Venezia (Part 2)

1) Hello! I'm a tourist!

Venetian gondolier hat: Random souvenir stall

Lace embellished, polka-dotted blouse: Wholesale Dress

Cameo brooch: Vintage fair

Alexa-inspired satchel: Random blogshop

Paperbag trousers: H&M

Lace up floral brogues: New Look

Doesn't my outfit just scream "tourist"?
Cheap "Venetian hat" on head? Check!
Camera around the neck? Check!
Guidebook in hand? Check!

2) Gorgeous pins made by a local designer

3) Tiny, tiny hand-painted masks

4) Elaborate Venetian mask

5) Masquerade! Paper faces on display! *brownie points to you if  you know where that came from*

It was extremely difficult to photograph the Venetian masks as nearly all the vendors in Venice have a very strict "No Photography" policy. They have their reasons, I suppose:
1) Pesky tourists coming in and taking pictures all day long without buying anything must be pretty annoying
2) They fear their original masks designed and lovingly made by local craftsmen will be copied and mass-produced

6) "No China"

I guess it's pretty clear what this shopowner is saying ;) There are also plenty of posters around appealing to tourists not to buy "Made in China" masks, but to support the Venetian mask-makers, a dying trade. In Murano, it was the same as the glassblowers face stiff competition from imported goods.

7) Pizza made by a husband & wife team

8) Rialto Bridge

9) Saint Mark's Basilica

10) The boyf and I on the veranda at Saint Mark's Basilica

11) The Campinile at Piazza San Marco (Saint Mark's Square)

12) Ooooh my legs look so long. Yeap, this photo serves no purpose :P

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13) Where the gondolas (and tourists) congregate

14) Spaghetti cabonara

15) Spaghetti frutti di mare

16) Gelato in yummy flavours

We had quite a lot of gelato the whole time we were there because it was so frigging hotomgyouwontbelieveit! I wore trousers and pulled on the cardigan because we were going into the cathedral and we had to dress decently. I swear I almost had a heatstroke! *drama* Anywayz, yummy scoops of gelato (which, according to our guidebook, has less fat than normal ice cream. WIN!) saved me from potential embarassment of fainting from the heat.

17) Oh, Venice, you're so pretty!

18) Bus Vaporetto stop

Last day in Venice.

19) On the Bridge of Sighs

Remember I talked about the Bridge of Sighs in my first Venice post*click*? Well, this was the "last glimpse" I was talking about.

20) Piazza San Marco again

On the last day, the weather became much cooler because it rained the previous night. Though I loved the entire Venice trip, I think I liked this day the best because of the cooler weather and also because it was slightly less crowded. So my tip would be to visit Venice during the colder months.

21) The view in front of the Doge's Palace

22) Inside the Doge's Palace

23) One of the cosy, little restaurants not infiltrated by tourists (except us haha!)

24) Mixed platter

25) Homemade lagsana

Oh, by the way, I know the squid ink spaghetti in my previous Venice post looks quite gross, but it actually tastes pretty good! It's a local delicacy apparently, so we had to try it. It was good, but I must admit that halfway through, it kind of got a bit too rich and I got sick of it. It was nice to try it once, but we never ordered it again during the rest of our trip. I don't know how to describe it, but I think it tastes a little bit like Marmite? Haha, I know Marmite's one of those things where you either love it or hate it.

And that concludes my trip to Venice!
Next up, ROME!

Check out Venezia (Part 1) here*click*