il Carnevale è Venezia
Have you traveled at all?
Ah, very good question. I, unlike my good study abroad friend Weegie, had not traveled out of roma until this past weekend. This past weekend I went to a little place called Venezia (venice) for a little thing called Carnevale (carnaval). You may have heard of them. For those of you who don't know, Venezia is where Carnevale originated, therefore it is the place to be for it. So I went and it was great... .... .... okay, there were many adventures.
Our flight left at 6:50am Friday morning out of a small airport in roma that can be hard to get to. This is what you get for flying low budget. I woke up at 3:30am to walk to termini bus/train station and take a night bus for one euro to the last metro stop called anagnina where there are buses that go to ciampino airport for another euro. I arrived around 4:50 to a deserted bus terminal. Just me and this homeless/gypsy guy. So, he followed me as I wandered around looking for this bus I was supposed to take. I found it, as well as the machine where I was supposed to insert my euro and by a ticket. I put my euro in, but no ticket came out. Naturally, I kicked the machine. Not only did my euro come out, but a handful of other change came out. You can imagine the reaction of my gypsy friend that saw this take place. So, I made a few extra euro and some change but still did not have my ticket. So again I put in my euro and no ticket came. So, again I hit the machine and again some change came jingling out. Another two or three euro and change. I gave these winnings to my friend. He proceeded to try the same thing but I guess he just did not have my touch because he got nothing. Still, I did not have my ticket that I needed and it was almost time for the bus to come. I tried once more and instead of a ticket received a handful of change and euro (only after hitting the machine of course). So I decided I would tell the bus driver and buy a ticket on the bus if possible. I left my friend to try his luck on the machine.
5:45 came but not the bus. I called the number posted, and watched a guy in a little booth answer the phone about 300 meters away. He insisted that the bus would come at any minute. 5:55 came but still no bus. My plane leaves at 6:50. I call again and the guy is not happy with me. More or less he said “It will come! Just wait! Good day!” I could not afford to wait longer. I got on a cab and told him I was trying to catch a plane. Needless to say that was an exciting cab ride. Fifteen euro later I was at the airport around 6:20. All my work to make it to the airport for only 2 euro was in vain. However, thanks to the faulty machine I picked up an extra 9 euro minus the 2.5 that I gave to my gypsy pal. So it was not too bad.
I saw the alps when flying into venezia. Our hostel was right in the middle of Campo San Margherita which was a great location in the middle of the city. That day we explored venezia even though we were all exhausted we determined not to take a nap until we could no longer stand. I would like to say, that no matter what anybody tells you, Venezia is beautiful. I loved it. We had breakfast next to a canal, saw some beautiful churches, it was a beautiful day, everybody was in the most elaborate costumes you've ever seen, and then we took a nap. That night there were even more people out and there was music and street entertainers and more costumes.
On a side note, it was myself and one other guy and six girls. One of the girls bought two masks and so she let me where one. There are pics on facebook.
The next day was also very nice. We saw more of the city and I bought pistachios that were good. I also bought this really cool jacket thing. It's like potato sack material and very very colorful. Can't really describe it, but there are pics on facebook. I also bought a hat. This day was much more relaxing and were were not all so tired. This night, Saturday, we went to an even bigger piazza where there was a live band. A kind of italian, reggae, big band, thing. Not incredibly good, but very fun.
So, this is where it gets interesting. We decided to be budget minded and not stay in a hostel Saturday night. This also because our plane left early Sunday morning and it seemed pointless to have a hostel for only a few hours. However, the Carnevale activities ended surprisingly early and we had about six hours to kill before catching our bus to the airport. We went from cafe to cafe getting kicked out because they were closing, back onto the cold streets to find somewhere else to loiter. At one point we sat on the streets huddling to keep warm. Finally it was time to catch our bus for the airport. Our flight had yelling italian kids. Despite my description, it was an incredible weekend and a once in a lifetime experience.
Spring break is in three days once I finish these exams. I am going to Morocco. I am so very excited. We have a 12-14 layover in Madrid (again, this makes it cheaper) so if anyone (Joel) has ideas of what to see for that amount of time please let me know. Think we are spending one night in Tangier, three nights in Marrakech, and two nights in Fez. Our flight leaves from a small city in southern spain called malaga. So we have to cross the strait of gibraltar. I will ride a camel in the desert. Love.
