my trip to Venice

The prospect of taking a trip on your own is both exhilarating and terrifying for anybody but for me, it was enough to stop my sleep. My anxiety was higher than it had been in weeks and I even had a dream about an endless labyrinth of airport security. So, it's safe to say that it was playing on my mind a bit. But, with the arrival of my friend Louise the night before, she had to fly over for Gurnsey before the trip, and knowing that me and my friend, Emsal, would be sitting together on the plane, I knew I was in safe hands.

On Tuesday 24th October, I woke up at 4:30am, stumbled out of bed and put on enough makeup to last the entire day. With my hair curled and the aforementioned friend ready, with far less trouble than me, we headed off to the airport at 5:30am ready for our 6:00am meet up. First, this is an ungodly hour to be awake and function. Second, only one person was there on time and I was ready to leave them all behind and head through security in the hopes of finding some caffeine. Our flight was delayed half-an-hour the moment we arrived but after eating some food and sitting down for a while, I was so ready for this holiday. Something you should probably know about me is that I'm not a bad traveller, I just hate being confined and sitting still, also I get travel sick. I was a bit worried about this as it was the first time I was travelling to another country without some sort of family member present. There was no problem with the flight, I just kept myself busy with some music and a cold drink. Soon, we were in Venice and the holiday had officially started.


I think it's important that I mention that Venice has become a huge part of my life over the years since my first visit when I was about eleven or so, I'm not quite sure because I've been a fair few times over the years, somewhere between six or seven times now. I'm also going back in August with my family, so yes, this city has become something special not only to me but to my family. This time, I was fully aware we were there to be tourists and this would be a jammed-packed visit. We took a bus to the City and walked to our hotel, it was only ten minutes or so away. We settled into our room.






The view from our room wasn't fantastic but we didn't mind because we were situated in a beautiful square and with a church opposite, which quickly became the bane of our existence but I'll tell you about that later. We met the others downstairs and headed into Venice via water bus. Once in St. Marks we took in the square and had a bit of a history lesson from our brilliant tour guide (we didn't really have a tour guide, just Fabio an expert in Venice). 









I'd already seen the sights a few times but the splendour of the city is something magical to a first time visitor or somebody like me. The pure magnitude of the buildings and amount of people that are lolling around is insane. Honestly, it was super busy even in October. I usually visit in the height of Summer which is busier but the crowds around the church and palace were still overwhelming. We went for a bit of a wander down some of the streets leading off from the square in search of some snacks and then returned to the square to decide on our next destination.







At this point we had a decision to make, either go for a wander back to the hotel or stay out a little longer and do something, we didn't know what but the latter was the better option. The sun was beginning to set so we decided that the best course of action would be to move further down the island towards the garden areas and watch the sunset in Venice. We walked as far as we could but the sun was setting faster than we could walk and when we stopped, we found the perfect spot - sitting at the edge of the island with our legs over the water. 










After a boat ride back to our hotel, we sat down for a while before heading off for dinner. I didn't take any pictures while I was out but the restaurant put tables out beside the canal, so we sat beneath the night sky. I had pasta, of course. After some wine, we walked back and finally went to bed (it was a really long day). The next day, we woke up ready to explore and explore we did. We went island hopping. This started with a trip to the co-op for a picnic and then a boat ride to Murano where we changed to go to Torcello. I found some cats on the small, quiet island within minutes. 






Torcello is unlike the hustle and bustle of Venice. It's quiet. It's not until you leave Venice and journey to the smaller islands that you realise how loud the city is. The tourists that flock it really do make some noise. I'm not saying that it's a bad thing, just that Torcello is serene in comparison. 

















There were some perfect opportunities for Instagram pictures that I couldn't resist. 






As you can see from the above picture, the bridge has no parapets (sides) and was damn right terrifying to even think about crossing but we decided that taking a picture was absolutely necessary and I'm glad we did. I love everything about these pictures. Then, while sitting down to have some lunch, we couldn't miss the opportunity to take some pictures with these wooden walkway things (insert proper name here) which were worse than the bridge. The first one I stepped on moved way too much so I tried another one and it was fine until I sat down and got up, for a moment, I thought I was going straight into the water. Luckily, I didn't. 



Can we take a moment to appreciate the size of my apple? It was the size of my face. After this, we went along to Burano, an island famed for its production of lace. Another interesting feature of this city is the colourful houses which line the canals. 












Again, there are no pictures from the evening except for one drink I had despite many being consumed. There was lots of white wine and a long island ice tea, then some vodka lemonades. I wasn't too intoxicated but I accidentally pulled my own earring out and didn't get to bed until 2:30am.


The next day, we went on a walking tour of Venice which started a little later than planned because I didn't sleep very well and the bell tower outside my door went on every half hour, the ones of the hour were the worst, but yes, they woke me up. Also, at about five o'clock people were lugging stuff around the streets on trolleys, it was extremely noisy and one thing I will not miss about the city. I was ready an hour after our meeting time, so we headed out for our walk. I almost forgot to say that during our walk we crossed the Grand Canal via gondolier, I've been on one before but this was something else entirely. We were packed onto the small and not very stable boat like sardines, then we crossed the canal. I thought I was going to slip right off of the side into the water, which wouldn't have been ideal. When we disembarked it started to tilt to one side (I did not enjoy this one bit) but soon after, I was back on dry land and pretty sure the next time I crossed the bridge it would be via a bridge. Trust me, if you take a gondola take the scenic route down the smaller less travelled canals. 




























This was our last evening in Venice so we went out for dinner. The restaurant was close to our hotel and the food was absolutely amazing, though I did forgo the wine. 

 




On our last day, we went our separate ways to explore the city. A group of us headed towards the Rialto bridge then in different directions. We explored the streets and alleys, I took us down a dead-end but we ended up back at our hotel in time to Shauna her stuff and take her to the train station before she headed off travelling for a few days. Emsal and I sat for a while and talked on the steps of the train station, watching the world people. Afterwards, we popped into a few shops and then sat down outside our hotel with some cold drinks. Then, we made our way to the airport and home. 


I wanted to talk a little bit about the city itself but I think that may be a blog post in itself so I won't bore you just this second but watch this space for the follow-on post. I had an incredible time in Venice with an absolutely amazing group of people. I knew everybody on the trip from University except for one person who was just lovely but this was an opportunity to get to know some people a little better. Honestly, I couldn't have wished for better company. It was a pleasure to spend so much time with them in a city which I love, exploring it in a way I never have before. You always discover something new in Venice, that's just the nature of the city. 

 I love Italy, especially Venice, and I can't wait to return. If you haven't been I suggest you do, if you have, what do you think of it? I'd love to know. 

As ever, I want to thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and read through this post.

Tiffani. x


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