MASKS! MAKE-UP! MACARENA!

So I just had the best weekend of my trip.  Carnevale in Venice for the opening? Yes, I'll take some of that. With seconds.

So many people, and so much stuff to do! Not only did we venture the Venetian streets, but we also went to Murano and Burano- little islands which stole my heart and stomach!  Murano was mainly just for glass production (really beautiful stuff), and Burano is where I had a scrumptious coconut/lemon/cake/bar.  So good.  The baker recommended it, and it was to die for.  Oh, and in Venice itself, I had a smiley faced panino!

And then, my friends, the typical carnevale dinner commenced. SO MUCH FOOD. AND ALL OF IT WAS DIVINE. But fear not, dear readers, this foodie-aerobics-instructor completely earned her meal.  After dinner, there was dancing in the restaurant with the group of Italians who shared our banquet room. We taught them all the macarena, and they proved to us that Michael Jackson is always cool.  ENJOY THE FOODS :)

Antipasti: Little meat sausage patties, and on the skewer is prosciutto wrapped with zucchini on a bed of polenta.  SO delicious!

Vegetable risotto- one of the TWO (thats right, TWO! pasta courses!)

Gnocchi with a cheese sauce. Seriously, maybe my favorite. It was so good, but so rich! The cheese sauce tasted kind of like alfredo, but it was not as cheesy.  More cream than cheese probably!

The Main Event: Ham cooked with sage (I believe), with some roasted potatoes and cooked spinach.  MMMMMMM :)

Dolci: Fried dough with powdered sugar. Can't go wrong with that, right? And then, some fried dough ball things with raisins.  If it's fried, I'll eat it. Seriously.

So that was our large carnevale dinner, which put us all in a food coma and made me sleep better than any other night I'm here.  The next day, we went to the Guggenheim Museum (which was amazing, saw some Dali, Picasso, Duchamp...) After that, to St.Mark's square to see the "Flight of the Angel", where they put some crazy volunteer Italian on a rope above the square and have them fly down to the ground. I was scared for them.  As was a very concerned French woman next to me.  She was shaking with fright.  After the flight, the parade of masks! Everyone and Anyone is dressed in their Carnevale finest, complete with masks, make-up, and outrageous outfits.  But don't worry, they're not all dressed up like the Phantom of the Opera Masquerade scene.  Some random costumes which I had the opportunity to see: flowers, mariachi band, penguins, and William-Wallace-wanna-be's.  I had my face painting done by a pirate from Rome, and while he was doing my make-up people came by and took pictures of me...? I let him take the creative reigns on this one, and just told him to do whatever (to follow his heart, if you will).  When I looked at the finished product, it was of course beautiful! And some random englishman captured my surprise face on camera? Many awkward moments, people, many awkward moments.  Oh, I also tried to hot spiced red wine, and it definitely helped keep me warm on the dreary rainy sunday that eventually overtook the end of our carnevale stay.  

All in All, fantastic trip with fantastic people! And the boat ride back to the mainland included some playing of American music *(Love the way you Lie, you know you love it).  I'll probably update tomorrow, because I've been lacking and I just feel bad. I can't believe spring break is coming up so fast! It's insane! 

Buon Appetito! 

Rachael