Lauren Goes to Europe: Venice on my 21st!

Sunday was my much-needed day of rest. My roommates were all gone for the weekend in Rome, and Megan and the girls were spending the day in Florence, so I was left to catch up on sleep, emails and editing photos. That night when Megan and the girls returned, we went out to dinner to celebrate my birthday! We went to Gatto e la Volpe, an Italian restaurant that was amazing. It was 15 euro for wine, bread, four huge starter plates and three amazing pastas, served family style. It was so fun and I was so glad to be able to celebrate with them before they left the following morning!

Food Pictures, a necessity:

Amazing grilled vegetables

Different sliced meats

Bruchetta and some delicious garlic thing

Mozzarella and Tomatoes

A sample of all three pastas-- ravioli with mushrooms and truffle sauce was by far the best!

Megan and the girls on their last night after dinner!

Midnight in front of the Duomo-- officially July 25th in Italy!

The following day, (my 21^st birthday!!!) I went with four of my friends to Venice! We woke up early, headed to the train station and bought our tickets. We did the slow train since were poor college students, saving 60 euro round trip(!), but sacrificing some of our time in Venice. Once we got there we grabbed panini’s and headed straight to the gondolas! I played the student and birthday cards to get our gondola down to 80 euro for five people, a ‘steal’ in terms of gondola rides. The gondola guy took us down some private sections of Venice that were completely quiet at just beautiful. It was away from all the tourist attractions, water taxi’s and other gondolas so it was really nice. I spent the entire half hour snapping photos and gushing about how cool it was to be in Venice on my 21^st birthday… I mean really, how many people can say they are that lucky! After the ride we realized that he never sang to us, but it didn’t really matter, it was still such a cool experience!

Once we were off the gondola, we didn’t have quite enough time to walk down to Saint Marks Square and back to comfortable make it back to our train departure. Instead we just walked around to different squares, stopping in little shops to peruse on the way. We found a cute little restaurant/ bar in a square with patio seating that we stopped at to chill and have drinks. Unfortunately Italians don’t appreciate 21^st birthdays in the way that Americans do, although the waiter did give me a kiss on the cheek—but no free drinks, sad. It was nice and relaxing just hanging out with the girls, drinking Bellinis and chatting. After we continued to walk around more, then grabbed bottles of Bellini (much less expensive) and sat on a wall by the water just enjoying life. All in all, it was a fun relaxing time in Venice, but I’ll have to go back to get to St. Marks Square!

After a longg train ride back to Florence, it was time to get ready and celebrate! Most of the girls were too tired/ not feeling well, but a couple still came out with me! Again, no bartenders really cared that it was my birthday, but all the Americans we met did (and some guys from London)! I have to admit, I always get really excited when I meet other Americans in Italy—it’s nice to just be able to communicate with them and the common background makes it feel more comfortable. After a couple bars, we went to the best after hours place (possibly ever), the secret bakery! After a freshly made, hot donut (or maybe two…) filled with nutella, we called it a successful night and made the trek home. I definitely missed celebrating with my family and friends from home, but I am so thankful for the people here made it so special and fun for me!

Enjoy only a fraction of my pictures from Venice... none are edited at all, it really is just that beautiful!