Carnival!!! [VENICE]

The Friday before Valentine's day came with the feeling of adventure and spontaneity [I guess like everyday for me...but this Friday even more]. Within a few hours we had purchased train tickets and booked a Hostel in Venice for the coming weekend, being that the entire week the Venetians would be celebrating Carnival.












Here's a little background on Carnival for those of you who don't know. It is basically the splurging of food, wine, and general celebration and jubilation the two weeks before Lent begins. The last day of Carnival is usually called Fat Tuesday or Marti Grais [not unlike the partying that occurs in New Orleans]. Every part of Italy celebrates it a little different, but Venice was not only one of the first places to celebrate Carnival [first recorded in 1268], they definitely party the hardest. The tradition of wearing masks started up just as long ago and is similar to Halloween in the States, in the sense that you get to conceal your true identity and be someone [or something] different for a while.

So I think I'm going to Quentin Tarantino this shit. Mix it up a little. I'm going to tell you some things that I've learned from my experience of Venice...then I'll tell you the story behind what I've learned. Enjoy...

+ALWAYS have a place to stay before traveling to an unknown place

+Hungover Sprinting is not fun for anyone

+The dining car of a train is your best friend if you don't have a seat booked

+Fragolino = Sparkling Strawberry Wine = SO GOOD! = Inebriation

+When in Venice [...not Rome] ...buy a 24 hour water taxi pass. [only 18 Euros]

+Italians don't party as late or as hard as Americans [not even for Carnival]

+Abandon buildings and drained pools are sometimes just as entertaining as site seeing/tourist things

+Venice is sinking

Ok...now that you're thoroughly confused, lets talk. Like I said Friday we woke up and randomly decided to check out this huge party in Venice that everyone was talking about. We went to the train station to buy some tickets and find out that ALL the seats on ALL of the trains to and from Venice are booked for the next week [obviously this Carnival thing is a big deal...right?]. The man behind the Biglietta [ticket] counter tells us that he can still sell us tickets though. All this means that we were guaranteed a ride to Venice on a train...not a seat at all. On most trains this wouldn't be a big deal because it's rare that a train is completely packed and you can just pick any open seat. But this doesn't work with train packed full of Carnival-hungry partyers extremely excited for a weekend in Venice. In our heads at the time, we were so excited that we actually believed that we wouldn't mind STANDING on a train for two and a half hours if it meant a fun weekend of Carnival!

So after our spontaneous purchase of a ride with out sitting, we found a cheap hostel outside of the city [because, of course, everything close is full for Carnival]. Try to imagine our giddiness. Moments before this we were just waking up with nothing to do and now we had definite plans to experience one of the biggest parties on the planet! So in celebration of our spontaneity and success in finding a way to/place to stay in Venice, we went out and bought some birra and drank them in the park outside of our place till it got dark...

I wake up to my roommate saying the words, "...ten minutes till the train leaves!" [See "Hungover Sprinting" above].

Good news...we made the train.

Bad news...the moment we get on the train we remembered that we purchased tickets to ride, NOT SIT, on the train. So here we are wondering why we thought drinking the night before was a good idea and just wishing we had a place to sit, put our heads down, and pass out for the two and half hour ride to Venice. "SHIT!" That's about all I could say at that point. Eventually, through squeezing our way through the packed train cars we discovered the dining car! Thank you God for the dining car! We found an open booth, put our heads down on the table, and slept the whole way to Venice.









Wake up in Venice...or what some would see as another world. Streets of water, boats instead of cars, everyone in masks, horns and whistles blaring, confetti falling like rain, and people already drinking alcohol at 11am!!! I was taken back to my previous comment about Amsterdam...the island in Pinocchio...a non-stop party.

We waste no time in joining in on the celebrations. With in a few hours I was fed, had a drink in hand, and a mask on my face. We went to San Marco's Square, which could have been compared to Time Square on New Year's Eve, just with ancient Gothic and Renaissance churches and colonnades surrounding it instead of skyscrapers and giant LCD screens. People were packed shoulder to shoulder, barely able to move, and everyone dressed up. There were couples that had gone all out, dressed totally in traditional 1400's Venetian outfits. Men in tights and three cornered hats and women in corsets and huge gowns. There were little kids dressed like mice and dinosaurs and pirates. They sprayed silly string and covered everything and everyone in confetti. This was Carnival!
















