Danke Schon, Darling, Danke Schon...

Been a while, I know.  So where to start.  Since I've last posted I've been to Salzburg, Austria which was AMAZING, Rome which was less than amazing, but still fun, and had many projects due and midterms to take.  

First I really need to talk about Salzburg.  Jersey and I had been talking about the Sound of Music tour since September, looking up tours online during Graphic Design studios.  She is a much bigger fan than I am (I've only seen the second half of the movie twice, because it's the scary part with the Nazis in it), but ever since seeing Samantha Brown take it on the travel channel, I was just as enthusiastic.  

We took the 6 hour train ride overnight from Venice to Salzburg, arrived at 4 in the morning, and killed over two hours in the train station until the busses started running.  The hostel we stayed at was very modern with many phrases written across the facade encouraging the guests to "make new friends."  We signed up for the 1:00 tour, so we had a few hours to kill. 

If you ever go to Salzburg, the fortress on the hill is absolutely worth the 7 euro.  The view was stunning.  We could see the whole town and the Alps surrounding us on all sides. We also amused ourselves at the medieval and marionette museums inside the fortress.  I would realize later that it was here I used up the majority of the battery in my camera.

After grabbing some pretzels for lunch we met our tour guide, Wolfgang back at the hotel for the beginning of the best tour ever!

There were about 10 of us on the tour, and we were the youngest participants by at least 20 years.  After a first awkward attempt at getting us to sing "the Do Re Mi"  Wolfgang stuck to the CD for the rest of the trip.  We saw the Mirabel Gardens, drove past the real Von Trapp house, and stopped at the road where Julie Andrews sings "I Have Confidence."

AND THEN WE SAW THE GAZEBO!!!!!!!

No one is allowed inside any more.  Apparently too many old ladies broke their legs trying to skip across the benches.  Its also not the original, nor is it in it's original spot, BUT STILL FABULOUS. 

After stopping again to look at the Abbey and another house they used in the movie that looks out over a lake, we headed into the Alps to Wolfgangsee.  "See" is German for lake, and it is the cutest town ever.  We walked around and went to another mountain town to see the church they filmed the wedding in.  Then we stopped for some crisp apple strudel! (delish)  

The next day we did some shopping, bought some christmas ornaments (I guess thats what you have to buy in Salzburg), and had a great dinner with Lisa, a girl who was staying in our hostel, at this really cute restaurant.

The train back to Venice was another night train, and no one really slept.  We got back to Venice at 8:30, just enough time to meet up with our art history class at 9!  

I need to learn German now :)

Next post.. ROME (that one is quite the tale)

Carnivale and Guests!

Carnivale!

Venice absolutely transforms during carnivale.  What I had grown accustomed to as a quiet, rainy city morphed into a bustling, crowded, sunny, colorful, hot tranny mess.  The amount of people in the city practically quadrupled in one weekend.  The walk to school was nearly impossible, and at one point over the last weekend, we couldn't even get into our campo because the flow of people coming from San Marco was too intense to penetrate.  Native Venetians treat carnivale more like Halloween and they dress up your usual costumes.  Some of my favorites: smurfs, lamps, one guy dressed as Elton John, but singing Neil Diamond, and Minnie Mouse (I saw like 6).  But really, any funny hat, mask, or wig will do.  The more ridiculous the better.  The kids are the cutest, some wearing traditional venetian carnival garb: hoop skirt dress, banana curled wig, and tiara.  

The weirdest people are the ones who hang out in San Marco simply to get their pictures taken.  You've probably seen a picture of these people, they wear the full masks, and a surreal outfit, usually centered around a color theme.  The more tulle and taffeta the better.  And if you can balance a giant turban on you head with bobbles and things hanging from it thats good too.  

As cool as it is to see these people, it makes you think of who is behind the mask.  They cover their whole faces.  Its a little creepy.  What kind of person invests all that money into that kind of getup, and then wanders around the city, not saying a word, having their pictures taken?

There were also lots of street performers here.  The Peruvian pan flute band we saw in Bologna popped up at the train station, feathered head dresses and all, and a unicyclist/juggler was in our campo for most of the week.  We had memorized his routine by the end.  

At night many campos had bands or DJ's set up and there were outdoor dance parties until about 12.  Campo Santa Margherita was particularly popular, so was San Luca.  I wore my mask, and had a good time.

As fun as Carnivale was, I'm glad to have the calm Venice I know back.  Unfortunately, its just going to get steadily more and more crowded as the weather gets warmer and tourist season is in full swing.  I will miss something though.  FRITTELLE!!  They are these pastires that they have only for Carnivale. They are like donuts, but rounder and filled with cream, nutella, zabaione or tiramisu mix.  They are absolutely delicious.  Little round powdered sugar covered mounds of goodness.  I will miss them most of all.  SO MUCH.  It's ok, this just means I'll have to do some intensive research into other pastries ;).  

Guests!

For the first weekend of Carnivale, Christina came to visit!  It was lovely having her and sharing Venice with someone.  We saw the ceremony of the angel at San Marco, which is where they tie some poor girl to a harness, dress her up like an angel, and "fly" her from the top of the Campinale to the stage they set up in the middle of the square.  It was cool, but of course, my camera died just as she stepped off the ledge.  She was supposedly a celebrity, but she must have been Italian, because we didn't recognize her.  

For the second weekend, Sarah and Courtney were here, but we never met up.  There were some communication errors and phone numbers were never exchanged.  I think they had a good time tho? I was also sick that weekend, (yes again) so it was probably for the best.  I can't wait to see them when I go to London :)

And then this past weekend, my cousin Dave came to visit! It was really nice having family here with me. I wish I could have spent more time with him, but I was at a collage workshop at the scuola with British Architect Jeffery James for most of the weekend.  (Max and I won prizes at the end!)  We went out for dinner, and I took him to Santa Margherita.  I made him get the typical venetian drink, the Spriz, and the typical venetian late night snack, Kebabs!  We also watched Slumdog Millionaire, the best movie ever, and I am now going through an M.I.A obsession.