Contiki Venice

EuroTrip Day 9- August 3, 2006

White water rafting made me tired, so on the way to Venice I decide to nap on the coach.Luckily I’m sitting next to Kelly so that she can mess with me by licking my face and taking pictures of me sleeping.We get off the coach and it’s pouring rain outside, so we buy some ultra cool ponchos for 4 Euros that, to be quite honest, make us very sexy.

We take the ferry to Venice and the rain begins to die down.By the time we arrive in the city, the rain has turned into a slight drizzle so I take the initiative and throw my poncho in the trash. Freedom!First up in Venice is a glassblowing demonstration.We attend it and I find it rather fascinating, too bad after the brief demonstration we are subjected to a 15-minute sales pitch by the owner of the shop.Needing some relief, we step outside and decide to follow Pete’s advice by getting lost in Venice.

We DO get lost for a good while until we find one of the most amazing shops in the world: the wine shop.You can get a liter of wine in a plastic bottle for only a couple Euros, what a deal!I try to control my alcoholism during this particular moment so I don’t purchase one till after the gondola ride.Instead, Liz leads a mission to find a true Italian restaurant away from the tourists.We eventually find one after much searching and order a lot of food.I order spaghetti and pizza, and finish them both, rather quickly.

For the next couple hours we get lost in Venice again, roaming the streets and the shops, and searching for the perfect masculine Italian hat.Aaron and I also enjoy checking out the perfection of the Italian women.We grab some gelato, which everyone swears is the best ice cream in the world but I find a tad overrated, and head back to St. Mark’s Square to meet everyone.We attend a lace demonstration and then head over to the main canal for the gondola ride!!

The gondola ride is perhaps my fondest memory of my European trip.We are well prepared for it with several bottles of wine and champagne, as well as plastic cups.On my gondola are Kelly, Aaron, Liz, Molly, and Laura.Simply put, the beauty and the serenity of Venice combined with the beauty and serenity of alcohol create an experience in my mind that is not soon to be forgotten.The half hour of fun ends way too soon, and we plead with the gondolier to takes us around again.He declines in a polite yet humorous fashion.

After the gondola ride, truth be told, I’m a little hammered.And what better way to fix a drunken haze than a hearty Italian meal.The meal takes place in a nice Italian restaurant in the heart of Venice and once again we are served wine.I even serve myself some wine with the liter bottle that I purchased after the gondola ride.Dinner is delicious, there’s nothing like fresh fish with the head still attached!

After a long day in Venice, we head back to the hotel via the ferry and everyone is falling asleep.We go the hotel and crash, knowing that we’ll soon be in Florence.