In the summer of 2013, my family and I went to Italy for two and a half weeks. I have so many amazing memories from the trip that I thought I would share them with you. I love to travel and there is something that is magical about exploring Europe. We flew out from Chicago in the middle of June and connected in Switzerland. Within few hours that I spent in Switzerland, I was in awe of how incredibly green and hilly it was. We finally arrived in Venice and I was beyond exhausted after missing an entire night of sleep. It boggled my mind that there was not a single road in the whole city. My family and I caught a taxi (a motor boat) and took a wet and windy ride to the hotel. The hotel we stayed at wasn't your average hotel, it was an old aristocrats mansion. I remember the first night, I had jet lag so so so badly so I stayed up till 5am and read an entire book, Looking for Alaska by John Green. We only spent 4 days in Venice but in that time I thought I got a pretty good feel for the city. I remember appreciating the buildings so much because were so old and pastel colored and there were beautiful flowers on every windowsill. We had to take at least one gondola ride so our last night there, we took a sunset ride and it was magical. The one thing I was disappointed about what the extreme amount of tourism. There were quite a few Americanized restaurants that we tried to avoid. I understand that any big city you go to will have the cheesy nicknacks but this a new level. Venice has almost 3,000,000 tourists a year! Multiple times a day, huge cruise ships would come in at the Piazza San Marco and thousands of excited tourists would flood out. I'm not bashing on these tourists, because after all I was a tourist too but there was something very commercialized about their experience. I am thankful to have seen the country in the most authentic way possible. Overall, I was glad to have seen the infamous city and it was really pretty and unique. I definitely think that everyone should take the opportunity to visit the city but for me personally, its probably not at the top of my list to go back to. Here are some pictures from my trip:
A cute canal that showcases a true Venetian house; pastel with flowers in the windowsill
A look inside the insane ceiling of Saint Mark's Basilica
View from the Rialto Bridge
Sunset gondola ride through the Grand Canal on our last night in Venice
What an awesome trip and what a great blog entry about the experience! Pictures show the beauty of Italy! Wonderful reflection! Keep on blogging, Shelby!
Reply
Shelby Younggreen
12/2/2014 03:26:33 am
Thank you for your comment, Mr. Keating! I loved Italy and I can't wait to go back one day. I wish the pictures could convey the amazing atmosphere you get walking on land that has experienced so much history!
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Maggie Steinberg
11/18/2014 12:43:18 pm
Italy looks absolutely beautiful! It is amazing that you have to travel by boat in Venice. I hope that I can go to Italy one day.:-)