The Carnevale Adventure

It was an adventure from the very beginning. Even though we were well aware that booking a hotel in a small city on the busiest weekend of the year was going to prove quite a trying task, we decided to try for it anyways. Since this year I was actually in Italy for the famous carnival season, I had been planning a trip with my friend Jordan (the new au pair for Zoila's family) to attend all the festivities in Venice for carnival. We thought we planned everything plenty in advance, but when it came down to it, we still had trouble finding a hotel. Apparently it's quite common for the hostels in Venice to have bed bugs, which I can assure you limited our options. Luckily, Zoila came through with her travel expertise and found us an inexpensive and snug bed and breakfast... Safely clear of any critters in the beds. We had actually had two weekends to choose from, since carnival season lasts for several weeks, but we chose the earlier weekend because we thought it might be a little less busy. It didn't make any difference. In the back of my mind however, I was slightly worried that the weather in the middle of February would not be very cooperative with our celebratory intentions, but I agreed with the earlier date because it seemed easier at the moment.

Unfortunately I was right. Mid February came, and so did the most bitter, horrible, depressing cold I have ever experienced in Italy. It was the country's worst winter ever.... And more than two thirds of the entire country was covered in several feet of snow, with the exception of Florence and parts of Naples (of course in my city we still got all the miserable conditions of the weather, just without the fun and beauty of the snow... Let's just say no one in Florence was very happy about that situation). After enduring several days or maybe a couple weeks of harsh winter weather, the big storms finally came... The week before our big trip to Venice. I was watching the weather religiously, hoping the snow would let up and melt away before we had to buy our train tickets to travel right through the Swiss alps near Bologna and onto Venice, right in the thick of the winter storm.

Jordan and I had been in contact every day, trying to figure out if we would be able to even make it to Venice or not. She told me that because of the snow, a train from Rome to Foligno had gotten stuck on the train tracks for several hours, and the people just had to sit inside and wait for the weather to pass and the tracks to be cleared.

That was not our ideal way to spend our special weekend away. We had to make a decision. Luckily, the only thing we had paid for so far was the hotel, so if we decided not to go, the only money we would be losing was one night's hotel cost. We considered that if we did risk going with all the snow, even if we were able to get there, walking around Venice in 25 degree weather wouldn't really be the funnest thing we could do. So after much consideration and deliberation, we postponed our trip for a week.

I'm glad we did. I had a friend that ended up going that weekend and she said it was unbearably cold the whole time she was there. I've experienced Venice like that before... Last year in January when I traveled there with my dad and sister... and I really did not want to ever have to be in Venice when it was that cold again. The next problem was to figure out what to do about our hotel, but after talking to the owner, we were able to work out renting a room the next weekend for just a small increase in price.

Just after getting a handful of confetti dumped on us... ;-)

It was perfect, and Jordan and I were thrilled to start our adventure. We still hadn't bought train tickets, but we were planning to buy them when I picked her up from the train station on Friday night. She arrived in from Foligno at 10 at night, and I was there waiting for her when she stepped off the train. Our plan was to buy our tickets, go to a pub for a bit, and then head home early to get a good night's rest.

Nothing ever goes as planned.

As we searched the kiosk to buy train tickets for a train to Venice early the next morning, we discovered some very unfortunate information: the train we planned to take was completely and entirely sold out. Not only was our selected 8 am train sold out, but so was the 9 am, 10 am, 11 am, and so on, all the way up till 2 in the afternoon... Which at that point would have meant missing almost an entire day in Venice. The only available train? 4 am. That's right. Jordan and I looked at each other, laughed and said... Are you up for it? Ok let's do it! So we purchased our insane train tickets (which luckily happened to be a quarter of the price of the late morning trains), and made a plan to stay out in the city all night long and go get on the train right after all the discos close at 4. We laughed about how crazy our plan was but then thought... This is life! We're up for fun and adventures and crazy things so why not? :) Unfortunately I didn't have my things with me, so after going home and packing, we became a little too comfortable in my cozy room and decided that maybe it would be smarter if we slept for three hours before going to the train.

To be honest, I'm quite glad we did (although I suppose that makes me not quite as adventurous as I would like to be), because we woke up semi-rested and ready to go for a fun weekend in Venice! We had a five hour train ride and didn't even sleep until the last hour of it. We finally arrived into Venice at 9 am. I didn't know what to do with myself. I am never up that early and had no idea what to do with so much time. We had also eaten like pigs at 6 am on one of our stop overs because we had skipped dinner the night before and were absolutely famished by the time the sun started rising, so eating wasn't even an option.

