It’s Carnevale time round these parts!!!  That means lots of masks, cloaks, and fancy ladies swishing around in big dresses.  

I took a quick trip into Venice on Sunday to see the costumes and soak up the rare day of sunshine.  I made the mistake of staying longer than I planned and I got caught up in the terrible, horrible crowds.  I knew better, but I stayed anyway.  Sometimes I need to learn hard lessons more than once.  It’s my curse.

I did the full Carnevale experience my first year here and I never need to do it again.  It was way too many people packing into St. Mark’s Square and not nearly enough alcohol to keep the party going.  Seriously, would it have killed the event planners to set up booths selling drinks or have waiters circulating with shots or something?  Instead it was just a bunch of moderately sober people standing around in the cold, which is not my idea of a party.

But this year I did witness something pretty crazy.  It was early in the morning before the square filled up with people and I was trying to get pictures of the costumes before I saw something that ripped my attention away from the fancy ladies.

This guy in a sheet painted with the word JESUS strung himself up on a flag pole in the middle of the square.  I am not sure what he was trying to do but it looked like he intended to hang out on  that pole all day.  The rescue crew was simply not having that.  I stood around taking pictures like the obnoxious spectator that I am and I even caught a few of the rescue crew snapping their own pics.

So that was pretty much my favorite part of the day, but back to the fancy ladies…

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I think my favorite masks are the doctor masks with the long noses but I love reading about the origins and symbolism behind all of the different carnevale masks.  One of my friends shared this article that gives a great history and overview.

Tomorrow I will be at a local Carnevale party where I will debut my newest mask with outrageous feathers 🙂  What is everyone else doing for the pre-Lent party season???