venice

Turns out I fell asleep for a little while, and waking up early to catch this train was not the best feeling in the world. Goba and I finally got our asses up and set out on our epic fail of a morning. First, halfway to the train station, goba realizes she forgot her phone, but we decide its too late to go back. Next, we wait in line at the train station to grab a ticket only to find out they are all sold out except for first class which is way more expensive, not to mention these high speed trains already cost an arm and a leg. So we get tickets for a later train in an hour or two. Then, we walk all the way back to gobas apartment to get her phone and decide to have some cereal, only to take a bite into very old and sour milk, yum. We ditch that breakfast and start walking back towards the train station. We stop at a café to get chocolate croissants and as we are walking out and along the street, goba gets yelled at by an Italian man. We turn around and see him pointing at a napkin on the ground. I safely assume it came from the bag since goba had just taken her treat out of it. Goba goes to the napkin and kicks it with her foot, and seeing it is nothing important starts walking back away from it. The guy gets really mad saying, ‘this it Italia! We are clean!’ and goba is utterly flustered not knowing what to do, thinking it wasn’t hers and the guy just wanted her to pick up a random napkin, even though I was on the side like, goba you dropped it. She stands there in complete confusion with the guy yelling at her, now, ‘where are you from!’ goba refuses to answer, finally picks up the napkin and walks away.
We finally make it safe to the train station. Overall, hysterical morning. The entire train ride over to Venice, I am trying to fall asleep and recover a little for the rest of the day, but one man makes it completely impossible because he is yelling into his cell phone so loud, im pretty sure asia fuckin heard him. I am seriously surprised not one person turned around and told him to shut the fuck up. Or even better yet, someone should have started an even louder phone conversation right next to him so he would fuckin quiet down. After sleeping for a possibly 17 seconds, I opened my eyes to crazily see water in every direction. I had forgotten we were going to Venice for a second. As goba and I were getting off the train, the older men who we had been sitting next to for the entire duration of the trip start asking us questions in Italian. Im sorry but we have been here the entire time and you pick now, the time when we are all leaving and going into different directions, to start a conversation and confuse us with your strange language? Similarly, we were Italian-verbally attacked by a restaurant greeter while looking for our hostel. As we were walking towards our hostel, which was conveniently located right across the grand canal across from the train station, we were walking down the road looking at the numbers on the doors but it was hidden at first and we didn’t see it so we were looking around near this restaurant and the greeter of this place, who are always really intense by the way, just starts yelling at us and pointing at a hotel a couple doors over, and we try to say, no thats not the number, and he just keeps yelling loudly and pointing at the place and walking over to us to walk us to the hotel as if we cant fucking see it. We get so harassed we end up walking in there just to get away from him. Seriously, this trip just keeps getting more and more hilarious. After a couple minutes, we dip out and find the actual place we are looking for. We get our keys and get settled in- it was a one bedroom with a big bed and a bathroom, so pretty simply but it does the job.
Armed with a map of Venice and directions given by our hostel lady, we immediately set out to explore the ‘sinking city.’ We walked along the main road up one way towards Plaza San Marco, the main plaza, where Dodge’s Palace and Accademia are, among other beautiful buildings and libraries. Along the way, we walked into a bunch of little churches and shops and even befriended a couple of the gondola people. Plaza San Marco was absolutely beautiful, with the San Marco Church absolutely breathtaking. It looks Indianish with all its points and its completely covered in gold. We went inside and that is even more beautiful. Definitely one of the most beautiful buildings ive ever seen; that alone was probably worth the trip. Next, goba and I walked through the entirety of the Dodges Palace which is the place of the government. That too was extremely lavish and gorgeous with all types of carvings and paintings, and everything so detailed. There were so many rooms for all different types of purchases with silk walls and carved ceilings and statues and everything is made of all different types of materials- silk, marble, wood, etc. After exploring this plaza quite thoroughly, goba and I headed over to Ponte Rialto, the bridge that has the Rialto Market. This was very busy and it had all types of goodies- so much glass jewelry, crazy masks, etc. after walking around some more, we made our way back to the hotel, figuring it was time to start getting ready.