We discovered a Venetian favorite, Fragolino, which is sparkling strawberry wine that is usually made in Venice. We bought three bottles and hopped on a water taxi [a small ferry boat that circulates all around Venice]. For those of you who plan to visit Venice some time in your life, I suggest purchasing a 24 hour water taxi pass when you get there. I know alot of people want to do the whole touristy, romantic gondola thing for a ridiculous price. But after you get that out of your system...the water taxi is a great way to get places, but also just sit and see the city. We sat there in the front of the boat drinking Fragolino for a long time.











Watch this video to try to understand how much fun we were having at the time...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7yfISlGLNU

Yea...that much fun...plus some. And it was probably a bad decision resulting from a combination of Fragolino, general excitement, and adrenalin, but we decided to cancel or reservation of our hostel for the night. We didn't want to have to stop having this much fun to catch the last water taxi to the main land. Instead we would just party all night [or at least that's what we told ourselves]. We can sleep when we're dead, we said.

So the sight seeing, boat riding, mask wearing, confetti throwing, dancing and drinking continued on, well into the night, till we found us sitting on the edge of a canal passing a bottle of Fragolino back and forth between us discussing everything from women to US verse Italian politics to how blessed we are to even be where we were/are for a long while. It was at this point that we looked around us an realized that we were alone and we were not entirely sure where, with in, Venice we were. The lights of windows were out. There were no more masked people in the streets. There was no more music playing and the confetti was not falling from the sky, insteady it just laid like multi colored snow on the sidewalks and floated in the canal water. We were so alone that we were able to pee in the already filthy canals in the middle of what would normally be a busy and bustling street. Venice had gone to sleep with out us. We were still ready to celebrate and the Italians had all called it a night. Eventually we did find some other people still awake and drunk...all Americans...Im not sure what that says about us...but I know we can party.

But despite our nationality and our ability to party, exhaustion crept up on us like it does everyone and come 4am all we wanted was a safe, warm bed. So we wound our ways through the narrow streets, eyes half shut and drunk, knocking on hotel doors asking for "Vacanza?" [vacancy]. Each night manager gave us the same shake of the head and we moved on. It wasn't until the Best Western near San Marco Square that we found A open room. But the night manager, Adriano, looked at the three of us and said in broken English, "How about you look at this room first before you decide to pay?" [Obvisouly not a good sign]. We found the room to be about the size of a small walk-in closet. There was a small bed and about the same amount of room the bed took up of empty floor space. Three grown boys had to fit in here...but what other choice did we have. And as bad as Adriano felt about this he knew we had no other choice. He told us he was breaking the rules and also giving us a good price. He said only 120 Euros...I tried to drunkly haggle with him...100 Euro?...Adriano considered, and said 'OK'...so drunkly I went again...80 Euro...Adriano smirked and said 'NO'...and we just laughed and said 'Fine...we'll talk it'. And there we slept, me on the bed [because I gave up my credit card] and Frank and George shoulder to shoulder on the floor.

The next day we decided to lay off the strawberry wine and adventure around the city sober. We took the the water taxi over to a large white church on its own island and walked around there for a while. We discovered a complex of buildings, which seem to be build in the 50's or 60's [alot younger than most buildings in Venice/all of Italy] but were totally abandoned. We couldn't figure it out. Apartments, boat storage, soccer fields, basketball courts, kitchens...all copletely empty. Doors left wide open, windows broken and garbage on the floors. We came upon a large Natatorium with a pool that was completely drained. It was surreal. I climbed up on the high dive that had probably not been used in atleast 30 years. It was a little creepy, but also fun and interesting at the same time. It was wierd to think about how we were having fun in a building that could have existed in the US...but we were in Venice...a city atleast five times older than the country of the United States...and we were totally alone.

The reason I feel my Venice and Carnival experience was better than most is because we did it comletely differently than anyone else and with out expecting anything. It was a random and not extremely thought out decision [which, in my opinion, are some of the best]. We did not restrict ourselves with reservations [eat your heart out Anthony Bourdain]. And because we knew we would spend time and money on the touristy things the next time we came to Venice with the school, we focussed on the cultural experiences and seeing things that people wouldn't even think about. We ate local food, drank local drink, partied with the locals [and about 200,000 other visitors], and we really explored. And that was that.
























