San Marco Apartment Venice

... steps to the top) and the Piazza del Signoria, a great, bustling pedestrians-only town square. We grabbed a gelato and took a short people-watching break before continuing on to Ponte Vecchio and finally, the day’s climax- the Uffizi Gallery.

The Uffizi has been described as the greatest collection of Italian paintings anywhere! But it is so much more. It is laid out in a way that walks you through the transition of style, content and technique from the ...

... She wonders where the money went.
OK: now we are driving in Italian traffic. These people drive as if they have nothing to live for. And, yet, we have not seen a single accident. Regardless, driving is nerve-wracking. But we made it safely to Padua, where we visited the Scrovengi Chapel, painted in frescos by Giotto in the early 14th century. It was commissioned by a man whose father was a very bad ...

... endowed a museum of modern art, which seems especially radical in Venice, with its nearly universal focus on the Renaissance.
After dinner and a rest, we finished our day with a night at the Opera! We saw “The Barber of Seville” a great, silly romp of an opera - and to add to the fun, it was performed inside one of the old Venetian palaces, with each act taking place in a different room. (The small audience followed the players and the Piano Quartet from room to room.)

... gave up on the sun ever coming up around seven and took off. The days here are extremely short: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. tops.
Our hotel here is amazing: they were happy to check us in at 7:30 a.m. and could not have been more accommodating. We slept a couple of hours and hit the streets - no, canals - around eleven. Our hotel recommended a restaurant where we had by far the best meal we have had in Italy before starting our sightseeing day’ ...

... pillows and as many makeshift covers (aka jackets and sweatshirts) to another compartment and sprawled out on the seats. When we got to Venice, it was very early in the morning, so we had to find our way to our hostel in the dark. But we made it there, only to find out that it was closed for another two hours (that's what happens during low season). So we wandered around, found a market to get a few ...

... So first half an hour of the flight I was in the toilet washing off the tea from my blouse.. Luckily I didn’t send my bag to baggage so I put on another blouse untill this one dries. Well now there it is, drying up in front of me))

So now I’m flying to Venice. I’ve been there this summer but there are a few things I didn’t manage to do ...

... 2 small dormant volcanoes that are there now. We took the small boats from the port to the only tour buses can get down the steep cliff. Our tour took us to the tallest mountain on the main island to see the view with about 10 buses on this tiny switch back road. Then all the buses had to do 3-point turns in an area not big enough for a Smart car to turn around in, with several hundred people (most of them not young and spry) wandering around. It was chaos ...

... but we still enjoyed it. After dinner salsa began as well as Nick's personal night of Drinking. Chris and Gareth bought Nick 12 shots of Tequila, after which he shook his booty around, sat down, and vomitted it all on his leg! Some guys helped him lie down by a tree by his cabin, then Kim, aka Peanut/Wallnut got everyone up to draw ALL over him. Next morning was also quite good, after a couple of hours of sleep, we awoke to travel towrads Florence via The Leaning Tower of Pisa.

... anything more!! Venice was just perfect. The weather was spectacular and we had a wonderful time wandering around the streets and checking out the canals. And when all the other tourists got too much for us, we had a wonderful escape to our hotel room. We looked right onto the Grand Canal and spent considerable time there, watching the world go by, eating our breakfast in bed or sipping on our wine (not at the same time though). Ahhhhh....!!!

... on a bridge above us waving and taking photos, I knew we were close to the finishing point. Thankfully back on dry land, we were all greeted with a nice warm cup of apple cider. Back into some warm clothes, I decided to order lunch. I had a really delicious sausage pizza. I figured I might as well prep myself now for some good old Italian food. Apparently those who didn't do the white water were dropped off at this lodge where they could relax, walk around, and ...