My last official weekend trip of the semester was to Venice, Florence, and Rome in Italy. Our school had Tuesday off for Immaculate Conception, so we extended the weekend to hit all the cities.
After a delayed Vueling (we hate you, Vueling) flight, we arrived in Venice around 5pm on Friday. We stepped outside the airport into a torrential downpour. After a rainy weekend in Paris, Tori and Alex knew to be prepared for the unfortunate weather. I missed the memo. Ironically, I had bragged about my savvy packing skills earlier that day, “Look Catie, six days worth of winter clothing… stuffed nicely in my little black backpack!” Fail. The lack of rain clothes left me sopping wet for the duration of the afternoon/evening. I almost redeemed myself by finding a slightly mangled umbrella in a trash can by the bus stop, commenting that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure… until (PSYCH!) the umbrella flipped inside out because of the strong wind. Oh well.
We ignored the weather as much as we could and toured Venice a bit, visiting St. Mark’s square and walking along the canals. The canals were charming, but it was upsetting to think about the implications of climate change for this city. Apparently we had just missed a horrible flood in Venice by a day (which happens a lot, go figure.) After taking some wet pictures and happening upon a Firemen’s Memorial service at St. Mark’s, we found exactly what we had a hankering for: a cozy Italian pasta restaurant. It was perfect– red checkered tablecloth and all. We couldn’t have been happier to peel off our wet layers and damp gloves and sit down to a long meal. YUM.
One of the blessings of the rain was finding that our hotel was fancy shmancy. It goes on the list for best accommodations for the cheapest price in Europe. I had one of the longest showers I’d had in a while (did I mention we only get cold showers at my house in Spain?) We told ourselves that even if it was pouring in Venice tomorrow, we could always return to our luxurious hotel and jump on the beds.
We woke up the next morning EARLY in hopes of seeing the city during daylight before we hopped on our train to Florence. And it was a good choice, if I do say so myself. We watched the sun rise over one of the most stunning (and dry!) cities I have ever seen. We revisited St. Mark’s, checked out the Rialto bridge, walked through a bustling market, and explored the narrow streets. Venice has this beguiling, old-fashioned glamour to it. The setting was such a drastic contrast to that of the train station later that day with the irritating Italians…But more on this later; I’m still fuming.
So this brings me to Florence… How do I describe Florence? It was everything that you would expect from an Italian city. Highlights: Gelato and pizza everywhere. Michelangelo Plaza where we watched the sunset over the city lights. Homemade pasta soup from our hostel. A colorful and exquisite Duomo Cathedral. Christmas market with hot wine. The medieval Ponte Vecchio bridge over the Arno River. Michelangelo’s David. Snoop Jesus (ha!) Christmas tree and roasted chestnuts. Getting to see a friend from home.
We had a relaxing and cheery 
time in Florence, perfect preparation for Rome.
