Venice, Italy

6/28
Buon Giorno! I don't think I've stopped smiling and saying the word "cute" since we got here. Venice is full of sunshine, narrow streets, hanging vines, romantic couples, gelato, and pizza. What's not to love right?

The first night here we took the vaporetto to Hotel Tivoli. The first item of business was to hang dry clothes from Budapest that were still wet in our bags. Our room is not spacious, but there is a great little terrace outside our window, a courtyard, free breakfast, and air conditioner (Tom's favorite). They gave us two twin beds and Tom, knowing me, slid them together. My husband is the greatest! Getting lost in Venice is unavoidable and last night the adventure took us to cheap street pizza (Cara if I could only mail it home...) and gelato. I got Nutella and it was to die for! (I thought of you Dina).

6/29
First stop via vaporetto is the island of Murano. Famous for glass blowing! We met a man named Jorgio who grew up here and works in a glass shop (Fiore Fiore). His father and father's father were all glass blowers. We loved hearing him talk about the family business and the pride he has in being a part of it.

Stop two via vaporetto is the island of Burano. Famous for lace making and the cutest bright-colored buildings. We ate at a place we had found online where we got yummy pruscetto and fancy cheese sandwiches. The rest of the time was spent getting pictures of the streets. Shay I dedicate the below collage to you, because I felt like you behind the camera, I couldn't stop taking pictures.

#SelfieStickProbs

We're catching some Zzzz's and soaking up some Air Conditioning for now. We're both looking forward to a fun evening.

6/29 (Evening)
We have a love hate relationship with Venice. We love the cute streets, but do not love the organization of streets, labeling of streets, or maps. What is estimated to be a 10 minute walk will take us an hour or more to find. We finally swallowed our pride and started asking the locals for help. They are very nice and usually respond with something like, "take a left, right, left, little bridge, then ten minutes." When we follow the steps, we show another local our map. The local points to location way far away from where Tom and I suspected. We then get directions again "left, right, left, little bridge, ten minutes" and repeat until stumbling on our destination. For a while we thought the locals were playing a sick trick on us, but then realized, that we simply were just really bad at navigating these streets. I wish I had a pedometer because I think we've walked to Texas in steps. Thank you GPS and organized highways.

Last night we enjoyed Pizza (we can't convince ourselves to order anything else, it's so good). Then, we got Fro You because Britt could not resist! To end the night, we enjoyed wine on the steps of the San Marco's square. It was a fun night of talking, people watching, and laughing about how much we had been lost. Our time in the square made all of the lost excursions worth it! The estimated 12 min walk home took about an hour due to the maze that is Venice. We finally took a turn and....

The heavenly lights of Hotel Tivolli shined down on our exhausted and confused American faces.

6/30
Today has been fun. We had breakfast at the hotel and then set off to see the majors (St. Mark's Basilica and Doge's Palace). Tom was a genius in paying a few euro to get "skip the line" tickets because we saved hours of standing in the crowded heat. St. Mark's is dedicated to Mark from the gospel of Mark. He is buried below. We listened to a Rick Steve's audio tour that explained how Venice is in the middle of the east and west trade. The Basilica is an eclectic mix of Turkish, Byzantine, and Greek architecture giving it a unique look.

We learned that the masks sold in Venice symbolize the mask parties and dances that leveled all classes. People could come to Venice and have a new identity (somewhat like Mardi Gras we assume). Venice has been a major tourist destination for years.  In fact, last night we set on steps by a restaurant that has been serving since the 1700's.

Below is a collage of Doge's palace. The "Doge" was elected by the nobles to serve as a symbol for the people. He lived in the palace and because the Nobles wanted to control the people, in the same building was the prison. We stood on the "bridge of sighs" that symbolized the prisoners who walked across and sighed as they look over the water at their last glance of freedom. We saw Casanova's cell which was in the VIP cells (wealthy prisoners). He was thrown in prison for taking a nun out for gondola rides at night. Such interesting history about his time in prison and even his escape.

Picture coming soon

We heard stories of interrogation and public tormenting. The picture below shows one room were the suspect would be forgiven. The picture is showing the parable of the prodigal son. It's a neat picture of mercy when you've done nothing to deserve it. It's a great reminder that allow I'm not a prisoner, I'm forgiven daily by a perfect father.

Rick Steve's led us through an audio tour of the Grand Canal as we worked our way through every stop. When we got to San Marco's square, we went up in the tower and saw a wonderful view of the city. We can see now how we got so lost in the mix of the streets and buildings.

Dinner was more gelato, street pizza and a Calzone for Tom. You'd think we'd be sick of pizza and gelato, but surprisingly we're not.

It's been real and it's been fun, but we're ready to leave the crowded city of tourists and make our way to the quite and beautiful Switzerland!  Rick Steve's mentioned that 1,000 locals are leaving Venice each year and it's becoming a decaying cultural theme park. It's beautiful now, but sad to see the tourists take over the city. Life is tough here for locals with expensive housing, hard to find goods, and limited transportation. I'm glad we got to enjoy Venice while some of the charm still exists because without the heart of the locals, the city is just not the same. We are getting ready to catch a train to Milan for the night and will be at Lucerne the next day.

 Tom and Britt heading out for Pizza

Some of the best Venice Sights

1. Cute Street

2. Gondola's in the Lagoon

3. Campanile Tower

3. View of the Doge's Palace from our vaporetto