Venice, Italy (April 3-6)

So we began our two week spring break by going to Venice. We traveled all day taking many different forms of transportation including train, metro, bus, airplane and ferry. The lady at the hotel we were going to said she would meet us when we got off the boat/metro thing (vaporetti) and take us to the hotel. Unfortunately for us, the vaporetti had already closed the line we wanted for the evening.... so we got really lost trying to get to the right place. Eventually though, we met up and get to our hotel successfully.
The hotel was really more of a renovated apartment. It had three rooms, a bathroom and a kitchen/dining room on the third story--that was all. The only other guests were a french family. We memorized all the names leading up to our hotel so we would not forget where it was: Calle Larga, Calle del Squaro, Calle de la Testa, and Calle Gabrieli this translates basically as big, square, head Gabrielle. :)
The next morning we decided to go find San Marco's Square. This was not that difficult because there is a sign on every building pointing towards it, and there is a flow of tourists going the same way. It was beautiful and even though it was not tourist season, it was packed. We decided not to wait out the lines to go into the Doge's palace.
We did not have a real map, only a small square of unmarked map from google maps. It showed the coastline we were on and the coast line that our hotel was on, and it looked like the coast just went off the map and right back on.... So we decided that we would find our way back by following the coast. What we missed by looking at this map, was that the coast actually continued on for a long while before turning back... We walked for about two hours before we finally decided we were lost and asked for directions. We found some french people with a map and they informed us that the fastest way back was exactly the way we'd come. :( so another 2 hours later, exhausted and hungry, we made it back. Natalie went to sleep and Jessie and I went to find food, namely pizza. :) We bought a pizza and some Nutella with crackers for dessert... That evening, instead of venturing out again we stayed in and watched "The Emperor's New Groove" which Jessie had brought to us from the states.
The next day we got a late start. (Don't forget, this is our VACATION :P) We looked at souvenirs, bought some presents... We had pizza for lunch again then we decided to find a suitable (meaning good-looking) gondolier to take us for a ride. (I gave Natalie a gondola ride in Venice as a birthday present last year, so we were obliged to go...) We found one and managed to get 5 euro knocked off the price because we were poor.. :) He told us all about how his father had been a gondolier and he had inherited his gondola, and how he had learned English from tourists, and how he always knew he would be a gondolier... (I found his life's story way more interesting then the random things we were passing :P) We did see Casanova's house and Marco Polo's house. The ride was very nice, but a little on the short side.
After that we went to find the Jewish Ghetto. We realized after we found it in a roundabout way, that it was right next to our hotel all along... It was pretty and quiet; not alot of tourists.. We spent the late afternoon sitting in the sun on the edge of a calm canal watching people and boats go by. We watched the movie "Casanova" that night. We are pretty sure that one of the steets next to our hotel was featured in the movie.... weird. The next day we moved on to Siena...

-Maria



Marley drinking from a Canal

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