La Febbre-Fever: Venezia

So much happens here, it’s really hard to keep up while I’m living it, let alone documenting it. This is the problem of this blog and why, and I apologize for this, you are finding out a week late about my excursion to Venice.

The trip was a little spontaneous; we planned it, got the train tickets and reserved the hostel on

We couldn’t get a picture of all four of us. Thank you Ridley for taking it!

Friday and left Saturday morning. Ridley, Erin, Mary and I all caught a bus to Florence.

Now Florence deserves its own separate trip and corresponding post, but since we had an hour

and a half or so between our bus arriving and our train leaving, we looked at some of the closer

sights and, therefore, here is a picture of us looking fantastic in front of the beauty that is Florence.

The train ride was a few hours long, but very comfortable (for me at least. I slept.). After checking into our hostel, which was off the main island (and therefore much, much cheaper), we took a quick train ride onto the main island.

You think, because all the tourist images of Venice everywhere, that you know what it would feel like to see Venice and walk around its streets. But, like so much regarding my Italian Adventures, it just isn’t possible to fully imagine Venice.

We went for about 36 hours, so my experience was limited, and, in the spirit of full disclosure, you should know that I also had a fever during most of this trip. Long story short: I felt fine on Friday, got sick on Saturday, and am a very stubborn woman.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I highly recommend seeing Venice, but being in the city made me miss Siena. Venice is beautiful. Venice is also extremely crowded. Again, full disclosure, we apparently went the weekend George Clooney got married, so who knows what it’s like on less matrimonial weekends? It is also very difficult to find your way around Venice because the streets are even more twisted together than Siena (Google maps saved us).

I don’t want to focus on my perceived cons of visiting Venice, but felt that I should be honest.

Honestly, though, the city is so beautiful you do have to see it at least once.

Photo credit to Mary for this fantastic shot of the four of us.

On the first day, we just kind of walked around trying to find our way. We ate a fantastic dinner together and saw some of the major sights.

The second day, we went to the Doge Palace. This visit started as a tour of the palace rooms

I couldn’t capture the whole ballroom, but seriously this place is what Disney dreams are made of.

and morphed into a more typical museum.

If you go to Venice visit the Doge Palace. It was so fantastically wonderful. The ballroom alone, the very first room we saw, blew my mind and it only got better from there. The art was just amazing, and even the views we got of Piazza San Marco from the windows blew my mind.

Basically, if you’re in Italy, you should see Venice. Just don’t do it with a fever.

Secretly, I get really proud when I take a picture that has the potential to be a postcard. Though I guess it’s not a secret anymore…