Carnevale

Being in Italy during the Carnevale season and not visiting Venice might as well be a sin. We left on a Friday after our last class for Venice. We took the Euro-Star, the high-speed train, which instead of getting on the high-speed line was on a regular track. Needless to say we were an hour and a half late, the trip was off to a little bit of a rocky start.

We checked into our hotel on Venice mainland, which overcharged because it was literally just a place to sleep, but hey its Carnevale season everyone is doing it. At around 11:30pm we headed to Venice Island to check out what it was like. We were surprised to find that things were pretty dead. There were a few people who were dressed up, but there weren't too many people around. After exploring for about an hour we headed back to the hotel.

We got started around 11 the next morning and it was a totally different experience. I have never seen such large crowds in my life. There were people everywhere, many were dressed up but many people just had masks. It was a beautiful day out, warm and no clouds so we sat outside and had lunch. This was one of the best experiences because we could just sit there and watch all of the people go by. There wasn't just one type of person there. There were young people, older people, families and all different nationalities. It's crazy how something like this can draw so many people from different walks of life.

View down one of the canals

After lunch we just wandered the island. We had no real plan other than finding masks and making it to Piazza San Marco. The island was incredibly unique, the canals, the bridges, the mystique of Carnevale only added to the experience. The costumes that some of these people we wearing were very impressive. They were all extremely colorful, elegant and classical. By 5:00 we had finally made it to Piazza San Marco, thats how many people were there and how hard it was to make it through the streets. The Piazza was set up with a large stage and completely full of people. It was incredible how many people could fit on this small island.

One of the costumes for Carnevale

After, we wandered toward the water and took a water taxi back to where we started our day. There was no better place to be than on the water in Venice as the sun was setting. Once we got back on land we headed to a pub for happy hour until it was time for dinner. It's amazing how where ever you are in Italy you can always find a handful of Irish pubs. After this we got dinner at one of the biggest tourist traps I have seen, the worst part was that we didn't even see it coming.

Sunset on one of the canals

Carnevale has an amazing personality, during the day it is very interesting and relaxed, at night it turns into one big party. The island was still packed, but many of the piazza's now had DJ's in them just blasting music. Not only was this a lot of fun but it was again something I could have imagined. Overall, Carnevale was one of the best experiences I've had on this trip so far. The uniqueness of Venice and this celebration was amazing and something that everyone should do at least once in their lives.