VENICE!!!!!!

Still catching up... back-tracking again :P

February 7-10

            VENICE!!!!!! “Er mer gerd…” what a weekend! It was pretty amazing. Once upon a time, I was super excited to meet Hayley, Beth, Jo, Asaf, Josh, Tink, Brynn, and friends in Venice, Italy. Well, Thursday night, about 11:12 pm Tori and I headed to the bus stop- perfect timing to catch our bus! (Thanks Lord!) When we get to the connection stop however, we realized that bus number 1 (the bus we needed to take to get to the train station) had stopped running a couple hours before… so it looked like we were gonna take a hike. Sigh, as Victoria remarked, “What would our trip be without some sort of travel adventure!” Seriously though. (Sorry Franzisca! She didn’t want us walking in the dark at night…) We saw some parts of the city that we hadn’t seen yet, blazed a trail through a park, and made it fine without getting lost. J When we got there though, met up with Rusty, Greg and Margot who had been unable to find our train on the departure list… well that wasn’t good, and to make matters worse, no one was working, so we couldn’t find anyone to ask! (Everything shuts down at the latest around 10 pm.) But as usual, the Lord was taking care of us! Right after I prayed that we would figure out what to do, two security guys came up to me and Victoria and were like, “Hey, you guys going to Venice?” Yes!! They explained that our train was leaving from the same platform as another train going to Zagreb, and we should go to platform 2. So we found the platform, but we didn’t think our train was coming for awhile, and we were about to go back into the station when the same guys appeared again and told us our train would be there in 5-10 minutes, and then when it came they pointed out our car! So we got all settled in early, thanks Lord! Got to our little sleeping cubby, it was tiny, with three bunks stacked on each side! We were all quite taken with the accommodation and excitedly chattered as we tried to figure out how to untangle the sheets. :P Played a little get to know you game at Margot’s suggestion, but then the people next door came and asked that we be quieter for the kids trying to sleep, and so we pretty much just went to bed. Can’t say that I slept superbly, however I am sure it was much better than trying to sleep in second-class seats! 

At some point I was startled awake to someone opening the doors and telling people the stop- for some reason I think it reminded me of like Nazi soldiers stopping trains and forcing everyone out… yeah it was weird. But anyway, it woke me up so I sat up and loudly whispered, “Rusty! Do you think we’re there?!?!” He sounded sleepy, and he was like, “It’s only 6:30 am… we still have a couple more hours…” So yeah I guess it was just earlier stops. But from that point on I was wired and couldn’t go back to sleep! After freshening up a bit I came back to our room, and we folded up the middle bench so that we could sit down, and then the trainman brought us all breakfast! It was So good!!! A couple rolls with butter and Johannisberry (?) jam- literally the best jam I’ve ever tasted! (Shoutout to Johanna… even though those berries were sweet they weren’t as sweet as you!!! ;)) and coffee of course. J Then in no time at all we were crossing the bridge to mainland Venice!!! We weren’t really sure what our plan was going into the station, didn’t know how we were going to meet up with the others, but as we walked toward the outside, I saw them waiting for us- Beth, Jo, Asaf, and Jacob! AHHHHH!!!!! Happiest moment!!!! Jo and Rusty embraced (Bethany was videotaping… so cute!) I sorta skipped/ran over to Beth and gave her a big hug, and my eyes definitely flooded with tears! The good kind! Then I gave Jo a hug and Asaf and Tink, Sight! It was one of those moments that would fit into my new favorite “Life is Beautiful” song! A joyful reunion after a long absence! It was beautiful! Then we walked into the sunlight, saw our first glimpse of Venice! A wide bridge over a beautiful canal, cook, sunny weather, all the Spain girls were dressed up super cute. J Said Hello to the rest of the gang, and decided to go on a boat ride up the grand canal! It was so awesome to exchange life stories with Hayley, Beth, Jo and Brynn! We are having such incredible, but different, experiences, and I just felt so awesome talking about our programs, what we’re learning, seeing, doing, tasting etc! Didn’t want to stop taking everything in- I could have swapped stories with them for hours! Went to San Marco’s Basilica which was an incredible church, it’s style was completely new from any of the other Cathedral’s I had seen so far so it was neat to see something new!  Then we went to the Rialto bridge- beautiful structure that was packed with an even greater than usual number of tourists, who were all there for Carnival weekend! It was fun to see locals dressed up in super fancy costumes, and then they would just stand around and pose for pictures with tourists! Me and Tink and Josh got separated from the group for a bit, so we walked around looking for them and eventually ended up at the famous outdoor fish market, which, incidentally is also featured in the movie “The Tourist-“ Johnny Depp’s character is running from the bad guys and knocks a policeman into the water at this point! J Found Rusty and Jo there, wandered back to San Marco’s square by the Grand Canal and Rusty tried his first pear! Loved soaking in friend time! Met up with the rest of the group again to try and figure out dinner, a group of Me, Tink, Josh, Brynn, Hayley, and Asaf eventually found this nice little place and I had a delicious ham and mushroom calzone, that was super huge until I cut it and the bubble of air collapsed. :P Wandering back from the restaurant we ran into Rusty, Beth and Jo! They were looking to get some gelato!! So I had my first real Italian gelato! Coffee… SO GOOD!!! Wandering back to San Marco’s yet again (I know we were basically in the same place all day) we, and by we I mean Beth, Jo and Rusty, photobombed various pics with the costumed people, and then Rusty, Jo, Beth and I decided to head back to our hostel, which was actually on the mainland of Italy. It was quite the adventure figuring out which bus to catch to take back to our hostel- it was about a 30 minute ride, but thanks once again to the Lord taking care of us we made it back without getting extremely lost! At the hostel (which was really basically a campground/ trailer park in the middle of nowhere…) we met up with Victoria, and all decided to just relax at the hostel bar that night, on the condition that we would definitely see Venice nightlife the next night! It was lovely to walk from our little trailers to the separate shower/bathroom facility where the guys and girls were right next to each other… it was kinda weird… I felt like we were breaking camp rules or something, “No boys in the girls cabin area! No girls in the boys cabin area!” haha J The adventures weren’t over however; sometime in the middle of the night I had a dream that someone had turned off the heat… and half-asleep/half-awake I foggily realized that I hadn’t actually turned the heat on! Hence, my body was physically cramping from trying to squinch up in a ball and conserve heat! So at 5 am I figured that out (through a dream mind you) and flipped the switch, which produced a welcome flow of warm air! Thank goodness, even though it took til the next night to really feel warm! Not my best sleep ever…

