Five Wonderful Towns

I am going to give you a little primer info on the Cinque Terre before I begin on my day. As stated previously, they are five small towns perched on cliffs along the Mediterranean Sea on the Italian Riviera. They are HUGE tourists spots now that the word is out on them. Well they are huge tourists spots when it is warm and sunny there all the time (i.e. summer) in February the only people there are locals which is interesting. The five towns, from north to south, are Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggoire. Each town has a different identity sort of and cool in their own way. They are all within a 7 mile stretch of coast. If someone visits Italy and doesn't visit the Cinque Terre, they are truly missing out.

I started the day out at around 6:30 am because I went to bed at around 9 the night before (felt so good). After waking up, I walked from the Old Town to the New Town by way of the ridge above the tunnel. It was really cool up there. There was a convent and a statue of St. Francis. It was really quiet out. Even the waves seemed to be softer than they were the night before. I love the sound of waves by the way. There is pretty much nothing as calming as that. On the way back to the apartment, I got some fruit for breakfast and Vanessa already had yogurt. We got ready to do the hike between the towns. The hike is 7 miles long. The toughest part of the hike is the part we did first, Monterosso to Vernazza.

The start of the hike was up, and up, and up. There were a ton of stairs and uphills to get out of the town and high up on the ridges between the two towns. The sucky part was that there were clouds. It made it super hard to take pictures because there wasn't enough sun to make everything show up right. It was really annoying. The trail was super green though and very pretty. Vanessa and I didn't say much to each other during this part. We were breathing pretty hard, it was early, and I think that both of us kind of enjoyed the immense quiet. Along the trail there were terraces for farming (picture 1). All the ridges around each town had been cut into terraces for grapes and other plants to grow, kind of like in the Andes. We ran into a group of three cats who had their own little encampment on the trail. It was very strange. There was a cat tent and water dishes. At the highest point on this section of trail, we ran into two couples from Cleveland. They started talking to us because I was wearing my MN Twins shirt. They were all older (new retirees maybe) and seemed pretty well to do. They were nice. From there all the way to Vernazza was basically downhill. There was a metal track thing that we later found out had a chair that powered people up the hill to the top of the trail. The chair and track looked super unsafe if you ask me.

We made it to Vernazza. This is probably the most beautiful city to see. It has a horse shoe shape because of a small bit of rock that juts out to sea (picture 2). Just incredible to look at from above. We walked around in the city and at the marina. We bought some more fruit as a snack from a farmer guy. One of the pictures I took is the exact same one as on Rick Steve's Best of Europe 2005, a book I had with me on the trip. From Vernazza, we continued walking on to the next town, Corniglia. On the trail we saw a sign that said, "down to beach". So we followed it. It was insanely steep and very rugged. There were a few places that I slipped a little. I felt like I was bushwhacking. Anyway, we made it through that trail and then followed a road through an orchard to the sea. It was just super beautiful. We ate lunch here (picture 3). I had crunchy bread (like wassebrot or however you spell it) and jam. Vanessa had tuna. Like usual, very gourmet. While we were eating, the sun started to break through in a couple spots. I was so excited. We headed back up the super steep trail and got on the regular one. We ran into a guy from the University of Florida. He took our picture (picture 4). We talked to him for a while about Minnesota. He said he knew someone from Eli (that's how he pronounced it). I laughed. Because of my Twins shirt, we also talked baseball.

We got to Corniglia. It is the only one of the 5 towns not located directly on the sea. It was up on the cliffs. Not much else to say about the town. There were 363 switch-backing steps from the town down to the sea and the next part of the trail. It reminded me of the Wiggles at Angel's Landing in Utah (except we didn't have to go up them). We walked along a pebble beach and the sun was poking through the clouds and it was super amazing (picture 5). I loved it so much. I could have spent all day there. We had to move on though. At the end of the beach, we met a couple from Australia who told us that while we were traveling, we should visit Poland. They thought Krakow and Auschwitz were very interesting. The rest of the trail from Corniglia to Manarola to Riomaggoire is pretty flat and easy. So after the beach we continued walking a little above the water and came to a marina. I walked out to the end of it and had my picture taken. Finally, we got to Manarola.

