Italy, part 1

in the morning

we are officially in Italy! it's really warm and beautiful. there are green mountains/hills everywhere and an occasional river, lots of houses and castles and churches. it's wonderful. we just stopped for a rest and lunch ... i ate gnocchi for the first time ... very good and filling. a bit sticky and dry, but cheesy and tasty.

Italy has interesting door handles on the bathrooms and this service stop had toilets with a spring seat. you put it down and sit down quickly, when you stand it springs back up. spring or not, i was thankful, because Italy is not one to have seats at all, so we'll see what future bathrooms bring.

Italian is fun ... very animated. lots of orange tile roofs. and now there are no more mountains. lots of crops though ... grapes, corn, wheat, peaches, apples, and something green. we went through a toll booth and got stopped by immigration. the guard came on board the coach and looked at all our passports. it's a lot more "trashy" now, for lack of a better word ... lots of run-down buildings, businesses, trash piles, graffiti, and flat land. much different the more south we go, but still very cool.

in the evening

we're in Venice ... amazing, beautiful, and picturesque Venice. i was so excited to have arrived, finally, in a place i was so looking forward to. it's perfect and just like all the pictures and all that you've ever imagined. we boated in, then had a glass-blowing demonstration. for the first time i actually got to watch someone make an animal (in addition to a vase). it was very fast and probably wasn't perfect quality, but still really cool. then they showed us their shop and tried to sell us stuff.

at that point i left and went to St. Mark's Church (Basilica San Marco). long line, but it moved quickly. it's amazing, as usual, but overwhelming. too much to look at and remember. really amazing and full and had a tons of people to distract you from the important stuff. there were mosaics everywhere, including the floor. plus, the floor was warped from it being on top of water, so you had to watch your step.

after that i walked around the city and got lost. well, i walked around a section of the city and got lost. there was no way to see all the city in only a couple of hours. there were TONS of tourists and shopping to manuveur through, but the maze of narrow streets were cool to traverse. it was just so amazing and i loved it. i saw the Rialto Bridge, the Bridge of Sighs, ate gelato, and took lots of pictures.

met the group to walk to our gondola ride spot. carefully got in the boat with five other people and took off. two bottles of wine and 45 minutes later we got out and parted ways. but during the ride, it was quiet, peaceful, and slow. in a gondola you grasp what Venice used to be like before tourists took over. *L* but the driver didn't sing, so we were a little disappointed. i guess we should have slipped him some money and then maybe he would have.

a lot of the group went to the Venetian optional dinner, but i'd read it wasn't worth it so i parted from the group at that point and walked to see more city and eat dinner on my own. i just walked around feeling shocked that i was actually there. it sorta felt unreal, kinda like i was at Disneyworld and in a mock-Venice or something. i found pizza on the street and more gelati and just ate sitting on a bridge watching the people pass by. i don't know that the pizza was the BESt pizza i've eaten, as one might expect you would get in Italy, but it was really good. just a cheese pizza with a thin crust and no sauce, fold it up and eat it as you go. the cheese was really chewy and salty and greasy and good, i know that. :-)

eventually i made my way back to the meeting place and we all boated back to the bus and then drove to the hotel. our hotel is situated about 45 minutes away from Venice, which is why we went to town first. by the time we got back to the hotel it was nearly time to go to bed, which is what i did. it's really hot here in Italy, which is a welcome change from the last week (chilly and rainy), but it's exhausting.