We showered, chilled a little, watched some music videos, I learned goba loves that new black eyed peas song ‘ill meet you halfway’ which now get constantly stuck in my head, and then we headed out. We figured the best way to find the good restaurants and bars were to follow the crowd. However, we quickly realized there were no crowds. Hardly even any people at that! We were a little lost, hello Venice? We came to party! We asked a couple people and they led us to a plaza which was supposed to be one of the best- I think it had 5 restaurants and maybe 2 bars. There were people just botteloning in the middle and chillin, but not many. We decided it was just because it was early so we went to grab dinner at Campo Margherita, where I had the absolute best pasta of my life. It was tortellini in a white cream sauce with mushrooms and ham, yum! We got a bottle of wine too, of course, and ate slowly, waiting to see if the nightlife would pick up at all. To add to our awkward and confusing moments that encapsulated our life’s on our way to Venice, when a table of 4 people next to us were leaving, on of the older guys from it randomly asks ‘are you coming to the soccer game with us!’ looking in my direction. I was super confused and so did a complete turnaround, assured there must be someone behind me hes talking to because.. who is this guy?? But he was indeed talking to me, wanting to know if we were joining them tomorrow. I told him we were leaving tomorrow, sorry, and then goba and I burst into hysterical laughter as they walked away wondering where the fuck this random invitation came from. We finished our wine and on our way out asked our waiter where the discotecas were. He informed us there was only one, ONE!, discoteca in Venice called Piccolo Mundo, not giving us much to work with. Walking out of the restaurant, I saw a huge crowd of people with one guy singing and playing a guitar around a girl wanting her to kiss another older guy with a beard that probably housed a family of birds with all the crumbs he was packing. As soon as they saw us, the group immediately took after us, circling us, playing and singing, urging us that we kiss the guy. I quickly understand after realizing that this guy is dressed up as a baby with a bib and all that he is getting married and this is his party. I think ive already talked about bachelor and bachelorette parties and how they get all dressed up like the Duff man from Granada; well this was the same thing. I gave the man a kiss on the cheek while goba stood next to me horrified wishing she could hide into a hole. After minutes of unsuccessful harassing to get goba to kiss him, they walk off to their next victim. Walking away from this situation, goba exclaims, ‘weird shit always happens when im with you,’ to which I could only nod and agree- I have to admit its true. We headed over to the one open bar in the plaza which attracted us, and probably every else, with their bright lights. We got ourselves some drinks and then met these British guys, who I immediately informed that they would be able to get any girl just with their accent. They seemed pretty pleased with that but I doubt its anything new. We ended up hanging out with them the entire night, drinking, laughing, visiting the one other bar right next door which served sex on a gondola shots, taking absinthe shots, and also walking all the way to Piccolo Mundo to find a $10 euro entrance fee which we denied and so walked all the way back to the first bar. I forget their names but they were cute and quite entertaining. Overall, the best possible night we could have had to rock venice’s socks off with only 2 bars.

The next morning, we woke up slightly early, so that we could explore again. There were high waters which were quite inconvenient because the city was overflowing. Thankfully, it wasn’t so terrible that the whole city was underwater so I was somewhat able to keep my feet dry. Goba and I got our water boat tickets and jetted off to Murano island, the glass blowing island not far away from Venice. Several years ago, all the glass blowers were transferred to this island in fear that they would start a fire in Venice and now murano is overflowing with crazy glass art. They really make everything and anything- all types of jewelry, animals, lamps, tables, wine stoppers, anything! And everything is so wildly colorful I seriously almost couldn’t even handle it. I would said murano is like art on acid. There is no other way to explain it. I got my dad a sweet glass blown wine stopper, and some jewelry for myself and family members, and then we headed back to Venice on the water boat. We stopped off at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum which was pretty cool. It had a lot of sweet paintings and some statues, even with a little garden. We tried to see Santa Maria Salute church which was supposed to be awesome but of course we went to go visit it during its closed hours, no big deal. At least we got to see the outside. Then, we walked around the city more, walking past those guys who sell the fake purses. One time, I glanced at one and the guy goes ‘free for you’. I was like oh, no way, really? To which he says ‘free price’… of course, bastard. I was ready to walk away with it for free but hey, whatever. Later on, another guy offers me a ‘free’ bag. This encounter was much more interesting however. He then asks me if I want to be his ‘homie’. I say, umm, sure, I guess ill be your homie, like your friend, your pal, right?’ to this, he gets the absolute biggest grin on his face, looking back between goba and me, saying, ya my homie, youll be my homie! Then he says, ‘lets go!’. Ummm, where we going? What do I have to do? Whats going on?.. and here is his response: ‘hotel?’…. ya, no thanksss. I guess I don’t want to be your homie so much anymore, considering you have a grand total of 4 teeth in that mouth of yours and live on the street, you dirty rat. Goba and I then ended our Venice trip with a glass of white wine by the river before stepping onto our train back to Florence. This train ride was another disaster because since Venice was the first stop, all the seats were open so we just sat wherever, but throughout the trip, it started to get filled and goba and I kept getting kicked out of our seats and then going back into more wrong seats. Every time the same guy would say, those seats are wrong!, but I would just not care enough to find my right seat. I preferred waiting to get kicked out again. Seriously though, would it really have been that hard to find the right seats from the beginning? Apparently so.

