Weekend of 2/14-2/16

This weekend was spent in Venice where we celebrated both Valentine’s Day and Carnival! The atmosphere here was charged with excitement for the Carnival parade occurring on Saturday, a huge tradition here. People dressed up in regal outfits, wigs, and of course, the famous masks, to celebrate this holiday. I was lucky to witness this! The food here was amazing as well; fresh seafood, special pastries for the holiday, and my favorite place for coffee so far.

Arriving in Venice Saturday, February 15 was surreal. There were people crowding every nook of the city dressed in all sorts of costumes, a majority with masks. The four of us decided to also buy masks in the spirit of the holiday, and spent a considerable period of time picking out ones that matched our personalities, and can be seen in a picture above! Arriving at St. Mark’s Square though was my favorite moment of the trip. My heart stopped, I was just truly taken back by how crazy and festive the Square was. There were tons of areas for outdoor seating, St. Mark’s Basilica, and a huge stage and runway specifically for Carnival related activities that had already started. This is a place I will never forget how it looked or how I felt first arriving here. I love the hustle and bustle of cities, and this reminded me a little bit of the 4th of July parade I go to at home, or when I visited Times Square for the first time. I never wanted this moment to end, even though it was totally overwhelming! This taught me that my oldest fears can, and have been overcome. When I was little, I used to be scared of huge crowds (because I’d get lost a lot), but this moment made me realize that the huge crowds bring excitement and new life experiences, and don’t always have to be scary. I also saw that Venice houses extremely spirited people! This is the people’s last celebration before Lent begins, and I learned this through asking a stranger at a restaurant. Doing more research, Carnival is the last opportunity for people to indulge in things they are giving up for Lent before the period begins, so people really live it up during the few weekends before Ash Wednesday. I didn’t feel like an outsider at all during this weekend, Venice welcomed us to celebrate with them. We fit right in with our masks and celebratory attitude, and arrived with open minds and hearts. Venice, you will be missed!