Day 1, 2a: Venice

OK, OK. I realize I've been home from my Eurotrash vacation for 3 weeks already so it's about time that I blogged about it. And since it's 2am, I can't sleep and I'm watching an infomercial for the original "Richard Simmons: Sweating To The Oldies" (I so wish I were kidding about that), I figure now is as good a time as any to get started. Seriously, I had so many photos to sort through. This is just a tiny sampling of the 1400 that we took.

SO...

We left Vegas at the crack of dawn on 5/15. I had pulled an all nighter trying to finish everything at work then packing so I didn't have a hard time sleeping on the plane on the way there. It was a great way to jump right into the time change!

Day 1: We arrived in Rome Friday morning and immediately (after having a hell of a time trying to figure out where to buy train tickets) hopped a train for Venice.

I LOVE VENICE! I love that there are no cars. I love that boats are the main mode of transportation. I love the array of colors of all the buildings. I love the gelato. Fantastic.


We checked into our ittybitty, but clean hotel then took to meandering the streets. Venice is so easy to navigate because, not only is it small, there are directional street signs on every corner. We went straight to St Marks Square and had our first tastes of Gelato, an activity that would reoccur every few hours during our Italian adventures. Every few minutes we had to remind our selves that this was real! We were actually in Venice!




We lost ourselves through the alleys and over the bridges, found a lovely little restaurant (note: it's easier to get into a restaurant through the front door, not the back door), ate amazing fried cheese, tortellini and mousse. After dark we took took a water bus ride around the island, strolled over the Rialto Bridge and ended the evening with Gelato.



Day 2a: More Venice! I started the morning with a nice little 5k to St Marks and back (only finding a handful of deadends). Sadly this would be my only time running while on vacay but it was definitely worth it. I got a lot if funny looks because the only runners in Venice are the tourists. But it was exciting to see the town waking up, adults heading to work and children on their way to school.

We stopped in a little grocery store for breakfast and I was reminded just how much I adore European yougurt! It actually tastes like yougurt and not processed sugar crap like we have here in the states. I was in heaven. We sat on a bench, under a tree in a little square and reminded ourselves again that we were really, truly in Italy.


We toured St Marks Basillica and were amazing by how ornate everything was - the mosaic floors, stained glass windows, bronze horses (which we loved for some inexplicable reason). Our view from the roof was accompanied by the bells of the Campanile Bell Tower and provided a great view of the piazza and out to the water.

The great debate was whether or not to spend the money for a gondola ride. I was hesitant because it is so expensive. But, like Consumer said- Where else in the world are you going to be able to take a real gondola ride (and no... rides at the Venetian do not count)? I couldn't argue with that. So we found a suitable gondolier and set off. Loved it! It was so charming to float through the city and our gondolier was an amazing tour guide. He showed us buildings that housed many famous historical figures- Goethe, Napolean, Vivaldi, Casanova. It was a lovely ride! Well worth the money.


Our last few hours in Venice were appropriately spent - eating pizza and gelato. Then it was time to catch the train back to Rome.