Footnotes
+Sorry it took me so long for this post. I'm really behind. Rome and Pompei/Capri are coming very soon!

+Yes...that is a cross shaved in the back of my head. And yes, Mom, I already grew it out. So don't freak.

+Birra of the Blog will return next post. I only drank wine in Venice. Ciao!

Vino, Antipasto, and Formaggio

Let me just start by saying that at first I thought I was going to call this post "Gretchen and Steve's Guide to DOING Florence in Three Days" because, despite the fact that it just about impossible to do everything there is to do and see everything there is to see in Florence, my aunt Gretchen and uncle Steve came damn close to doing just that. Why not call it that? Why this silly title about wine and appetizers and cheese? Just wait...















Thursday started off a normal day for me with a test at 8:30am [yuck] but it was given by my beautiful 'Basic Conversational Italian' teacher, so I didn't mind that bad. Then some 'Sketching and Drawing' at 10:30am. Then an incredibly boring 'Urban Design 101' lecture followed by Studio. But it was some time during the incredibly boring Urban Design lecture that somthing not so usual for this semester abroad happened. It was at this time that Steve and Gretchen arrived in Florence and gave me a call letting me know that they were in and were going to rest at the hotel for a while until I got out of class.

That's the funny thing about "taking a rest" after a flight half way across the world [traveling through six different time zones against Time]. The jet lag is killer and there is no such thing as "just a rest". This is the same for everyone and it was no different for Gretchen and Steve, and will be no different for you if you decide to make the trip. So "just a rest" turned into a full fledged nap, which worked out well because I had Studio till 6pm anyway. So at that time, I met up with them, showed them my previously-mentioned-pimp-as-fuck apartment, and made our way to a small Italian restaurant that my friends and I frequent.

This is where the title "Vino, Antipasto, and Formaggio" comes into play. As some of you know, many of you will learn, and some will just have to take my word, Gretchen and Steve love wine and appetizers! Now, I know what many of you are thinking, "whoopty shit, I love Conti, potato skins, and cheese sticks as much as the next person." So allow me to rephrase...Gretch and Steve LOVE WINE AND APPETIZERS! Not just love, they truly enjoy and experience them more than the average person. When going out to eat with them, no matter it be in J-town, Chicago, or Florence [especially Florence], you can count on wine and at least two appetizers [or antipasto in Italia]. And I'm going to admit it, they've convinced me that this is the way to go. Even the Italians have perfected this. When you look at a menu here, there are Antipasto's, Prima Pastas, Seconda Entres, Pizza, Deserts, Cocktails, and of course VINO! Maybe the rest of us could take a little advice from the Italians and Gretchen and Steve and consider some antipasto and a few glasses a vino over some nice conversation before a meal, rather than wolfing down three double cheeseburgers or playing slap the bag with a box of Franzea [which I shamefully admitted to doing to my aunt and uncle while truly enjoying my first glass of expensive white wine].
















I also decided to make another exception from the =Birra of the Blog= again, this time for Gretch and Steve. Don't get used to this though...I am still a "Beer Guy" at heart.

=Vino alla Blog=

Like I said, I really still enjoy beer as my favorite alcohol, but I had the opportunity [through Steve and Gretch, of course] to try a totally new type of wine that I felt some of you Franzea chuggers should be introduced to. Its called Prosecco and it is said to have been created back in Roman times. Its a sparkling dry white wine commonly mistaken for Champagne, despite the European laws [that right...Europe is so anal about their wines that they have laws for them] saying only sparkling white wines from the area of France known as Champagne can be called champagne. Any way it is extremely good and if you can divvy up the dough I suggest you try it. I thank Gretchen for having me experience this one [amongst numerous others...thanx Gretch].

So we would all watch and laugh as Steve would order an antipasto and when the waitress would move her attention on to the next person at the table, Steve would still be ordering a second. Or even more when he, like any other non-Italian speaking visitor, would simply point to the mezzo-litre [half liter] of wine he didn't even want to try to pronounce, then quickly reconsider, and point to the full liter instead. Eventually he earned the nickname Bacchus [the Roman god of Wine] from us, after seeing a sculpture of him in the Bargello Museum.
















