Venice Round 2? I Think So!

So the week after my birthday I went off to Venice for another week to visit the family there and just hang out. Ilaria (the 14 year old daughter) had school unfortunately, but I spent my days wandering the city called Mestre, where the family lives. It's the city just outside Venice. I went out early in the morning, sipping cappuccinos and looking at pretty things and gathering gifts (as well as maybe one or two for myself), meeting new people, some strange and some nice, just getting lost. Good stuff. It was sunny every day and birds were singing in big beautiful trees while shop keepers washed the sidewalk out front of their store with soap and water...lickably clean the place was. Unfortunately I only got to go to Venice twice that time, but I won't complain. I took the bus by myself and met up with another exchange student named Santiago from Argentina who lived in Venice. He knew all the ways to go and all the good places to see, and he took me to a little bar in an alley way where there was a not very old, but very wise man with greying hair and twinkling eyes who gave us our drinks. He already knew Santiago, so we were friends there I guess, and I was given an extra olive in my drink because the first one was so yummy....the olive I mean. And there we talked for hours about all things in life, ad I say I learned a lot more in that tiny little bar with the sun setting on the city of Venice then I have ever learned about life in any school after a month. And then as the hour grew later unfortunately we had to leave, and we sat on a dock chatting about all that has passed in this strange year, watching the sun sink down low, casting a shadow on the basilica and turning the water into molten gold. Then we slowly and casually made our way back to the buses through the ancient winding streets, let and right, up and down, over bridges and up stairways. It seemed like a miracle we found our way back. Then another day passed and I went to Venice again, this time specifically for gift-gathering and such things, as well as eating ice cream and taking a few pictures. Thank goodness I had a guide!! We also tried to stop at the bar again but the man with the twinkling eyes wasn't there, and so we went on. I must say by the end of that day I was absolutely dead. Rushing around in Venice is good excersise.

Mestre...a cloudy morning turned into a hot
sunny afternoon

The market

Fresh veggies!

Fishies...and..things with legs

Wanderin'

On the way to Ilaria's school

Sunshine..

I loved the trees

The family turtle

The family mop..I mean dog

I found this poster advertising studying in Canada
...the first one I've seen!

The church in Piazza San Marco

Santiago with my sunglasses

Church

In the piazza

In the piazza again

...Bu..a narrow street

On the bus

What a winner

So that was my second trip to Venice...another beautiful experience I dare say....that is definitely going to be a place that will always remain with me in my heart...a must-see for those of you who consider visiting this country one day.

Cheers,

-Mik