VENICE and Verona&$%^#@!%#%*

Venice and Verona!!

            Now I don’t know if you all know this but I went to Venice with Micki and her mom when I was 18 for my first international trip… and it was AMAZING! Venice is a world unlike any other… its old rustic looking buildings and its charmed people, makes Venice one of my favorite places in Italy.  This last weekend USAC had the pleasure of going to Venice Feb 6-8^th for CARNIVAL! Now I hope you all know what Carnival is… this of Phantom of the Opera, Maskerade…Every face a different SHAPE maskerade! Anyway… we take the bus from Torino to Venice… 6 hours but we made it count, singing Disney songs and picking the only chick flick that was brought on the bus, Something’s Gotta Give… EPIC the boys thought of it as old people porn, the girls thought otherwise!  We finally reach Venice and I am running around the group trying to get shots for the video in all different angles.  By the time we get to the hotel I am sweating! Ah! We get assigned to our rooms, I’m with Micki and her two roommates Becky and Caitlin. And my roommates are just next door.  We put our stuff down and had time to rest for a little, and then we all had to meet up for a grand tour of the major sights of Venice.  Micki and I have been here previously so we knew all the history and what all the buildings meant, throwing in our right answers in one by one, people thought we were smart! Hahah! Then after the tour we wandered the streets for a little and then met up with some USACer’s and went to dinner at this cool place by our hotel.  Then after all sharing like 4 liters of wine we went back to the hotel to get ready to go out!!! This night was RED lipstick night! Hahah! Now never in my life have I EVER worn red lipstick, but hey, I’m in Venice for carnival… lets do it!!!! We met up with some MORE USAC people and drank and took pictures in the hotel and had SO much fun! Then after like 2 hours we decided to go out and explore… now Venice is NOT known for its nightlife AT ALL!  So I thought this should be interesting… then we ran into this HUGE rave looking party! Some live DJ people everywhere dancing and laughing and everyone was mostly masked… I thought.. ok I am not kissing anyone, who knows if their not 40… umm EW! I think that’s the point of the masks! Hahah kidding!  anyways we danced and sang and met some British guys… J always my favorite (masks off, HOT) but just a short talk waiting for the bathroom… then we went to some surrounding bars and drank and met Italians it was FUN! Went to bed that night at 3 or 4 no one can remember… oops! 

            Then the next day we got up early and had our free breakfast, yes took full advantage! Hahah! And then got dressed and went and walked the town!  We all bought masks and gifts for our families and walked around ALL day! It was PACKED with people! Throwing confetti in the air every 3 seconds… the sun was out and it was so beautiful and clear and “hotter,” none of us brought jackets out, it was FABULOUS! (miss that about California!!!) after walking for like 4 hours we were all getting hungary for lunch and we stumbled upon this CUTE side street restaurant and had a reservation at 1pm and were a no show, and they had the perfect amount of seats for all of us! It was the best pizza I have ever had! This was an amazing lunch! After more walking and our wallets became thin… we went into the main piazza and watched the parade and got in a confetti flight with this group of old people… we were being nice at first and then they started drowning us with confetti, no more nice girls! Throwing our entire bags at these old people, it was AWESOME! After that we were out to seek a gondola ride, now we walked up to the place where you rent them and there were SOOOOO many CUTE gondola men! Ah! We all had our masks on just staring… and then we were like lets just do it because we could get a hot one! Micki of course chimes in and says our luck we get an old geezer! And what did we get… an old geezer! Ah! But it was still amazing! Micki sat at the tip of the boat and the gondola guy was telling Micki to shift her weight to make the boat lopsided on one side… we all laughed SOOOOO hard!!! Of course knowing micki the best line on that boat was along the lines of this, “ok since now I am the weight shifter do I have to pay?? Because I have the Bitch seat??” we all rolled with laughter! We were all do delirious that we were all coming up with one liners and making each other laugh, but micki took the show, as usual!  Then after the gondola ride it was getting chilly and we made our way back to the hotel and bought some hot wine on the way back, BOMBBB! Then changed into comfy clothes and took a 30 second nap because Sarah and Kelly came in and wanted to play with us…I told her that in this state in time, i hate her! Hahah! Katherine needs her sleep… everyone knows that!  We woke up and got ready to go out, and went to dinner with another huge group to this restaurant and made friends with our waiter, and he gave us a bottle of wine on the house! It was YUMMY too!  Venice is a beautiful city but expensive!  The next day we did our last minute shopping “postcards” and then back on the bus on our way to Verona, ROMEO and JULIET! We only had a couple hours there, but went to see Juliets balcony and rub her statue for good luck but you wont believe where we had to rub her… BOOBS! Yes, it is good luck to rub her boobs… Italians…

            We drove back on the bus and made it back in Torino on the 8^th at 6:30pm, the plan was all to go to the gym, but that was quickly out ruled when we got off the bus because of the exhaustion.  Home again! J