Which brings me to the most astonishing thing about their weekend here [no, it was not the amount of wine we drank or appetizers we ate]. It was the amount of stuff Steve and Gretch were able to see and cram into only three short days in Florence. They started out there visit with a morning walking tour around the city, which in my opinion, is one of the best ways to get a basic history of the city and see all the major sites at a glance. We then climbed to the top of Brunelleschi's Duomo, which should be numero uno on anyone's list of things to do if visiting Florence. And over the next few days hit up all three of the major Florence art museums [The Uffitzi, The Academia, and The Bargello], shopped on the Ponte Vecchio, visited Santa Croce [my favorite church in Florence], purchased souvenirs for their girls [my cousins Avery and Myla] and for themselves, and climbed the hillside to Piazza Michelangelo to the monastery I mentioned in my second post with the astounding view. All that and so many smaller things that I'm sure Gretch and/or Steve could tell you about if you ever have the chance to talk to them about their visit.








Overall, I would say there was an nice trading of experiences going on between all of us. Because of my education and experiences I've gained over the past month here, I was able to provide my visiting family with my sense of direction, my broken Italian that is slowly but surely getting better, and my list of don't do's, do do's, must do's and absolutely must do's in Florence. And in return they provided me with some of the best meals [including wines and appetizers] that I will eat while over-seas, the opportunity to experience some of the huge things that you slowly start to take for granted when living here [for example the top of the Duomo], and [best of all] the good feelings that you get when you get to spend time with those you love after not seeing familiar friends and family for a long time [although I can't even pretend I'm home sick yet...sorry Mom].

So I just want to say thank you Gretchen and Steve. Thanks for visiting, thanks for all the great meals, thanks for the extra spending cash, but most of all thank you for allowing me to share probably one of the greatest experiences of my life with you guys! Ciao till next time.

Drugs! Sex! and ..... Architecture? [AMSTERDAM]

Every new post I am faced with the dilemma of how to go about narrating my European adventures to all of you, while keeping in mind that a lot of excited "youngsters" [like myself] want to hear about the parties, women, drunken experiences, et cetera, et cetera. While at the same time people like my grandparents, my mother, and potential employers do not.

I simply cannot begin to describe my weekend in Amsterdam, censoring out the parts that some people may not want to hear or the parts that are completely illegal in the United States [as for almost every other country on this planet for that matter]. So...I've decided not to censor. Im about to go Edward R. Murrow on this shit! [Sorry Bubba...]

So sit back and freak'n brace yourselves [I'm serious, this ones a long one].....

The trip started off with the great idea of not sleeping, but instead drinking at home, before our 3am bus ride to Pisa. This replacement of sleep with fun is just a precursor to the entire weekend. From Pisa we flew, using RyanAir [I highly suggest this for very cheap travel through out Europe], and landed in Eindhoven, Netherlands around 9am. Extremely excited, we crammed onto a double-decker bus and opted for the top front seat [just like a roller coaster!].









We roll into the city of Amsterdam, find our hostel, and go to a coffee shop with in 20 minutes.

Ok, lets go over some Amsterdam basics...

+Marijuana, hash, and a few of miscillanous hallucinagents are LEGAL in Amsterdam

+Prostitution is also LEGAL in Amsterdam

+You can only smoke weed indoors and cannot carry more than five grams on you at any time

+You would normaly find a prostitute in the Red Ligh District [which I will cover a little later]

+You would normaly find/smoke marijuana in Coffee Shops

So when I say we rolled in to the city of Amsterdam, found our hostel, and went to a coffee shop with in 20 minutes. I really mean I was high in the first 20 minutes of being in Amsterdam.
Now, I am not a smoker or a "pothead" [though I'm sure some of you will find this hard to believe after reading this]. But...when in Amsterdam...do as the Amsterdam-ese [?] -ians [?] -whaterver- do!

Don't get me wrong, there are alot of things to do and see in Amsterdam [especially for architecture students], but there is a certiant allura about it that doesn't make sense for a young and adventuring tourist not to atleast try legal weed. It is part of the culture [which of course has become really touristy].

I was blown away by the city at first. It was not what I expected at all [not that I was even sure what to expect other than the Red Light District and Coffee Shops]. Amsterdam is a port town built on a bay off of the Nordic Sea so it is full of canals. It is also full of some awesome architecture, a lot of it modern.

