Masks, Glass, Thousands of People= Carnivale in Venice

The past 36 hours have been amazing! 8 girls went to Venice this weekend and had the time of our lives. Although it was very expensive to get there, it was worth the trip. Venice is one of Italy's top travel cities and a beautiful, romantic destination with many attractions. Venice consists of 117 bodies of land connected by more than 400 bridges over its 150 canals. The Grand Canal is like the main street, cutting through the center of the city. The main public transportation in Venice are the vaporetti, boats that run on the waterways. Venetian glass, especially from the island of Murano, is a specialty of Venice. There are stores everywhere that sell murano glass and places to see glass making in action. Piazza San Marco is the main square of Venice surrounded by sidewalk cafes, glass shops, and carnival mask shops. Ponte di Rialto is the main bridge crossing the Grand Canal in the heart of Venice which also surrounds different shops. Venice's Carnival season starts about 2 weeks before the date of Carnevale. Carnival started as a time for celebration throughout the social classes by wearing masks to hide any form of identity between social classes. Events and entertainment are held nightly throughout Venice. During carnival season people in costumes wander about the city. Over 30,000 visitors come to Venice to celebrate.

We went to Venice on the last weekend of the Carnevale celebration. We first got there and took a water bus to Piazza San Marco. We got off the bus and saw thousands of people wearing masks/costumes walking about the streets. The costumes we saw were so detailed and authentic. People must spend thousands of money, effort, and time to make these costumes. Only the locals wear costumes while the tourists buy the masks. Of course, our first purchase of the day was to buy a mask. I bought a purple/silver one with a huge purple feather.

Most of the day on Saturday consisted of us sitting around near the dock wearing our masks and just taking in the scenery. For some odd reason, people thought we were great photographs, so by the end of the day around 50 pictures were taken of my group with us wearing our masks. I could not believe the amount of people we saw visiting Venice for Carnevale. I have been to events with lots of people, but it seemed like everywhere we went we were surrounded by a crowd of people in masks and costumes. It was a lot of fun sitting by the water and hanging out with friends while experiencing Carnevale. We got dinner at a restaurant and then ran into a concert in the piazza later that night. We danced the night away with our masks on and had a great time.

Sunday was our day to explore Venice. We got up first thing in the morning and took a gondola ride. My dream has been to take a gondola ride, and I finally got to. It was beautiful. We started off on the main canal and then ventured off to the side canals to see more bridges. I am amazed at how strong and talented the conductors are. They must have a lot of muscle and strength to row these boats.

After our fabulous ride on the canals, we went shopping at all the glass stores. Venetian glass is a type of glass object made in Venice, primarily on the island of Murano. It is known for being colorful, elaborate, and skillfully made. The process of making Murano glass is rather complex. The glass is made from silica, which becomes liquid at high temperatures. As the glass turns from a liquid to a solid state, there is a time period when the glass is soft before it hardens completely. This is when the glass-master can shape the material. I bought a Murano bracelet, and bought some of my friends them as well. We went to a glass museum and saw a guy make a glass horse from scratch. It was the neatest thing seeing liquid turn into solid and him shaping the glass. We had some time to spare, so my friend Kim and I went up the bell tower to see the panoramic view of Venice. The view was incredible. I thought we would be able to see the canals, but they are too tiny to see through the buildings. On one side there are buildings, and the other is water. It was fun to see the thousands of people on the bottom floor for Carnevale dancing and having fun.

I loved Venice. It is probably the neatest city I have seen in Europe. There is no other city like it. I would go back there in a heartbeat. I had a great weekend, made some new friends, and experienced a once in a lifetime opportunity.