My first day in Venice

Today was my first full day of my Italy trip! I've noticed a lot of differences between NYC and Italy. The most surprising was that there was trash literally everywhere. NYC is a messy place, but people will still put their trash in the garbage can, while in Italy, they just leave it on the ground. It's super sad because Venice is such a beautiful place to have bottles and trash on the streets. On a happier note, they use no cars and everything is either walking or boats, which I thought was very interesting. We passed a lot of different places, but it's hard to tell the difference because everything is the same color. There are also a lot of gondolas going around in the canals, which are my favorite part. They are so beautiful and they are perfect for pictures. I also think that in Europe, in general, churches and the history of churches are more valued. There were so many pretty churches that were just in the small section of Venice that I'm staying in. Of course, the pizza is soooooo much better here than in NYC.

Tours are also a good way to get to know Italy. This morning I did the Murano, Burano, Torcello half day tour, which was really fun! We got to learn about how they make glass in Murano and how they make lace in Burano. I noticed a similarity between Murano and Venice in that they have white, tan and blue houses and many alley ways. It was also really interesting to see how they make all the glass and how it forms when it's finished. Burano is not only known for its lace, but also each house has their own unique color. It was set up in a way that there are houses on one street and then they had little markets that opened up to a big town square. I was surprised at how many houses were painted vibrant blues and yellows. I'm sure they love seeing tourists taking pictures in front of their homes. The last island I saw was Torcello, which is known for their churches and it's beautiful canal. There weren't much people there at all, but there were a lot of restaurants and places to sit. There were also a lot of plants and open grass. Out of the three islands, Torcello was definitely the quietest and most relaxing.

This afternoon, I got to go on a walking and gondola tour! The walking tour was interesting because it was in the little block that I am staying at. Our tour guide showed us a couple of significant landmarks and she told us that Venice is now more of a tourist place than a residential place, which I thought was interesting. The tour felt like we were getting guided around Central Park, but we only went in a little circle! That's when I realized how big Venice was when I was told we were only seeing a little chunk of it.

The gondola tour was amazing! I got to sit at the end of the boat, which was exactly where I wanted to sit (because it's the most photogenic of course). We went around the canals and it was absolutely stunning, each corner was the more beautiful than the next! Lucky for us, the gondola in front of us was a couple that hired a singer to sing for their anniversary. The man sang a lot of songs and they had an accordion player, so it made the gondola tour more Italian like!

I had an amazing first day and I'm happy to say that I'm officially a "Bella". Addio e ti vediamo presto!