Day 21- Venice

Thursday, May 13 (Day 21)

We were up and ready and downstairs for breakfast this morning at 7:15am. I had a nice breakfast and then it was time to load up the coach and move on to Italy, Venice to be exact. We stopped once in Italy on our way over for some lunch and Lisa and I split 3 dishes. Then we got back on the bus and headed to Venice.

The bus ride today was super annoying. Everyone and everything was really quiet in the beginning, when I was updating my blog. Then when I decided to TRY and sleep, the music started blaring and people were over-compensating and screaming to each other. I did not get a good night sleep last night and I was really looking forward to resting. On top of that, the blaring music was some random, obnoxious music. Oh well.

So we got to our Venice camp sight, in the outskirts of Venice around 2pm. We are staying in little cabins, three to a room and it has a bathroom in it. Since I was so tired, I brought my bags into my room and passed out until 3pm because we were meeting at 3:15 to go to the city.

We left the camp sight and took a little ferry over to Venice island. It was about a 20 minute boat ride. Venice is also very beautiful! There is water all around and it was really sunny out today. It was like a taste of Italy and Florida all in one! There are bridges everywhere and skinny streets with no cars- all walking/biking.

We saw a few landmarks and stopped to get pizza, gelato, and a doughnut. We shopped around in the little shops and admired the Venetian glass and lace that the vendors were offering.

At 6:45 we all met up to go on our gondola ride. As I said before, the weather was absolutely gorgeous: the warm sun with a nice cool breeze. Well imagine that it started POURING as soon as we met up to go to the gondolas, because it did! We were told that there would be no refunds and it was either go on the gondola in the rain or stay behind and eat the money. So we decided to go. We had a bottle of white wine on the boat and it turned out to be a nice ride. We were on the gondola for about a total of 35 minutes. The rain was on and off so our umbrellas were opened and closed. But it was nice that the three gondolas that had our tour members on them were all together and for a while were going side-by-side.

After the gondola ride, we all went to get dinner. We stopped at a restaurant and Carli and I split an artichoke pizza and gnocchi. It was pretty good but a bit expensive considering the portion size. We also order a “sprits”- a white wine/orange vodka drink that is popular in Venice. It was good and was served with a blood orange slice. After dinner, Lisa and I got gelato again- out last gelato on this trip! I do have to say that it was a bit weird being back in Italy. It seems like our second home now.

We got back on the ferry around 9 and headed back to the camp sight. Laying here in bed now, typing this blog, the cabin is rocking back and forth and it is really a strange feeling.