firenze

Yes, I made it! First of all, its sunny and gorgeous out- something I haven’t seen in so long since it has been nonstop rain in Sevilla ever since we got there. It actually hasn’t rained this much in 70 years, SEVENTY! Can you imagine? People are dying from floods in Portugal and France, its obscene. But anyways, back to Florence! And goba! I hadn’t hung out with that girl in way too long and here we were reunited again, the dynamic duo. She picked me up from the train station and we walked through Florence back to her house. I saw the Duomo for the first time on my way to her apartment and it was breathtaking. Its absolutely enormous and its so beautiful and detailed. Its mainly white but with green and orangeish color stripes, and of course the immense orange dome. Really gorgeous. I took a delicious shower when I got to her apartment (which is actually really cute- she lives with 6 girls!) and then we went out to lunch. We went to ‘Pino’s’ which isn’t the actual name of the place but it’s the name of the owner who is the cutest Italian man ive ever seen! I seriously regret not taking a picture with him. This place is kind of like a deli and Pino makes the BEST paninis- im not kidding, these things were heavenly. Great bread, and then all sorts of toppings from cheese to potatoes to spinach to peppers- anything you would want, and then heated to perfection.
After devouring lunch, Goba and I walked around Florence. We saw the Santa Croce church and that plaza and then walked across the Arno River and up a huge hill to get to Plaza Michelangelo, a viewpoint for the entire city. It was such a nice day out and the view was incredible. The first thing you notice is definitely the Duomo. At this plaza, there was a statue of David, but it wasn’t the real one. Apparently there are a lot of fakes all around Florence and the real one is absolutely enormous and in one of the museums- I never got to see the real one. Up on the same hill was the San Miniato Church, which was really pretty and all golden inside. Right next to this church was a little cemetery. I don’t know why but I have always enjoyed walking through cemeteries- not in a morbid way but im not exactly sure why, maybe because its peaceful. I don’t know, I find cemeteries pretty- how people are remembered I guess. This one was pretty cool though. There was only a little part of it that looked like an actual cemetery with tombs laid out next to each other but the rest was just all white walls with white marble stone heads that had names and dates written on them. These walls were covered and covered in hanging flowers. I had never seen a cemetery quite like this one.
Later, Goba and I descended back down to the city center, going by the Duomo, definitely one of the main attractions of Florence. It is extremely impressive. We didn’t go in but I did the next day. Next, we went into a cute little church that is gobas favorite because its quiet and pretty too. Later, we went to the San Lorenzo market which is a long street crowded entirely with street vendors. They sell typical tourist objects and clothes, but also beautiful creative Carnaval masks and jewelry, among other things. One piece that really made me laugh were shorts that had the David statue dick picture at the crotch- do people really buy that?? And if people really do buy them as gifts for people, do they really actually wear them?? I guess they are a hilarious joke gift- truly obscene. Also in the market, leather, so much leather! Wallets, jackets, keychains, purses- Allyson made sure to get at least one of each of these, no joke, she really went wild. Once you get to the end of the street, you start entering the more sketcky vendors. It was here that I saw a little vendor with hippie-ish bags and so I stopped to look. I immediately got hounded by the vendor trying to spit out deals and basically pushing the bag onto me. This guy was not taking ‘just looking’ as an answer. Next thing we know, goba and I have the thinnest shittiest rainbow string bracelets tied around our wrists. Oh shit, does this mean we are married? Goba panics, as always, which I shamelessly take pleasure in, because I like seeing her squirm in awkward situations. Finally, we do manage to escape from the vendor and continue walking until I see another one, the only one mind you, slightly related to weed and the red, green, yellow colors of bob Marley followers. There is a small selection of bowls, of which I pick one out for my brother and barter the price down at least a little bit. Although I think I did ok bartering, I wish I had Jill with me on that one and especially in Morocco because she is obsessed with bartering and quite good at it. Miss you girl!
