Venice & Underwater Arachnids

Venice being the city of Carnevale, and wanting to avoid the obvious horizontal-stripes à la the gondaliers, I thought it was appropriate to don my carnival-esque dress from Sheinside, featuring carousel horses, for my brief trip to the Venetian island the other day. I even wore some little gelato earrings (thanks to Freckles and Ginger), to honour the most popular product being sold at every second store that I pass (the other half are pizza/pasta joints). I'm so lucky to be here, and am loving Italy so far! Today we are going out on the Adriatic sea on two boats owned by Luciano's relatives, right next to Venice. I am super dooper lucky! dress - c/o Sheinside shoes - Asos socks - Tutuanna earrings - Gift from Freckles and Ginger bag - Thrifted necklace - Claire's (Japan) When we were staying at the Italian vineyard a few weeks ago, we were in awe of (and a little freaked out by) these spiders that seemed perfectly content living underneath the water at a nearby swimming pool. They moved around really quickly underneath the water, and never had to come up for air. I finally found out what they are, and they're really really cool. A particular type of spider called the Diving Bell spider is able to spin a web which it fills with air. They don't need to keep coming up to the surface to get more air, either, because the web acts like the gills of fish - taking oxygen from the water, and sending out carbon dioxide, so that the spider always has fresh air to breath. And they don't exist in Australia, either - which is why I had never seen them before. Image via IFLS These spiders can live out their entire lives basically underwater - mating, laying eggs and catching prey. I feel pretty bad for the spider that was in our pool, now. It was a pretty boring environment for it to end up in. I hope it found a new home in a pretty river or stream instead! Heaps of love! Bloglovin' | Facebook | Twitter |  Instagram | Chictopia | Lookbook | Tumblr