Hotel Grand Torino Abano Terme

... 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!

... and we got even more upset and said to Tilly ( I F*#k your face you F*#k ) I was ready to kill him but thinking I would end up in side street with all his mates we walked away and headed back to the pick up point for the bus well it was sort of a run to the bus. After we got back I said to Tilly you have done it again to me and what makes it worse we did not buy anything at all. We then went back to the ship and I was so glad to be back on board safe and even ...

... perk!) we headed out for the day. Our plan was to make our way over to a house owned by Wake Forest where 16 Wake Forest students are studying for the semester, including one of my good friends Satie and two of my sorority sisters. The house ended up being on the complete opposite side of Venice and because the streets are so confusing and hard to follow, it took us over two hours to make it to the house, but eventually we found it. The Wake Forest house is the old U.S. Embassy ...

... out of place but enjoyed the experience….another boat ride back up the Canal.. Not sure if we had a ticket… and then a different boat.. Again not sure about ticket to Murano Island where they make the Venetian glass…saw a demonstration on making glass figurines etc and of course visited the shop.. At this time the sun came out and it was time for the GONDOLA… another great experience with carlos the (never shut up - even ...

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

... invited. Everyone was very nice. We all brought something as a gift which was mostly wine! There was a ton of food which they said took all day to prepare. Not sure what most of it was except a "huge" pot of spagetti with a sardine sauce! It was good! Tons of dancing! Everyone was very gracious and welcomed us as if they have known us for 100 yrs! When we got ready to walk home it was raining! Oh no! No umbrella, but I was saved as my ...

More rain.....but the promise of sunshine. We started the day off by visiting the island of Murano and going to a glass blowing factory--fascinating to watch the craftsmen. And, we learn that we will have the experience that not just everybody gets when they visit Venice-the duckboards. We had the combination of lots of rain ...

... some reason that 5am was an ideal time to talk and laugh like it were midday. Needless to say, I didn't sleep especially well, so my first few hours in Venice were a tad cranky. I also expected to get a much needed shower first thing after checking in, what with all the the tromping around we did in Eze and Monaco yesterday. So much for that too: the hostel doesn't allow anyone to get into the rooms until 11:30. Thus we had to pass our time wandering around ...

... I had one but its much more fun not to use it) I headed in the general directon, or what I hoped was the general directon. An hour or so later 0f wandering, I felt like I was getting cl0se. The t0urist trinket sh0ps were gr0wing in frequency and it seemed like the l0cals were all walking 0ne way.. the t0urists the 0ther. I f0ll0wed s0me l0cals.. then s0me t0urists. then decided t0 f0ll0w n0 0ne at all and went d0wn a small walkway. At the ...

I LOVE VENICE SO MUCH! After I had a small delay(I fell down some stairs and hurt myself) we began to expolre this amazing city. It was amazing how an entire city is run by boats. The garbage men have a garbage boat, and taxis are boats... it was crazy ...