Manarola (picture 6) is the smallest town I think. It has some rocks as a breakwater for marina where people sun tan in the summer. We went out to these rocks and had our pictures taken. Vanessa got wet getting to the rocks we sat but I didn't. Some awesome pictures were taken (picture 7). The trail from Manarola to Riomaggoire is called Via dell'Amore or Road of Love. It is paved and almost completely flat. There is a tunnel with "love graffiti" all over it. Another spot along the Road is a railing where guys come with their girls and lock a lock to a railing to signify the fact that their heart is closed to all others or something (picture 8). The Road also has plants on either side of it, cactus, flowers, etc. Super romantic and beautiful.

We reached the last town, Riomaggoire (picture 9). We walked along the water in the town and then all the way up the hill to a church. Some little kids were playing football (soccer) outside it in the square. Very cool. We continued on to the castle on the edge of the cliff. There were some benches that we sat on and watched the sunset. I have said this a ton of times but it was insanely amazing to see. The sun was just all different colors and the clouds were so cool (picture 10). I took a ton of pictures of it and each one is spectacular on its own. We took the train back to our apartment. I had spaghetti and sauce for dinner and Vanessa had lentils and vegetables (just like the night before). I got into bed and read and then fell asleep early. This hike is definitely in the pantheon of hikes I have done (Skeleton Point, Angel's Landing, Skyline Trail, Lake Odessa, Cascade Canyon, Half Dome, etc.). I loved it.

So We Meet Again

Like I said, Vanessa and I talked about going to a whole bunch of places but we ended up deciding on the Cinque Terre. Our plan was to spent one or two nights there and then take an overnight train to Rome. I e-mailed the Roma Inn (our accomodations in Rome) about canceling for two out of the three nights and they said it would be fine. Then I called Hotel Souvenir in Monterosso al Monte to see if they had any rooms available for the next two nights. The woman who answered did not speak one word of English which made things difficult. I got one of the hostel workers to translate for me. Apparently, the hotel was closed but the woman had an apartment with a kitchen available for €50 a night. I'LL TAKE IT!! That's the same price we paid for that itty bitty hotel room in Venice. So we went to the train station and bought our tickets. They were only €10 or so which was good.

Before we left, I had one thing that I really wanted to do (more like 10 but I only had time for one) which was climb up the Dome. There were 463 steps to the top. That's a lot by the way. About halfway up, there is a viewing platform of the painting on the inside of the ceiling of the dome called the Last Judgment. Needless to say, it did not paint a very happy picture for the people going to hell. There was one part with a dragon biting a person in half (picture 1). The painting went from Hell on the bottom, to Purgatory, and up to to Heaven. I didn't like it much but I don't really like the Apocalypse so that would make sense. Also on the way up, I saw the herringbone brick laying scheme Brunelleschi used to create the dome. Very impressive. There were a few tight spots but I made it to the top. As soon as I poked my head out, someone headed me a camera and asked me to take a picture for them. Lo and behold!!! It was the same Canadian family as the day before. What a crazy coincidence! We talked for awhile and they took my picture again (picture 2 of me at the top with the bell tower behind). The dad told me that when I was traveling I had to go to Crete and hike in the gorges on the southern coast. He said its his favorite place in all of Europe. We said goodbye and I went into the actual church. The views from the top of the dome were far reaching and amazing to see (picture 3).

The church was just massive (4th biggest in the world, picture 4). The part of the church under the dome was blocked off because they were having some kind of event in there so I couldn't walk under the dome which was a major disappointment. I walked around and looked at the stuff I could. Then I left and went back to the hostel. I really enjoyed Florence, Vanessa not as much. I want to come back some day and visit all the art galleries we didn't go to. We got off the train in La Spezia and bought panini sandwiches at a McDonald's. The sandwiches were actually really good. Next we hopped on a train to Monterosso. It is just fantastically beautiful there.

