Ciao Bella!

Ah, Venice. A mysterious city of canals, winding streets and hidden buildings.
Also, the site of my somewhat shortened Carnival break. I say shorted because rather than continuing on from Venice to Stockholm last Monday, I instead found myself too sick to do anything but catch a plane home.
But, back to Venice...
I arrived at Camping Fusina for a two night stay on a Thursday evening, all alone but prepared to take on the city. Well, sort of. I decided to stay on site for the night, grabbing dinner at the little pizzeria close to my cabin. While eating, I heard the six boys in the booth in front of mine speaking english. Not just english, american english. So, I did what any American girl would do when she finds herself alone in Italy - I struck up a conversation with them.
That's how I came to meet (and spend the night drinking and bonding with) Danny, Chris, Chris, Kenny, Joey and Sam. They're from Georgia Tech and are currently going to school in Metz. In fact, they came into Lux city last night for some dinner and drinks (good times).
The following day, after declining the boys' invitation to go with them to Milan I struck out into Venice. I took a ferry there, and I have to say that those first few minutes of sitting on deck, with the bright Italian sun sparkling on the water as beautiful churches loomed in the distance, I felt pure happiness.
To be honest, I had an absolute blast on my own. Once we docked I wandered over to the Accademia Galleries, full of famous paintings by artists like Bellini and others we had discussed in my history class. It was pretty awesome to actually see the things Dr. Haag has been talking to us about - somehow just hearing about the different Madonnas doesn't quite do them justice.
At any rate, I continued to wander wherever my feet took me, and eventually found a fantastic place to eat lunch. It was done inside like an elegant bar from the 1930s, and I have to say it was the sort of place where I half expected to see Jay Gatsby or Cole Porter. The waiters wore white tuxedo jackets and called me "madame", and it was all really quite lovely.
Eventually, I found myself in the Plaza San Marco - where the real Carnevale festivities were happening. Stalls and kiosks where costumes and masks were available for sale were everywhere, and some of the people were absolutely dressed to the nines. It was like stepping back in time.
Because I was already at the Plaza, I decided it was worth a shot to try to find the hotel my family stayed at two years ago when we were in Venice. I must admit that I'm rather proud of myself, because I did indeed manage to find it (what's more, I didn't get lost on the way back). So of course I snapped a picture.
I also spent a fair amount of time just sitting around and thinking - there are a lot of good places in Venice for that, and I found myself down a little alley with my feet dangling out over the canal composing letters in my head and wondering how I would describe this people. I wandered back to the water front too, and sat at a cafe on the water front, watching the sunset. I explored a church, and bought myself a mask to go with my costume .... all in all it was an incredible.
The next day was when Zach, Jetty, Anushka and Megan arrived. I left Camping Fusina (at just the right time, as they'd lost power for some reason) to go to the Hotel Al Piccolo to meet them. It was a lovely little hotel - although quite frankly the girls got shafted as far as the rooms were concerned. Please explain to me how it's fair that the boys not only got a balcony, but a bath tub too!? Our shower wasn't actually big enough to turn around in.
Saturday was also the day that I dressed up. All out, 18th century ball gown, dramatic make up, and a feathered and sequined mask. When we finally got ourselves out of the hotel and into the city, I must admit I felt like I was in some sort of dark romance novel. It was evening already, so the streets were swarming with people in costume (and also with tourists) we even ran into some other Miamians.
We made our way to San Marco, and nearly died when we got there. It was beautiful - they had created a garden in the middle of the square that was lit up with hundreds of lighted shapes, and there was a woman suspended from a balloon in the air who was doing acrobatics. It was like stepping into another world.
After helping Zach, Jetty, Megan and Anushka pick out masks, we all struck out to look for a place to eat - turning wherever we felt like it. I really enjoyed the adventure, trotting across bridges in a gown and talking and laughing amongst ourselves. Eventually we ended up at a nice little place tucked away in a shopping district. We'd just ordered our food when Chris called me to say that he had arrived and was in the Plaza San Marco, so I left to meet him.
It isn't many times in your life that you are on the phone with someone and you can say "all right, i'll meet you in the plaza san marco underneath the spotlight shining on the garden".
ha, love it.
The rest of the evening was pretty low key, and unfortunately by the time we got back to the hotel I had lost my voice completely. It was then that I knew...illness was on it's way.

The next morning, we got a late start and decided to eat at a lovely little authentic restuarant called Santa Anna's near our hotel. Lunch, as it turns out, was about all I was up for, because while everyone else left to explore the city, I promptly decided to return to the hotel room. For the rest of the afternoon/evening, I honestly did nothing except lay around, sleep, and read. It was that night that I called my parents and asked for them to arrange a flight home for me. It was also the first time I really found myself thinking of Luxembourg as home. All I wanted was my bed in the apartment - my apartment.
The following day, after lunch at Santa Anna's, I began the trek home. I walked to the train station, took a bus from there to the airport, landed in Frankfurt, took a bus to lux, and then took a train to Noertzange.
All in all, it took about 8 hours. ug.
However, home I was, and home I stayed for the next five days until just last night when I ventured out with the boys.
I'm rather glad I ended up back here though. I'm upset I missed out on the rest of my vacation, but at the same time a lot of good things happened for me here. I talked to good people, I came to serious self realizations, and am in a generally hopeful mood prepared to start some self-improvement and feel some self-love.
After all, I am worth it.
love,
me