Viareggio and Carnivale!

Carnivale is huge here in Italy!!  I absolutely love it because it means lots of yummy treats (fritelle di riso, bomboloni, cenchi, schiacciata alla fiorentina, strufoli,..etc)  And I can't even feel bad for eating so much because it will be a whole other year before they come around again!  I actually really love that - it gives you something to look forward to when you can't just buy anything you want in the stores.  My roommate made us some awesome bomboloni (doughnuts but better) and fritelle and so now I sort of, maybe one day could make my own..She also made some awesome lasagna recently that I'm going to have to try. 

  So the big festival is in Venice but it's a long train ride and not so cheap to get there - plus I wasn't really brave enough to be amongst all the people..so we picked the 2nd best destination around - Viareggio.  It's a little town on the Sea that has lots of parades and events for Carnivale.  The parades are on Sundays so we missed out on that..but we got to see a ton of people dressed up, eat some great food (churros, even) and get into the Carnivale spirit..

You don't even want to know how many hours we spend on the trains!!  But Meaghan and I are prepared - we've learned to bring snacks, candy, books, water, changes of clothes, sunglasses and pretty much be prepared for anything..

 We started out the day with an awesome ride on the ruota panoramica (ferris wheel).  It was awesome - with a fantastic view of the city and the Mediterranean..Viareggio has a long road that parallels the ocean with lots of rides, games, food, and restaurants.  It reminded me of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk a little bit..

The next stop was the beach!! It's been a while and I miss the ocean!  Too bad it wasn't warm enough to swim..

Meaghan made sure that we got in the Spirit with lots of silly string and confetti.  They also have some sort of shaving cream spray people were spraying all over each other..We almost bought the hair to go along with it..but somehow restrained.  Do you notice the glasses in the pictures?  Did I mention that Italy has decided to keep my contacts :(

Happy Carnevale!!!