Venice & Stuff

Ten full days.

I know you've all been anxious for a new post. That is all 2, maybe 3, of you.

It's been a good ten days.

To summarize briefly, I ate an additional 500 strands of spaghetti, 25 slices of pizza, a swimming pool's worth of egg drop soup (known as corn and chicken soup here), and also 10 or so Big Macs. Oh yeah. I also went to Venice and Paris.

Those of you reading are probably most interested in where I got a hold of McDonalds over here, so I'll tell you. At McDonald's.

Late night food is seriously lacking in Italy - besides a few Kabob stands, McDonald's reigns king of the late night food. Therefore, I've had a lot of Big Macs recently. Also, just so you know, McDonald's over here just came out with a new sandwich called the "McItaly." Interesting, but not quite as creative as Israel's "McShwarma."

I went to Venice for Carnivale, which is basically the European version of Mardi Gras Well...Mardi Gras is actually the American version of Carnivale.

The city was beautiful. We took a water taxi from our bus to San Marco Square, where the big festivities were taking place. On the water, making our way into this water-filled city, I felt like I was in some exotic version of Neverland. People all over were riding in boats dressed as pirates...and George Washington (or someone else from the 1700's) and monsters and teletubbies. However, it was really the buildings that most impressed me. Well, the buildings and the light blue water. It all reminded me in a way of the Caribbean; I feel like I got some sort of an idea of how all those Caribbean islands were originally influenced in terms of architecture and design.

A highlight for me was, at lunch, after I finished eating and had landed much of my lunch on my shirt (as usual), some British guy came up to me and, with British accent and all, said something like, "Hey mate. It looks like you've got some sauce on your shirt."

Venice was a great city and I had a good time, but coming on such a crowded day, I only got to see hints of what were certainly, on much more normal days, very romantic and mysterious alleys and bridges, streets and squares.

Will write about Paris tomorrow. Stay tuned.