Carnivale...definitely something I will never forget. It all began with our train ride. There were seven of us (me, John, Courtney, Carla, Allie, Sam, and Kim). We were peacefully sitting in the train playing a game of rummy, when all of a sudden a guitar wielding bum came after us. Yes, this is a true story.
So, here's what happened. This guy, who obviously had about twenty too many drinks, slides in next to Allie. He begins the conversation by growling at her. This wouldn't have been too bad, except for the fact that he had a bloody cut on his head. Needless to say Allie, Kim, and Courtney quickly vacated their seats. This made the bum laugh because he was able to scare the stupid Americans, something he so fondly called us. The bum walked away, well, he was escorted away by the train guy, and the girls returned to their seats. Fortunately, the manly men we brought with us did not defend our honor. No worries though, we are big girls and can take care of ourselves...or so we thought.
About two minutes later John says that the bum will be back. The words were barely out of his mouth when the guy came sauntering up...well staggering up...and decided to caress Carla's arm. Sam, in a very chivalrous way, told the guy to step back and brushed his hand away. The bum then began cursing Sam in broken English, reminding us how stupid we were. He then begins growling at Carla again and put his skeevie hand on her. At this point we all kind of had it, including John. In fact, he was so annoyed that he jumped up on the table and took a Karate Kid stance to defend us. The bum, slightly upset now, grabbed his guitar and swung it at John. Luckily his aim was a little off. John's was not, however, and he managed to knock the guy over. Well, this really set him off. For the next two, intense, minutes John's foot hung in the air batting the guy's guitar away from mine and Carla's heads.
At this point, Carla had crawled into my lap and I had my hands wrapped around her head. While this may seem humorous, she totally would have gotten hit otherwise. The other girls had moved from their seats and were trying to get Carla and I to move out of our seats. We would have had to go through John's foot and the guitar, so we refrained. After the two intense and adrenaline pumping minutes, the train guy came back. He told the bum to leave the Americans alone, took his guitar, and then escorted him out of our train compartment. At the next stop the guy was arrested. And so began Carnivale.......
After our adventure, we very much needed to relax, but first we had to find good ole' Hotel Henry. We couldn't however pass up the photo op of a picture just outside the train station on the Grand Canal.
We finally made it to Hotel Henry, cleaned up, and then headed out into the night. We made our way to Piazza San Marco after a healthy snack of rice cakes. We were pretty desperate for food at that point.
Eventually we landed at a pizza place. The food was good, the beers were huge, and the wine flowed. It was an
excellent way to begin our evening. Here, Sam models with his beer and bottle of wine....not that he drank
that much.
Carla and John
Allie and Kim
After dinner we wandered around Venice looking for a watering hole. We stopped to take a few pictures. Here is most of the gang from left to right: John, Allie, Sam, Kim, me, and Carla.
Kim wanted to get a closer view of the water in one of the canals. Unfortunately she went a little too far and stepped right in.
We eventually found a place to hang out for a while. Kim and Courtney got their groove on while the rest of us enjoyed a refreshing beverage after our walk through the city. Here are Carla, Sam, and Allie enjoying their evening.
The walk home was an adventure. I somehow called upon my memory of walking through Venice in college and managed to get everyone home in one piece. Not quite sure how long it took us though. Here are Allie and Carla enjoying the walk.
We arrived home to discover that John, Courtney, and Kim had not arrived (we had spilt up earlier in the night). That meant that their door was locked and Courtney had the key, which also meant that Sam had no way to get in to his room. After waiting around for an hour or so for the others to get back, we finally got too tired and decided to put the beds together in the room I shared with Carla and Allie. Here is our ginormous bed.
All seemed well and we all slept really hard. When we woke up in the morning we discovered that Sam had left. We figured he must have heard the others arrive home, so he went to his bed. A little while later we heard what really happened.
As it turns out, Sam sleep walks. He apparently was looking for the bathroom and found himself downstairs....locked out. At this point the others had come back and figured Sam was with us, so no one knew he was actually missing. He did not sleep quite as well as the rest of us. Check out his bed.
The morning after our late night...John, Kim, and Courtney
The next day we wondered through the city. It was rainy and cold, but we still had a great time just getting lost...for the most part. Here is my quintessential Venice picture. Note the gondolier :).
Me, Carla, and Allie stopped at the top of the Rialto Bridge to take a picture
Another picture along the Grand Canal
In the true spirit of Carnivale we decided to have our faces painted. Here I am...the guinea pig.
How cool does that look?!
Wanting to be just like me, Allie and Carla followed suit.
The Asian tourists were so impressed with Allie's face that they took a picture.
Sam decided to leave his masculinity behind and join the girls in the face painting.
Here we are looking very Carnivale-ish
And then here is John....just John :)
I couldn't pass up taking a picture of this amazing costume. There were people dressed up like this all over the city. Supposedly they rent costumes for several hundred euro just to be looked at during Carnivale.
After walking around for what seemed like forever, we finally managed to find a place that would supply us with libations. As you can see, we are very happy.
As true Americans, we managed to find the Irish Pub in the city. Here I am in my Carnivale mask with Carla.
John, Carla, Allie, and Sam
On Sunday, John, Sam, and Courtney took the early train home, while me, Allie, Carla, and Kim hung around Venice for a few extra hours. It was definitely worth it! We did a bit of shopping, sight-seeing, and then had an amazing lunch next to the Rialto Bridge before heading home. Here are a few pictures from our last day.
Another amazing Carnivale costume
Our little restaurant along the Grand Canal
A view of the Rialto Bridge from our restaurant
Overall, Venice was an amazing trip with lots of adventure. I would highly recommend a visit during Carnivale, or actually any other time of year.
