EU3 -VE(ddy)NICE

Venice

Let’s see. The last I wrote was about the flight in? hhaah those clothes, y’all. I may never wear them again. Pretty sure sweat, dirt, and anxiety are intertwined with the fibers at this point.

As soon as I arrived to the airport in Italy, I went straight to the restrooms to change. I also attempted to give myself a babywipe bath out of absolute need. Trying to change and bathe yourself in a one person (european sized person) restroom stall (I sound like I’m taking care of a newborn child) with a giant backpack had some challenges. I am now wondering why I didn’t go to the handicapped one? Oh yeah, because my brain was probably like, but but but but what if two handicapped people come into this barren restroom at the same time that I’m here and then my indiscretions will show and I’ll feel like absolute scum. Typical thoughts of people with unnecessarily high anxiety. **curtseys and side steps out of the room

So be advised that when y’all see any pictures of me in the beautiful Venice, just know that I hadn’t showered in two days and probably used at least one filter.

I arrived there at some point mid-morning ish? So we headed to da train station bc…

Y’all are going to laugh, but, I really didn’t know Venice was an island. When I say I did zero research for this trip. I wasn’t lying or being dramatic. That, paired with my general disposition to not know anything that isn’t from a biology textbook, led me to this realization.

We walked ALL over the island, about 8.5 miles worth of discovery miles, experiencing all the sights and people. She took me around both the residential/local area as well as the touristy section. The touristy section was overwhelmingly packed with people and vendors. I did, however, appreciate the cheap sunglasses I snagged from one of those carts. That is the pair y’all will see featured in nearly all of my pictures from this trip. ** I didn’t bring any sunglasses with me because I didn’t want to loose them abroad and also the fact that I mistakingly left them at home.

I joyously sat down for a caprese salad with roasted veggies as soon as we could - my body was screaming for something not wrapped in plastic for 6 months prior. Veronica then did the saintly duty of ordering us drinks called “spritz” which is basically an orange liquor based alcoholic drink for the day time? All my Louisiana people say hollerrrrrr.

So yeah, there were no cars here. **mind exploding emoji

The roadways were waterways! People had boats instead of cars. And little water level garages for them? Idk if there is an actual term for those???

Since the roads were made of water, there were multiple bridges that allowed people to walk up to their front doors. Some people even had their own private bridge. Can you say bougie? And yes, people really do still hang their laundry out from window to window and sing whenever the need hits them.

Also worth noting, a ton of people had their little tiny dogs walking around with them - totally typical Italian stuff. I didn’t see any grass, though. I also didn’t see sh*t piles all over. Not sure how that situation works out. Guess I don’t really need to haha. There, SEE, I caught myself going off onto a tangent. I’m back. Already. Impressed? Me too.

To answer the most asked question, no I did not take a gondola ride. They are expensive and not nearly as dreamy as they’ve chalked it up to be in films. The waterways are full of local’s boats, police boats, tourist boats, and thennnn you also have gondolas. Not nearly as romantic as the idea of it we all have in our heads. The most deterrent feature for me was a lot of what I’m calling “corner traffic”. Where everyone is kind of tepidly waiting their turn in the canal to be able to make a narrow turn in their -572849732 foot long boat for two people- into the next waterway. So people are just sitting in their gondolas next to other people in their gondolas and just trying not to make eye contact. Not my thing. You’d think the boats would’ve shortened over time as to alleviate this problem. **shoulder shrug

I do have one ultra great memory of one gondola man, however, that was paddling past us as Veronica and I were walking through this book store. He saw me videoing and decided to throw in a little jig. It made me laugh. I liked him. This is the video on my front page of my website!

Speaking of this bookstore, it was super neat. They had a zillion more books than any practical store would need. I have a couple videos of it that I’ll share when I get that video compiled so that y’all can see it with your own eyes! They had them all stacked up on top of gondolas! #stacksonstacksonstacks

This is both a precious and niche idea, yet wildly impractical and inaccessible. I kept thinking, “what if someone actually wanted to read one of these books?” “what kind of bookstore makes it difficult for one to acquire their books?”

Y’all. Im so silly. I almost finished this blog post without talking about Suso. Suso is a gelato shop that Veronica had the inside scoop on. Pun intended. I don’t have any recollection as to what flavors I got. As I’m 84% sure I wasn’t scientifically awake at this point of the day anywho. But, damn, I remember being really happy about it. I might’ve really been sleep eating bc on the train ride back I found chocolate on my arm, leg, under my shirt, and in my purse. I wish I was joking. Cue the pictures of me eating it in front of what looks like a green screen on a Royal Carribean cruise boat but is, in fact, a Venetian canal.