After walking around some more, window shopping, and seeing the city, goba and I headed back to her house. We went food shopping and tomassa made us dinner- pasta with a light sauce of cherry tomatoes and random spices- so good, thank ya girl! We hung out for awhile and then went out. We decided to do a bar crawl to check out a bunch of different bars they hadn’t been to yet. We walked into this one bar that looked normal enough from the outside but then when you walked in and looked to the right, there were a bunch of people lying down getting massaged. It was a little weird and although I would have loved a massage, this wasn’t the time nor place. We were looking to get drunk, which we managed to do quite well at the next bar which was crowded with tons of people outside of it. We now refer to this place as Pedro’s because that was the name of the bartender and he made bomb ass drinks. Pedro didn’t fuck around- he gave us so much alcohol. We chilled there for awhile, drank a ton, stared at random pictures of half naked women on one part of the wall, and then walked down the street to check out more bars. We came across a couple and got more drinks but none compared to pedro’s, so we eventually returned to drink more before heading out for our final destination- Twice, a discoteca in Florence. Sadly, I reached blackout city before making it to Twice so even though we were dancing there for about 2 hours, I remember none of it. I guess its safe to say my night was a blur. Goba, on the other hand, had a fabulous time at Twice. The Italian Maneater, as they call her, apparently is always instantly joined with an Italian every time she enters this club, and this time was no different. She was ‘talking’ with one of her many victims all night, and thankfully for me, it was documented by one of her friends. The next day, we were able to rifle through several pictures that showed gobas entertainment for the night. At this point, she mentions, ‘hmm, I remember him being younger.. and better looking.’ I feel many of us think this the morning after. To her horrification, she receives a text the next day inviting her to drinks- I think his wife and kids would be rather upset. I guess this is a typical thing for goba though- getting Italian men and then half-regretting it in the morning. Walking around Florence, she has been called out by her full name before by an Italian man, to which her response was scurrying away with her head down.
Anyways, after all that action in Twice, goba and the girls all dragged my ass home and I woke up in the morning, feeling fabulous as I always do, even if the night before took place way beyond blackout city borders. Its both a blessing and a curse.
The next day, we went to Pino’s again for lunch which was so great. I seriously am gonna start making the same paninis he does because they are a delicious concoction. Goba and I set out again to visit some more of the city. We went into the Duomo, which is spectacular from the outside, but not so impressive in the inside other than the dome. The inside is enormous with big arches but other than that, quite plain, until you get to the inside of the dome, which is absolutely gorgeous. It’s entirely painted with people who look as if they are all looking down at you- it looks so real and its with great colors and its just SO bIg! That’s what she said. But yes, pretty cool. We also visited one of the bigger plazas where there were a bunch of big statues representing Gods and such. One of the biggest and best statues was one of Zeus, maybe?, on his chariot of horses. Its a fountain and from what Goba tells me, one of the most defaced articles in the city of Florence. Drunk kids used to take full advantage of the fountain when drunk to either pee or go swimming, so now they constantly have guards around it at night. We quite possibly stopped for a gelato somewhere along our walk throughout the city which was so fresh and delicious. Walking around the market again, guess who we saw! Holy shit, John Denapoli, a kid from our high school I probably haven’t seen in 3 or 4 years. He is an architecture major who is studying abroad in Florence too. What a coincidence. We also spent a little bit of time out at H&M before getting ready to go out to dinner.
We ate at Acqua al 2, a very authentic Italian restaurant. Goba, Ali, and I and decided to split this thing called ‘a taste of pasta.’ What happens is they give you seven different tiny tastes of different types of pasta. They were all entirely different shapes, colors, sauces, etc. it was really fun to explore a bunch of what they had to offer. We also split ‘a taste of steak’ which was really good. There were three different types all with different sauces again- the balsamic sauce was really good but they had a blueberry sauce that was absolutely divine. Of course, we popped open a couple bottles of wine with our meal as well.
That night we bar hopped out to several different places. The first was a little bar called Angie’s, which had wild decorations in the back room that was hosting a little dance club of its own with a girl dj. The paintings on the wall were fucking sweet though-would have fallen into straight tripping status. We danced and drank awhile at this place before heading down to a different bar, Kikuya, that was a little more original Italian, and to our surprise, who do we see but john denapoli again! We chilled here until the wee early hours of the morning until we decided to leave, at which point I actually perched myself on the back of a passing motorcycle hoping to get a ride until Goba screamed and tore me off. Instead, we went on a search for the ‘secret bakery’ which is a little bakery that bakes for other bigger bakeries but is only open from 2 to 4 am or something. Its not even marked as a bakery- it only has a sign outside that says ‘quiet please’ but it gives random passersby pizza and croissant type things for real cheap. Sadly, we were too drunk to ever find it and returned home feeling unsuccessful. Instead, we made a bertucci’s type of concoction with olive oil and red spices and dipped warm bread into it. Instead of going to bed which would have been a good idea since goba and I had plans to go to Venice for a couple days, I chose to watch ‘factory girl’, probably my new favorite movie. It’s about andy Warhol and his main girl inspiration of the time, edie segwick. It’s a ballin ass movie and im fully not embarrassed to say ive watched it twice since then.