And I'm not gonna lie, exploring the city a little stoned was awesome. It was about this time [36 hours after our last night of sleep] that we decided to take a small nap so we could go out at night. I woke up after the "nap" in the hostel bunk bed, looked over at Nik, and asked if he was ready to go out. He responded with a smirk and said "Dude, it's 3am." Needless to say we didn't make it out that night. Also needless to say, we didn't really sleep again for our next two days in Amsterdam.

















Now I've contemplated doing this for a long time [one of the reasons this post took so long to be posted] but you know me...And like I said before I not going to censor this trip [Sorry again Bubba]. For all of those reasons, plus the fact that I had not one good beer in Amsterdam, here is...

=The BUD of the Blog=
(for this post only...I promise)

Amnesia Haze was suggested to us by a coffee shop owner and sounded interesting so George splurged alittle so we could try it. Lets just say the name Amnesia Haze says alot. We were all in a coffee shop called Double Reggae laughing, yelling, and having a good time and then all at once the Amnesia Haze hit us and we sat there silently looking at each other for about ten minutes. I am still laughing looking back at how silly we must have looked. If you ever have the wonderful opportunity of traveling to Amsterdam, try Amnesia Haze!

The rest of our trip was full of more exploring, more architecture, delicious food, a trip to a park [where Frank and I walked across a frozen lake...scary! but fun!], the Vincent Van Gogh museum [also fun a little stoned], and of course a few more coffee shops. We also perused the Red Light District at night. The Red Light District is easily distinguished by...[duh]...red lights [that, and the massive amount of semi-nude women dancing and making obscene, sexual gestures at you through store front windows trying to entice you to stop by and blow a large sum of money for some "time" with them.] The Red Light District is also full of Live Sex Shows, porno, sex toys, lingerie shops, drunk/high American and British tourist, Nik's future wife [apparently], and nude clubs with promoters outside who intimidate you with the classic line, "What are you boy scouts?!" when you say your not interested. The best way I can think to describe it is the island in the animated Disney classic Pinocchio. You know the one...where all the real boys get shipped to an amazing island where they get to drink and smoke and do what ever they want! That's Amsterdam! ...except you don't turn into a donkey at the end...








Though we did not turn into donkeys at the end, we may have acted like jack-asses, but we had fun. Sadly, our trip had to come to an end. The bus back to Eindhoven didn't leave till the early morning, we figured we would just party till the bus came instead of booking the hostel for another night, and it was Super Bowl Sunday [and the STEELERS were playing!!!]. So we found a sports bar that would play the entire game [which didn't end till 5am our time] and Frank, Logan, and I sat down for our first ever Space Cake [basically a hash brownie].

Here's some things I learned that night/next morning...

+Always give a Space Cake time to work its magic! It takes up to an hour and a half to kick in, but its well worth the wait!

+It is true the US is a STEELER NATION! But planet Earth has become a STEELER WORLD!
I was not the only Steeler fan in Amsterdam, nor were the drunken Brits behind me at the bar who's "Here we go Steelers!" chant slowly turned into "Here we go Stoners!"

+It doesnt matter how uncortable the bus seats are, or how turbulant your flight may be, after 3 days of non stop adventure and party in Amsterdam, you will sleep like your in a coma on the way home.

+Never touch/smoke marajuana with your winter gloves on. Or atleast don't expect to not get half-muled by a drug sniffing German Shepard at the Pisa airport and then patted down and searched from head to tow by an agressive Italian drug enforcement officer who knows that your just a dumb American who just got back from a first-ever weekend in Amsterdam, but he needs to make sure that your not an International Drug Trafficer. Yea...thanks for that Frank.


So we did it all. We smoked legal weed, tried a hash brownie, saw the Red Light District, purchased an awesome hat and shades as souvenirs [haha...your heart stopped for a second there when I said the word 'purchased' after the phrase 'Red Light District'...hahaha], stayed up for days at a time, and we were even able to throw some cultural/educational stuff in there too! [there ya go Bubba! = ) ]. Thankfully I did not have any class on the following Monday, which was necessary for recovery after an absolutely amazing weekend in Amsterdam!

+Footnotes:

-GO STEELERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-I hope you understand why I didn't post any "good" pix...

-There are alot more pix on Facebook. Thanks Nik and Logan!

-Check out my band, Racecar Backwards', new music video[below] and tell me what you think! Thanks!