The Cinque Terre are five small towns along the cliffs of the Italian Riviera (the towns are along the cliffs you see behind me in picture 6). They are major tourist hot spots in the summer. February, not so much which is fine by me. Monterosso is divided into two parts, the New Town and the Old Town. They are separated by a cliff with a tunnel through it. We waited at the Hotel Souvenir for Pay (the boss of the place) but she didn't show up for a while. While we waited, Vanessa practiced (I suck at Italian but it was hilarious listening to her try). One of the workers who was doing repairs (this was happening all over the city, gearing up for the big tourist season) could hear us and probably got fed up by the poor Italian so he called the boss and she brought us to the apartment. It was so cool. A kitchen, dining table, big bed, bunk beds, bathroom, towel rack with warmer, dishes, and a tv. We were so excited. The wife left for a minute but sort of communicated that she would be back soon. Her husband came and showed me how to turn on the hot water for the kitchen sink and some other stuff. He didn't speak any English either so it was interesting trying to communicate. There was a LOT of hand signals and showing. He would say OK? all the time. They were both extremely nice.

They left and Vanessa and I walked down to the beaches. We walked along the beach of the Old Town (have to pay in summer) and the beach of the New Town (from the Old Town to the New is picture 5 and from the other side of the New Town is picture 7). Very pretty. It was cloudy so there was no sunset but that was ok. We stopped and got groceries which were cheap and a nice change of pace from eating out all the time. I had my usual spaghetti with sauce and Vanessa had lentils and mixed vegetables (I still say that's weird). I read and had some Almond Apricot Cookies which were out of this world. I slept in the big bed which I must say was the best sleep I have had in a long time.

Birth of the Re-Birth

Because of how early I had fallen asleep, I woke up at 7 and showered and then met Vanessa out in the hostel's restaurant area. The hostel has a restaurant that serves free breakfast (with one night's stay) and has dinner that is pretty cheap. I got scrambled eggs, bacon and toast. Vanessa got cereal and yogurt. It ended up being the best breakfast of the whole trip. It was so delicious. I left to go climb the Campanile and the Medici Chapels (Vanessa didn't want to pay and just plain wasn't interested).

I was super excited about visitng the Medici Chapels. For those who don't know, I did a project on Lorenzo "Il Magnifico" Medici in 11th grade. The Medici Chapels are connected to San Lorenzo which is the oldest church in Florence (which is saying something). Directly inside the doors is the crypt which is where are all the lesser Medici's are buried. There weren't any real tombs here and apparently when the crypt was built a bunch of the bodies were just thrown in haphazardly. Next up is the Capella dei Principi where 6 Medici are buried but only 3 have completely finished tombs. The room they are in is incredibly lavish with green, pink and black stone and gold everywhere. They are in an octagonal room that has a dome really high up too. Even the scaffolding in the room was painted black and had gold joints. Finally, the Segrestia Nuova where Il Magnifico and 3 other Medici are. Il Magnifico (so named because of how magnificent he was and because there were a ton of "Lorenzo Medici"s so he needed a nickname) did not have a finished tomb. Michelangelo had a plan for it but left for Rome and never came back to finsihe it. Two other guys though have incredible tombs. One has two statues, Dusk and Dawn and the other has two statues as well, Night and Day. They are worth a google search just to see them.

I headed on to the Campanile. There were 414 steps to the top. It wasn't too bad of a climb because there were 3 or 4 terraces where you could catch your breath and take some pictures. The views were amazing and it being Sunday, church bells were going off in the city. At the top of the bell tower, I met a family from Canada (Western Ontario to be exact) who were super nice and took my picture for me (picture 2). The views of Brunelleschi's dome with Florence behind it were really amazing (picture 1). It really is an engineering marvel. He created it with no scaffolding. Amazing. I went back to the hostel and Vanessa and I went on a free walking tour that left from the hostel. It was not very good. The tour guide talked really quietly and was hard to understand through her strong Italian accent. Plus whenever we were walking she would talk to these three people in Italian and walk SUPER slow. Add to that that we always walked in the shade and it was cold out (for us) and it was a pretty miserable experience. Vanessa lost her gloves so she wore mine which meant I didn't have any so I had to make due. We walked by all the major sites of the town. The highlights were Piazza della Santissima Annunziata (where the Accademia is and picture 3), Piazza San Croce (where San Croce, a church, is) and Piazza della Signoria (where a bunch of statues, the Uffizi Gallery and Palazzo Vecchio are). The tour ended in Piazza della Signoria and I took a bunch of pictures of the statues that were there. David by Michelangelo was in this square until 1850 or so (only a copy outside now). There was Perseus which I liked a lot (picture 4).