But it didn't matter because getting to our hotel proved to be quite a task (something I should have remembered later on that evening). We had to take a water bus, which required figuring out where to get it from and which direction to go and how long to be on it and how to buy tickets (which were an outrageous amount of money) and how to actually get on a bus when the city was so congested you could barely move. But we did it, and within an hour we were unpacking our things in our cute pink room at a quaint bed and breakfast.

The rest of the day was spent exploring the city and gaping at the incredible wonders of Carnival that surrounded us. In contrast to the empty and quiet Venice that I had encountered in January the year before, this time we enjoyed a city that was bursting with action and excitement. The city was packed… every nook and cranny was filled with travelers from all over the world, staring in awe at the beauty of the city and the magnificence of the extravagant costumes that passed by them on the streets. No one was in a rush, which was fortunate because it would have been an impossible task to maneuver quickly through the dense crowds. Instead, people slowly gallivanted through the streets, decked out in costumes, playfully grinning behind their Carnival masks, and proudly donning their SLR cameras around their necks. I was ecstatic.

It was like an entire city specially set up just for photographers… and any type of photographer – professional, intermediate, or just your every day tourist with a point and shoot. But everyone was taking pictures. There were so many bright and colorful and fantastic costumes, and the people dressed up were more than happy to pause while walking down the street and pose for an epic photo for you (and the group of 20 photographers that quickly formed behind you as soon as the person stopped). It was like a battlefield… everyone pushing and shoving and fighting to get the best angle for their shot, but it was a blast. No one was actually ever mad or in a bad mood; it was all just friendly competition.

Yum!

When Jordan and I weren’t gawking at the fabulous costumes, we only had one other thing on our minds: food. All day, we ambled slowly through the streets with eyes peeled for scrumptious bakeries. They weren’t hard to find. It seemed like every corner we past had a sparkly, shimmery display of irresistible, mouthwatering donuts, frittelle, brioches, chocolates, and biscotti. I can’t even count how many bakeries we went into over the two days we were there. After indulging in a few morsels at one locale, it was only moments before we were counting down the minutes until we had waited long enough in between to treat ourselves again at the next delicious place that caught our eye.

Since Jordan and I had only had two or three hours of sleep on the day of our arrival in Venice, we were completely exhausted by 5 pm. We headed back to our hotel, snuggled into our nice cozy beds, and took an amazing three hour nap. We didn’t even notice that we had skipped dinner because we were so full from all the goodies and sweets that we had had! Around 8, we woke up well rested, got up, got ready to go out for a night on the town, and set out to explore some of the Venice nightlife during the Carnival festivities.

We didn’t really know where to go, but we walked in the direction of where we had heard there was generally lots of activity. It wasn’t long until we stumbled upon music blasting in the streets and a buzzing crowd cheerfully dancing along. Of course, we joined right in, made some friends, and danced the night away. It was quite a celebration and people from all over joined in on the festivities, moshing and jumping together in the piazzas to all the wild music playing around them.

The crowds in the streets

The hours passed, and before we knew it, it was late in the night and time to head back to our hotel. Problem: neither of us had a clue how to get there. We pulled out our maps and began what we thought would be a brief search for the hotel we had been to only once (or maybe twice…) earlier that day. Unfortunately, I had let Jordan do the leading and had not paid much attention at all to where we were going. Our plan was to rely on our handy maps to guide us home. However, we found that trying to use maps in Venice is pretty much a futile task, considering none of the street names on the maps actually match the real names on the street signs. Combine the map confusion with an almost unbearable freezing cold, two tired girls that had been out all night, and two random Italian guys that were thankfully there to help translate for us and ask the locals where to go. The result: a two hour mess of wandering all around Venice at in the wee hours of the morning, unsuccessfully searching for a seemingly nonexistent street that neither of us could remember how to get to. Eventually around 5 am, after several circles around the entire city, we miraculously stumbled upon a familiar area and were able to track our way back to our hotel. I had not realized (luckily!) that it had taken us a full two hours, but I must admit that once we finally got back to our hotel and laid down in bed, I don’t think I’ve ever felt anything so wonderful in my life!

We slept only a few hours before heading back out into the chaos and madness of Carnevale again, but we were energized all the same, still excited and eager to be taking part in such a magnificent experience. With only a few more obstacles before we headed home (a sudden downpour during a photo excursion, long lines for water buses on our way to the train station, sold out trains, claustrophobic cars filled with people standing shoulder to shoulder with absolutely no breathing room, and brief panic attacks), we made it home safe and sound, satisfied and thrilled about our the success of our first genuine Carnevale experience.