Loving 2010

Although Venice is pretty small and you can get all the sightseeing you want out of it in about two days, I think I most enjoyed my time in the "The City of Light."

Here are some of the highlights:

Water
I think I spent maybe 90% of my time in Venice being partially or completely wet. Not only is the city surrounded by water, but there was also the flooding...and the rain...almost every single day that we were there. I was only equipped with my canvas Converse sneakers which offer no waterproof capabilities, so I was basically screwed...

I even resorted to shelling out a ridiculous 9 euro for huge purple plastic shoe-bags to makes sightseeing bearable. It was embarrassing, but I suppose I felt a sense of solidarity with my fellow tourists who were equally unprepared for the underwater experience that is Venice.


The Vitruvian Man
By the time we hit Venice, Alanna and I were pretty art museumed out. I had seen so many priceless, beautiful, one-of-a-kind paintings and sculptures that they all started the blend together and these works started to lose their impact.

But when we heard that Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man was on display at the Galleria dell'Accademia for the first time in seven years, we had to go. It was odd, because for something that is as big a deal as the Vitruvian Man, there was close to zero publicity for it, no crowds at the actual display, and no extra fees to see the exhibition.

For a single sheet of paper with some scribbles on it, it was so harmonious, precise and in it's own way, very beautiful. After all, the Vitruvian Man is the representation of human perfection, right? A note about da Vinci: his handwriting is really really pretty.

I'm so glad that we were able to catch this. We were planning on skipping the Galleria dell'Accademia, and were it not for the two American ladies lunching next to us one day who were discussing the exhibition, we would never have seen it. In fewer words, it was awesome!

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection
I know I said we were museumed out, but at a certain point in Venice we just plain ran out of things to see (five days is way too much for standard sightseeing there). However, I'm glad we did make it to the Peggy Guggenheim museum. It's a modern-looking building that used to be Peggy's home in Venice the last leg of her life.

The collection itself was pretty phenomenal. Pollock, Brancusi, Duchamp, Kandinsky, Klee...all the heavyweights of modern art were represented. What made the experience cooler was that the museum still felt like a home. There was furniture, a dining table, and pictures of good friends of Peggy's. Seeing so many incredible and important artworks that all belonged to one woman made me realize just how influential (and filthy rich) Peggy Guggenheim was. It made the trek out there in my oversize rainboots our hostel had lying around completely worth it.

Making Friends with Strangers
Our hostel in Venice was probably the homiest place I've ever stayed at. Although it did have faults (they kick you out of bed at 9:30 every morning so they can move around the bunks and clean the mattresses), it did offer breakfast and dinner, during which we were basically forced to socialize with the other people staying there.

The friends that we made in Venice are probably people I'd hang out with again in a heartbeat if we were ever near each other again. We all bonded over crazy Australian drinking games, how weird our hostel staff was, and being a tourist. Recently, I was reunited with two of the Aussie girls we met on the trip when they were traveling in London!

It's weird. When you're traveling, or put in a situation where you're not completely comfortable, you are so much more likely to make the effort to get to know new people.

Bringing in the New Year
There are so many things about my New Year's Eve that could, to some people, be seen as disastrous. First, I was separated from Alanna. Then, when we arrived at St. Mark's, it was way too crowded for us to be able to squeeze ourselves through to the main stage. And, thinking that I had dodged the high tide since the flooding had receded by 1pm that day, I just wore my sneakers to the New Year's celebrations. What I did not anticipate was a dreadful thing called "second tide," where the whole square floods again right around 11pm. By the end of the night, my entire lower half was soaking wet. However, it was probably the best New Year's that I've had and an important self-actualization moment for me.

Mass celebrations with a big crowd of strangers has it's good and bad moments. Good: you become automatic best friends with the people around you because, after all, you are squished up against each other. Bad: there are creepy men who try to take advantage of the crowd situation and try to feel you up.

The two girls I was with ended up getting into a screaming match with some of these creepy men who were splashing water at us, at which point I was dropped into the water by one of the girls, who was carrying me on her back since I had no rainboots on. So in between mediating the fight, shoving away creepy men, and practically swimming in the water with my clothes on, I think many people in my situation would have been either really stressed out or just plain miserable.

But, really, I was quite the opposite. The countdown began, the fireworks lit up the Venice sky, and all the couples around us gave each other their New Year's kisses. Amidst all the drama, all I felt was appreciation and happiness for being lucky enough to be in such a beautiful city to ring in 2010. There's so much pressure on us to make certain holidays or moments perfect. But even if my New Year's was as perfect as I could possibly imagine, it might not have been this memorable, or fun, or real. And, I realized that I am pretty damn good at handling conflict and staying calm in crisis situations. I've definitely come a long way (as those of you familiar with Eu-crazy know).

Alanna
Most duos would probably either kill each other or go crazy after spending 18 consecutive 24 hour days together, but not Alanna and I. In fact, even as Alanna was walking me to my train as I departed for Cinque Terre, we were babbling on and on about the million and one things we have yet to talk about. Even though we're as different as we can be and have disagreements on certain issues, somehow we work amazingly well as friends.

After nearly 4 months away from home, it was really therapeutic (you have no idea how literally I mean this) to be with someone who knows me as well as Alanna does. We laughed until our tummies hurt, cried (in public), and helped each other put all the thinking we've been doing over the past year into something concrete. And surprisingly, as frequently and at length as we talk, we learned new things about each other. So 8,000 cafe lattes later, we're somehow better friends than when we started this trip. Thanks, Alanna for being my rock. I couldn't have asked for a better travel buddy. I really think it's impossible for us to get sick of each other.

After 18 blissful days, Alanna headed back to Paris and I was off to Cinque Terre for the last leg of my journey.