Venice/Milan

Words and pictures cannot describe Venice. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen! We started our trip in Venice at night. We got off the train, this time Caroline, Rydberg, and I at least got to sit together, around 7:00ish. We took a cab to our hotel, Villa Dori. Even though it was 30 minutes outside of Venice it was a very nice hotel and offered a shuttle to take us there and back. We checked in, through our stuff down and were starved. We asked the front desk where to go for dinner and they directed us to this little town about a 10 minute walk away. Once we got to town and found the recommended restaurant we saw we were the ONLY people in there. Literally a giant room full of tables with only the four of us. We didn't mind at all though. We had a blast running around the room, spilling drinks, taking pictures. Just saying for this upcoming picture I was sick all this past week so my eyes were in so much pain I couldn't even smile for the picture. After dinner we went back to the hotel and headed to sleep.

The next morning we woke up and got on the 9:30 shuttle heading towards Venice. Once we got there we bought an imob. This is there version of the public transportation passes, except they don't have metros. We hopped on a boat and made different stops and people just got on and off, just like a bus, but a boat. We ended up at our final destination, an island called Murano. It is famous for it's glass making. The make really pretty glass items there with all different colors. We saw a demonstration of the glass being made and then went to go look in the gift shop. All I have to say about that is: Rydberg bought a quill. We kept walking down the street and it was glass shop after glass shop after glass shop so we decided to head back to the main island. Once we got there we walked around a little bit and we saw the Basilica de San Marco. It was very pretty from the outside but by this point in the trip we were pretty Basilicaed out so we didn't go inside. We were starving at this point so we decided to grab some pizza and sandwiches and we haggled with a guy to give us a gandala ride and lunch. We took the ride all around the narrow canals. It was so relaxing and so beautiful. Venice is actually made up of like 150ish Islands. It really is impossible to go across the street without a boat or bridge. It's one of those things you have to see to believe, and I am so glad I saw it. After our romantic gandala ride we decided to walk around. We explored a whole bunch of areas admiring all the masks in the windows as we walked buy. There were Venetian masks for Carnival (even though the holiday was a while back) everywhere and they were all really beautiful. Once we got tired we got some gelato and then rested out in the sun for a little while. After we were rejuvenated we hopped up and set off to find a museum full of the inventions of Leonardo DaVinchi. While Venice isn't the biggest city it was definitly the easiest to get lost in and we got lost A LOT. Once we finally got to the museum we checked out some of his stuff and tried it out. Then we went over to a nearby bar and tried some Spritz Al Aperol. It was a sweet wine and while it was good, the best part about the drinks in Italy is that they serve them with potato chips! So we had some drinks and then headed towards the Jewish Ghetto (yes it is really called that). Once we got there we saw the Holocaust memorial and I really wanted to see some of the synagogues (there are five compared to the 115 churches) but it was getting lated so they were closed already. We went to dinner in that area at a resturant called Gam Gam. I am very impressed with Caroline because she had a ton of Israeli food that I would never ever try. I stuck with some good old matzah ball soup and latkes. Definitly got my Jewish food fix. After dinner we walked around some more and played with the Venitian masks. Tired and bored we called the hotel telling them someone was sick so they came to pick us up. At that point exhausted again we all fell right asleep when we got home.

The next morning we were leaving Venice to head to Milan. We figured out the bus system and took a bus to the train station. From there we thought we were being economical. We bought the 14 euro bus ticket that said it would take 3 hr rather than the 30 euro ticket that said it would take only 2. They lied. It took us about 4 hours to get to Milan, on a very hot and stuffy train. At least with this train we all got to sit next to each other. Too bad we were all sleeping the whole time. Once we got off the train we were in a daze. We some how made it to Beth and Rydbergs hotel and dropped our stuff off. Then we went to the center of the city and walked around for a little. We saw the worlds largest cathedral, some very ritzy shopping, and a castle which was very different then the chateau's of France. Still so tired we had some dinner, pizza, and then some gelato. Then we headed back to there hotel room. At around 11:00pm the four of us walked over to a shuttle. This was going to take Caroline and I over to the Ryanair airport of Milan. Her plane was leaving for Paris at 6:45 am and mine at 8:45 am to Barcalona. It didn't make sense to stay in a hotel because we would have to leave so early anyways. Also the shuttle didn't open till 4am so we had to take the last one. We got on the hour long shuttle and got to the airport at 12:30am. Then Caroline fell right asleep. I read some of my book, and was too nervous to fall asleep, even though there were 50 other peoples doing it around me. It was defintly an experience. After I said by to Caroline I waited a few hours then was off and on my way to Barcalona!!