Ah, very good question. I, unlike my good study abroad friend Weegie, had not traveled out of roma until this past weekend. This past weekend I went to a little place called Venezia (venice) for a little thing called Carnevale (carnaval). You may have heard of them. For those of you who don't know, Venezia is where Carnevale originated, therefore it is the place to be for it. So I went and it was great... .... .... okay, there were many adventures.
Our flight left at 6:50am Friday morning out of a small airport in roma that can be hard to get to. This is what you get for flying low budget. I woke up at 3:30am to walk to termini bus/train station and take a night bus for one euro to the last metro stop called anagnina where there are buses that go to ciampino airport for another euro. I arrived around 4:50 to a deserted bus terminal. Just me and this homeless/gypsy guy. So, he followed me as I wandered around looking for this bus I was supposed to take. I found it, as well as the machine where I was supposed to insert my euro and by a ticket. I put my euro in, but no ticket came out. Naturally, I kicked the machine. Not only did my euro come out, but a handful of other change came out. You can imagine the reaction of my gypsy friend that saw this take place. So, I made a few extra euro and some change but still did not have my ticket. So again I put in my euro and no ticket came. So, again I hit the machine and again some change came jingling out. Another two or three euro and change. I gave these winnings to my friend. He proceeded to try the same thing but I guess he just did not have my touch because he got nothing. Still, I did not have my ticket that I needed and it was almost time for the bus to come. I tried once more and instead of a ticket received a handful of change and euro (only after hitting the machine of course). So I decided I would tell the bus driver and buy a ticket on the bus if possible. I left my friend to try his luck on the machine.
5:45 came but not the bus. I called the number posted, and watched a guy in a little booth answer the phone about 300 meters away. He insisted that the bus would come at any minute. 5:55 came but still no bus. My plane leaves at 6:50. I call again and the guy is not happy with me. More or less he said “It will come! Just wait! Good day!” I could not afford to wait longer. I got on a cab and told him I was trying to catch a plane. Needless to say that was an exciting cab ride. Fifteen euro later I was at the airport around 6:20. All my work to make it to the airport for only 2 euro was in vain. However, thanks to the faulty machine I picked up an extra 9 euro minus the 2.5 that I gave to my gypsy pal. So it was not too bad.
I saw the alps when flying into venezia. Our hostel was right in the middle of Campo San Margherita which was a great location in the middle of the city. That day we explored venezia even though we were all exhausted we determined not to take a nap until we could no longer stand. I would like to say, that no matter what anybody tells you, Venezia is beautiful. I loved it. We had breakfast next to a canal, saw some beautiful churches, it was a beautiful day, everybody was in the most elaborate costumes you've ever seen, and then we took a nap. That night there were even more people out and there was music and street entertainers and more costumes.
On a side note, it was myself and one other guy and six girls. One of the girls bought two masks and so she let me where one. There are pics on facebook.
The next day was also very nice. We saw more of the city and I bought pistachios that were good. I also bought this really cool jacket thing. It's like potato sack material and very very colorful. Can't really describe it, but there are pics on facebook. I also bought a hat. This day was much more relaxing and were were not all so tired. This night, Saturday, we went to an even bigger piazza where there was a live band. A kind of italian, reggae, big band, thing. Not incredibly good, but very fun.
So, this is where it gets interesting. We decided to be budget minded and not stay in a hostel Saturday night. This also because our plane left early Sunday morning and it seemed pointless to have a hostel for only a few hours. However, the Carnevale activities ended surprisingly early and we had about six hours to kill before catching our bus to the airport. We went from cafe to cafe getting kicked out because they were closing, back onto the cold streets to find somewhere else to loiter. At one point we sat on the streets huddling to keep warm. Finally it was time to catch our bus for the airport. Our flight had yelling italian kids. Despite my description, it was an incredible weekend and a once in a lifetime experience.
Spring break is in three days once I finish these exams. I am going to Morocco. I am so very excited. We have a 12-14 layover in Madrid (again, this makes it cheaper) so if anyone (Joel) has ideas of what to see for that amount of time please let me know. Think we are spending one night in Tangier, three nights in Marrakech, and two nights in Fez. Our flight leaves from a small city in southern spain called malaga. So we have to cross the strait of gibraltar. I will ride a camel in the desert. Love.