Venice and Viareggio

Carnevale

What is it?

Carnevale is a two week celebration starting 40 days before Easter, a last fling before Ash Wednesday. Carnevale is Italy's version of Mardi Gras. There are a series of masquerades, ceremonies, music and all-round festivities. Carnivale is one of the most celebrated and fascinating events in Europe. Millions of people put on elaborate costumes and masks and party in the streets.

Venice

The plan was to take the train to Venice on Friday, February 24th and hopefully stay for the weekend. Again, I waited too long to book a hostel/hotel and everything was sold out. A couple of my friends booked a hotel so I planned on crashing there.

I went with Joe and...Brittany, Amelia, Claire, and Megan (a.k.a. “The girls from California”). Now, most of you are probably wondering why I would travel with girls again after the Milan fiasco. Well, I thought about it and maybe it was me last time, or maybe it was the girls I traveled with. So, I thought I’d give it another shot with a different set of girls. Plus, there isn’t much shopping in Venice…except for food.

We arrived in Venice at 11:00 AM and it was raining, what else is new. I walked outside the train station and immediately saw the Grande Canal. I stood there in awe for 5 minutes and then we took a water taxi down the canal.

On the river we saw a bunch of cool shops with Carnevale masks so we jumped off the water taxi. I didn’t know what to expect because I’d never seen a Carnevale mask before. The masks aren’t scary like the ones you’d find on Halloween, but more colorful and artistic. They are all hand made and very detailed. None of us bought a mask, but the girls did buy umbrellas and even they came in bright colors.

Now comes the stressful part. We were really hungry because we hadn’t eaten since breakfast. We all agreed on sandwiches for lunch and a restaurant for dinner, but the girls had the mandate on where we ate. We stopped into a few sandwich shops, but they didn’t have seats and the girls needed to sit (I thought we were sitting on a train ride for 3 hours). A few places turned into a lot and this went on for a half hour.

Keep in mind, these girls are from Southern California and they are $$ loaded $$. I was getting frustrated because they still couldn’t find a place to sit and then they started looking at restaurant menus. I looked at one of the menus and it was like 10 Euro for an appetizer. I just wanted something quick and inexpensive. Hell this is lunch and we have a lot to see.

So, we’re walking around and I’m literally crossing my fingers in hope that they don’t pick an expensive and slow restaurant that would waste half the day. We were just about to enter one of those restaurant when I tell them that we should take one last look around the corner. Thank god there was a perfect little café with seats. I ordered a sandwich and the girls ordered a “Sando” (That’s what they call it in Cali?!). By the end of the day I swear it felt like I was on the TV show Laguna Beach.

After lunch, we did some exploring around Venice. You have to be careful because if you don’t watch where you're walking you may end up in a canal. We saw a cool looking gondola guy, but it was raining and no one was riding in a gondola today.

We passed a few signs for concert events going on that night. I figured we should see something related to Carnevale..like the Shanghai Costume Tango, but the girls really wanted to see the Vivaldi Concert. I was outnumbered so I was forced to buy a ticket for the 8 PM Vivaldi Concert.

The action started picking up in the afternoon. More and more people in costume were walking around. We went to Piazza San Marco, the biggest square in Venice. They had a big stage set up with people showing off their costumes and most of them were really wild looking. There were also smaller stages with people putting on acts. We felt like we didn’t fit in so we each bought some cheap masks.

Me and my cool mask:

There were a lot of people in the square, but I noticed one group in particular. Many times, kids at school ask why we stand out as Americans.

Here is a prime example:


You’ll notice a typical group of seven American students taking numerous pictures in Venice. If you look closely, there is a gorgeous building in the background and Carnevale is in full effect, but these people are taking pictures of a guy with pigeons on his arm.

In the square, there were a bunch of vendors and one of them was selling a zeppoli type pastry and "hot wine." I was the first on line. The hot wine was really good. I’d describe it like a mixture of apple cider, cinnamon, and wine.

After the square, we went to the Vivaldi Concert and I had a blast. All of the old people were getting into it. There was an Asian woman sitting next to me and I couldn’t stop wondering why she wasn’t at the Shanghai Tango.

It ended at 10 PM and we went to dinner at a fancy restaurant. After dinner, we walked around again. It’s totally legal to drink out of an open container in Italy so we stopped at a liquor store and we each bought a bottle of wine for the walk. It started raining again so we went to Campo San Margarita, an area with a lot of bars. Surprisingly, most of them closed at 12:00AM.

We get lost at least once on every trip:

A bunch of us tried sneaking into our friend’s hotel, but it was too obvious and they kicked us out. It was like 1 AM and we were searching all over Venice for a place to stay, but there were no vacancies anywhere. We stopped into one place and the girls told the hotel manager that they’d pay any amount of money for a room (and they were serious, lol). I thought it was an offer he couldn't refuse, but he declined.

The weather was supposed to be cold and rainy for the rest of the weekend. So we decided to take the 3:30 AM train back to Florence, but I definitely plan on going back to Venice in about a month when the weather gets nicer. I guess I didn't learn my lesson about traveling with girls the first time. Whether it's shopping or food they find a way to make something difficult, but they keep the trip interesting and I guess I'll have to live with it.

Viareggio

What is it?

Viareggio is located on the Tuscan coast and has one of the biggest Carnivale celebrations. Viareggio's Carnivale season starts February 12 with a masquerade, promenade and parade of huge paper maché floats and performers. Festivals, cultural events, and masked balls take place throughout the Carnivale season and restaurants have special Carnivale menus.

On Sunday, I took off on my own for Viareggio. I felt like getting away from everyone for a day. It's only about an hour and a half from Florence. The train made a stop in Lucca and there was a bunch of screaming and yelling going on outside. I peaked outside the window and there were hundreds of people with Lucca soccer jersey's, flags, and horns. They ended up getting onto the train. I asked one of them where the game was and he said Pisa. Since historical times, Lucca and Pisa have been political, social, and military rivals. These people were pumped up and roudy as hell. They were banging on the train windows and singing loud chants the whole train ride.

The streets were decorated with tons of flags, ribbons, and banners. A bunch of people were walking around decked out in face paint, funny hats, and other wacky outfits.

Here is a picture of a wacky guy in a wacky outfit on a bicycle:

I didn’t know where the actual parade was in Viareggio so I just followed the people in costumes. It wasn’t long before I reached the shore. I noticed a familiar aroma of salt water, pizza, and Italian sausage. For a second, I thought I was down in Seaside Heights, NJ.

I walked down a long pier to get a good view of the scenery. As I was walking, the weather turned dark and cloudy. I took a few ocean pictures with the stormy clouds in the background. In a matter of seconds the weather turned nice again and I took a few land shots.

To my surprise, the parade is totally sealed off and you have to pay in order to get in. I took one step inside when a little 10 year old kid runs up to me and throws confetti all over my face. I was about to run after him to kick his ass when I realized that everyone else was doing it, too. I also saw an old lady get nailed so I thought it must just be part of the celebration.

This was one of the perpetrators:


I walked around for awhile until the parade started at 3:00 PM. There were thousands of people at the event. A bunch of fireworks were set off and the parade started. The floats were absolutely incredible. They were enormous and each contained moving parts. All of them had music playing and people dancing on them. I saw a guy in his late 40's on one of the floats and he was sneaking sips of beer in between dancing (I guess he had to loosen up a bit).

Carnevale in Venice is more formal with elaborate costumes and elegant events. Viagreggio is more casual and a family type atmosphere – more like an actual carnival you’d find in the states.