A Tale of Two Cities. Part One: Venice

On March 16th (Last Friday) I arrived in Venice with my favorite blonde travel companion, Kelly. The journey went pretty smoothly aside from an awkward walk through 4 cars of moving train. However, when we finally found our real seats, we were delighted to discover an entire compartment just for us! This is when the literary references started flowing...namely Harry Potter ones of course! "Why Kelly, I think it's about time we changed into our robes. We'll be arriving at Hogwarts soon!"

I have also decided that Venice has healing properties. I embarked upon my journey with a very obnoxious cough, but was soon cured by the sea air and magical atmosphere. For the first day we simply wandered the streets, marveling at the magnificent amount of detail contained in every inch of the city. On every windowsill perches a window-box with fresh flowers, or a stone gargoyle peering out at you. Even the simplest of streets are filled with intricate stonework and lion-headed door knockers. Kelly and I share a sense of wonderment and creativity, so we were perfectly content to get lost in the winding streets and canal-side corners. 

The next several days were spent sitting on docks, drinking wine and eating chocolate while writing, reading or sketching. Venice is the perfect place to indulge one's geeky nature, which is probably why I felt so at home. The dialogue exchanged between me and Kelly during our time in Venice consisted mainly of literary references, fantastical nonsense and Italian. 

On our second day we decided to catch a water-bus to the two Venetian islands of Burano and Murano. Burano is famous for two things: easter-egg colored houses and lace-manufacture. I fell in love with this little island and its eccentric color palette. Kelly and I spent a glorious afternoon eating oranges, kiwis, chocolate and drinking a bottle of white wine while sitting on the canal. We created scenarios in which we grow old in Venice. I shall paint and draw portraits while Kelly writes enthralling and fantastical stories. We will live in a terra-cotta colored house with a sea-horse wind-chime, and not one piece of furniture or dish in the cupboard will be the same. We will also have a little dog and a boat, and many attractive and not at all creepy Italian men to choose from! 

A blissful lunch

My future retirement home!

Murano was also lovely, but my most prominent memory is of Kelly and I accidentally buying cappuccinos for 4 euro....each! We foolishly did not think to check the price before we stopped in for a quick caffeine fix. After we enjoyed our perfectly ordinary beverages, we went to the counter to pay, and the man said quattro euro! To which we thought...ehhh okay. Then he had the nerve to say that we were EACH meant to pay quattro euro. After we were done shitting bricks we slapped our coins on the counter and sulked out of the establishment. Henceforth, we will ALWAYS remember to overestimate the price of coffee in unfamiliar places. In the end it turned out to be a hilarious joke, and throughout the remainder of the trip we would often break a silent moment with a vengeful cry to the Venetian gods for that four euro coffee.

The beverage in question...

One of my favorite afternoons in Venice was spent in San Marco Square. Kelly and I were drawn in by a group of minstrels and a very vigorous violinist that were serenading the crowd in the piazza. We (being the vagabonds we are) decided it was okay for us to just sit in the very center of the huge square. There is nowhere to sit unless you want to commit to ordering something at an actual restaurant. And really, what crazy person would ever spend 4 euro on one cappuccino?! Strangely enough, this questionable seating arrangement caught fire, and soon there were people plopping down all around us! At this time we were busy filling our journals and reading our books, which is apparently a very scenic thing for two little blonde girls to be doing. Frequently during the entire trip, in situations like this, we would catch random passersby taking a photo of the pair of us. We eventually decided that we should charge a fee to either the individual photographers or the city of Venice itself for the services we were providing. I swear though, Venice is the kind of city that would inspire even the most lackluster individual to whip out a journal and jot down a creative thought or maybe let slip a Harry Potter reference. Speaking as someone that does both of these things on a regular basis, you can see how I may have gotten carried away. 

A popular mode of transportation in Venice

Ultimately we were forced to leave Venice; a true tragedy to be sure. Perhaps the sheer absurdity and horror of ever leaving a city of such magic and wonder literally made Kelly sick. In all seriousness though, our exit from Venice was anything but graceful. Povera Kelly, and her mystery sickness, throwing her suitcase down the Rialto steps, will forever live in my memory. Eventually we figured out how to get ourselves to the airport, after a water-bus and a regular bus. Two things one does not want to experience while sick, but I shall leave Kelly to tell her own tale. In the end we parted tearfully at the Marco Polo airport, and I made my way to London, while Kelly set out for Scotland in search on Nessie.

Stay tuned for part II!

Oh that hat...(it is Kelly's, but we shared)