I tried to find us some sunlight to warm up in and found it along the Arno River. We walked along the river to the Ponte Vecchio (picture 5). It's a bridge over the narrowest part of the Arno that has a bunch of gold and jewelry shops on it. It's very famous and was fun to look at all the gold shops. From there, we walked up the ridge on the other side of the river to Piazza Michelangelo which has greats views back over Florence and the hills surrounding it (me and Vanessa picture 6 with Duomo and Palazzo Vecchio sticking out behind us). It was a pleasant walk through trees and it made us warm again. In the Piazza, there were some American Indians singing traditional music which was nice. My PCCC sweatshirt had some wine from Venice spilled on it so I bought a zip-up Italia sweatshirt. Just above the Piazza, is San Miniato al Monte, a church. It was built at that spot because when Saint Mitius was killed, apparently his ghost brought his head up here so they built a church. His bones are in the crypt below the church. I took a picture of the candles in the crypt (picture 7) which is definitely one of my favorites of the whole trip. The mosaic floor in the church was cool. There was a pulpit with an eagle above a man above a lion. Which signifies man's place between the divine and real world. Inside the church, there is green and white marble like from the outside of it.

We went back down the hill and across the Arno to the church of San Croce. We went inside and saw all the famous people's graves. The most important tombs we saw were Michelangelo, Ghiberti, Dante, Machiavelli, and Galileo (picture 8). All of them were very cool and it was super convenient to see them all in one place. The pulpit had reliefs of St. Francis's life. On the way back to our hostel, we stopped by the Baptistery. I took some pictures of the doors for my sister Amy (picture 9). I wished she could have been there to see them. She did a project just like me in 11th grade but her's was about Ghiberti, the guy who designed the doors. It took him 27 years to finish them. Now that's commitment. I went to the Accademia to see David by Michelangelo (alone again, same reasons as before). It was totally worth it. I loved the statue. It was truly mesmerizing. The statue weighs 19 tons and was outside for 300 years before being brought here. We ate dinner at the hostel. We got a bacon burger and spaghetti with meat sauce for €4 which was fantastic. I went online and stuff. Vanessa and I spent the rest of the night discussing what we wanted to do next. She didn't really want to stay longer and I sort of agreed. We talked about renting a motorbike and seeing Tuscan towns but it was too cold. We also discussed going to the Cinque Terre. We didn't really decide anything before we went to bed though.

Bologna Sandwich

We woke up and got packed and ready to leave Venice in the morning. Before we left we went and had some breakfast and I wanted to go for a ride on the water bus one last time but they were actually checking tickets for once so that plan was foiled. So went back (picture 1 is of the balcony of our hotel), got our bags, and walked to the train station. We talked to the guy about how much going straight to Florence was (€30) or how much a ticket to Bologna was (€8). So we went to Bologna and then went to Florence. It worked out really well because I wanted to go to Bologna anyway.

Bologna is located about an hour train ride north of Florence and is a major transportation hub because it is in the middle of Italy. It is known as "the red city" because of all the red bricks that are used in the buildings. The other kind of big thing about Bologna is that it has over 40 km of arcades in the city (picture 2 has both of those characteristics, the red brick and the arcade beneath the building). I don't mean the arcades with video games either. Almost all of the sidewalks are covered with arches along the side and on the top, that's the kind of arcades I am talking about. They are probably really nice in the summer because of the shade they provide. Besides the fact that they just look cool. We only left Vanessa's suitcase at the train station. I lugged my big and small backpacks with me all day. Not a good idea. My shoulders were killing me almost the whole time. I should have just paid the €4. Oh well, live and learn.

Anyway, so we started walking around. When we left Venice it was really cloudy but in Bologna, it was bright and sunny which was good. We went to the Piazza Maggoire and Piazza Nettuno first. They are the two main squares in Bologna. In the Piazza Nettuno, there is a fountain with a sculpture of Neptune. Right below him on the fountain is 4 sirens which have water coming out of their breasts which I thought was quite strange (picture 3). The church at the center of Piazza Maggoire is Basilica di San Pietro. It is the 5th largest church in the world. It also is not finished. The outside of the church is still only half done and will probably never be done (picture 4). It makes it really ugly because there is a line all the way around the church of white marble and the rest of it is ugly brown bricks. We didn't go inside the church just yet. Next, we found a small cafe to eat lunch in. Eating was always a little tenuous for the two of us because Vanessa wanted something more healthy and cheap usually where as all I wanted was something with meat that was cheap. In Italy, that usually led to a difference of opinion. We ended up finding a cafe and had (what else?) panini sandwiches. Next, we walked to the Le Due Torri, or the Two Towers (picture 5). Not the World Trade Center. They are two square skinny towers that lean. One tower is 95 m tall and leans 1.5 m. The other tower is 48 m tall and leans 3.9 m. The 48 m tower was supposed to be just as tall as the other but during construction, it leaned so much that they quit. You can climb to the top of the 95 m tower but we didn't.