            The next morning, Rusty, Tink, Greg, Margot, Jo, Beth, Tori and I all met early to go into the city via the 8:00 ferry. Headed to the dock with about 10 minutes to spare, I tried to confirm with the other people waiting there that we could get tickets here. Naturally it turned out that we had been misinformed, we actually needed to buy tickets from up the road a couple hundred yards! Realizing the need for haste, Rusty and Greg volunteered to sprint there and get all of our tickets! The ferry was pulling up to the dock when they appeared again, just in the nick of time! We arrived in Venice and started making our way toward San Marco’s- it was so peaceful and absent of tourists, so neat to experience the early morning quite devoid of the crowds! Even the tent shops were only starting to be set up. I enjoyed taking lots of pictures, and of course the company of good friends! Saw the “leaning tower of Venice,” a very crooked bell-tower? I wanted to go back and find it but unfortunately didn’t get the chance. We found the “hair sculptor” recommended by Rick Steves- Rusty wanted to get his hair sculpted haha. When we got there it was closed, but as we were deliberating on what to do next, a lady came and opened it, and Rusty got his haircut! In the meantime, me and Tink wanted to see this big white cathedral at the entrance of the Grand Canal, and due to time limits we decided to head that way and let the others join us if they wanted. Got a little confused at first, I had a map and was leading the way, but it was yet uncharted territory! On the way we would stop into various churches and try and figure out what the murals on the walls depicted! It was an entertaining game! Some of the paintings were really neat! Tink also found some nice postcards- we ended up getting a bunch of the same ones haha. Our first glimpse of the cathedral was coming out from under this tunnel, over a little bridge, and the building was breathtaking and towering! I got very excited! The inside was magnificent as well! After seeing a bunch of different baroque churches that often looked over-decorated, I was impressed with the simple magnificence. The central dome had around 8 statues of some of the most famous men of the Bible (David, Isaiah, Hosea…) and I thought it was neat that they were placed highest, there were other statues of alter saints a little closer to the floor. Also, the murals were neat. This is probably my favorite Cathedral yet- it was simple but elegant, and awe-inspiring.  So glad I got to figure out my way there! Met up with everyone at the Rialto bridge, took a group photo and headed back to the train station with the girls to get lunch while the guys had a little bro time. Said goodbye to the group who was going to Milan- such a short but good weekend! Me, Tori, Margot, Johanna and Beth finished up lunch and met up with Rusty and Greg at the train bridge. Got some more gelato, got accosted by a random group of costumed folks and took a picture with them, then I led everyone back to the church I had been to that morning, walked through a residential area though and got some carnival masks! Mine is somewhat ombre peach with gold glitter- I know this is silly but I figured it would match my prom dress if I ever get the change to wear it again :P. Saw some neat little art displays on the way back from the church, and stopped in a cute little yellow café! Me, Beth, Tori and Greg decided to hang out and chill for a bit while Rusty and Jo took Margot back to the hostel and then went on a dinner date. ;P So the rest of us, after enjoying chocolate croissants, decided to set out and try to track down the place where we had been told the young people go to hang out at night! On the way, Tori saw a gondolier and we girls stopped to get a picture with him. He asked us if we wanted a gondola ride but we said no, since we had heard it was very expensive. Then, he quickly offered to give us a discount- 5 euros off for each of us! At this we all kinda looked at each other, and then almost immediately gave in! This was the best deal we were going to get! Why not? Once in a lifetime chance! We were all excited and the moment was kinda surreal as he helped us into the boat and gave us some warm blankets to cuddle under! Claudio turned out to be an excellent gondolier! He was very knowledgeable on a variety of information about Venice, and he was quite willing to talk the whole time! I learned that one has to go to school to become a gondolier! Also learned a lot of interesting tidbits about Venice, my favorite was finally finding out what the Griffith meant- I had seen it everwhere! Claudio said that the animal symbolizes Venetian influence all over the world, and the open book at its paws means it is peacetime. Our ride was quite serene… the sun rapidly set and I alternated my attention between trying to figure out the proper setting on my camera, as well as pay attention to what Claudio was telling us. We got to see the building where the ball was held in “The Tourist,” apparently there was to be a big ball there for carnival that night! Claudio told us that starting ticket prices were 1000 euros!! Crazy! Claudio took us close to where we wanted to go, gave us some very vague directions, and recommended a drink! Haha. After a few minutes of walking and some uncertain wandering as well, we eventually arrived at our destination! It was exciting to see the crowd of costumed young people gradually beginning to swell! My adrenaline was surging pretty high… I wasn’t frightened by all of the people, but I was slightly nervous about what to expect later that night when the party really got started! After we had all gotten something to drink and sat down to soak in the atmosphere a bit, we headed back to the train bridge to meet up with Jo and Rusty. Each step away from the square increased my anticipation for the return and new experiences! Tori was “caught” by some guys dressed up as ghost busters- haha it was crazy! One of them had big fish net- which is what ended up over Victoria’s head! And a couple others carried a boom-box playing the ghost buster’s music, and another had a leaf blower- maybe supposed to be a vacuum or something? I don’t know haha. Made it to the train station and reconnected with Rusty and Jo, excitedly filled them in, made them put on masks, and led them right back! When we returned the number of people had grown considerably! After a little while we found the ghost busters again, and this time, the guy with the boom box was blaring popular tunes (mostly American). Pretty quickly a crowd gathered around and we all started dancing and singing the lyrics at the top of our lungs!! It was pretty funny to hear all the different accents! Seriously- so much fun!!! Definitely my highlight event of the weekend!!! It rained though- what the heck, the bad weather follows us everywhere! At one point, thunder clapped really loud and close, right at the climax of a song this huge burst of lightening streaked the sky, and then it started to snow!!! It was unbelievable. It was awesome! My favorite costumes were these Italian speed limit signs that yelled at passersby to slow down. :P We ended up eating gelato in the snow too. :P After trying to warm up in one of the bars while Greg and Rusty met some new guys, we finally took a taxi back to our hostel, hung out at the bar for a little and then went to bed! What a crazy night! It was seriously so much fun though!

