Centrale Hotel Malcesine

... The hostel I stayed at was a DUMP! It was really pretty terrible. But I slept well-enough and opted to avoid the 'shower' and wait for the cruise. Though I know that will be a cramped space, but at least it will (hopefully) be clean.

Arrivederci Italy! A presto.

Hopefully I'll find internet here and there while docked at various ports. But it may be a full week before you get any witty, intelligent, humorous updates from this particular traveler. ;)

Ciao!

... the Sultan of Istanbul palace that has been standing for over 4000 years it was amazing to see things that old in mint condition ,

We then set off to the Grand Bizarre where Tilly was looking forward to as the jewelry as it is very good to buy here so we set of and looked around for a hour or so until we went into a small shop and again this is where things went a little wrong ( you would think that I would have learnt the first time but no I went in ...

... on the floor while the others stayed up to study. Our flight to Madrid left at 630am and landed us safely in Madrid around 9am which left me just enough time to get home, drop off my belongings and head to my 11am class. I have two midterms to study for (one tomorrow and one Thursday) but I got some studying done in the airport so hopefully I'm in good shape. Its hard to believe I will be back at the airport in 2 1/2 days to head to London for this coming weekend. I'll write again soon!

... it is amazing… no roads.. Some little footpaths and only boats of all shapes and sizes zipping around. We then went to San Marco.. The main square in Venice .. I would think on a fine day lots of tourists sipping cappuccino and feeding millions of pigeons… however as it was raining we took shelter and found a place to have the world’s most expensive coffee and tea while being serenaded by a 4 string quartet…. Very posh.. The ADRs ...

After the wedding we spent a few days in Venice before flying home. This is one of the cities I wish I could walk around without anyone else there. I am sure it is much more beautiful without the hundreds of people on every little bridge. It was a lot of fun wandering around, getting lost and then finding a place to enjoy a glass of wine.

cheers

... main reason we're so behind writing the blog), we accidentally bought 6? hot chocolate, and the sunglasses I bought for $210 back home were over $300 here and they're even made in Italy! We did however find a cheap grocery store that we always stocked up at. There was 1L of wine for 1? and we finally found some that was worse than yours Thomas. It was potent though and kept us warm and happy! There were a lot of activities on the stage at St Marks. We watched the best dressed costume ...

... the island. The ride over was surreal. the entire city is afloat. Really, very cool. Neither of us can think beyond the opening sequence from the Italian Job remake, or the near closing one from Casino Royale. There are some some beautiful, sleek boats. Many of them taxis. The drivers possess a precision that is nothing short of miraculous. Their skill with a boat is beyond the likes of what either of us have ...

... that evening we took a walk round the near deserted St Mark's Square, definitely preferable to the mid summer tourist crush. It being almost dark by then, with the tourists having departed, and the mist encroaching from the surrounding waterways, it felt like a magical place; St Mark's Basilica looked stunning.

... way. I was still having a good time, but she couldn't relax and just enjoy herself, which made things a little tense to say the least. Anyway, we jumped on another vaporetti in order to get us back to the San Marco Piazza, where we would catch the last water taxi back to the ship. We were told just yesterday that the last water taxi would come at 4:15 to pick up the remaining passengers in Venice, so we arrived at the dock at 10 to 4:00, just to be safe. To our surprise, there ...

... We were almost overwhelmed. We had done so many tour excursions in the beginning of our trip that we gave ourselves permission to just wander and not learn a darn thing.The vision of the Bascilica as seen through St. Mark's Square was breathtaking, and we're not even Catholic. We sat at a lovely cafe and listened to waltz music(live) while we sipped on cappuchinos (a 10 dollar cup of coffee, but worth the admission price for the view).When we realized that we ...