We walked into the University District and went inside a small chapel called Oratorio di Santa Ceilia. There were 10 frescoes along both walls telling the story of St. Cecilia's life. From there we walked back past Le Due Torre and to the Basilica. There was a trio of guys playing guitars in the square out front (picture 6) so Vanessa watched the bags while I went inside the Basilica. It was MASSIVE. Along each side of the nave were probably 10 smaller chapels, each with a different theme and look to them. The columns were white and pink marble. Vanessa and I switched places and she went inside. Then we walked back to the train and got on.

The sun was setting over the Tuscan hills while the train sped along the tracks. It was very pretty. The hills with the green pine-looking trees reminding me vaguely of Oregon. We arrived in Florence and got to our hostel. My reservation didn't work apparently but we got a room anyway. It was a 4 bedroom that we shared with two Asian guys. They seemed nice enough but we never talked to them. We got settled then went out in search of food which took a while (for reasons mentioned before) and eventually settled on pizza. My pizza had bits of hot dog on it. Too weird. I wish I would have taken a picture of it. While we were out walking around we walked past the Duomo and Campanile which were just spectacular. It was love at first sight. I had read about them in ALP and in preparation but that didn't make me prepared for actually coming face to face with them. We came back and I read a bunch of books about Florence in preparation for out next day. I found out that I have 5 books that discuss Florence. I might have gone a it overboard but that's ok. I ended up going to bed a little early but woke up later when the two guys came back. One of them ended up snoring which sucked. I just can't get away from it. Another thing to mention about Florence is that it was quite a bit cooler there than London. Venice was the same way. Not good.

Chess on an Island

When Vanessa and I were getting ready for bed the night before, we had agreed to wake up at around 8 am. I woke up at 9. Haha, so much for that. I was tired, I had only gotten about 2 hours of sleep on Wednesday night due to our crazy travel schedule. We decided to spend the day riding the vaporetto to the islands in the Venetian lagoon because the islands are sweet and we both truly loved riding the water buses. We started walking toward the correct bus stop (the bus stops were floating rooms with an open door where the bus saddled up next to, picture 2) and along the way I took some pictures of churches and statues (picture 1) in the morning light which made them look very good. Also along the way, we stopped at a grocery store and Vanessa got yogurt for breakfast and salad for lunch. I got some chocolate croissants which I ended up eating for both breakfast and lunch (very bad of me to do). We hopped on the bus headed for Murano.

Murano is an island just off Venice. It was only a 7 minute ride. The island is known worldwide for its glass production. There are a ton of glass making shops on the island. When got off the bus and sat on a dock and ate our breakfast. Vanessa dropped her spoon into the water somehow which, at the time, was just completely hilarious. It was incredibly beautiful looking back over the water at Venice and our feet dangling off the end of the dock (picture 3). We adopted the strategy of walking around and seeing what we find. We ended up finding a free glass-blowing demonstration. There was a very well dressed young guy directing people into a room where three older men were doing stuff with glass (picture 4). He explained (mostly in Italian) what the guys were doing. One guy started to make a bowl and then handed it over to the "master" of the shop who finished it off. The bowl was really wavy around the outside and was medium sized. It was really cool to watch it be made. It was just a big blob one minute and then a wavy bowl the next! Vanessa bought a glass flower from the shop. We walked along the main street of the town which had about a million glass shops along it. There were some "designer names" just like with clothes.

