A very Wet New Year

I've always wanted to go to Venice. I've been dreaming about it for as long as I could remember. I knew that I was already too late to see the "real" Venice and that it was just a touristy amusement park, but I wanted to go anyway. Venice is unlike any place in the world. And it was basically just a touristy amusement park, but it was great anyway.

We arrived in town on the evening of the 30th and found our hostel- a big, real, hostel with dorm rooms and shared bathrooms and a cafeteria full of backpackers- set aside on an island just a few minutes by boat from St. Marks Square.

On New Years Eve, we decided that we were a bit museum-ed out and that we wanted to do something a little different so we planned a trip to Murano- the Venitian island famous for it's glass. I fell in love with Murano glass. If I was filthy rich, I would decorate my house with it and buy a full set of dishes. As it is that I'm not rich at all (filthy or otherwise) I had to make due with a few necklaces. We went to the glass museum and saw the progression of glass making in Italy from before the Roman period to modern day. Glass really is an amazing substance. Especially impressive were perfectly preserved blown glass bottles and jars over 2000 years old. We then wandered around the island a bit before having a rushed dinner and heading back to the main part of town to get ready for the evening.

New Years in Venice is WET. Winter in Venice is wet and the tide is highest in the middle of the night. When we got to the square it was full of people in gum boots and plastic bags splashing around in the high water. While my hiking boots are waterproof (the most waterproof boots I've ever had in fact) they only cover my feet and as soon as water goes over the top, it's all over. We found a place out of the water on some steps to watch the craziness. As midnight neared, the water rose, the excitement rose and we got ready to give the world a New Years kiss. At midnight I shared a few sips of champagne with an Italian (who was of course horrified that I lived in Albania) and then made a dash for the dock to get a glimpse of the fireworks. One thing that Venice doesn't have to worry about is the fire danger of the fireworks. With wet feet we made it back to the hostel (after a bone crushing crowd to get to the boats) and slept contently into the new year.

On New Years day I had planned on trying to go and see my friend Marcos who is stationed nearby in the Air Force, but the plan fell through and Connie and I decided to just wander around Venice instead. Walking around Venice was fantastic. We walked on raised walkways trying to avoid the now receding high water. We shopped for letter openers and necklaces. We walked over bridges and along canals and just wandered. We stopped for coffee and tiramisu. We got lost and then found ourselves. We saw a sign advertising a Vivaldi concert and found the church. We had a wonderful salad people watching in a small square. We went to the concert and sat with a couple from Oregon and enjoyed as beautiful violin music washed over us. We walked back to the hostel barely able to believe that it was our last night in Italy . . .