Growing up, I had seen portrayals of Venice in pictures, videos, and movies. My expectation of the city of Venice was that it was completely a city of water, where there were no sidewalks or alleyways, and every avenue or road consisted of water. I had the expectation that people drove boats instead of cars, and upon arriving to your house or workplace, you would step out of a gondola right into the front door of your building.
I realize now that this was an ignorant view of Venice, and if I had done just a little more research into the city, I would have understood that it was not like this at all.
Instead, the beautiful city of Venice still consisted mostly of land and walkways, with many canals for boating and gondolas. When I visited the city, I arrived by train and walked from one end of the city to another, over bridges and through alleyways. I came across many restaurants and stores that were tucked away and could only be accessed through walking. My previous conception of Venice was completely misconstrued, and I realized there was so much more to this city than I thought.
Upon walking through Venice, I came across many restaurants, jewelry shops, gelato places, coffee shops, and souvenir stores. Along with my study abroad group, we traversed the city and ended up at St. Mark’s Square, where we ate dinner, stopped at Café Florian, and took photos. I realized that this city was so much more than I ever could have expected, and I don’t think that I could fully explore it even if I had a week here.
