Carnival in Venice

Carnival, for those who do not know, is supposed to be like Mardi Gras in New Orleans. People dress up in extravagant costumes, huge parades go on, there is entertainment everywhere and the streets are crowded! We had the amazing opportunity to hop on a bus (for 10+ hours) to go for only half a day, and we were SO excited! Little did we know that it was going to POUR the entire time we were there. Leave it to the girls from WA to bring the rain! And of course, the entire week before and entire week after the forecast showed CLEAR and SUNNY skies. Go figure. However, we made the best of it and I am so happy I got to see Venice! It's definitely on my list of places to visit again. Maybe for a few days, that way even if we get a day of rain I have a couple more chances to really get to enjoy it for all it's worth :)

After we got to Italy, we had to take a water taxi to get onto the island. We could sort of see out of the fogged up windows, enough to tell that it was GORGEOUS in Venice before we had officially arrived.

Even though it was raining, we wore our masks all day. We wanted to get as much of the full experience of Carnival as we possibly could!

I bought a cheap umbrella for 5 euro the second we stepped off the bus, thanks to the kind vendor who tried selling to me before I had a chance to even fully get off the bus! I was desperate though since I had no umbrella and decided it would be a good idea. Unfortunately, the umbrella only last about half the day. The wind made it flip inside out and snap. So much for that.

This is St. Marco's Square. This is the main area for where Carnival festivities go on. Usually it would be PACKED with hardly any room to move. That wasn't so much the case today.

Did I mention it was REALLY rainy! This is me trying to enjoy myself, despite the fact that I was already SOAKED! 

Since it was so rainy, we decided to spend a lot of the time indoors. And I am a little embarrassed to admit, but yes we did go to the Hard Rock Cafe. It was warm, dry, and had good drinks and fun people. We met some locals and some other Americans here. Also note my new mask I purchased for 10 euro, I am in LOVE!

We were lucky to see some people in costumes! These were some of the more dressed up people. The majority of people had masks similar to ours, but the ones who are really dedicated go all out! Maybe next time :P

Even in the rain, Venice is BEAUTIFUL! I could tell right away this is a city I could fall in love with.

There were such pretty buildings with bright colors everywhere. I loved seeing all the channels, I've never been to a place like this before.

We chose not to do a gondola ride, I think you can figure out why, but when/if I come back for another visit, it will be the first thing on my list of things to do!

All in all, we definitely enjoyed ourselves. It was so much fun exploring the city, getting lost, getting drenched, and enjoying a little bit of the culture. 

Ciao!