Italian Mardi Gras

Yesterday was the day that Dara, Gabby and I had probably been most excited for prior to arriving in Italy. In like October or November when we all figured out we would be at AUR together, I sent out on our facebook message thread, CARNIVALE. It was well worth the wait. Venice was beautiful, the weather was great and we got to dress up and wear our masks we had so carefully picked out.
Originally we were supposed to go to an Aperitivo with all you can eat sweets and all you can drink hot chocolate right in S. Marco's Square (basically the center of all the action). However, the place was a little... snooty and wouldn't let us in simply in our cocktail style dresses and masks, they wanted capes or full on elaborate costumes. So, despite having a reservation, they turned us away and we didn't pay. Instead we wandered the streets of Venice, crossing various bridges and going into various restaurants, bars and piazzas people watching, dancing, singing and watching the little kids go by with bags of confetti.
We didn't make it on any gondola rides, we were told some of them can charge up to 80 euro a person and didn't want to or have the money to dish out on that. Plus we were spending time with a new group of people so it was nice to have a completely different experience in a completely different city. Venice was beautiful and at some point I would love to go back when it's not Carnivale to wander the streets, ride a gondola and soak it in a little more, since I was only actually there for about 9 hours, but for now I'm completely happy with the time I spent there, the new AUR friends I made and even the delicious plate of pasta I devoured while there.