We walked along the Murano Grand Canal and came to Santi Maria E Donato (picture 5). It was a church built in 1100 but a church has been on the spot since 700 or so. The relief that is on the pulpit is from 500. The most famous part of the church is the swirling mosaic patterns on the floor. Behind the altar are the bones of a dragon that St. Donatus killed. I hope someone realized that dragons never existed... The outside of the church was cool too with little arches all the around. We walked to the bus stop and hopped on again. It was so nice to be able to do that. I know that it is sort of like stealing but everyone was doing it (not a good excuse but oh well) and we won't have been able to ride it as much as we did if we had to pay. In front of the church there was a giant glass abacus which was really sweet.

Our next stop was the island of Burano. More like Brrrrano. It was pretty cold on the island especially in the shade. I should add RELATIVELY COLD. I realize the temperature in MN but when one is used to 50s and sun in London, 30s and breezy is cold. Anyway, Burano is about 30 minutes away by vaporetto from Murano. It is known for its beautifully colored houses (picture 6). The story goes that the fisherman's wives back in the day painted the houses very vibrant colors so that their husbands could still see their house from out in the lagoon. I love that story. The houses really are amazing. They were so easy to take pictures of. Just hold up the camera and its a fantastic picture (I really like picture 7). The island is small and easy to walk around. We ate lunch on the edge of the island looking out over the lagoon. Fantastic. Vanessa said that Burano was like Disneyland. It just felt like someone set up the houses but they were so out there and so cool that they couldn't be real. Almost right at that moment, a door opened and a kid came running out just to prove her wrong. Still, it felt that way. Burano was really sweet though.

We hopped on another vaporetto to the island of Torcello which was only 10 minutes from Burano. Torcello used to be the main place of the lagoon in 1200. 60,000 people lived on the island but the plague hit and everyone either died of left. We walked to the focal point of the island, Santa Maria Assunta (picture 9). It was founded in 800 and rebuilt in 1008 because the bishop was scared of the millennium. I think it was finished a little late if that was his concern. Anywho, we walked by Atilla's Throne which both Vanessa and I had our pictures taken sitting in (picture 8). I thought it was funny because we had both read the book, Atilla, by that point. Legend has it that anybody who sits on the throne will be married in 1 year (gahulllll). We didn't go into the church but did venture inside the chapel next to it. Other than the church there is not much on the island, other than a few restaurants and shops.

We were walking back from the church to the water bus when an older man called me over and started pointing at a chess board. I tried to communicate that I was flattered but not good. He insisted and Vanessa urged me on. There was a small stone table with three stone seats around it that we played on. Vanessa took a picture of us playing but I don't have it at the moment, when I do, I will put it up. The man was really nice. Here would give me hints and say things like "bella" and smile or "no bella" and shake his head. Sometimes he would point at a specific piece so I knew to move that one. He let me win but we continued playing anyway. I felt kind of embarrassed for being so bad (I should have gotten some pointers back home from Greg). We ended up playing for over an hour. The sun was low in the field behind us and it was just amazing. Definitely the highlight of the whole trip (or at least tied). It was so much fun.

I watched the sun go down from the water bus back to Venice even though it was pretty chilly. It was great (picture 10). The sunset reminded me of so many things (Grand Teton and Crater Lake for sunsets on water; Seattle, San Francisco, New York and Boston for the ferry). We made the long, freezing cold walk back to the hotel. We ate dinner at Brek, a cafeteria style place like McGlynn's or Sexton. I had a noodle dish that tasted like a hamburger hot dish thing that my mom makes and Vanessa had a mix of a bunch of different weird stuff. After that we went back and I read some more.

So Nice in Venice

So here we go with the story of our spring break. As usual, I'm sure each post will be lengthy so pace yourself if you're reading them. I will go day by day just like usual. Hope you enjoy!

We started the trip like I said we would, at around 3:15 am Vanessa and I walked to the bus stop to get a night bus to Victoria Coach Station. The bus didn't come for a while and then it went by a longer route than I thought it would. Plus it dropped us off two blocks from the Coach Station. It was 4:03 am when it dropped us off and the coach left at 4:10. We basically ran there with all of our luggage but made it just in time. That made me think of the time in the Grand Canyon when my mom and I wanted to catch a bus and she had me run ahead and tell the driver that my mom was coming but we had to wait for her (mom, you know what I am talking about). If we would have missed that coach, we probably would have missed our plane which would have been VERY bad, obviously. Anyway, we made it. The coach ride to Stansted Airport was uneventful. We got to Stansted and went through the whole check in process. Vanessa had to have her bag looked through beacuse she had forgotten that she had a fork in her backpack. She had brought a bunch of broccoli with her in her backpack to eat and I was hoping that the guy would pull all of it out, but he didn't which was extremely disappointing. So we got on the plane and flew over the Alps which was really sweet. I can't wait to visit them later.