            On Sunday, the weather was pretty cold and gloomy, so after figuring out where we needed to go to leave, we pretty much chilled in a small café for the whole morning, got on wifi for the first time that weekend! Loved reading new messages from friends back home! Shout out to Clay and Garet for a wonderful picture. ;P Then I got to wait in line for the bathroom for literally 45 minutes, while a mass of people tried to use the one stall (the other one remained locked for at least 30 minutes?!) Got our last gelato and then it was time to head to the bus station. It was hard to say goodbye, the weekend had been so great; I had loved hanging out with my precious friends!!! No shame: I cried as Beth and Jo and I hugged each other tightly… so good to be with them, so freaking hard to leave. On the train ride back, Greg befriended this Spanish guy, and he ended up hanging out in our train compartment and talking to us in a mixture of English and Spanish! It was so neat! Made me long to be able to communicate in different languages! He actually teaches the Tango, likes to travel alone because of the opportunity to meet people, and I was told that he was typically Spanish in being very expressive and friendly, frequently grabbing Greg’s arm and patting my knee in a physical gesture of connection? So different from the reserved Austrian culture I have grown accustomed to! When we arrived at the Salzburg Hbf, it really felt like we were coming home! I loved getting back to my sweet little room. J Enjoyed facetiming dad, not only to fill him in on the weekend, but also to try and process all of the different experiences I had had, some of which I couldn’t even fully articulate what I felt! It was actually kinda crazy to have experienced things that I don’t fully understand, and maybe never will.