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City Three: Venice, Italy
Every Girl's Dream

I can understand why Venice is a hot spot for couples. It is small enough for one to do everything in one day and have the rest of the trip to cuddle on a gondola along the Grand Canal. The shopping is an amazing experience. This is a key staple in any (ed. Note: heterosexual) relationship. A boy must make sure a girl gets all the Venetian glass her heart desires.

 

"On March 17th, two brave, attractive, and daring students, Shawna and Amy, embarked on 18 days of nonstop backpacking across Europe. Both players were involved in the New York University study abroad program in London, England, and decided to spend spring break taking advantage of how ridiculously cheap it is to travel in Europe. They set out on an amazing quest to find one thing: Men in Kilts (not to be confused with Men in Tights, as in "Robin Hood Men in Tights," a comedy favorite of both travelers). Shawna writes about the history, the food, the catcalls, and the revelries the two ladies found on their journey through six cities: Dublin, Paris, Venice, Florence, Rome, and Athens. Read on to find out if they were successful in their quest to find kilted men…

We hadn’t realized just how small the city is before our arrival. Our first day in Venice started at 9:30AM, when our overnight train from Paris arrived at Santa Lucia station. We were exhausted but determined to make the most of the day. We marked our journey on our map and decided we could make it to the Venetian palace of Ca’ d’Oro. We were surprised to realize we had passed the Ca’ d’Oro and were at a landmark twice as far away as our intended destination. We spent the entire day wandering the Calles, or “roads.” (However, “extremely narrow alleyways” is a better translation.) We let ourselves get lost in the quaint residential areas of the city.

The next day we went to the famous San Marco Piazza, which was absolutely breathtaking. The monuments and buildings seem untouched. They are old and dirty, and their colors are faded. Many of these tourist attractions are inconspicuous and almost impossible to find. At one point I tried to find a specific church on the Grand Canal. I followed vague signs that pointed toward its location. It took a while to realize that the structure in front of me was exactly what I had been looking for. There was nothing to denote the name of the church on the façade.

No one waited at the door to take my admission fee or to hand me a brochure. I would have liked to read one that explained the church’s importance and the reasons I had to fork up money to enter it.

San Marco Piazza is huge square filled with thousands of tourists snapping photos on their high tech digital cameras. An equal amount of dirty pigeons fly around the centerpiece of the Piazza, San Marco Basilica. One is overwhelmed by the intricacy of the architecture, the magnificence of the colors in the marble façade, and the distinctive beauty in the dirtiness of these buildings. Even the absurd amount of pigeons flying around the square adds to the experience of San Marco Piazza. It is an overwhelming splendor.