saturday, july 14

i spent the morning in a laundromat washing clothes. not my ideal way to spend my time in venice, but at least we had clean clothes. paula went shopping, i mailed a few postcards and helped a girl figure out the washing machines, and eventually we got it done and lugged our freshly washed clothes back to our hotel room. while we were waiting at the laundromat, three boys came in and stripped down to their boardshorts and did laundry. that's the way to do it: change into a bikini, wash all your clothes, sunbathe while waiting...it's a win-win-win situation.

after laundry we went into venice proper and toured san marcos basilica, which was incredible.the interior is just covered in gold. gold everywhere. it's beautiful.

after that, paula and i visited an exhibit on john singer sargent and his works on venice.
what amazes me, and also frustrates me a little, is how someone is able to use watercolor so perfectly. and not only use watercolor perfectly, but also oil paints, charcoal, pen and ink, and really any other 2-d artistic medium out there. it's really not fair. i mean, look at his work! it's incredible!i love sargent.

after our little gallery stroll, we ate dinner and at about 8pm we found a table and chairs outside of a cafe right on the grand canal to watch the fireworks. this picture was taken of the grand canal at about 4pm. not a great picture, but if you look closely you can see there are a bunch of party boats parked in the canal. they had the best seats in the city to watch the fireworks. by the time the fireworks started at 11:30pm, the canal was packed. i could have walked across the canal, hopping from one boat to the next, without ever seeing the water below me.

anyway, we set up camp, ordered some cokes at 7 euro a pop, and enjoyed people watching for four hours.
yep, there we are.
we ordered an ice cream sundae too. we had to keep ordering from the cafe in order to keep our awesome seats.

finally, at 11:30pm, the fireworks started, and i was so grateful that we got our seats when we did--there were millions of people crowding the streets and on boats in the canal. millions. without exaggeration. i wish i had taken a picture. those crazy-expensive sodas and sundae were totally worth it! it was the most amazing fireworks display i have ever seen. there are no words to describe how huge and beautiful they were exploding over the grand canal in venice. it was wonderful to share the experience with so many people; to be a part of something so big. the display lasted until midnight, and finished with so many fireworks that i could have comfortably read a book by the light.
after the show i had to go to the bathroom, but the manager of the cafe was being crazy about regulating the people who could use his bathroom, so i waited outside until i got the okay from the bathroom "guard." i waited. and waited. and waited. all the waiters in the cafe were really sympathetic to my plight. finally i got the okay. when i finished and walked back out, all the waiters cheered because they saw how long i had to wait for the restroom. it was hilarious.

we decided to try and walk back to the train station because the canals were still clogged with boats. it probably would have been better to wait; i am pretty sure we walked down every street in venice. we just followed the crowd, and eventually we found ourselves at a bus station. i walked ahead a little, and there was the train station! we had found it! and it only took us two hours! we didn't get to bed till the wee hours of the morning, but it was one hundred percent worth it to see those fireworks.