A weekend in Venezia

Monday, September 8, 2008. Venice.

I would consider this weekend to be my first "true" weekend, because I just started to feel at home here. We had to stay in town because we had to get some paper work done which was silly, because it shot the whole weekend for 2 hours in line at the post office. Such is life...

Friday we went to Lido, which is the beach off of the coast of one of the Venetian islands. It was really fun, but HOT!!! The sand was more fine than any sand I have felt in the states and the water seemed saltier too! We played in the water and soaked up the sun! Karen and I left earlier than the rest, came back and showered/read/cuddled. It was a good day!

I was in the group of students that went on Saturday to get our papers, and on the way back Laura (the Italian woman who is in charge of the house) treated Rhianna, Kelly, and me to breakfast at a little cafe. She told us all about the new bridge about to open in Venice. This is a big deal because there are currently only THREE bridges that cross the canal, and they are about to open this fourth one. I think we are going to the opening of it, but Laura was telling us it wont be that big of a deal because the opening has been postponed for so long so many times. Apparently there were some problems with the contractor etc. Anyway, it was very interesting.

On our way back, we passed through our favorite piazza, Santa Margarita, and got some bread at this little bakery. We spoke with the woman in Italian (well, more like she corrected our Italian) but she was so nice! And I bought the most WONDERFUL bread for only trentatre centessimi (that is thirty three cents)!! I love this place!

Rhianna and I also ventured into Venice with the intentions of getting lost. For those of you know know me well, this is not a difficult feat even in ATLANTA, none the less in a city I dont know as well. Anyway, it seemed that every store owner was out to get us. They hated us. My shoe size made them mad. I wanted to touch the shoes, they got mad. We tried to bring our food into a store, they got mad. Notice a trend? We finally escaped unscathed, but we found our adventure for the day!

Then Sunday was the Regatta Storica! Some people who actually had MET Venetians since we arrived invited them over, but I just hung out with the people in the house. David also had some friends that were staying here, and they were delightful to visit with. They have a son in Laughlin's class, so we talked all about the qualms of freshman year. Back to the regatta. It was AMAZING! There was a parade first that went by, then a few heats I guess is the right word? Anyway, the Accadamia bridge was PACKED and we just got to look out our window! (see my new pictures in the "Venice-More" album! The boats were BEAUTIFUL!!!) In fact, there was a racing boat parked at OUR dock for about 20 mins before the parade and we made friends with them! Ana even GOT ON THE BOAT! We feasted on the food that everyone prepared and watched the boats go by. It was so relaxing and wonderful!

I also found, but have not booked, my plans for our first 10 day break. I am going to Munich for Oktoberfest, then back to Berlin with Mer, to Salzburg by myself for the Sound of Music tour (dont even get me started on how excited I am about THAT!!!) and then meeting back up with Mer in Vienna. It should be stressful but AMAZING. I just need to book my hostels and trains.

Ok, thats all for now!
miss yall!
xoxo
mckin