We got to Treviso Airport which is still 40 minutes away from Venice so we took another bus. The bus passed by very Italian looking houses and then went across a really long bridge into Venice. We got off the bus and made our way to the hotel. It was €50 per night and was pretty much the smallest room I had ever seen (picture2). There was only one bed (a little awkward for the two of us but we made due). Our bathroom was across the hall. We got the only room with a balcony over the square outside the hotel which I was happy about. The balcony overlooked a church and stuff (picture 1). Vanessa ate some of her broccoli for lunch and I had a panini sandwich. That is a sandwich with some kind of bread (foccacia, a bun, baguette, whatever) with some meat (usually proscuitto, an Italian type of ham) and some cheese warmed up. I had them just about everyday for lunch and they were fantastic. I ate it on our balcony over looking the square.

Anyway, we left and just went strolling around the area just south of our hotel (picture 3). The paths are like mazes and there were canals all over the place and it was fantastic. The neighborhoods we walked through were called San Croce and San Polo. It was really hard for me to not look at a map and just walk around. It was fun to walk into a campo (small square) where people congregate and then suddenly walk into a small alley which was dead quiet. We got lost a bunch of time and seemed to be walking in circles so we decided to make our way to the Rialto Bridge. This is a bridge over the Grand Canal that has shops on it and is very cool to look at (picture 4). We looked at all the shops and seemed to find a lot of the same souvenirs. Those being Murano glass and Carnivale masks. Murano is an island off Venice and Carnivale is a festival that happened a week before we got there which is like Mardi Gras. We trudged over to Piazza de San Marco (St. Mark's Square). This is the most famous part of Venice. St. Mark's Basilica is here (picture 5) which has some of the most famous mosaics in the world on the ceiling. We walked inside of it but only at the free parts. I loved the mosaics. We talked about going into Doge's Palace (another super famous building with a ton of history located on St. Mark's Square) but it was an art museum and we both were feeling tired. Amy, you will be happy to know that St. Mark's Square is famous for its copious pigeons. Seriously there were just tons of them. Vanessa was scared that one would poop on her (I was too). People were feeding the things and stuff. I thought it was kind of disgusting but to each their own. We rested for a bit on the Lagoon facing Isle de San Giorgio (our view is picture 6 with some gondolas in the foreground). There was a painting in the Wallace Collection (a museum we visited for Art History) from this exact spot. I thought about going up to the top of the bell tower of the square but it €8 and I wasn't all that into it. I wish I would have now. Oh well. I will come back some day and do it. That and ride in a gondola. The gondolas were €70+ for like an hour and neither Vanessa nor I have that kind of money so we didn't do it.

A girl at the hostel in Edinburgh told us not to pay for the Vaporetto (water bus) because they never check so we didn't. No incidents to speak off. So many people were getting on it would have been impossible to check. It took off from right by St. Mark's Square (behind Vanessa in picture 7 is the square with the bell tower and Doge's Palace). The bus continued on the entire length of the Grand Canal from St. Mark's Square up to the train station which was by our hotel. There were a lot of Palazzos (Palaces) along the canal and they started to all look similar by the end which was bad but true. The ride was kind of cold in the shade. This was Vanessa's favorite part of the day. We sat in the back with the sun setting on the Grand Canal (picture 8). Back at the hotel, Vanessa napped so I walked around which was nice because it was dusk and most of the tourists had left so it was real Venetians walking around.

I came back and got Vanessa and we walked around and found a place to eat. I had a polo patty (polo is Italian for chicken). Vanessa had an olive wrap. We walked around for a while looking for some chocolate and wine. This took a long time because of indecisiveness on both our parts but we eventually got some and had it back at the hotel. I loved the white chocolate we got. It was a nice Valentine's Day (Vanessa with chocolate and wine in a plastic cup picture 9, classy). I also got some strawberry gelato for €1 which was amazing. I LOVE gelato. Its sort of like ice cream but better. I read a little bit then went to bed.