Italia

Carnival – the world oldest

This week was the kickoff to the world oldest Carnival – The big Carnival of Venice – and boy do I wish I was there. I have been skimming through my old photos this weekend and it stirred my travel bug so much that I booked a new ticket for this May – Can´t wait to go back. I may even have to book for next february and the next Carnival. It looks like an unforgettable experience.

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The gran Canal at sunset
The gran Canal at sunset

Venice alone is a must visit and even many years on I still remember the feeling of stepping out of the parking lot and see nothing but boats, water, bridges and more boats.

Getting lost in those small streets, taking that boat ride on the gran canal and even waking up in utter silence – no typical city noise, it really is unexplainable. And visit Venice it a true must – the history still lingers in the houses and the streets.

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getting lost in the canals - walking the streets. A truly must do
getting lost in the canals – walking the streets. A truly must do

A couple of years back on my first trip to Italy, even before this blog came to. I was lucky enough to be spending a few days in this wonderful city. We came by car and left it in the outskirts in a parking lot. All the water and boats made me so confused that we actually headed on to the wrong number two. Instead of making it into the Vaporetti (city boat) we jumped on the bus!! heading in the totally wrong direction…… I mean really! how stupid? in a city with no cars we made it for the bus heading out of Venice.. Just to funny.

After this first confusing meeting of Venice – everything went really good. We had two lovely days exploring the city both by foot and boat. The smell (not always so good), the sounds, the flowers, the colors and the mask´s of Carnival…. take it all in.

Did the compulsory gondola ride – an expensive but fun experience.

riding that gondola - another must
riding that gondola – another must

Did the water taxi – another really expensive experience. But boy was that a fun one. Felt very much like “the Tourist”.

Cruising in style a happy Mr. Grumpy
Cruising in style a happy Mr. Grumpy

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The extremely pricy beer at the piazza San Marco another must, and we really had to. Since we also lost our phone with all the contact info on. I had to call back to Norway and get my dad to lock himself in to both my house and my computer just to find out which hotel we were staying on… oh those memories!

St. Marks´s place
St. Marks´s place

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To the hotel close to the water front. I had seaview or at least canal view! priceless. To the eccentric hotel host and owner of the little cute but old Hotel. I am no so sad that I took no pictures from this quaint place, although I shot a lot the hotel got no love. It was situated in a very smal alley with hardly no light and the hotel sign had a cat – that must I remember. Good service and small hotel close to the St. Marks place.

From walking the streets at night when the city changes atmosphere. We loved the area around the Rialto bridge, one of Venice few places to eat outside on the street, more or less on the canal.

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Bridge view over the canal, place of the Carnival
Bridge view over the canal

Memories sweet memories. Italy was good to me on my first visit. Ti amo♥

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