February 12, 2008

Venice For A Weekend

With New York's rather dull season and with online fashion staples all reporting on various fashion weeks, I thought we could take a break and looks at something different. Last weekend, I went to Venice with my parents. All I can say is, Venice is absolutely gorgeous! At first, I was a bit hesistent about Venice because I've heard it's not really that pretty and it smells there. But for the two days I was there, the weather was perfect -cool and sunny. It wasn't too crowded and I loved just walking around admiring the old buildings with the canals. As for food, the seafood and pasta were gooood!!

If you walk on any of the larger bridges, then you would get a beautiful view like this one.

St. Mark's Basilica -possibly the most 'golden' church that I've been to.

The view from the top of St. Mark's Basilica. Isn't the view amazing? For once I was glad that it was sunny. On the left is Doge's Palace, where the famous Bridge of Sighs is. There is even a prison inside the palace, and it is dark and cold down there.

And to experience passing through Venice, take a boat ride (like a bus). It's a different experience from walking around. On the boat, you get a much broader view. You almost feel like there's too much to see and for your brain to process the gorgeousness.

A common marketplace/ piazza. It looked historical in an old and pretty way to me.

As for souvenirs, the most typical things to buy are probably the masks and glass. There were a lot of these stores around. I really wanted a mask like the one Blair wore in Gossip Girl, but that type of masks was too expensive, so I settled for an ordinary tourist-y eye mask. It's still a prettier souvenir than the stuff you can buy in other places, probably because it feels more like a simple piece of artwork than a tourist's souvenir.

San Marco Piazza at night. It feels more calm and historical, and less tourist-y at night. It's very fun and relaxing to wonder around here after dinner.

So yup, I loved Venice! Although I wouldn't want to stay there for more than a few days, I really enjoyed everything there! If you're planning to travel around that area, you must go to Venice! And if you have been there, did you like it there? (It's interesting because people's views seem very extreme -they either loved it or hated it.)

19 Comments:

Blogger iDIAV said...

backpacked europe this summer and definitely stopped by venice.. only thing was it was HOTTTTT so i was cranky all day and there were a ton of mosquitoes at night which made me cranky all night. if anyone hasnt been there yet, i think its a great place to stop by but no more than a day, there's not much to do.

2/12/2008 8:53 AM  
Blogger Unknown said...

Wow. Venice for the weekend.

2/12/2008 11:00 AM  
Blogger alis said...

yess I was there at summer 2006 with my boyfriend. went with train from milan. one thing I must say is do not take the train in Italy with anything less than first class - it's so worth the few exra bucks. anyways, I LOOVEd Venice, I agree it's very small and you can see pretty much everything in one day, but who wats to leave such a beautiful place in just 1 day, huh? stay for 2 days, sit and relax by the canales, eat pizza at Gino's near the train station(best pizza on earth)... also, go with your beau for God's sake, it's one of the most romantic cities in the world..

2/12/2008 11:13 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

A couple of years ago I went on a 3 week trip to Venice, Florence and Rome, and to be honest I loved them all equally. Everyone said to only go to Venice for one day and that it wasn't very nice, but I thought it was a beautiful, magical city, even though there was a heat wave when I went. I was just taken aback by its charm and how it is so unlike anything in the States.. absolutely beautiful! I got a fancy little eyemask too.. I hope to go back someday!

2/12/2008 11:13 AM  
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2/12/2008 11:47 AM  
Blogger LB said...

damn, i backpacked last spring through europe and i had to skip venice :(

guess ill have to go back now!

2/12/2008 4:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Some friends and I went there a few weeks back for the Carnevale. Absolutely fantastic! Want to be back there during Carnevale time again to dress up!.

Boyfriend's photos:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/10430772@N05/sets/72157603854074981/

2/12/2008 10:28 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

If you are already in Venice than you shouldn't miss Trieste or the neighbour countries like Slovenia or Croatia. Not only are they magnificent (especially croatia) but also cheap, so very suitable for some heavy shoping! :)

2/12/2008 11:24 PM  
Blogger alexgirl said...

I'm so jealous of your trip to Venice. And you're an amazing photographer, too. Looked like a faaaaaaabulous vacation.

2/13/2008 12:45 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

wow it looks great, I'm really excited now, going to Italy in August and will definately be going to Venice for a bit. So excited about it, really think it's the sort of thing I'd like. Only thing is, I've heard it's really expensive there? xxx

2/13/2008 1:43 AM  
Blogger E said...

Dear anonymous, yes, the historic centre is a bit expensive but nothing serious. I suggest you to buy something on the market (like, fruit, chocolate), it is worth it, such an experience! Do not miss the wonderful cookies, they can be bought almost everywhere, you'll see them int he shopwindows.

As for the smell... Usually, when I talk to people who say it's stinking, it's dirty, etc. I ask "have you ever been there?" and the response is most of time "no". It's just a legend, it might have been dirty/smelly a few decades ago but as a usual Venice-visitor, I can tell you it is not stinking at all (at least not in the places tourists visit), not even when there is a heat wave. :)

2/13/2008 3:14 AM  
Blogger la petite fashionista said...

ah, i love venice so much. i was there over the summer and it had to be one of my favorite european cities (next to paris)that i visited. my dream is to be proposed to on a gondola ride:)

xoxo

2/13/2008 10:54 AM  
Blogger Imelda said...

I love love love Venice! It's amazing!!!

2/13/2008 8:11 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

the city looks so gorgeous.

out of curiousity, which hotel did you stay at? (i'm heading there in a couple of weeks too!)

2/14/2008 7:28 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Went there last spring for a few days. While I liked it, it was kind of cold and I had packed for warmer weather =/ bad call.

There wasn't much right near our hotel, I think it was the day that we checked in so we were all tired and went to the nearest place for pizza, it was crazy expensive and frozen pizza is better than the stuff we had...the next day though we took the walk to St. Marks square was pretty cool...I liked going into that maze of shops, there was so much food I wanted to get >.< and I bought a venetian mask and some murano glass souvenirs and kept a little glass elephant for myself. Also saw a bunch of street performers.

I'd like to go there again during they're carnivale

2/14/2008 11:59 AM  
Blogger Bence said...

WOW, we were there on the same weekend! I also went with my bf for 9-10 Feb.! I was there for the first time 2 years ago, and since then it's become a bit of a habit of us to go for a weekend at the beginning of the year. We did deliberately go at this time this year to avoid the crowd of the carnevale.

This place continues to blow me away to the point where I can't talk about Venice without mentioning that I want to live there despite all the obvious disadvantages. I live in Milan so I'm not that far away, am I?

Anyway, I've also been told that it DOES smell, but that's usually if there's a summer heatwave. I've never felt anything myself but pure amazement. (Even though I hate seafood.)

2/15/2008 11:17 PM  
Blogger Bence said...

Oh, and PLEASE stop banging on about the pizza. It's got nothing to do with traditional Venezian quisine - they've imported it for the tourists the same way as it is imported into the US. Pizza is made by people from 5-700 kms to the South. You're more likely to meet them in New York than in Venice.

People in Northern Italy are so fed up with this cliché of Italy=pizza that I think some of them deliberately serve you bad pizza to punish you for being stupid enough to order one.

And if there's one place on Earth that deserves to be expensive as hell, it's Venice. Unfortunately Milan is just as expensive, but is also grey, ugly and horrible.

2/15/2008 11:25 PM  
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