Viva la Venizia

I flew out of Brussels early early Monday morning to head to ITALY for Carnivale break. I was so excited for gelato, warmer weather, and more festivities, I knew it was going to be a good trip. We started in Venice. I went with Tiffany and Kathleen again, the triple threat of travelling buddies. Venice started off slowly with pouring rain and a much needed nap. We weren't staying on the main island since it's reallllly expensive, we were staying in Mestre, and short bus ride over a long bridge right outside of Venice. It was a cute little area with lots of shops and restaurants and a grocery store right across the street. It ended up working out nicely. The first night we started in Mestre and got pre-dinner gelato. Our first gelato experience, and quite possibly the best. I got dark chocolate and it was so smooth and chocolatey, I never wanted it to end.

My gelato on the left, and my first italian pizza on the right

After gelato we decided to get real food and went to this pizzeria. We all got our first italian pizzas and I decided to try something completely new that I had never even heard of before, eggs on pizza? I went for it. The white asparagus was perfectly delicate, the cheese was amazing, the crust was crisp yet fluffy and the egg added an entirely new dimension I was unused to. Divine.

 Then we went into Venice to wander and see if anything was going on for Carnivale, since they celebrate it in Venice too, even bigger than in Maastricht, but Monday was pretty dead. I guess everyone was preparing for the final day of Carnivale, Tuesday.

Venice by night

We walked for what seemed like HOURS. Constantly feeling lost and confused, but we found some interesting things and saw tons of masks, yet none of us could decide which one to get, so we decided we would sleep on it and get one the next morning.

Masks on every corner

We found a cool Reggae fest thing that was going on where I tried a Venetian spritz. Its a delicious fizzy apertif that for some reason is only popular in Venice. I would drink this everywhere if it was everywhere, its that tasty. It is one part white wine, 1 part aperol (an orange sweet mixer), and 1 part seltzer water. They were selling them everywhere for €2. What a deal.
We somehow made it back to the bus station after countless wrong turns and went home to sleep before the big day. I loved Venice by night, even if it was mega confusing. Its so charming and adorable.

The next morning we headed in around 11 to find a mask and then join the festivities!

It was an absolutely beautiful day

We eventually all decided on the masks we wanted. I got a green one that was made in Venice. That was my goal, to get a Venetian mask made in Venice, not in China. It was pretty difficult but I finally found one that I liked for a very reasonable price. I really enjoy the one I chose.

 Time for more gelato!

We wandered forever, discovered lots of cute sections, great views, and adorable canals. Venice is truly unlike any other city I've ever been to.

The sky was insanely blue

Oh hey there ocean

Crazy costumes!

One major difference I noticed between Maastricht Carnivale and Venice was in Maastricht almost every single person was dressed up in some sort of costume and drinking some sort of alcohol and the bars were crazy even at 1 in the afternoon. Venice was much more low key with many more people. In Venice, there were a lot of people dressed up in intense costumes, like the ones above, and some in traditional garb too, like full on renaissance. Then there were people dressed up as pacmen, animals, guys dressed as girls, etc. And then there were hundreds of people just wearing masks, like ourselves, all presumably, tourists. It was also a different vibe, not as crazy of a party but still very fun. I'm glad that I got to experience two different Carnivales. Both were awesome and like nothing I've done before.

PACKED with people

Ponte Rialto: Venices largest and most famous bridge

Delicious Cannoli

As day turned to night the party scene started to get poppin'. We happened upon this small dance rave that was playing really awesome music, but I got semi-violated by a very young smelly Italian, so we moved on to bigger and better things.

Small dance partay

HUGE rock festival

Sponsored by Hard Rock, some famous Italian band was playing. We had no idea who they were or what they were saying, but it was still fun to be a part of. The possibility of there being a rock festival in the middle of the main square in Venice if I ever get to go back is slim to none, so it made it extra exciting. We left around midnight after a full day of fun adventures. Venice was truly beautiful.