We rang the bell and stood outside for awhile, but no one came. We didn't know what to do (remember it's midnight) so we started to walk. Not more than 2 minutes later we run into this old Italian man walking his dog. He attempts to help us and gives us his phone so we could call the hostel, but no one answered. He tells us that he'll make sure we have somewhere to stay and we start to follow him because that's better than the alternatives of standing around or walking aimlessly. As we walk by our hostel, we ring the bell one more time and a person appears to let us in! We thanked our new Italian friend and checked into the hostel and went to bed. The hostel was more like a hotel. I shared a private 3 bedroom with Lynnsey and Kendall. The hostel provided breakfast in the morning too!
Friday morning (after reading our guidebook) we walked to St. Mark's Square (Piazza San Marco) and St. Mark's Basilica (Basilica di San Marco a Venezia). The pigeons are not a joke in the square. They're everywhere! I saw a little boy and he had food in his hands and the pigeons were all over him! I am not a fan of birds. We were taking pictures in the The basilica was beautiful, just like every church I've seen in Europe. We paid 4 euros to climb up to the top and I got some pretty shots of the water and the square. After the basilica we walked along the water. The weather was absolutely perfect. We had to move out of one hostel into another because there wasn't room at that hostel for the night. We decided to take a gondola ride because that's something that must be done while in Venice. There were 5 of us for a 40 minute ride we each paid 12 euros. Being on the water was so nice, especially since the sun was shining. We ate dinner outside at this little restaurant in an open square. The food was amazing! If I lived in Italy, I would seriously gain so much weight because all they eat are carbs! haha. While exploring during the afternoon, we ran into one of our professors and her husband and 2 year old. While we were talking to them, another 6 people from our program stumbled upon us. If we had tried to meet everyone at that spot at that time, it wouldn't have happened. Friday night we sat around our new room for awhile with everyone because we had a rooftop terrace (fancy!) and then we went out to see Venice at night.
Saturday morning we went to Rialto Market and did some souvenir shopping. I don't want to say everything I bought because they're surprises, but I bought myself a calla lily vase for 5 euros! It's absolutely gorgeous and I'm so glad it made it home in one piece! Since we were leaving Venice, we sat on some steps along the canal and soaked up the sun. I think we all have vitamin d deficiencies from our lack of sunshine in London! We had a late lunch at the same restaurant as the day before because it was so good and really affordable. After our lunch, we got our luggage from the hostel and walked through Venice to the train station. We stopped along the way and bought some gelato for 1 euro! It's my true love. On our hike across Venice, some of the other girls' suitcases broke because the wheels and cobblestone don't get along well. We eventually made it to the train station and caught the train to Florence.