Rain...Rain Go Away

On our way to Venice we stopped at a cemetery known for its design. The architect is Carlo Scarpa. His work is very neat and angular. He is originally from Venice so his work is very apparent in the city. We also ran into an architecture group from Oxford who are traveling for a few weeks seeing all of Scarpas works.

We arrived in Venice a few hours later and took a small little water taxi across to the island we were staying on. The taxi was tiny and it took thirteen of us plus all of our bags. We were put in a tiny little cabin. I don't usually feel seasick but I know a few of us were focusing very hard on not getting sick.

We arrived at our hotel and saw our rooms before heading out to see what we wanted to on our own that night. It was sprinkling off and on all night but wasn't too bad. We made it to Murano island to see the glass blowing district before heading back to find food near the hotel. We ended up eating close to the hotel and it was very good. After dinner a group of s began wandering around finding our way through the small alleys and bridges. Even though it was freezing we were still on the hunt for our daily gelato fix.

We found a small place in a smaller street, where the guy working was so funny. He invited us in and joked with us. He had us try and guess the favors he would give us to taste. His English was very conversational. He gave me pistachio with Nutella on it and I think it's been my favorite gelato so far.

The next day we woke up early to tour the city before leaving. Of course it started raining pretty hard during our tour which made us freezing cold. Our tour guide was so sweet and was a native Venetian. She took us to all of the important places in the city like St. Marks cathedral as well as the architecture school in Venice which as also designed by Scarpa. It was strange to see all of the flood boards out in the streets ready to be used during the rainy season. Our tour guide said there are time they have to wear fishing pants out through the streets because water is up to their waists. She also said a long time ago women would wear shoes with 50cm tall stilts under them so they didn't have to get muddy in the streets.

After our tour we returned to the hotel to grab our bags before walking to the train station in the rain and boarding the train for Florence.