Buongiorno Venezia!

Buona Sera!

Well my Berlin adventure has officially come to and end. We left Berlin on Thursday night and took the overnight train to Venice (aka Venezia)! The train ride (when we were awake) was increbible. Just like the train brochure pictures...amazing!

Our last night in Berlin was great. We went out to dinner with Miranda, Yianni and the girls at a beach bar/restaurant and had some fun salsa dancing and playing fooseball! It is very different not seeing you everyday guys! I hope you are having a great last few days in Berlin and that Nemy's party went fantabulously!

Upon arrival in Venice, April and I were blown away. There are no words to describe Venice...it is beyond words. Unbelievable and it far surpassed even my wildest dreams. We made our way to our first hostel experience and were pleasantly surprised! It was right on the water and had a nice mix of old people, young people and even whole families! I think we were a bit spoiled in our first hostel which may cause some later shock upon arrival at other hostels on this trip.

We arrived in the evening on friday and so, decided to head on over to San Marco and have some dinner (thank you Yianni and Miranda!). We had pasta and seafood straight from the lagoon and it was so delicious. We then walked through the labrynth of narrow streets, along canals and across the many bridges with our mouths wide open in disbelief. It was incredible...out of a dream for real. We kept saying to eachother: 'can you believe this'?? It was a wonderful and relaxing first night.

On our second day we awoke early and had breakfast courtesy of our hostel and, once again, headed off for San Marco to explore the Palazzo Ducale (The Duke's Palace). Such history...After spending quite some time there our bellies began to runble so, we set off in search of lunch. We found the large market square which has been in existence for 1000 years and bought pecorino cheese, prosciutto, baguette, and grapes and sat along the Grand Canal to eat our lunch and watch the boats and gondolas go by. It was unreal. Following lunch we set off for Murano to see the glass museum but got distracted looking in the shops and did not end up seeing the museum. However, we were told the museum is not that great anyhow and there would be no glass making demonstrations until september so we felt okay about misisng it. Murano glass certainly are amazing works of art. In the evening we took a Vaporetto (wtare bus) ride along the Grand Canal. I can see why it was described by Philippe de Commines as 'the finest street in the world, with the finest houses'. Stunning really. We decided to venture out to Campo Santa Margherita for a pizza dinner and were delighted by the buzz of young people and the energy of the surroundings. After our delicious dinner, we headed back to the hostel where we sat by the water with a bunch of other hostel patrons. We drank the bottle of wine we had bought earlier (just 3.50 euros!) whilst being serenaded by the people next to us who were playing the violin. This, thus far, was the highlight of my entire summer. It was seemed as though I was living in a wonderful dream and I felt as though I just might burst with happiness and gratitude at my fortunes.

On our final day in Venice we visited Basilica di San Marco and were overwhelmed by the tile mosaics. I am not the most appreciative person of art (sorry Annie!) but, even I, almost shed a tear as I sat, mouth agape, staring at those mosaics. Following our visit to the Basilica we stopped for an italian sweet (not that we need any more sweets as we eat at least one gelato a day!) on our way to attending an English church service. April felt right at home in the Catholic service. It really cracked me up because the priest must have had somewhere very important to be after that service because he wasn't even finishing all of his words because he was trying to get through it so quickly. Meanwhile there were two little Italian ladies trying to protect the service from rude tourists walking in durind the service, sitting down and standing up, talking and trying to take pictures despite huge signs saying it was forbidden! These Italian ladies were a riot, smacking tourists, shooing them wagging her finger in their faces. It was a most enjoyable experience however, even if not the most spiritual and enlightening. Following church we decided to check out this Caffè Florian we had heard so much about. Upon discovering I would need to take out another student loan to pay for such a coffee experience we decided to hightail it out of there! Instead I had a lemon granita (frozen lemon drink) and it was delightfully refreshing as the weather has averaged 34° for the past few days! We then headed back to the hostel to retrieve our bags, check our email and head to the train station to board our train to Rome. We arrived at the train station early (I know, so not like me eh?! April is a good influence I guess!) and were able to get on the earlier train so we could arrive in Venice at 9:10pm instead of 11:00pm.

We were sad to leave Venice but also very excited about our next adventures in Roma! I think we will often feel these mixture of sadness to leave and excitement to go over the next few weeks.

We are now in Rome and have been here for about 24 hours and have already done so much but I will leave that for the next post!

Ciao and much love,
Jenn(ifer)