Venice and Unplanned Fun

Sorry all for the delay in posts, but the last few days in Italy were hectic. Also I'll put captions on the pictures I posted earlier today next time in on a computer.

 My solo mission to Venice went almost perfectly, slept on the train almost the entire 2 hours, both ways and managed to see the majority of the city. I didnt ride a gondola in the canals for a few reasons, basically because to go for a private ride was ridiculously expensive and to go on a group tour you had to stick to a designated route and could only go in the large canals and people were jammed into the boats like sardines. Not my thing. So I spent the better part of 2 hours strolling through the maze that is Venice on my way to San Marco; the most famous and best plazza and cathedral in Venice. For those who dont know, Venice has no roads and there is no scooters or other vehicles allowed in the city (they wouldnt fit down the streets anyway)so despite being the most crowded place I've been to so far, it was so peaceful. I didn't go inside San Marco because the lineup was ridiculous so I took some happy snaps and headed for the train station, walking in the other side of the grand canal this time and seeing the other half of the city. I only spend about 6 hours in Venice but you could easily stay there for a few days and not experience the entire city. Elisa had told me about inconsistency of the Italian weather and sure enough the day went from sunny and 30+ to thunder, lightning and heavy rain in about 10 minutes. The locals all whipped out their umbrella that I thought it was strange they were carrying and kept walking and the tourists all stood under shelter and waited it out. 

That night Elisa and I rode to the city and met most of her classmates to have some drinks. Truth is that I hate shots but Elisa's class thought they would try and kill me with a shot that I'm pretty sure was straight poison but they insisted on buying me a round so I obliged. Didn't go well. 

Saturday we woke up late and had nothing planned for the day except to buy me a USB and meet some friends for lunch. By the time we got home from doing that it was 2am and we had seen a huge street parade, gone to a feast and had a gathering in a park. The park was opposite an ice-cream shop, and it was pretty strange seeing people ranging from older than my grandparents to kids with dummies still lining up out onto the street at midnight. 

This morning  we went out to breakfast with some more friends then Elisa cooked one last meal of Italian pasta for lunch. I really didn't want to leave Bologna and it was pretty sad driving away in the back of the taxi, not knowing when I'll be back to see the Negrini family. But one things for sure, I'll be back!